ALEANDRO, GIROLAMO (HIERONYMUS ALEANDER) (1480- 1542), Italian
cardinal, was born at Motta, near Venice, on the 13th of February
1480. He studied at Venice, where he became acquainted with
Erasmus and Aldus Manutius, and at an early age was reputed
one of the most learned men of the time. In 1508 he went to
Paris on the invitation of Louis XII. as professor of belles
lettres, and held for a time the position of rector in the
university. Entering the service of Eberhard, prince-bishop
of Liege, he was sent by that prelate on a mission to
Rome, where Pope Leo X. retained him, giving him (1519) the
office of librarian of the Vatican. In the following year
he went to
Germany to be present as papal nuncio at the
coronation of Charles V., and was also present at the diet of
Worms, where he headed the opposition to Luther, advocating
the most extreme measures to repress the doctrines of the
reformer. His conduct evoked the fiercest denunciations of
Luther, but it also displeased more moderate men and especially
Erasmus. The edict against the reformer, which was finally
adopted by the emperor and the diet, was drawn up and proposed
by Aleandro. After the close of the diet the papal nuncio
went to the Netherlands; where he kindled the flames of
persecution, two monks of Antwerp, the first martyrs of the
Reformation, being burnt in Brussels at his instigation. In
1523 Clement VII., having appointed him archbishop of Brindisi
and Oria, sent him as nuncio to the court of Francis I. He
was taken prisoner along with that monarch at the battle of
Pavia (1525), and was released only on payment of a heavy
ransom. He was subsequently employed on various papal missions,
especially to Germany, but was unsuccessful in preventing the
German princes from making a truce with the reformers, or in
checking to any extent the progress of the new doctrines. He
was created cardinal in 1536 by Paul III. (at the same time as
Reginald Pole) and died at
Rome on the 1st of February 1542.
Aleandro compiled a Lexicon Graeco-Latinum (Paris, 1512),
and wrote Latin verse of considerable merit inserted in
M. Tuscanus's Carmina Illustrium Poetarum Italiorum. The
Vatican library contains a volume of manuscript letters and
other documents written by him in connexion with his various
missions against Luther. They were utilized by Pallavicino
in his Istoria del Concilio Tridentino (i. 23-28),
who gives a very partial account of the Worms conference.
Aleandro, who is sometimes called "the elder," must be
distinguished from his grand-nephew, also called Girolamo
Aleandro (1574-1629). The younger Aleandro was a very
distinguished scholar, and wrote Psalmi poenitentiales
versibus elegiacis expressi (Treves, 1593), Gaii, veteris
juris consulti Institutionum fragmenta, cum commentario
(Venice, 1600), Explicatio veteris tabulae marmorcae
solis effigie symbolisque exculptae (Rome, 1616).
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed