Camillo Francesco Maria Pamphili

Camillo Francesco Maria Pamphili
Prince of Valmontone

Bust of Camillo Francesco Maria Pamphili by Alessandro Algardi (c. 1647).
Spouse Olimpia Aldobrandini

Issue

Teresa, Duchess of Massa

Titles and styles

Father Pamphilio Pamphili
Mother Olimpia Maidalchini
Born 21 February 1622
Naples
Died 26 July 1666
Rome
Not to be confused with his cousin Camillo Astalli, later adopted by Pope Innocent X as Camillo Astalli-Pamphili.

Camillo Francesco Maria Pamphili (21 February 1622 - 26 July 1666) was an Italian Catholic Cardinal and later nobleman of the Pamphili family. His name is often spelled with the final long i orthography; Pamphilj.

Early life

Pamphili was born in Naples on 21 February 1622. His uncle, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Pamphili, was papal nuncio to the Kingdom of Naples and his father, Pamphilio Pamphili, had moved there with his wife Olimpia Maidalchini. As a young man Pamphili studied humanistic topics such as poetry, philosophy, mathematics and architecture[1] and when his uncle was transferred and became nuncio to Madrid, Pamphili went with him.

When Pamphili's father died, his mother became "suspiciously" close to her brother-in-law, Giovanni Battista, and did everything she could to promote his career and build her fortunes. After a series of clever moves at the Papal conclave of 1644 (some say engineered by Olympia Maidalchini), Giovanni Battista Pamphili was elected to the papal throne as Pope Innocent X. The improvement in the family's fortunes was great news for Camillo Pamphili who, having also come to Rome, had decided on an ecclesiastic career.

The news was a blow to Pamphili's mother who had already arranged a marriage for him to Lucrezia Barberini, daughter of Taddeo Barberini and Anna Colonna. The move was designed to further improve her fortunes by mending the rift between the Pamphili and the Barberini which had developed after Pope Innocent's election (he had the Barberini investigated for squandering papal fortunes during the First War of Castro).[2] To retain control over the Holy See she needed the support of Lucrezia's powerful uncles, Francesco Barberini and Antonio Barberini.

As soon as his uncle was elected pope in September 1644, Pamphili was appointed General of the Papal Army. This post was usually assigned to the lay-nephew of the Pope, but shortly afterwards Camillo Pamphili expressed his wish to become Cardinal-Nephew.[3]

Ecclesiastic career

On 14 November of that year, despite the protestations of his mother, Pamphili was elevated to Cardinal as a Cardinal-Nephew and was made Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria in Domnica.[4] Though he was described as a happy young man, pleasant to friends and staff, contemporary records of his cardinalate suggest he lost interest in his new-found piety fairly quickly;[2] leading a lazy life, sometimes not rising from bed until 7:00 pm.

Resignation, marriage and later life

Pamphili's enthusiasm was dampened by his interest the various young women of Rome. He still quickly developed a particular interest in a young noblewoman who had been in attendance (to issue her best wishes) at the Palazzo Pamphili the day after his uncle's coronation. Olimpia Aldobrandini was clever, beautiful, trendy and a grand-niece (by marriage, and later sole heir) of Pope Clement VIII. Aldobrandini, though, was married to powerful nobleman Paolo Borghese and Pamphili, again according to his contemporaries, was not the type to begin an illicit affair.[2] But when Borghese died in 1646, Pamphili made his intentions clear. The two families were already close; Aldobrandini's uncle, Niccolò Ludovisi (her mother's brother), had married Camillo's sister, Costanza.

Nonetheless, Olympia Maidalchini had finally become used to the idea of Pamphili as Cardinal and was not impressed when he announced his decision to renounce his cardinalate to marry Aldobrandini. He resigned on 21 January 1647 and a few weeks later (10 February 1647) the two were married. His cousin, Francesco Maidalchini, was appointed as Cardinal-Nephew.

Aldobrandini's dowry included a collection of paintings (including masterpieces removed from the Duke of Ferrara's "Camerino d’Alabastro"), villas in Montemagnanapoli and Frascati, the great Albodrandini estates in Romagna on the Corso in Rome and the Palazzo Aldobrandini. These estates and property thus passed to the Pamphili family and became the nucleus for the Galleria Doria Pamphilj.[5]

Acquisition of the estates, scattered throughout the countryside around Rome, was particularly fortuitous; the newly-weds would soon be in need of somewhere to live outside the city. So furious was Olympia's rage that she banished them from Rome and the Palazzo Pamphili and they did not return until her death ten years later in 1657.[2]

But Pamphili and Aldobrandini were not concerned and set about expanding their family. They had five children including Giovan Battista Pamphili, Benedetto Pamphili and Anna Pamphili who married the Genoese nobleman Giovanni Andrea III Doria Landi in 1671. When the Roman branch of the Pamphlili family ended in 1760, it was Anna and Giovanni who inherited the palazzo in Rome. Benedetto Pamphili was allowed to come to Rome and became a cardinal, also appointed by Innocent X.

When he did finally return to Rome, Pamphili commissioned Gian Lorenzo Bernini to build the baroque Church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale (in 1658). The church was not completed until 1670, after Pamphili's death.

Pamphili died at his Palazzo Pamphili on the via Lata, Rome, on 26 July 1666.

Family

Pamphili and Olimpia Maidalchini had the following children:

Portraits

References

  1. ↑ S. Miranda: Cardinal Camillo Pamphili
  2. 1 2 3 4 A Companion to Vergil's Aeneid and Its Tradition by Joseph Farrell & Michael C. J. Putnam (John Wiley and Sons, 2010)
  3. ↑ Eleanor Herman: Królowa Watykanu, Warszawa 2009, p. 151-153.
  4. ↑ Catholic Hierarchy: Camillo Francesco Maria Cardinal Pamphili
  5. ↑ Doria Pamphilj Gallery (see also Doria Pamphilj Gallery)
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