Between "Spirituali" and "Intransigenti": Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga and Patrician Reform in

Sixteenth-Century Italy
Author(s): Paul V. Murphy
Source: The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 88, No. 3 (Jul., 2002), pp. 446-469
Published by: Catholic University of America Press
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 BETWEEN SPIRITUALI AND INTRANSIGENTI.
CARDINAL ERCOLE GONZAGA AND PATRICIAN
REFORM IN SLXTEENTH-CENTURY ITALY

BY

Paul V Murphy*

In May of 1549 a colleague questioned the orthodoxy of Cardinal E

cole Gonzaga (1505-1563) based on another person's doubts. Gonzaga
responded in his own hand and defended his orthodoxy in the follo
ing terms:

I am a Catholic and a good one and I have in my house someone who knows
and wants to teach me what I ought to say and think as a Catholic; if I am not
a member of the Company of the Rosary or that of the Sisters of Ravenna,
have patience. It is enough that I am of the Company of Christ and I sense the
need that I have for him, because I confess myself to be a sinner, and so I am.1

This is a firm yet ambiguous statement of loyalty to the Catholic

Church. Gonzaga was committed to the Church, but he admitted that
he needed someone to show him what that meant. Further, his refer
ence to his membership in the "Company of Christ" indicates his use of
a rather inclusive standard for describing membership in the Church.
His statement also demonstrates that, even in his own lifetime, Gon
zaga's work and his relationships with others led some to wonder
where he stood on the religious issues of the day.

*Dr. Murphy is an assistant professor of history in the University of San Francisco.

'Archivio di Stato, Mantua, Archivio Gonzaga (henceforth ASM, AG), busta 1918, fol.
318r, Ercole Gonzaga to Reginaldo Nerli, May 7, 1549. Also transcribed in Gottfried
Buschbell, Reformation und Inquisition in Italien um die Mitte des XVI. Jahrhunderts
("Quellen und Forschungen aus dem Gebiete der Geschichte," no. 13 [Paderborn, 1910]),
pp. 282-283:". . . sono catholico cos? fussi buono et ho in casa persona che sa et mi vuol
insegnar quello che debbo dir et sentir catholicamente; si non sono mo [=modo] della
compagnia del rosaro o d?lie Suore di Ravenna, ha patienza, basta che sono di quella di
Christo et sent? il bisogno che ho di lui, perch? mi confesso peccatore et cosi son?." The
reference to the "Suore di Ravenna" is to a confraternity at the Ospedale Maggiore in
Mantua. See ASM, AG, b. 3358, unnumbered fascicle, no signature, May 27,1535.

446

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 BY PAUL V MURPHY 447

Four centuries have not lessened the difficulty in understanding Ercole

Gonzaga, who stands as a widely recognized but not well-understood
figure in the landscape of sixteenth-century Italian history. He was the
second son of Francesco Gonzaga (1466-1519), Marquis of Mantua, and
Isabella D'Est? (1474-1539), prominent figures in the world of Renais
sance politics and culture. As a noble cardinal and bishop of Mantua he
enjoyed a substantial income with which he played the patron and cared
for his numerous children. He enjoyed the benefits of a typical training
in the humanities in Mantua. His studies under Pietro Pomponazzi at
Bologna in the 1520's deeply influenced him. He assembled a library
that included examples of classical literature, patristic theology, scholas
tic works, humanist editions of the classics, and treatises by a variety of
Protestant authors and left to his heirs approximately 1,500 volumes.
His awareness of ecclesiastical and international politics grew when he
spent nearly ten years in Rome as his family's primary diplomatic agent.2
From 1537 to 1561 Gonzaga resided in Mantua. There he engaged in a
reform of his diocese that included numerous diocesan visitations, re
form of convents, attentiveness to the education of the clergy, and a re
form of lay confraternities. From the death of his brother Duke Federico,
in 1540, to 1556 Cardinal Gonzaga served as ducal regent for his nephews.
In this capacity he protected Gonzaga interests in Italian and imperial
politics. Gonzaga's lengthy correspondence and his relationships with
prominent political and religious figures have made him familiar to his
torians seeking witnesses to the political and ecclesiastical history of
sixteenth-century Italy.3 His friendships with and support of certain in
dividuals who eventually chose to become Protestants would seem to
conflict with his role as a leading member of the College of Cardinals. Yet,
his career culminated in 1561 when Pope Pius IV named him legate to the
Council of Trent, where he presided until his death in March of 1563.

