Costanza Farnese

Coat of arms of the Farnese family (and their Duchy of Parma and Piacenza )

Costanza Farnese (* 1500 in Rome ; † 23 May 1545 ibid) was the natural daughter of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (1468–1549), later Pope Paul III. She was the sister of Pier Luigi II Farnese , the first Duke of Parma, the half-sister of Cardinal Tiberio Crispo and mother of Cardinals Guido Ascanio Sforza and Alessandro Sforza .

Life

Costanza's father, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, began an intimate relationship with Silvia Ruffini (* around 1475 - December 5, 1561), the wife of the Roman merchant Giovanni Battista Crispo, in 1499 (maintaining confidentiality). His daughter, born in 1500, was therefore considered the legitimate daughter of Crispos for a long time.

After Crispo's death in 1501 Silvia Ruffini lived openly in concubinage with Alessandro Farnese. She bore him three sons - Pier Luigi (1503–1547), Paolo (1504–1512) and Ranuccio (1509–1528) - thus ensuring the continued existence of the Farnese dynasty . The sons Pier Luigi and Ranuccio were legitimized by Pope Leo X in 1513 , Costanza was only recognized as the natural daughter of the cardinal.

The cardinal's daughter married Bosio II. Sforza, 4th Count of Santa Fiora , in 1517 , then lived with her husband and parents in the Palazzo Farnese in Rome and gave birth in quick succession to ten children, some of whom grew up on the Farnese family estates outside Rome . Costanza enjoyed the special affection of her father, who gave her generous gifts and pension payments and, as Pope, transferred the rule to Bolsena .

During her father's pontificate from 1534, Costanza, widowed since 1535, gained considerable influence in church affairs. She vigorously promoted the careers of her half-brother Tiberio Crispo and her eldest son Guido Ascanio Sforza, who became cardinal at the age of 16, and achieved several cardinal elevations with the Pope, such as that of the cardinals Gambara, Parisani and Durante in 1539. Furthermore, she sat down with Paul III. for the official recognition of the Jesuit order . Even Ignatius of Loyola asked the Pope's daughter to intercede with her father.

In contrast to Costanza's mother Silvia Ruffini, who avoided public appearances or by Paul III. was hidden from the public, the Pope always allowed his daughter to appear on public occasions, such as the unveiling of Michelangelo's fresco with the Last Judgment in 1541 .

Costanza, who took care of her father after the death of her husband and who was reputed to be greedy and stingy, was described as a woman of particular beauty and youthful appearance at the age of forty. She died on May 23, 1545 in Rome. Your parents, Paul III. and Silvia Ruffini, retired to Frascati for a few days after their death to mourn together in camera.

children

From her marriage to Bosio II. Sforza (* around 1500; † August 31, 1535), 4th Count of Santa Fiora, 10 children (6 sons and 4 daughters) were born, including:

• Guido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora , cardinal of Santa Fiora since 1534 (born November 26, 1518 in Rome, † October 6, 1564 in Villa Canedo)
• Faustina Sforza was married to Muzio Sforza (1528 / 29–1553), Marchese di Caravaggio, Count of Galliato.
• Mario Sforza († 1611), 5th Count of Santa Fiora, Count of Segni; was married to Fulvia Conti († around 1611).
• Sforza Sforza was married to Caterina Nobili.
• Francesca Sforza was married to Girolamo Orsini, Lord of Bracciano. She was the mother of Paolo Giordano I. Orsini (1541–1585), Duke of Bracciano.
• Camilla Sforza was married to Besso Ferrero Fieschi (* 1528), Marchese di Masserano.
• Alessandro Sforza (* 1534 in Rome; † May 16, 1581 in Macerata), Bishop of Parma (1560–1573), cardinal

Afterlife

The Michelangelo student Giacomo della Porta (1532-1602) created the tomb of Paul III, consecrated in 1575. The four female figures symbolize Justitia (justice), Prudentia (wisdom), Pax (peace) and Abundantia (abundance). On the one hand they represent Alessandro Farnese's life goals and politics, on the other hand his most important women - his mother Giovanna Caetani, his sister Giulia Farnese , his lover Silvia Ruffini and his daughter Costanza Farnese.

Fritz Gesing, alias Frederik Berger, tells the life of Costanza and her family from 1513 to 1534 in his historical novel “The Pope's Daughter” , published in 2008. Berger already addressed the life of her parents in the 2001 novel “The Pope's Beloved” from 1486 to 1503.

literature

• Alois Uhl: Pope children - life pictures from the time of the Renaissance. Piper, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-492-24891-4 .
• Alois Uhl: The popes and women. Piper, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-492-24890-7 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Costanza Farnese in the catalog of the German National Library