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The lost will and testament of Cardinal Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini (1439–1503)1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2013

Carol Richardson
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Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 66 , November 1998 , pp. 193 - 214
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Copyright © British School at Rome 1998

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Footnotes

1

I am particularly grateful to Mirjam Plantinga for her help in checking the transcription of the document.

References

2 Pecci recorded that the will of Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini was preserved in the ‘Archivio dell'Opera numero 1588’: Pecci, G.A., Storia del vescovado della città di Siena (Lucca, 1748), 342Google Scholar. Mancusi-Ungaro discussed the loss of the will: Mancusi-Ungaro, H.R., Michelangelo: the Bruges Madonna and the Piccolomini Altar (New Haven and London, 1971), 15Google Scholar, n. 16 and 60.

3 Francesco was the son of Pius's sister, Laudomia. He was born into the Todeschini family but assumed the name of Piccolomini as he was adopted by the pope. On his promotion to the cardinalate, see Pius II, Commentarii rerum memorabilium que temporibus suis contigerunt (Studi e testi vols 312 and 313) (Vatican City, 1984), 253.

4 Wilkie, W.E., The Cardinal Protectors of England (Cambridge, 1974), 21Google Scholar. Pastor went to some lengths to prove Francesco's virtue: Pastor, L., The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages IV (London, 1898), 199–200Google Scholar.

5 As a result he was simultaneously ordained priest and bishop on the night before his coronation as Pius III: Pastor, History of the Popes (above, n. 4), 203. He is often referred to by modern scholars as ‘archbishop of Siena’, although this is inaccurate. In his Commentaries, Pius II recorded that his nephew only became administrator of the diocese: ‘obierat paulo ante, cum ualitudinis causa apud balneas ageret, Antonius urbis archiepiscopus; pontifex Franciscum ex sorore nepotem, tres et uiginti annos natum, administratorem ei suffecit’ (Commentarii (above, n. 3), 250).

6 Pastor, History of the Popes (above, n. 4), 199.

7 Pius II used him as legate to the Marches of Ancona, Paul II appointed him legate to Germany where his fluency in the language was invaluable, while in 1492 he became Cardinal Protector of England. See A. Strnad, ‘Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini, Politik und Mäzenatentum in Quattrocento’, Römische Historiche Mitteilungen (1964–6), 203, 351.

8 Bober, P.P. and Rubinstein, R., Renaissance Artists and Antique Sculpture: a Handbook of Sources (Oxford, 1986), 478Google Scholar; Strnad, ‘Francesco Piccolomini’ (above, n. 7), 328.

9 Strnad, ‘Francesco Piccolomini’ (above, n. 7), 337; Lee, E., ‘Sixtus IV and Men of Letters’, Temi e testi 26 (1978), 47, 93–5Google Scholar.

10 The restoration and embellishment of his titular church, Sant'Eustachio, seems to have been largely completed around 1473: E. Scatassa, ‘Notizie inedite intorno alla ricostruzione di due chiese di Roma’, Rassegna bibliografica dell'arte italiana (1915), 11. His Roman palace was finished shortly before Francesco began his legation to Germany under Paul III. See Strnad, ‘Francesco Piccolomini’ (above, n. 7), 323.

11 On the Piccolomini Altar, see Mancusi-Ungaro, Michelangelo (above, n. 2), and Valentiner, W.R., ‘Michelangelo's statuettes of the Piccolomini Altar in Siena’, The Art Quarterly 5 (1942), 3–44Google Scholar; further information on the Piccolomini Palace can be found in Ciprelli, R., ‘Le costruzione dei Piccolomini in un manoscritto inedito’, Regnum Dei: Collectanea Theatina (Rome, 1984), 230–1Google Scholar, n. 1, and in Hibbard, H., ‘The early history of Sant'Andrea della Valle’, Art Bulletin 43 (1961), 290–3CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The chapel at Sant'Eustachio is still to be studied in detail. See Scatassa, ‘Notizie inedite’ (above, n. 10), and Appetiti, C., ‘S. Eustachio’, Le chiese di Roma illustrate (Rome, 1964), 28, 30 and 45Google Scholar.

12 Mancusi-Ungaro, Michelangelo (above, n. 2), 15, n. 16; Strnad, ‘Francesco Piccolomini’ (above, n. 7), 356, n. 27.

13 Stato, Archivio di, Siena: Summary of the Parchments of the Fabric of the Cathedral 1266–1780, vol. II (1727)Google Scholar.