Most interpretations of Gonzaga's life have reflected broader debates

among historians as to the nature of Italian Protestantism and reform

2On the library see Paul V Murphy, "Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga and Catholic Reform in
Sixteenth Century Italy" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Toronto, 1996), chapter 1;
Roberto Rezzaghi,77"Catecismo"di Leonardo De Marini nel contesto della riformapas
torale del Cardinale Ercole Gonzaga (Rome, 1986), pp. 57-60.
3Gonzaga's correspondence includes his personal carteggio, or letters sent to him, in
the ASM, AG, bb. 1903-1944. The ASM, AG also holds coppialettere of Gonzagas own let
ters that include codices 6497-6518 and busta 1945 as well as ASM, AG, Coppialettere dei
Gonzaga, buste 2940-2943, that holds letters sent as the regent for the duchy. The Vatican
Library holds another six codices of Gonzaga's letters in the fondo Barberiniana Latina
(henceforth BAV Barb. Lat.), 5788-5793.

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 448 BETWEEN SPIRITUALI AND INTRANSIGENT!

within the Catholic Church. Prominent in this discussion is the division

between the spirituali and the intransigenti. The spirituali are gener
ally said to have held to some form of the doctrine of justification by
faith alone, cultivated a personalized religion based on the reading of
Scripture, particularly the Pauline epistles, engaged in the study of the
Fathers, and sought an irenic solution to the division between Protes
tants and Catholics. Historians have included among the spirituali Car
dinals Gasparo Contarini (1483-1542) and Reginald Pole (1500-1558),
Bishop Gian Matteo Giberti (1495-1543), and some significant individ
uals who became Protestants: Bernardino Ochino (1487-1564), Pier
Paolo Vergerio the Younger (1498-1565), and Pietro Martire Vermigli
(1499-1562).4 The intransigenti, in contrast, are characterized by strict
adherence to the scholastic method in theology, rejection of the doc
trine of justification by faith alone, and an eagerness to seek out and
punish religious deviants. Included among them are the future inquisi
tors and popes, Gian Pietro Carafa (1476-1559) and Marcello Cervini
(1501-1555). Moreover, in the interpretation of Massimo Firpo and
Paolo Simoncelli, 1542, the year that saw the flight of Bernardino
Ochino and Pietro Martire Vermigli, the death of Contarini, and the reor
ganization of the Roman Inquisition, marked the beginning of the end
of the Renaissance itself, not simply the demise of the spirituali as a re
ligious faction. It signals, in their view, the beginning of a concerted ef
fort to eliminate the lax, aristocratic Church of the Italian Renaissance
by the proponents of the Counter-Reformation. The spirituali them
selves subsequently split into moderate and radical wings over whether
their core beliefs were reconcilable with those of the Catholic Church.5

