The Bishop's Conscience: Pietro Camaiani, Cosimo I, and the Residency Debate at the Council of Trent, 1562–63
The third phase of the Council of Trent (1562–63) witnessed a crisis erupt over whether bishops resided in, and ruled, their dioceses de iure divino (by divine right) or by papal authority. Cosimo I de’ Medici, the Duke of Florence, cooperated with instructions from Pope Sixtus IV to send the Tuscan...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
MDPI
2023
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| In: |
Religions
Year: 2023, Volume: 14, Issue: 5 |
| Further subjects: | B
Council of Trent
B Tuscan Church B Heresy B Medici Florence B renaissance diplomacy B Counter-Reformation Italy |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | The third phase of the Council of Trent (1562–63) witnessed a crisis erupt over whether bishops resided in, and ruled, their dioceses de iure divino (by divine right) or by papal authority. Cosimo I de’ Medici, the Duke of Florence, cooperated with instructions from Pope Sixtus IV to send the Tuscan bishops to Trent, to vote as a bloc for Episcopal residency by papal authority. This position strengthened papal primacy and weakened bishops’ claims to autonomy. Pietro Camaiani, the Bishop of Fiesole and a longstanding Medici loyalist, defied the Duke’s instructions, claiming his freedom of conscience and episcopal liberty. Through an examination of diplomatic and personal correspondence, treatises, and judicial documents, I argue that there are three reasonable causes that influenced Camaiani to support episcopal residency de iure divino, in defiance of his patron Cosimo I. These include, the episcopalist theological arguments circulating at the Council, the heterodox literature of the 1540s, and his own lived experience as the Bishop of Fiesole. I uncover the challenges Camaiani faced while governing his diocese that brought him into conflict with Cosimo I, explore the political dimensions of episcopacy by papal authority, and problematize the meaning of Trent’s “ideal bishop.” |
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| ISSN: | 2077-1444 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religions
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3390/rel14050621 |