14 Pecci, Storia del vescovado (above, n. 2), 342ff. gives a short extract from the will of specific items made over to Siena Cathedral.

15 By far the most thorough analysis of the formal aspects of cardinals' wills, albeit of an earlier period, is to be found in Bagliani, A. Paravicini, I testamenti dei cardinali del duecento (Miscellanea della società romana di storia patria 25) (Rome, 1980)Google Scholar. On the licentia testandi see in particular pp. xliii–lxi.

16 Gardner, J., The Tomb and the Tiara: Curial Tomb Sculpture in Rome and Avignon in the Later Middle Ages (Oxford, 1992), 58Google Scholar.

17 Strnad, ‘Francesco Piccolomini’ (above, n. 7), 157; Commentarii (above, n. 3), 449.

18 Ciaconio, A., Vitae et Res Gestae Pontificum Romanorum et S.R.E. Cardinalium II (Rome, 1677), col. 1,062Google Scholar.

19 Eubel, C., Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi II (Regensburg, 1901), 15Google Scholar.

20 F. Ughelli, Italia Sacra (Venice, 1717), col. 1,178.

21 Eubel, Hierarchia (above, n. 19), 19.

22 Seen. 41.

23 It was in fact common for cardinals to write their wills some years after a papal licence had been granted: Bagliani, Paravicini, Testamenti (above, n. 15), xlixGoogle Scholar.

24 Bagliani, Paravicini, Testamenti (above, n. 15), xlviiiGoogle Scholar.

25 Sheehan, M.M., The Will in Medieval England (Toronto, 1963), 122Google Scholar.

26 Strnad, ‘Francesco Piccolomini’ (above, n. 7), 356.

27 Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Diversa Cameraria 29, f. 88v.

28 See n. 79.

29 Tiberia, V., Antoniazzo Romano per il Cardinale Bessarione a Roma (Rome, 1992), 120–2Google Scholar.

30 Bisticci, Vespasiano da, Vite di uomini illustri del secolo XV, edited by D'Ancona, P. and Aeschliman, E. (Milan, 1951), 104Google Scholar.

31 Hartt, F.( et al. ), The Chapel of the Cardinal of Portugal (Pennsylvania, 1964), 41Google Scholar.

32 Chambers, D.S., ‘A Renaissance cardinal and his worldly goods: the will and inventory of Francesco Gonzaga (1444–1483)’, Warburg Institute Surveys and Texts XX. (London, 1992), 96Google Scholar.

33 On the financial implications of being a cardinal see, in particular, Chambers, D.S., ‘The economic predicament of Renaissance cardinals’, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History 5 (1966), especially p. 305Google Scholar.

34 The will survives in the Archives of the Vicariate in Rome, attached to Saint John Lateran. It is included in papers relating to the Piccolomini Chapel at Sant'Eustachio. The will is not preserved in a fifteenth-century version, but as an eighteenth-century transcription, with most of the abbreviations already expanded. Occasional peculiarities in the transcript below belong to the eighteenth-century manuscript. Without the original document it is impossible to tell if these have been perpetuated from the fifteenth century.

35 Sixtus IV (Francesco della Rovere) was pope from 9 August 1471 to 12 August 1484. During this time and for much of the remainder of the century Francesco continued his legations north of the Alps. See Strnad, ‘Francesco Piccolomini’ (above, n. 7), 245ff. Sixtus IV wrote the licence in response to the cardinal's supplication, probably a formal written request. Unfortunately the supplication itself rarely, if ever, survives for these licences. To become testate the cardinal first had to make his confession to the pope, although by the fifteenth century this may have been, in most cases, little more than a formality. This ‘indulgente pontifice’ is nevertheless mentioned in the funeral liturgies. See Dykmans, M. S.I. (ed.), L'oeuvre de Patrizi Piccolomini ou le cèrèmonial papal de la premièr Renaissance (Studi e testi vols 293 and 294) (Vatican City, 1980), 221Google Scholar. Indeed, to receive a licence was to receive the pope's blessing, and thus was a formal part of the relationship between a pope and his cardinals: Paravicini Bagliani, Testamenti (above, n. 15), l–lii.

36 The licentia testandi grants Francesco Piccolomini permission to dispose of his possessions in his will. He is allowed free reign over the disposal of belongings inherited from his family or those which he has earned in the process of his duties as a cardinal. The pope is careful to distinguish anything pertaining to altars as not in the cardinal's gift, a standard part of the licences. See Bagliani, Paravicini, Testamenti (above, n. 15), lixGoogle Scholar. Indeed, at a time when nepotism and pluralism saw important benefices being collected by the cardinals, the papacy had to ensure that the wealth and property of the Church was not alienated from it by ambitious families.