4See Pierre Imbart de la Tour, Les origines de la R?forme, Vol. 3: L'?vang?lisme (Paris,
1914); Eva-Maria Jung,"On the Nature of Evangelism in Sixteenth-Century ltely,"fournal of
the History of Ideas, 14 (1953), 511-527; Benedetto Fontanini, II Beneficio di Cristo con
le versioni del sec?lo XVI. Documenti e testimonianze; ed. Salvatore Caponetto (DeKalb,
Chicago, and Florence, 1972); Delio Cmtimo?, Eretici italiani del Cinquecento. Ricerche
storiche (Florence, 1939), and Prospettive di storia ereticale italiana del Cinquecento
(Bari, I960).
^Massimo Firpo and Dario Marcatto,// Processo inquisitoriale del cardinale Giovanni
Morone (4 vols.; Rome, 1981-1989); Massimo Firpo, Inquisizione romana e controri
forma. Studi sul cardinal Giovanni Morone e il suo processo d'eresia (Bologna, 1992);
Paolo Simoncelli, Evangelismo italiano del Cinquecento. Questione religiosa e nico
demismopolitico (Rome, 1979); see also Paolo Simonce?VInquisizione romana e riforma
in Italia." Rivista storica italiana (Henceforth RSI), 100 (1988), 5-125. Compare these
views with Hubert Jedin, Riforma cattolica o controriforma? Tentativo di chiarimento
dei concetti con riflessioni sul Concilio di Trento, 2nd ed., trans.Marola Guarducci (Bres
cia, 1967).

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 BY PAUL V MURPHY 449

Those historians who focus on Mantua and Gonzaga have similarly

divided the religious world of the sixteenth century. To find room for
Gonzaga historians have de-emphasized those aspects of his career that
hinder them from placing him in a more historiographically congenial
framework. For example, on the one hand Ludwig von Pastor saw Gon
zaga as one who in his youth was "a votary of the Renaissance" yet who
after becoming a cardinal began "to take life more seriously." Pastor at
tempted to minimize what he considered the less reputable aspects of
Gonzaga's private life by incorrectly positing a conversion after which
he ruled his diocese with a "rod of iron."6 Dermot Fenlon also views
Gonzaga as a conservative. In his study of Reginald Pole he argued that
after the Diet of Regensburg in 1541, with its final attempt at reunion
with the Lutherans over justification, Gonzaga no longer associated
with the spirituali.7 Philip McNair, in his work on Pietro Martire Ver
migli, claimed that Gonzaga was "too unspiritual to feel the enchant
ment of Evangelism . .." and that he eliminated heresy from his diocese
with "ruthless efficiency."8 Thus, these historians have concluded that
Gonzaga was a fellow traveler with the spirituali in the early part of his
career whose conservatism and political role led him in later years to
oppose with increasing rigor unorthodox thought in his diocese.9 On
the other hand, some scholars include Gonzaga among the spirituali
and even suggest that he held some views that were heretical. Gigliola
Fragnito has done so on account of his friendship with Contarini and
others.10 Paolo Simoncelli also identifies Gonzaga as one of the spiritu

6Ludwig von Pastor, The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages, Vol.
11, trans. Ralph Francis Kerr (London, 1908-1928), pp. 506. For Gonzaga as a stern re
former see also Stefano Davari,"Cenni storici intorno al tribunale deU'inquisizione in Man
tova," Archivio storico lombardo, 6 (1879), 547-565,773-800.
7Dermot Fenlon, Heresy and Obedience in Tridentine Italy: Cardinal Pole and the
Counter Reformation (Cambridge, 1972), p. 57.
8Philip McNair, Peter Martyr in Italy. An Anatomy of Apostasy (Oxford, 1967), p. 182.
See also Barbara McCIung Halkmn, Italian Cardinals, Reform and the Church as Property
(Berkeley, 1985), p. 28. She judges Gonzaga to be a "sincere and conservative reformer."
^Additionally see Jos? Fern?ndez Montesinos (ed.), Cartas in?ditas defuan de Vald?s
al cardinal Gonzaga, by Juan de Vald?s (Madrid, 1931); Laura Bertazzi Nizzola, "Infil
trazioni protestanti nel ducato di Mantova (1530-1563)," Bollettino storico mantovano,
2 (1956), 102-130;4 (1956),258-286;7 (1957), 205-228;Hubert Jedin,"Il figlio di Isabella
d'Est?: il cardinale Ercole Gonzaga," Humanitas, I (1946), 370-380, reprinted in Chiesa
della fede, Chiesa della storia: Saggi scelti (Brescia, 1972), pp. 499-512; Roberto Rezza
ghi, // "Catecismo"di Leonardo de Marini nel contesto della riforma pastorale del Car
dinale Ercole Gonzaga (Rome, 1968),pp. 25-73.
,0Gigliola Fragiiito,"Gli's/M'r#w?j/i' e la fuga di Bernardino Ochino,"i?if ista Storica Itali
ana, 84 (1972), 783-785; eadem, "Ercole Gonzaga, Reginald Pole e il Monastero di San

