Innocenzo Cybo - Cardinal and Archbishop

Cardinal and Archbishop

On the day on which he was consecrated a bishop, 17 March, Leo X made Innocenzo a Protonotary Apostolic In Pope Leo’s first consistory, 23 September 1513, he was made cardinal deacon of SS. Cosma e Damiano. He exchanged this deaconry for Santa Maria in Dominica on 26 June 1517. On 11 May 1520, he was made archbishop of Genoa by the favor of his uncle Pope Leo X. For a brief three months in 1521 he was Cardinal Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, but was ‘allowed’ to sell the office for the sum of 35,000 ducats to another of Leo’s favorites, Cardinal Francesco Armellino de’ Medici

He participated in the Conclave of December 1520 - 9 January 1521, and, even though (or perhaps because) he was ill and had to cast his vote from his sickbed, he came close to being elected pope. Once his name was suggested he managed about twenty votes, apparently from the younger cardinals, those desirous of continuing the habits of the court of Leo X.

King Francis I of France appointed him Abbot of Saint-Victor of Lerins in 1522, hoping, no doubt, to strengthen the French interest in the College of Cardinals after the disastrous election of the minister of the Emperor Charles V to the papal throne as Adrian VI. He was also granted the Abbey of St Ouen in Rouen.

In 1524 he was made Legate of Bologna and the Romagna. In 1529 and 1530, he was the host of both Emperor Charles V and Pope Clement VII in Bologna, and he participated in the coronation of the Emperor on 24 February as Archdeacon. At the conclusion of the ceremonies, he and Cardinal Ippolito de’ Medici accompanied the Emperor on his homeward journey as far as Mantua.

He accumulated the rights of administration over episcopal sees, e.g. St Andrews, Marseille, Aleria in Corsica (19 June 1518 - 19 December 1520), Ventimiglia (27 July 1519 - 8 August 1519) and numerous others, most for very brief periods of time.

Just before the Sack of Rome of 1527, he took refuge in Massa Carrara, host of his sister-in-law and mistress Ricciarda Malaspina, by whom he had four children, who were later naturalized.

A report to the Venetian Senate, written by Antonio Sorano, its ambassador at Rome, on 18 July 1531, provides an analysis of Cardinal Cibo, as his assignment required. He stated that Cibo was not a person of grand affairs nor of deep thought, but too immediately given over to worldly pleasures and to some lasciviousness. Pope Clement did not seek his counsel on matters of state.

In 1532 and 1533 he was sent by his first-cousin Clement VII, to govern Florence during the absence of Duke Alessandro de' Medici. He was one of the four Cardinals appointed executors of Pope Clement's Will At the conclave following Clement's death, he had hopes of the papacy, but was eclipsed by Paul III, and subsequently he decided to return to Florence. But here his relationships with the Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici deteriorated, and he moved again to Massa Carrara in 1540. Two years later his loyalty to the Imperial cause was rewarded with the title of Cardinal Protector of Germany.

In Rome he had his residence in Palazzo Altemps. He returned to that city in 1549 to take part in the Conclave following the death of Pope Paul III (Farnese). The favored candidate was Reginald Pole, but Giovanni Maria Ciocci del Monte, Julius III, was elected. As senior Cardinal Deacon Innocenzo Cibo crowned Pope Julius III on 22 February 1550. On 28 February 1550 he exchanged the Deaconry of Santa Maria in Dominica for that of Santa Maria in Via Lata. He died on 13 April 1550, according to his tombstone, at the age of 59 and having been a cardinal for 37 years. He was buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, in the center of the Choir, behind the High Altar, between the monuments of his uncle Leo X and his cousin Clement VII.