Pope clement vii biography of william shakespeare

CLEMENT VII (Giulio de' Medici), pope from to , was the son of Giuliano de' Medici, assassinated in the conspiracy of the Pazzi at Florence, and of a certain Fioretta, daughter of Antonia.

Being left an orphan he was taken into his own house by Lorenzo the Magnificent and educated with his sons. In Giulio went with them into exile; but, on Giovanni's restoration to power, returned to Florence, of which he was made archbishop by his cousin Pope Leo X, a special dispensation being granted on account of his illegitimate birth, followed by a formal declaration of the fact that his parents had been secretly married and that he was therefore legitimate.

On the 23rd of September the pope conferred on him the title of cardinal and made him legate at Bologna. During the reign of the pleasure-loving Leo, Cardinal Giulio had practically the whole papal government in his hands and displayed all the qualities of a good administrator; and when, on the death of Adrian VI &#; whose election he