This was not the first time that Francesco had corresponded with Sixtus IV about the wishes of his will, as the pope refers to a previous letter, presumably that of 27 September 1475. See Pecci, Storia del vescovado (above, n. 2), 342.

37 This seems to be the main purpose of the licence, adding to the concessions in an earlier letter permission for Cardinal Francesco to be buried at the foot of his uncle's tomb in Saint Peter's. This was not an unusual request. See, for example, Gardner, Tomb and Tiara (above, n. 16), 57. Sixtus allowed Francesco permission to be buried with his uncle in Saint Peter's because it was he who had paid for his uncle's tomb in the chapel of Saint Andrew in the basilica. On Pius II's tomb, see Valentiner, W.R., ‘The Florentine master of the tomb of Pius II’, The Art Quarterly 21 (1958), 117–50Google Scholar, and Strnad, ‘Francesco Piccolomini’ (above, n. 7), 325.

38 The licence was written in Rome on 29 October 1479, in the ninth year of the pontificate of Sixtus IV.

39 The licence is appended by a note by Bernardinus, the public notary responsible for the verification of the will in Siena. The scribe referred to is that of the will, Francesco Guidotti. Both characters appear again at the end of the will. This note also stresses that everything has been done to ensure the will's legality and that the licentia has been filed with it. The licentia originally came to five sheets and was registered with the Apostolic Camera. This last section of the licentia was added by the notaries when the testament was filed with it.

40 Like the story of the wise and the foolish virgins (Matthew 25.1–13, Francesco wanted to be ready for his death: ‘Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour’ (Matthew 25.13). He stressed that the will was written with the ‘dispensation and grace of the Apostolic Throne’.

41 In his twentieth summer as a cardinal, Francesco knows that his end may be approaching. This mention of twenty years suggests that the will was contemporary with the papal licence of 1479, as Francesco had been cardinal since 1460. The most obvious explanation is that the will updated an existing document of 1479 in 1493.

42 His executors were responsible for carrying out both the letter and the spirit of the will. The ceremonies surrounding his death were to be the customary signs but without excess. Again, such restraint was part of the normal piety associated with the will, but in this case the cardinal sought to control his funeral's expense. See Dykmans, L'Oeuvre (above, n. 35), 221, and, for comparison, E. Depréz, ‘Les funèrailles de Clement VI et d'Innocent VI’, Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire 20 (1900), 235–50; Gardner, Tomb and Tiara (above, n. 16), 18.

43 Francesco's uncle, who had brought him to the dignity of the cardinalate, would even look after him in death. His tomb was to be with that of his uncle in the chapel of Saint Andrew, just inside the left door of Saint Peter's basilica. There, Francesco wanted his tomb to lie at the foot of Pius II's sepulchre, with a simple marble floor slab and an inscription, as given, fixed on the wall above. As Pius III, Francesco was indeed buried to the side of his uncle's monument, but in a far more elaborate tomb than he requests here. On the original tomb see, Grimaldi, G., Descrizione della basilica antica di San Pietro in Vaticano (Rome, 1606Google Scholar: 1992 facsimile), 160–1. Both tombs now survive, greatly altered, in Sant'Andrea della Valle. See Ridolfini, C. Pericoli, Sant'Andrea della Valle (Rome, 1988), 16–17Google Scholar. On the general implications of burial commemoration, see Herklotz, I., ‘Sepulcra’e ‘Monumento’ del Medioevo (Rome, 1985), 191Google Scholar, 199ff.

This part of the will is preserved in the summary in the State Archive in Siena. See Mancusi Ungaro, Michelangelo (above, n. 2), 60.

44 Obviously the cardinal had no idea where he was going to die and moreover, as a papal legate, it could well be far from Rome. While some cardinals asked that their cadavers be carried long distances back to their chosen resting place, practicalities dissuaded most. Francesco Gonzaga, on his death in 1483 was carried from Bologna to Mantua for burial. When the body arrived in Mantua after a week's travelling there was obvious concern that the rapidly rotting corpse be given speedy burial. Unfortunately, the cardinal's will instructed that the conventional obsequies be observed first. See Chambers, ‘Worldly goods’ (above, n. 32), 97, 137. Francesco Piccolomini was more flexible in his wishes. If he were to die within a reasonable proximity to Rome, then his desire for burial in Saint Peter's was to be carried out. If he were to die outside Rome ‘on the other side of the Paglia river that runs through the Valley of the Aquapendente’, his chapel in the cathedral in Siena was to be used instead: Mancusi-Ungaro, Michelangelo (above, n. 2), 15, 60.

