Ascanio Sforza

Miembro de la Casa de Sforza , Ascanio Sforza nació en Cremona , Lombardía . Sus padres fueron Francesco Sforza , duque de Milán , y Bianca Maria Visconti . También era hermano de dos duques milaneses, Galeazzo Maria Sforza (1466-1476) y Ludovico Sforza (1494-1499), y tío de un tercero, Gian Galeazzo Sforza (1476-1494). Ascanio fue alumno de Francesco Filelfo , cortesano del duque Francesco Sforza, quien lo introdujo en el gobierno y la literatura. Otros cardenales de la familia fueron Guido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora (1534), Alessandro Sforza (1565), Francesco Sforza (1583) y Federico Sforza (1645). ^{[ 2 ]}

Aged 10, he was named commendatory abbot of Chiaravalle. While still an adolescent, Ascanio was promised the red hat of a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church by Guillaume d'Estouteville, who wanted to gain Galeazzo Maria Sforza's support for his candidacy for the papal throne in 1471. However, it was in fact Francesco della Rovere (Sixtus IV) who won the papal election, and Ascanio's promotion to cardinal was delayed.

In September 1473, Ascanio's niece Caterina, the daughter of Duke Galeazzo Maria, was married to the nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, Girolamo Riario (the brother of Cardinal Pietro Riario).^[3] Girolamo was one of the leading members of the Pazzi Conspiracy against the life of Lorenzo the Magnificent of Florence.^[4]

Hoping to pacify Milan, Sixtus IV attempted to create Ascanio a cardinal in 1477, but the Sacred College refused to accept him into its ranks.

Nevertheless, Ascanio entered the episcopate when he was appointed Bishop of Pavia in September 1479, retaining the diocese until his death.^[5] In 1484 he represented Ludovico Sforza at the Congress of Cremona.

Pope Sixtus IV finally created him cardinal deacon of Ss. Vito e Modesto on 17 March 1484. Ascanio entered Rome on 23 August of the same year.^[6] Pope Sixtus had died on 12 August, and the Conclave to elect his successor was about to begin. Cardinal Ascanio's formal ceremony of investiture had not taken place, and some cardinals voiced objections to his participation in the forthcoming conclave. Due to Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia’s intervention, however, Ascanio was received with full cardinalitial rights.^[7] Ascanio was given an important assignment by his brother Ludovico, who at the time was Duke of Bari and Regent of Milan. Ascanio and Cardinal Giovanni d'Aragona were to present a formal letter to the Cardinals in Congregation, advising them that Milan opposed the election of Cardinals Barbo, Costa, Cibò, and Savelli. Cibò and Savelli were followers of Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere and his pro-French policy.^[8] Unfortunately, the letter from Duke Ludovico, sent on 26 August, did not reach their hands in time; otherwise, it would have been the earliest known attempt at an exclusiva (veto) in a papal election.^[9] Giovanni Battista Cybo was elected Pope Innocent VIII on 29 August 1484.

Sforza became administrator of Novara from 25 October 1484 to 18 April 1485,^[10] occupying the post again in May 1505, a few days before his death on 27 May.^[11]

As a cardinal, Ascanio's main priority was to reconcile Ferdinand I of Naples, known as Ferrante, with the Sforza dynasty. A dispute with Cardinal Jean Balue, the French ambassador to the Papal Court, in March 1486 complicated matters. Balue had suggested that Innocent VIII summon René II, Duke of Lorraine to retrieve his rights over the Neapolitan throne – leading to a violent quarrel with Ascanio; to which only the pope could bring a halt.

Ascanio was appointed Administrator of the See of Cremona on 28 July 1486 and occupied the post until his death.^[12] He also became Administrator of the See of Pesaro in 1487 until May 1491. In 1490 Sforza commissioned Bramante and Giovanni Antonio Amadeo to construct the Chiostro Grande ("large cloister") and the chapterhouse at Chiaravalle.

En su intento por aliarse con Milán , recibió a Fernando de Capua, nieto de Ferrante, en su palacio de Trastevere en mayo de 1492. El banquete organizado en honor del príncipe napolitano fue tan extravagante y magnífico que, según Stefano Infessura , «Si tuviera que dar cuenta, nadie me creería. Basta con que si el rey de Francia o alguna persona similar nos visitara, no se podría ofrecer nada más». ^{[ 13 ]} Fernando esperaba concertar un matrimonio entre otro de los nietos del rey Ferrante, Don Luigi d'Aragona, y una miembro de la familia del papa Inocencio, Battistina Cibò. Se esperaba que la alianza pusiera cierta distancia entre Inocencio y los franceses. ^{[ 14 ]} Al mismo tiempo, Fernando de Capua buscaba obtener la investidura de Nápoles del Papa, consolidando así el dominio de su familia sobre el Reino, en detrimento de René II, duque de Lorena , el pretendiente francés. El 4 de junio de 1492, el papa Inocencio emitió una bula que determinaba que el rey Ferrante sería sucedido por su hijo Alfonso, y Alfonso por Fernando. ^{[ 15 ]} Los franceses fueron frenados. Los milaneses estaban contentos.