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 450 BETWEEN SPIRITUALI AND INTRANSIGENT!

ali.u This highlights the problems with this categorization of sixteenth

century Italian religious life. If Gonzaga can be considered one of the
spirituali, then the same might be claimed for any number of sixteenth
century Italian prelates.12

In all of these interpretations of Gonzaga, historians have essentially

tried to describe his motivations. Was he one of the spirituali, and
therefore somewhat unorthodox? Or was he, as Firpo has argued,
merely an imperial cardinal who acted as he did for political reasons.13
Gonzaga may be better understood when viewed as a "patrician re
former." By this term I mean one whose reform activities were deter
mined both by his education and role as a leading member of a
northern Italian ruling family and by a genuine interest in reform for re
ligious reasons. This is a somewhat paradoxical posture. It is helpful,
however, in that it allows us to avoid the historiographical polarities of
many recent attempts at describing sixteenth-century Italian religion. It
suggests a more subtly graded spectrum of religious views. If holding to
some form of the doctrine of justification by faith alone is one of the
principal characteristics of the spirituali, Gonzaga cannot be included
in their number. There is no direct evidence that he departed from any
of the fundamental teachings of the Roman Church. But he fits no more
easily into the category of intransigenti. He engaged in discussion, at
least among his close associates, of matters that raised questions con
cerning the parameters of Catholic orthodoxy. This brought suspicion
upon him both during his own lifetime and in the years after his death,
when zealous inquisitors scrutinized his activities and those of many of
his associates in Mantua.

Gonzaga's career during the years of his residence in Mantua from

1537 to 1561 underscores the inadequacy of the sharp distinction be
tween spirituali and intransigenti by demonstrating that they fall far
short of explaining many aspects of his work and thought.14 The nature

Benedetto Polirone. Nuovi documenti su Luciano Degli Ottoni e Benedetto Fontanini

(1549-155 IX Benedictina, 34 (1987), 253-271.
"Simoncelli, "Inquisizione romana," p. 69. He says that Gonzaga was "tra i pochissimi
spirituali' rimasti attivi o in vita in Italia con dignit? cardinalizia."
12Simoncelli, Evangelismo, p. viii.
1?Firpo, Inquisizione romana, p. 279.
^Others who have addressed the issue of orthodoxy and heresy in Italy by means
other than a strict division of spirituali and intransigenti include: Paul F. Grendler, The
Roman Inquisition and the Venetian Press, 1540-1605 (Princeton, 1977); Silvana Seidel
Menchi, "Inquisizione come repressione o inquisizione come mediazione? Una proposta
di periodizzazione,Mwnwano dell'istituto storico italiano per Veta moderna e contem
por?nea, 35-36 (1983-1984), 53-77; William V. Hudon, in his biography of Marcello

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 BY PAUL V MURPHY 451

of his relationships to various reformers has heretofore remained un

clear. Scholars have, more often than not, used his letters for the study
of other individuals.15 This has allowed for many generalizations about
him and very little in-depth study. Gonzaga's keen interest in the theo
logical issues of his day, his work for reform in his diocese, and his in
volvement with reformers of varying stripes render inadequate previous
judgments of Gonzaga either as a simple conservative or as a Mantuan
nicodemite. Both those aspects of his career that can be considered
conservative and those that might appear marginally heretical must be
understood in the context of his career as a leading member of a ruling
elite in northern Italy.