45 The total expenses of the funeral were not to exceed 2,200 gold florins, a considerable sum and roughly the equivalent of one year's salary for the cardinal from the apostolic camera. See Antonovics, A.V., ‘A late fifteenth century division register of the college of cardinals’, Papers of the British School at Rome 35 (1967), 95–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar. To save money, the catafalque was to be narrower and the bed on which the dead cardinal would be laid out proportionately shorter than was customary. The only decoration was to consist of the Piccolomini arms. Candles were to be distributed only to those directly involved in the funeral. From the concerns of the cardinal that the funeral expenses be limited and that a restricted number of candles be distributed, it can be surmised that the funerals of cardinals were often profitable occasions for the unscrupulous, as the distribution of alms was established convention; see Gardner, Tomb and Tiara (above, n. 16), 12. Indeed the liturgies also comment on the chaos caused by the customary distribution of candles to everyone present at the funerals: Dykmans, L'Oeuvre (above, n. 35), 222. Francesco imposes such details on his executors so that they are not forced by honour to be too extravagant. On the first and last days of the novena, 60 masses were to be said. On the other seven days this was to be reduced to 40, only one of which would be sung. This was by no means excessive. See Gardner, Tomb and Tiara (above, n. 16), 13.

46 Again Francesco is wary of the customary abuses of cardinals' funerals. Mourning clothing would be distributed to the cardinal's household on his death. Unfortunately, many who asked for the funeral garb were not part of the household. Keen to avoid such abuses, the executors were asked to ensure that nothing was wasted and that those who received funeral clothes were given them according to their rank in his house. Those dressed for the occasion from Francesco's estate were expected to be at the funeral every day of its duration.

47 Those members of his household surviving him were to be given the salaries owed to them from his estate. In addition they were to be allowed the privilege of staying for 40 days in his home after his death at his expense. This was not necessarily indicative of the cardinal's generosity but was laid down by the funeral liturgies: Dykmans, L'Oeuvre (above, n. 35), 221–2.

48 While living, Francesco maintained his benefices with ornament and restoration work. This part of the will introduces the distribution of his goods, emphasizing his wish that only that written below should be observed.

49 In 1461 Francesco Piccolomini had become archdeacon of the Brabant, of the cathedral of Cambrai. He kept this benefice for much of his career. See Strnad, ‘Francesco Piccolomini’ (above, n. 7), 200. Leaving vestments and personal items to these charges not only represented the cardinal's patronage in places far from the papal city but also, on his death, would ensure that his memory was kept alive.

50 Francesco wished to leave priests' copes, both bearing the Piccolomini arms, to two monasteries he was probably familiar with as a result of his travels through the Alps on his various legations. Vercelli and Tortona are close to Milan and were convenient stops on the long journey north.

51 By 1481 Andrea Bregno had accepted a contract with the cardinal for the erection of an altar in place of the altar of the Calzolari (the shoe-makers guild) in Siena Cathedral to the memory of Pius II and Francesco himself. Bregno's workshop carved the main body of the altar in Rome and then shipped the pieces to Siena in 1485. The chapel is first mentioned on 15 May 1481 in a letter from Platina to Lorenzo de'Medici concerning the carriage of marble through Florence to Siena from Liguria. The letter is printed in Mancusi-Ungaro, Michelangelo (above, n. 2), 58. Two thousand florins had been set aside for the work and left in a public instrument for distribution Certainly by the time this will was written Andrea Bregno seems to have received not the 417 florins paid to him before Michelangelo took over in 1501 but 1,417 florins. See Strnad, ‘Francesco Piccolomini’ (above, n. 7), 324–7, Mancusi-Ungaro, Michelangelo (above, n. 2), 15, and Valentiner, ‘Piccolomini altar’ (above, n. 11), 6. The will clearly states that the altar was nearing completion, but in the event of the cardinal's death, Andrea Bregno was to be given the rest of the money to complete the work. According to the inscription on the altar, by 1485 the work was completed except for the niche statues. Whatever the date of the will, it is clear that at this stage Francesco intended that Andrea Bregno complete all parts of the altar, including the figure sculptures.