En el Cónclave de agosto de 1492 , tras aceptar que no podría obtener la tiara papal para sí mismo, Ascanio prometió su voto a Rodrigo Borgia, entonces Vicecanciller de la Santa Iglesia Romana . Borgia prometió a Sforza el cargo de Vicecanciller de la Santa Iglesia Romana, ^{[ 16 ]} así como el Palacio Borgia. Además, recibiría el castillo de Nepi, el Obispado de Eger (que tenía una renta anual de 10 000 ducados), dos canonjías y el cargo de Prior de un convento en la diócesis de Calahorra que ostentaba Borgia. ^{[ 17 ]} Borgia fue elegido al trono papal en parte gracias a la manera persuasiva de Ascanio, convirtiéndose en Alejandro VI . Nombró a Ascanio su Vicecanciller, como había prometido, convirtiéndolo en el primer ministro virtual de la Santa Sede . Sforza renunció a su diaconado de San Vito y Modesto el 26 de agosto de 1492 y optó por él nuevamente el 31 de enero de 1495 y lo ocupó hasta su muerte. Fue nombrado administrador de la Sede Metropolitana de Eger el 31 de agosto de 1492, conservando ese cargo hasta junio de 1496. ^{[ 18 ] [ 19 ]} Para fortalecer la relación entre su familia y la casa papal, Ascanio concertó el matrimonio de Giovanni Sforza, su primo y gobernador de Pesaro , con Lucrecia Borgia , la hija ilegítima del Papa, en 1493. El matrimonio fue anulado en 1497, por motivos de no consumación.

El cardenal Sforza fue nombrado administrador de la diócesis de Elne , sufragánea de la diócesis de Narbona en Francia, en enero de 1494; el 20 de enero de 1495, César Borgia fue nombrado obispo de Elne, y Sforza renunció a la administración en mayo de 1495. ^{[ 20 ]}

The friendship between Ascanio and Alexander VI came to an end when the French invaded Italy in September 1494. Aware of Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere’s machinations against him, Alexander decided to resist the French. Ludovico Sforza, having secretly allied himself with King Charles VIII of France, Ascanio betrayed the Pope together with several cardinals and clamoured for his deposition under della Rovere. After the papal triumph over the King, Milan abandoned the French, and Ascanio was received once again in the Vatican. He never managed, however, to regain his former influence over the Pope. When Giovanni Borgia, the Pope's son, was stabbed in 1497, Ascanio did not attend the following consistory and was accused of the murder. He was immediately absolved, however, by the Pope.

When the French again invaded Italy with the support of the Holy See, Ascanio watched his brother Ludovico Sforza's downfall and imprisonment (1500), unable to act. On 15 June 1500, he was taken to France and imprisoned in Lyon, later at the Tour de Bourges. He was freed on 3 January 1502 based on his promise not to leave France without royal permission. He participated in the Papal conclave, September 1503. He made futile efforts to succeed Alexander VI, fighting against Cardinal della Rovere and Georges d'Amboise, the formal nominee of France. When Pius III (Francesco Piccolomini) died the same month of his coronation, Cardinal Sforza took part in the Papal conclave, October 1503, but Giuliano della Rovere (Julius II) was elected nearly unanimously.^[21]

On 23 May 1505, Cardinal Ascanio attended a Secret Consistory in good health and went hunting after lunch. On his return, he felt ill. He took medicine against the plague, but on Wednesday, 28 May, he took to his bed with a cold sweat. The fifty-year-old Ascanio died in Rome, in the house in his garden next to S. Girolamo dei Schiavoni, on 28 May 1505. It was not disappointment, however, that killed Cardinal Ascanio, but the plague (pestis inguinaria). He was buried that same evening, with no cardinal and neither Master of Ceremonies being present due to the plague.^[22] Julius II commissioned the erection of the Cardinal's tomb^[23] in the Cappella Maggiore of Santa Maria del Popolo,^[24] with a revealing inscription in which Pope Julius declared himself "mindful of [Ascanio's] most honourable virtues" and "forgetful of [past] contentions" ("virtutum memor honestissimarum, contentionum oblitus").^[25] The artist was Andrea Sansovino.^[26]

Ascanio's lifelong focus on public affairs distracted his attention from being a patron of the arts. However, he was the one to introduce Josquin des Prez, the most famous musician of the Renaissance, to the papal court in 1486.^[27] He also commissioned the Liber musices of Florentius de Faxolis. Strenuous and hard-skinned as a politician, Ascanio preferred gambling rather than studying. He was undoubtedly Machiavellian, but also clear-sighted and intelligent, with haughty spirit and unflinching courage. His political morals were typical of his era and he remained dedicated to his love for Milan and for his family.

• In the 1981 BBC series The Borgias, Cardinal Sforza is played by British actor Clive Merrison.
• In the 2011 Showtime series The Borgias, Cardinal Sforza is played by British actor Peter Sullivan.
• In the Canal+ series Borgia: Faith and Fear, Cardinal Sforza is played by English actor Christian McKay.