The patrician reform model I suggest as an alternative to these ex

planations is particularly visible in Gonzaga's relations with those num
bered among the spirituali. Gonzaga found supporters and confidants
in two of the most significant figures of his day, prelates considered to
have been the leaders of the spirituali, namely, Gasparo Contarini and
Reginald Pole. Gonzaga and Contarini met at the papal court in 1528.
Their extant correspondence includes the period from the spring of
1535 until Contarini's death in the summer of 1542. The two were in
regular contact during Gonzaga's years in Rome.16 After his return to

Cervini, directly challenges the usefulness of the terms spirituali and intransigenti. He
highlights what the spirituali and the intransigenti had in common, i.e., humanistic
training, ecclesiastical rank, concern for reform, and a desire to eliminate curial abuses. He
uses Cervini to illustrate the inadequacy of the distinction. William V Hudon, Marcello
Cervini and Ecclesiastical Government in Tridentine Italy (DeKalb, 1992). Elisabeth G.
Gleason, in her examination of the work and thought of the Venetian reformer, Cardinal
Gasparo Contarini, does not reject entirely the distinction between the spirituali and the
intransigenti as used by Simoncelli and Firpo, but argues that the cohesiveness of the
spirituali as a group should not be exaggerated. She also indicates that the gap between
reformers such as Contarini and more conservative curialists was not as great, nor were
the two groups so independently self-contained, as has been claimed. Elisabeth G. Glea
son, Gasparo Contarini, Venice, Rome, and Reform (Berkeley, 1993); see also her earlier
article, "On the Nature of Sixteenth-Century Italian Evangelism: Scholarship, 1953-1978,"
Sixteenth Century fournal, 9 (1978), 3-25 and 193-201.
15See Walter Friedensburg,"Der Briefwechsel Gasparo Contarini's mit Ercole Gonzaga,"
Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken, 2 (1899),
161-222; Rodolfo Renier,"Vergeriana: notizie sul Vergerio e due lettere in?dite indirizzate
al medesimo cardinale Ercole Gonzaga," Giornale storico della letteratura italiana, 24
(1894), 452-456; Edmondo Solmi,"La fuga di Bernardino Ochino secondo i documenti
dell'Archivio Gonzaga di Mantova," Bollettino senese di storia patria, 15 (1908), 23-98;
B. Niccolini, Bernardino Ochino e la riforma in Italia (Naples, 1935).
,6Gasparo Contarini to the Venetian Senate, April 2,1529, Franz Dittrich (ed.), Regesten
und Briefe des Kardinals Gasparo Contarini (1483-1542) (Braunsberg, 1881), p. 50;
Gasparo Contarini to Ercole Gonzaga,August 21,1535,Friedensburg,op. cit.,p. 7.

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452 BETWEEN SPIRITUAL! AND INTRANSIGENTI

Mantua in 1537, Gonzaga communicated with Contarini both as a

friend and a disciple on religious and political matters as well as on his
reform activity in Mantua. Contarini, in turn, shared with Gonzaga his
own writings and negotiations for reform.

An important example of their collaboration came in 1541 when

Contarini sent Gonzaga a confidential advance copy of the understand
ing reached by theologians at the Diet of Regensburg concerning justi
fication and sought his opinion. This understanding, often referred to as
"double justification," was intended to overcome the differences be
tween Lutherans and Catholics. It was a theological compromise that
left both sides dissatisfied.17 Gonzaga's theologian, Angelo de Cionis, re
sponded to Contarini with some doubts as to the formula. Contarini
then defended the Regensburg formula in his Ep?stola de justifica
tione, which he sent with an accompanying letter to Gonzaga on June
918 Beyond the doubts of his theologian, it is not clear what Gonzaga
thought about the theory of double justification as he did not respond
to Contarini. In a further letter Contarini suggested that perhaps Gon
zaga had been scandalized by his formula.19 Scandalized or not, Gonzaga
cited favorably Contarini's other writings in giving advice on the future
direction of the Church even after the Venetian cardinal's death.20 Gon
zaga's general support for Contarini's views is evident, for example, in
his attempt to obtain a treatise on the sacraments that Contarini had au
thored.21 This intimate friendship reveals Gonzaga to be closely linked
to circles well known for commitment to reform in the Church.