52 Below this point are listed the liturgical ‘ornaments’ which the cardinal had in Siena Cathedral's sacristy. These were to be left for use in the chapel and cathedral. Some less obvious items are explained with notes.

53 Liturgical stockings with white silk slippers.

54 Two pairs of liturgical gloves, one white and the other violet.

55 The provenance of the relic of Saint Sebastian is unclear. The cardinal may well have acquired it from the church of San Sebastian in Rome which shared the Piazza Siena with the Piccolomini Palace. The church was thought to mark the site of the sewer into which Sebastian's mortal remains were dumped after his execution, first by being shot with arrows and then bludgeoned to death. See Hibbard, ‘Sant'Andrea della Valle’ (above, n. 11), 292–3.

56 Ptolemy's Cosmography was the basis for the dominant astronomical system until the sixteenth century. In the context of Pius II's fascination for geography and the study of the natural world, such a volume would be expected among his books. The whereabouts of this precise volume is not now known. Although a will of Pius II did not survive him, his library seems to have been divided among his nephews. Francesco Piccolomini, in particular, was a keen bibliophile. See Clough, C.H., ‘The chancery letter files of Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini’, in Maffei, P. (ed.), Enea Silvio Piccolomini: Papa Pio II (Siena, 1968), 129Google Scholar; Strnad, ‘Francesco Piccolomini’ (above, n. 7), 328ff., especially 356–7.

57 The sacristy was later supplanted by the Piccolomini library. Unfortunately, as Pius III, Francesco Piccolomini died before he could arrange the intended shipment of Pius II's library to Siena. Any books which survived in Rome passed to the Vatican library, while the collection of books in Siena reverted to the family and from there were dispersed in Italy and abroad: Cecchi, A., The Piccolomini Library in the Cathedral of Siena (Florence, 1992), 59Google Scholar.

58 The Orations and geographical observations of Europe and Bohemia are included in the Opera Omnia of Pius II (Basel, 1571)Google Scholar. See Mitchell, R.J., The Laurels and the Tiara (London, 1962), 291–3Google Scholar for a fuller record of Pius's writings and where they can be found.

59 Clough, ‘Chancery letter files’ (above, n. 56), 129, has suggested that the letters of Pius II probably went to the cardinal, not least because Agostino Patrizi, who had been Pius II's secretary, passed into the service of Francesco Piccolomini. These entries certainly suggest that the cardinal had at least some of his uncle's letters.

60 Marco Barbo, nephew of Pope Paul II, was created cardinal of San Marco on 18 September 1467. On 6 November 1478 he became cardinal bishop of Palestrina but retained his residence at the Palazzo di San Marco (Palazzo Venezia) which his uncle had built. Marco Barbo died on 11 March 1491, meaning that this will was composed or updated after that date. Francesco Piccolomini refers here to two volumes — commentaries on the Council of Basle, which Aeneas had attended with the household of Cardinal Domenico Capranica in 1431 — which the cardinal of San Marco had left him.

The ‘De gestis Basiliensis Concilii’ can be found in Opera Omnia (above, n. 58), 1–63. Francesco acquired several texts in this way from his friends and relatives. See Strnad, ‘Francesco Piccolomini’ (above, n. 7), 356ff.

61 At this point Francesco added a suitable qualification to cover all items left in the cathedral to the use of its clergy. This tidies up any loose ends, ensuring that objects intended as ecclesiastical furnishings stayed that way and were not taken into secular settings.

62 Son of Antonio Todeschini Piccolomini who Pius II had created Duke of Amalfi, Francesco Piccolomini was Cardinal Francesco's nephew. Antonio was one of four sons, including Giacomo and Andrea as well as Cardinal Francesco himself, born to Laudomia, Pius II's sister who had married Nanni Todeschini. Pius II's sisters, Laudomia and Caterina, both assumed the Piccolomini name for themselves and their children. See Strnad, ‘Francesco Piccolomini’ (above, n. 7), 117, 158ff.; Mitchell, Laurels and Tiara (above, n. 58), 93, 195; Ady, CM., Pius II (London, 1913), 263Google Scholar; Litta, P., ‘Piccolomini’, Famiglie celebri italiane (Milan/Turin, 1819–1889)Google Scholar.

63 Agostino was son of Giacomo Piccolomini, Cardinal Francesco's younger brother. He was to receive the cardinal's missal, as well as the sermons of Saint Benedict and a volume of Saint Gregory's writings. These he was to keep and pass on to his descendants. This is indicative of the value the cardinal attached to his books.

