Francesco Alidosi

Francesco Alidosi (1455 – 24 May 1511) was an Italian cardinal, diplomat and condottiero, remembered as a friend and favourite of Pope Julius II, used by Michelangelo to smooth his relations with his difficult patron.

When Della Rovere was elected pope in 1503, Alidosi became his secretary and main collaborator, and was appointed papal chamberlain, then treasurer.

[1] Though many cardinals opposed the promotion, in 1505 Alidosi was created cardinal-priest of Santi Nereo e Achilleo, opting for the title of S. Cecilia on 11 August 1506.

[1] After taking possession of the legation in Bologna on 27 June 1508, he ordered Alberto Castelli, Innocenzo Ringhieri, Sallustio Guidotti and Bartolomeo Magnani to be strangled.

He was sent as an envoy to the king of France and arrived on 19 June 1509, together with Cardinal François Guillaume de Castelnau-Clermont-Ludève at Mantua.

[1] Some theorize the pope recalled Cardinal Alidosi in order to make use of his experience to negotiate peace with Venice.

After that, the Pope was forced to take a more accommodating attitude towards King Louis XII of France, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I and Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara to ensure the independence of the Catholic Church and the freedom of Italy from foreigners.

On 7 October 1510, while at the papal field near Modena, Francesco Maria I della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, had the cardinal captured, handcuffed and led back to Bologna escorted by 150 horsemen.

[1] On 14 May 1511, the pope moved his residence from Bologna to Ravenna for security reasons, lodging in the Benedictine monastery of San Vitale.

This action prompted Francesco Maria della Rovere, at the gates of the city, to abandon the field, along with all the artillery, nearly all the provisions, and numerous flags.

"[2] The cardinal's remains were honoured by Pope Julius II with solemn exequies in the cathedral of Ravenna, where they were interred.

When the cathedral was demolished in 1745, Gaspare Desiderio Martinetti, a physician, gave the cardinal's skull to the Benedictines of San Vitale, so that it would not get mixed with other bones.

Cardinal Pietro Bembo described him as "a man of shameful and criminal life, in whom there was no integrity and no religion, to whom nothing was ever inviolate, nothing chaste, nothing holy.