Giambattista Orsini

Giambattista Orsini was born in Rome before 1450, the son of Lorenzo Orsini, signore of Monte Rotondo, and Clarice Orsini, sister of Cardinal Latino Orsini.[1]

Early in his career, he became a cleric of the Apostolic Camera and then an Auditor of the Roman Rota. He was a canon of St. Peter's Basilica. Finally, he became a protonotary apostolic. In the consistory of November 15, 1483, Pope Sixtus IV made him a cardinal deacon.[2] He received the deaconry of Santa Maria in Domnica. and the red hat on November 19, 1483.[1]

He participated in the papal conclave of 1484 that elected Pope Innocent VIII. The new pope named Cardinal Orsini papal legate to the March of Ancona on September 22, 1484. In 1486, because of the conflict between the pope and the Orsini family, he traveled to Rome to attempt to effect a reconciliation, but left a short time later.[1]

In 1488 or 1489, he opted for the deaconry of Santa Maria Nova. On November 5, 1490, he became apostolic administrator of the metropolitan see of Taranto, held earlier by his maternal uncle, Cardinal Latino Orsini, and which, like his uncle, he governed by proxy.[2] He held this office until September 24, 1498.[1] Orsini was also entrusted with the administration of these provinces of Romagna, and Bologna.

Cardinal Orsini was very influential in the papal conclave of 1492, held in August of that year. Cardinal Rodrigo Borja was elected, taking the name Alexander VI. The election is notorious for allegations that Borja bought the votes of his electors, promising them lucrative appointments and gifts. According to ecclesiastical historian Johann Peter Kirsch, Borja's election was almost entirely due to Cardinal Orsini.[2] Cardinal Gherardi, Patriarch of Venice, who had pushed for Orsini's election, cast the deciding vote.

Soon afterwards, debts appear in the financial records of the Apostolic Camera to Cardinal Orsini and others. Orsini received the fortified towns of Monticelli and Soriano, and the bishopric of Cartagena, with annual revenue of 5,000 ducats.[3] On August 31, 1492, the new pope named Orsini papal legate to the March of Ancona. On February 27, 1493, Orsini opted for the order of cardinal priests and received the titular church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo. He was ordained as a priest in his titular church on March 12, 1493.[1]

When Charles VIII of France came to Rome on December 31, 1494 as part of the Italian Wars, Cardinal Orsini went with the pope to the Castel Sant'Angelo. On January 21, 1495, he was elected Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals. On May 27, 1495, with a French army approaching Rome, Cardinal Orsini left with the pope for Orvieto. He became archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in September 1498. On September 23, 1499, he left Rome for Milan as papal legate to the King of France; he returned on November 16. In 1500, he was again papal legate to the March of Ancona, leaving on his legation on July 29, 1500.[1]

Giambattista, together with the head of the House of Orsini, the Duke of Bracciano, espoused the cause of the Florentines and the French. On July 12, 1502, he asked the pope for permission to visit the King of France in Milan; the pope did not agree, but Orsini nevertheless left the next day, attending a meeting of the Orsini family at Lake Trasimeno to conspire against the pope's son, Cesare Borgia. Orsini was soon thereafter arrested on the pope's orders and flung into the dungeons at Castel Sant'Angelo. He died there twelve days later, on February 22, 1503, probably poisoned on the orders of the pope or Cesare Borgia.[1]

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Orsini". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

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