64 Giovanni Piccolomini was another of the cardinal's nephews, born on 9 October 1475, son of Andrea Piccolomini. He was to receive similar books, including the other volume of Gregory's letters and the cardinal's small Bible. Giovanni followed his uncle as archbishop of Siena when Cardinal Francesco became Pius III in 1503. See Pecci, Storia del vescovado (above, n. 2), 346ff.

65 In 1476 Francesco Piccolomini gave his brothers, Andrea and Giacomo, his palace in Rome on condition that it remained in the male line. The cardinal retained the right to live there, however. See Strnad, ‘Francesco Piccolomini’ (above, n. 7), 324, and Ciprelli, ‘Le costruzione’ (above, n. 11), 251: ‘Instrumentum donatis palatii, et domorum illustrissimi domini Francisci de Piccolomineis S.R.E. cardinalis diaconi tituli Sancti Eustachii, nuncupati cardinalis de Senis, in Vrbe existentium ad Vallem, factae ab ipso domino cardinali dominis Jacobo, at Andreae de Piccolominibus, fratribus germanis inreuocabiliter inter uiuos etc. Roma die 29. Maii. 1476.’ The will confirms this agreement but extends the conditions of the gift. Although the brothers had already taken possession of the palace they were to pay 1,000 gold florins for it. From that sum 500 florins were to be used to buy ‘immovable goods’ for the endowment of the chapel to be erected in the church of Sant'Eustachio and to pay for a permanent chaplain there to say masses for the souls of Francesco and his uncle. Though now destroyed, the Piccolomini altar in Sant'Eustachio was dedicated to San Pio: Archivio del Vicariato di Roma, Palchetto 171, vol. 246 (Archivio del Capitolo di S. Eustachio ‘Demolizione delle Cappella di S. Pio’). Originally part of this money was designated to endow the chapel of Saints Gregory and Andrew in the basilica of Saint Peter. This was where Pius II had erected the tabernacle of Saint Andrew to receive the relic of the head of Saint Andrew (Commentarii (above, n. 3), 467ff.) and where the pope himself was buried by his nephew. Later, as Pius III, Francesco was also buried close to the altar in Saint Peter's. Rather than using part of the income from his palace for the altar in Saint Peter's, he had made alternative arrangements. A house ‘in the Rione Ponte, between the house of Paolo Orsini and another belonging to Santa Maria Maggiore on the public road to the Campo dei Fiore’ had been designated for the endowment of the chapel of Saints Andrew and Gregory. For further details of the chapel see Ciprelli, ‘Le costruzione’ (above, n. 11), 245, n. 48.

66 The remaining 500 florins of the settlement between Francesco and his brothers concerning the Piccolomini Palace are dealt with here. They were to be used for the purchase of ‘immovable goods’, that is furniture rather than vestments, for the cardinal's chapel in Siena Cathedral. The money was also to be used to endow further priests for the canonry there and provide them with suitable equipment to carry out their duties.

67 Francesco introduced the section of the will which distributed part of his estate to charitable and ecclesiastical institutions by outlining his reasons for doing so: so that alms and prayers might aid his passage though the afterlife: ‘post-mortem fire insurance’ (Duffy, E., The Stripping of the Altars (New Haven and London, 1992), 302Google Scholar).

68 The hospital of Santa Maria della Scala is situated opposite the cathedral in Siena and was thus Francesco's neighbour in the city. It had long been a favourite focus of charitable giving for Siena's citizens. See Sanesi, G., L'origine dello Spedale di Siena e il suo più antico statuto (Siena, 1898)Google Scholar; Banchi, L., I rettori dello Spedale di S. Maria della Scala in Siena (Bologna, 1877)Google Scholar.

69 On the general development of the main monastic communities in Siena, see Norman, D., ‘The three cities compared: patrons, politics and art’, in Norman, D. (ed.), Siena, Florence and Padua: Art, Society and Religion, 1280–1400 (New Haven and London, 1995), 12Google Scholar.