The relationship of Ercole Gonzaga to Reginald Pole dated from at

least early 1537.22 At first their relations may not have been cordial. In
January of 1537 the pope granted the Spanish diocese of Tarazona to
Gonzaga. Some of the cardinals, including Pole, strongly opposed the
provision, because they wanted to see a beginning to reforms in the

'"Gasparo Contarini to Ercole Gonzaga,May 3,1541,Dittrich,op. cit.,pp. 324-325.

18Gasparo Contarini to Ercole Gonzagajune 9,I54l,ibid.,p. 195.The defense of the ar
ticle on justification is found in Societas Goerresiana, Concilium Tridentinum: Diario
rum, actorum, epistolarum, tractatuum, nova collectio,Vol. 12, p. 314. On this letter see
also Gleason, Contarini, pp. 229-235.
19Gasparo Contarini to Ercole Gonzaga, July 19,1541, Friedensburg,op. cit.,p. 58.
20BAV, Barb. Lat. codex 5792, fol. 121v, Ercole Gonzaga to Ercole d'Est?, December 4,
1544.
21Ercole Gonzaga to Gasparo Contarini,April 18,1540, Friedensburg,op. cit.,p. 46; Gas
paro Contarini to Ercole Gonzaga, July 13,1540, ibid., p. 54; Gasparo Contarini to Ercole
Gonzaga, December 13,1540, ibid., p. 56.
22ASM,AG,b. 887, fols. I62r-l62v, Reginald Pole to Federico Gonzaga, January 18,1537.

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 BY PAUL V MURPHY 453

provision of benefices to cardinals.23 Nine years later, when Pole was at

Trent, Gonzaga wrote to inform him, among other things, that he had
given up that benefice. In a letter of response, Pole praised Gonzaga's
decision and at the same time gently chided him for having taken so
long to come to that conclusion.24 Any animosity that may have resulted
from the conflict does not seem to have endured. Pole visited Mantua
with Contarini in late spring or summer of 1538 and then in the fall of
1542.25 Throughout the 1540's and 1550s Pole appears in the corre
spondence of Gonzaga as a colleague and an authority in religious mat
ters. On the eve of his departure for the Council of Trent, Pole sent to
Gonzaga a copy of his De Concilio liber, which outlined his views of
how the council should proceed and what it should accomplish. He
placed heavy emphasis on the need for humility on the part of the car
dinals and bishops at the council because of their part in causing the di
vision among Christians. Gonzaga thanked the English cardinal for the
book and expressed high praise for it.26 Gonzaga's connection to Pole is
further borne out by his relationship to others in the English cardinals
circle including the poet Vittoria Colonna (1490-1546) and Marcanto
nio Flaminio (d. 1550). For example, Gonzaga carried on correspon
dence with Colonna concerning Bernardino Ochino. The poet praised
Gonzaga for his support of the preacher.27 Marcantonio Flaminio, the
editor of the Beneficio di Cristo, was a guest in the palace of Ercole
Gonzaga in Rome after he left Naples when suspicions surfaced there
concerning the preaching of Ochino.28 Later he visited Gonzaga in Man
tua in the company of Pole, not long after Ochino's flight to Geneva
in 1542.29

