Matteo Rosso Orsini (cardinal)

The Grandfather, Matteo Rosso "Il Grande", had been a member of the Third Order of S. Francis, and Giovanni Gaetano Orsini had been an oblate as a child, and had been named Protector of the Franciscans by Pope Alexander IV.

[4] His name appears in a document of 13 November 1255, in which he is present in a court proceeding before Cardinal Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, his uncle, as Magister Matheus Rubeus, Canon of Laon, Papal chaplain, and providus iuris[5] This indicates that Matteo Rosso had a teaching degree, and that it was in law.

It is said that Matteo Rosso Orsini wrote theological tracts, but it is likely that this statement is the result of a confusion with his nephew and namesake, who was a Dominican and a theologian, and a Cardinal at Avignon (1327-1340).

Matteo Rosso was created a cardinal by Pope Urban IV (Jacques Pantaleone) in May 1262,[7] and granted the Deaconry of S. Maria in Porticu.

[10] In 1264, Cardinal Matteo was appointed Apostolic Legate and Rector of the Patrimony of S. Peter in Tuscia by Pope Urban IV (1261-1264), to recover territories in Tuscany which had been usurped by various lords, especially Petrus de Vico and his German forces.

He finally abandoned his mission and travelled to Perugia, where, on 5 February 1265, he accepted the papal throne, and announced that he would be called Clement IV.

[15] At the same time, the Ghibbelines were rallying around Conradin, the son of Frederick II, placing the successes of King Charles in favor (or so it seemed) of the Guelphs in danger.

In the summer of 1266, Cardinal Matteo was appointed examiner of the election of a new Abbot for the Monastery of S. Maria de Valle Pontis in the diocese of Perugia.

So much irregularity was uncovered about the candidate's career that the Pope quashed the election entirely, and reserved to himself the matter of illegally held benefices and offices.

One cardinal, Raoul de Grosparmy, did not participate, since he was Papal Legate with the French army led by King Louis IX which was on crusade.

[30] Pope Gregory X (1271-1276) appointed Cardinal Matteo as Auditor causarum (judge) in a dispute involving the holding of benefices by canons in the diocese of Valva.

[33] Pope John XXI (1276-1277) appointed Cardinal Matteo to be Assessor in a lawsuit involving the election of an Archbishop of Magdeburg; the case continued to be a problem in 1279.

[37] When the proctors of William de Wickwane, the Archbishop-elect of York, presented his case for confirmation, Cardinal Matteo was one of the examiners, and, on a technicality, the election was quashed.

I believe certainly on my conscience, I am persuaded, that there are a thousand friars minor of the Order of Saint Francis (of which order I am a minor and inferior friar) who are better suited to be raised to the cardinalate both by reason of their learning and their saintly lives, than many of those who by reason of their being related to the Roman pontiff are elevated.The goal behind Nicholas' choices, however, was obvious−the diminution of the French, and especially the Angevin influence in the College of Cardinals.

In 1280, Cardinal Matteo Rosso Orsini was Auditor causarum (Judge) in a case involving the Bishop of Brescia and a Canon of Parma.

[41] When Robert Kilwardby, Archbishop of Canterbury was promoted to the cardinalate on 12 March 1278, leaving the See of Canterbury vacant, the electors chose the Bishop of Bath and Wells, Robert Burnell as his successor; but his translation to Canterbury was refused by Pope Nicholas III, and John Peckham was appointed instead; then Robert Burnell was elected to the vacancy at Winchester following the death of Nicholas Ely, and that election was submitted for examination to a committee of cardinals which included Cardinal Matteo, but the Pope decided that he could not allow that translation either, though it was in proper form, as a matter of principle.

In Viterbo, the Podestà of the city, Orso Orsini, the Pope's nephew was unable to maintain his position and was ousted by forces led by Riccardo Annibaldi and supported by King Charles.

Nonetheless, it took nearly three more weeks for them to agree on the Frenchman, Cardinal Simon de Brion, the strongest supporter of King Charles in the entire Conclave.

Immediately after his election, Pope Martin sent two cardinals to Rome to patch up a reconciliation between the city and the Papacy, which would allow him to be crowned at S. Peter's Basilica.

Pope Martin (Simon de Brion) immediately began to reverse the anti-Angevin policy of his predecessor, Nicholas III (Orsini).

In April 1281 King Charles was appointed Senator of Rome, in violation of a decree of Nicholas III, but the election was immediately approved by Martin IV.

[61] On 25 April 1288 Cardinal Matteo Rosso Orsini was granted by Pope Nicholas IV (Masci) the Canonicate and Prebendary of Lincoln cathedral, which had been vacated by the death of Pietro Savelli.

On 10 May 1291, Pope Nicholas wrote to King Edward I of England, asking him not to take it amiss that he had granted prebends in York Minster and at Lincoln to Cardinal Matteo.

The new Pope, who was not eager to leave L'Aquila, let alone take up residence in the chaotic city of Rome, allowed himself to be persuaded by his friend and protector, Charles II, to visit Naples.

Though several cardinals feared King Charles, and all dreaded the influence that he would exercise over the inexperienced hermit, they could not dissuade Celestine, who transferred the Roman Curia to Naples and took up residence in the Castel Nuovo.

[74] He immediately appointed a dozen new cardinals, including King Charles' chancellor, two members of his own little community of monks (Celestines), three Benedictines, and seven who had French connections.

[76] Celestine himself missed his hermitage, and even had a replica built in one of the rooms of the Castel Nuovo; he also began to realize that he was inadequate for the position to which he had been elected.

[87] Matteo Rosso Orsini was one of the Roman barons who organized a mission to rescue Pope Boniface VIII, who had been attacked at Anagni on 7 September 1303 by a force of French soldiers led by Guillaume de Nogaret and abetted by the two deposed Colonna cardinals and their family.

But he was quickly taken to greater safety at the Castel S. Angelo, which was in the hands of the Orsini, and finally, ill and dying, brought to the papal palace at S.

[89] The Conclave was held, as Benedict XI himself says in his Electoral Manifesto, Opera divinae potentiae ('The works of divine power'), in the palace at St.