70 On the outer edge of the Terzo di Città, San Niccolò del Carmine was the main Carmelite church and convent.

71 The Servite church and convent of Santa Maria dei Servi marked the southern edge of the Terzo di San Martino.

72 Pius II had ensured that his parents were buried properly in Siena. This was part of his ploy to return his family from exile and restore their position in the state. San Francesco had been embellished by the pope for the reception of his parents' remains. See Commentarii (above, n. 3), 143–4. On the monuments of Silvio and Vittoria Piccolomini, see Munman, R., Sienese Renaissance Tomb Monuments (Philadelphia, 1993), 111–12, cat. 26Google Scholar. Andrea and Giacomo Piccolomini also added a chapel to the church. See Ciprelli, ‘Le costruzione’ (above, n. 11), 249; Strnad, ‘Francesco Piccolomini’ (above, n. 7), 340, n. 70.

73 Again Francesco stresses the condition for these gifts. As soon as these institutions learned of his death they were to give requiem masses for his soul. Thereafter he was to be remembered in their prayers. As acting archbishop of the city he was obviously keen to see that every ecclesiastical institution in Siena was included in his will.

74 A thousand florins of the Sienese mint were to be used to provide dowries for poor and honest virgins of Siena on condition that the candidates were of good birth. This condition is reminiscent of the Piccolomini's own exile from their noble status in Siena which Pius II had fought to restore. Francesco recommends that the money be used not to give small dowries to twenty or 40 virgins, spreading the money too thinly, but reasonable sums to at least ten suitable candidates.

75 To administer the distribution of dowries Francesco appoints a mixture of members of his own family and high-ranking local clerics, including the prior of the monastery of Monte Oliveto outside Siena, of which Pius II was so fond and with whom the Piccolomini had long been associated. Despite Pius II's claims to the contrary, the monastery was founded for the Benedictine hermits by Giovanni Tolomei in 1313. The new Olivetan order was confirmed there by John XXII in 1319. See Commentarii (above, n. 3), 611–13.

76 Shortly before Francesco composed his will, the campanile of Pienza Cathedral had been damaged in a storm by lightning. Pius II's beloved project, at most Pienza was conceived as a surrogate Rome while at least it was meant to be a retreat for the papal court from the oppressive Roman summers. After Pius's death in 1464 Pienza had resumed its position as a small provincial hill town. Cardinal Francesco had never taken any obvious part in the embellishment of his uncle's birthplace though he obviously saw it as part of his responsibility. To carry out the necessary repairs Francesco had appointed Josephus, probably a local craftsman. If necessary his executors were to see that the repairs were completed. On Pienza and its history, see Mack, C.R., Pienza: the Creation of a Renaissance City (London, 1987)Google Scholar, and Tönnesman, A., Städtebau und Humanismus (Munich, 1990)Google Scholar.

77 Pius II began the restoration of several churches in Sarteano, a town close to Siena, and then gave them to Cardinal Francesco to look after. See Bandini, D., ‘Memorie Piccolominee in Sarteano’, Bullettino della societa senese di storiapatria 73–5 (1966–1968), 239–51Google Scholar, and Fanelli, F., Memorie storiche di Sarteano (Perugia, 1892), 27Google Scholar.

78 Paul II had appointed Francesco Piccolomini papal legate in Germany. As Cardinal Protector of Germany, one of the earliest such positions, the cardinal had some responsibility for the German community in Rome. In recognition of this he left a chalice, paten and corporals from his private chapel to the German Hospice in the Rione Parione in Rome plus 100 florins. The German Hospice survives today as part of Santa Maria dell'Anima in Parione.

79 Again Francesco mentions his palace in Rome, stressing the destination of die proceeds of his arrangement with his brothers because that arrangement had changed. Money from it was not to go to the altar of Saints Andrew and Gregory in Saint Peter's but to Siena. He is also careful to stress that the palace had been built lawfully, paid for with the money he himself had earned as a papal legate to the Marches of Ancona. See Strnad, ‘Francesco Piccolomini’ (above, n. 7), 203. His position as a papal nephew obviously left him open to suspicion. As Pius II had warned his nephews, the position of papal relatives was indeed a precarious one, especially after that Pope had died. They had to ensure that their own merits warranted fortune as much as birthright. See the letter from Pius II to Antonio Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi, of 30 May 1461 in the Biblioteca Angelica, 1077, f. 85v.

80 A ruined castle in the diocese of Orvieto, which now seems to have disappeared.

81 Antonia was the only child of Caterina, sister of Pius II. Caterina married Bartolomeo Guglielmo whom Pius made prefect of Spoleto. In 1462 Antonia had a son whom Pius insisted was named Silvio. See Commentarii (above, n. 3), 631; Letter of Augustino Piccolomini to Silvio Piccolomini, 9 November 1491, Biblioteca Angelica, 1077, f. 74r.