23On the reaction of the cardinals see Lorenzo Bragadino to the Venetian Senate, Janu
ary 27,1537, Dittrich, op. cit.,p. 94.
24ASM,AG,b. 1915, fols. 575r-575V, Reginald Pole to Ercole Gonzaga, January 11,1546.
Pole acknowledged in this letter that he was one of those cardinals who had initially
protested the provision.
25Archivio storico diocesano di Mantova, Mensa Vescovile, Serie ?ntrate e Uscite, b. 1,
fol. 184r, June-July, 1538, indicates purchases in preparation for the visit of the "reve
rendissimi cardinali Contarino e Inghilterra."
26ASM, AG, Coppialettere di Ercole Gonzaga, codex 6497, letter #12, fol. 6\ Ercole Gon
zaga to Reginald Pole, July 4,1545. On this work see Dermot Fenlon, op. cit., pp. 100-115.
27See below, p. xx.
28Massimo Firpo, Tra alumbrados e "spirituali." Studi su Juan de Vald?s e il valde
sianesimo nella crisi religiosa del '500 italiano (Florence, 1990), pp. 177-178.
"?Quarto Costituto di Endimio Calandra, April 2, 1568, Sergio Pagano (ed.), //
Processo di Endimio Calandra e Vlnquisizione a Mantova nel 1567-1568 ("Studi e
Testi,"no. 339 [Vatican City, 1991]), p. 298.

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 454 BETWEEN SPIRITUAL! AND INTRANSIGENTI

The influence of Contarini and Pole on Gonzaga can be seen in his

work of diocesan reform. He took their advice on such matters seri
ously, especially in the supervision of preaching. For example, in 1537
Contarini became involved in a debate in Siena over Agostino Museos
preaching on justification and predestination. He held an Augustinian
doctrine of justification by faith and was imprisoned for heresy. Con
tarini expressed his thoughts on the matter in a letter to the Sienese no
bleman Lattanzio Tolomei. Essentially, Contarini was concerned not
only with the theological soundness of the content of the preaching,
but the pastoral implications of it. Contarini later presented his views
for the benefit of priests in his first treatise on preaching, the Modus
concionandi. This work reflected the preoccupation of Contarini that
the Gospel be preached authentically, but not in such a manner that sim
ple and uneducated people consider themselves exempt from the ne
cessity of good works. The treatise exhibits the tension in the mind of a
Venetian noble who valued the traditional ordering of society and at the
same time appreciated the complexities of biblical theology. Contarini
admitted that justification by faith alone, when properly understood, was
an accurate view of human redemption. So, while he encouraged preach
ers to proclaim the Gospel, he urged them to do so with caution in mat
ters of dispute, such as justification and predestination. Preachers were
not to underemphasize or disparage good works in the process of salva
tion as ordinary people, he argued, would be incapable of such a correct
understanding and would neglect to do good works.30 This distinction
between the capacities of the educated elite and ordinary believers re
mained a central feature of Contarini's attitude toward reform and the
Church.31

Gonzaga learned of the controversy over Museo's preaching in Siena

as he began an extended period of studies in Scripture and theology in
Mantua. Soon after he returned there in 1537 Gonzaga had the lector of
the Dominican convent in Mantua, Pietro Bertano, lecture on Scripture
in the cardinal's apartment in the episcopal residence. Further, in 1537
and 1538 Gonzaga purchased more than one hundred volumes of Scrip
ture and theology.32 Gonzaga informed Contarini about these studies
and soon expressed to him his difficulties in understanding the letter of
Saint Paul to the Romans. He told his friend that he had reached the
eleventh chapter and each day understood less; indeed, he had never
seen anything more difficult. Aristotle, in Gonzaga's opinion, was but a

?0Gasparo Contarini,Modus concionandi,in Dittrich,op. cit.,pp. 308-309.

31See Gleason, Gasparo Contarini, pp. 261-276.
32See Murphy, op. cit., chap. 1.

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 BY PAUL V. MURPHY 455

trifle in comparison.33 In response Contarini commended him for his

studies and gave encouragement. Contarini noted of the letter to the Ro
mans that its meaning is "altissima," a phrase similar to the one that he had
quoted from the eleventh chapter of Romans in the letter to Tolomei
when the mysteries of justification lay just beyond his ability to describe:
"O altitudo divitiarum sapientie Dei, quam incomprehensibilia sunt iudi
tia eius et quam investigabiles vie eius!"34 Contarini sent the copy of the
letter to Tolomei to assist Gonzaga in his studies, "because it is not un
related to the reading of Saint Paul to the Romans."35 These exchanges
continued and Gonzaga later acknowledged receipt of Contarini's
handbook of the Modus concionandi. He informed the Venetian cardi
nal that it would serve to instruct the preachers of his own diocese.36

