Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte

He proved totally unsuited to any of these offices, and his continuing relationship with Julius, whose bed he openly shared, created considerable scandal both inside and outside the Church.

Despite committing both rape and murder, he managed to retain his cardinal's hat and was permitted to return to Rome following several periods of banishment.

[3] He left home at an extremely early age and made his way to Piacenza, where, at around 13 or 14, he found a position in the household of the city governor, Baldovino Ciocchi del Monte, as a valero, a menial role combining the offices of footman and dogsbody.

[1] He certainly quickly became a favourite of Giovanni Maria, who placed him in charge of his pet monkey and appointed him provost of the cathedral chapter of Arezzo, a title involving only nominal duties but with certain rights of income.

Rumours also circulated around European courts:[7] The Venetian ambassador, Matteo Dandolo, wrote that Cardinal Del Monte "was a little scoundrel", and that the Pope "took him [Innocenzo] into his bedroom and into his own bed as if he were his own son or grandson".

Onofrio Panvinio wrote that Julius was "excessively given to intemperance in a life of luxuriousness and to his libido", and, more explicitly characterized him as "puerorum amoribus implicitus" ('entangled in love for boys').

"[8] Innocenzo's affair with his future sister-in-law, the noted poet and favorite in the papal court, Ersilia Cortese, resulted in scandal.

[5] For this crime he was arrested and imprisoned in the Castel Sant'Angelo, by order of Pope Pius IV; and the following year he was moved to the abbey of Montecassino, and placed in solitary confinement.

Following the intervention of Cosimo I de' Medici, duke of Florence, Innocenzo was released but nevertheless forced to face a fine of 100,000 scudi, and threatened with the stripping of his cardinalate.