82 Andrea Lucentino de Piccolomini was Francesco's secretary and a close member of his household. He assumed the Piccolomini name. See Strnad, ‘Francesco Piccolomini’ (above, n. 7), 359, n. 37.

83 The cardinal was keen that his obsequies be paid for from the sale of household items, including packhorses and bedclothes, and not from his personal fortune, up to a maximum of 2,200 florins. See above, n. 45.

84 ‘Pace’ does not seem correct here though it accords with the transcription.

85 Two thousand gold ducats were to be used to pay off the cardinal's household, distributed according to the length of service of the individuals concerned. This sum was to be met with income from the cardinal's benefices and income from the apostolic camera. Cardinals were entitled to some shares after their deaths. See Antonovics, ‘Division register’ (above, n. 45), 93, and Cameron, A., The Apostolic Camera and Scottish Benefices (Oxford, 1934), l–liGoogle Scholar.

86 The two individuals mentioned were senior members of the cardinal's household.

87 Details of the household belongings mentioned give a vivid impression of the cardinal's lifestyle. These included hangings, Spanish hair cloth, tents and hawks, as well as more general items such as wooden furniture and linens.

88 The cardinal had bought each of his brothers, Andrea and Giacomo, a house in Siena. Giacomo's house was on the street of San Vigilius in Siena while Andrea's was outside the Porta Camollia, to the north of the city.

89 Bartolomeo Muriani was Cardinal Francesco's cousin on his mother's side.

90 Alfonso was son of Antonio Piccolomini and Ferrante, king of Naples's, illegitimate daughter. See Strnad, ‘Francesco Piccolomini’ (above, n. 7), 117, n. 37, 344, n. 87; Ady, Pius II (above, n. 62), 188. From moneys owed to the cardinal by Duke Antonio, his son was to establish a canonry at the collegiate church of San Giovanni in the diocese of Marsi in memory of his father, of Pius II, and of Cardinal Francesco himself. Of the 1,000 remaining florins Antonio's younger son, Francesco, was to buy an office in the Roman Curia.

91 Oliverio Carafa, bishop of Naples, had become cardinal of San Marcellini e Pietri on 18 September 1467, under Paul II. Although he later became cardinal of Sant'Eusebio, dying in 1511, the will refers to him as cardinal bishop of Sabina. Eubel, Hierarchia (above, n. 19), 14, does not mention this promotion. See also Ciaconio, Vitae (above, n. 18), col. 1,097–105

Giambattista Orsini, an apostolic protonotary, was raised to the cardinalate by Sixtus IV in 1483. Santi Giovanni e Pauli was his third title as cardinal. See Eubel, Hierarchia (above, n. 19), 19.

Raffaelo Riario, apostolic protonotary and nephew of Sixtus IV, was promoted to the College of Cardinals by his uncle on 10 December 1477. His first title was that mentioned in the will, San Giorgio in Velabro, though he later became cardinal bishop of Santa Sabina and then cardinal of San Lorenzo in Damaso (where he was to build the Palazzo della Cancelleria), dying on 9 July 1521. See Eubel, Hierarchia (above, n. 19), 18. On Andrea Lucentino, see n. 82, above.

92 This part of the will comprises the statement of the witnesses present when the will was composed. Its role is to establish the legality of the will, further extended by the papal licence which introduces the document.

93 The Chapel of Saint Blaise in the bishop's palace in Siena was the setting for the formalization of the will. The palace, and thus the chapel, was rebuilt in the eighteenth century. Agostino Patrizi was originally secretary in the household of Pius II. He then passed into the service of Cardinal Francesco. In 1483 he became bishop of Pienza and Montalcino in recognition of his connections with the Piccolomini. Ughelli recorded that he followed Tommaso Piccolomini as bishop of Pienza in 1483, under Pope Innocent VIII, Sixtus IV's successor (Ughelli, Italia Sacra (above, n. 20), 1,178). Sixtus IV did not die until 13 August 1484, however. Agostino Patrizi died in 1496.

94 Bernardino Capacci, a public notary with apostolic and imperial authority, recorded that the 1479 papal licence was inserted in the papers of the will, further establishing their legitimacy. He is also referred to between the licence and the will at the beginning of the document, to make this especially clear. He was almost certainly one of the Sienese Capacci clan of merchants related by marriage to the Piccolomini family. They were interested in wool production and the traffic of alum but, from the middle of the fifteenth century, had become increasingly interested in politics.

95 A notary from the diocese of Fiesole.