It is not surprising, given Gonzaga's social position, that he would

find attractive Contarini's cautionary advice to preachers dealing with
justification and predestination. It was consonant with Gonzaga's role
as the religious and temporal governor of the duchy of Mantua, and he
expressed his own views on this in a letter to Gian Matteo Giberti in
1537. Gonzaga had provided for the appointment of Pietro Bertano as
bishop of Fano, a see he himself had held in commendam. Giberti had
heard criticism of Bertano from another Dominican, Reginaldo Nerli,
and, in turn, sought Gonzaga's reasons for the choice. In Gonzaga's
view, Bertano possessed two qualities of importance: an abundance of
religion without superstition, and solid learning. Gonzaga described the
first of these in comparison to a "bella festa" that Nerli had created
when he had preached in Verona and worked the people into such a
frenzy that they took to the streets, apparently with little or no clerical
supervision. With crosses in their hands they cried out "Christo, Christo,"
and then began to discuss predestination. That, for Gonzaga, was an ex
ample of the effect of bad preaching and matches Contarini's concerns
as expressed in the Modus concionandi. Gonzaga considered Bertano
to be more discreet. He admitted that Bertano did not possess as much
charity as might be desired, but he thought it more important that he
have good judgment. As an authority on this preference Gonzaga cited
Thomas Aquinas, who argued that to choose the best candidate for the

3?Ercole Gonzaga to Gasparo Contarini, November 3,1537, Friedensburg,op. cit.,p. 23.

4Gasparo Contarini to Lattanzio Tolomei, transcribed in Aldo Stella, "La lettera del Car
dinale Contarini sulla predestinazione,"#/ttf.sta di storia della chiesa in Italia, 15 (1961),
431.
35Gasparo Contarini to Ercole Gonzaga, January 19,1538, Friedensburg, op. cit., p. 27.
"... perche non ? aliena dalla lectione di san Paulo ad Romanos. "The letter is also printed
in Stella, La Lettera," pp. 420-421.
*Ercole Gonzaga to Gasparo Contarini, January 16, 1539, Friedensburg, op. cit., p. 36.

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 456 BETWEEN SPIRITUALI AND INTRANSIGENTI

office of bishop does not mean choosing the one who is greater in char
ity. Rather, Thomas held, the best candidate is the one capable of in
structing and ruling peacefully the church that he is to govern.37 This
description of pastoral authority appealed to Gonzaga, the patrician re
former. In his discussion of the duties of a bishop he noted that the of
fice required good judgment and learning. Charity may in fact have
been problematic if the results of Nerli's preaching in Verona were
taken as an example. Ercole Gonzaga, the ecclesiastical representative
of a ruling house, saw no value in stirring the people to emotional dis
plays of faith if that led to questionable behavior and discussion. Intelli
gent, sober teaching and good government stood at the heart of his
perception of a bishop's duties. Bertano, a trusted advisor and learned
theologian, met those qualifications.

Renewed attention to the office of preaching was a common theme

in this period. The Council of Trent would soon refer to preaching as
the "chief task of a bishop."38 Gonzaga also emphasized this in his pub
lications for the diocese of Mantua. An important example was the
Breve ricordo di Monsignor Illustrissimo et Reverendissimo Mon
signor Hercole Gonzaga Cardinale di mantova delle cose spettanti
alia vita dei Chierici, al governo delle cbiese, et alla cura delle
Anime. . . . This was a republication of a work that Gian Matteo Giberti
provided to the clergy of Verona. In addition to Contarini's De modo
concionandiy Gonzaga suggested in this text that his priests use manu
als such as the biblical commentaries of Nicholas of Lyra and collec
tions of homilies for feasts and Sundays. He wished his priests to follow
a traditional style of preaching and to emphasize virtues and vices
rather than entering into difficult issues of theology.39 His pastoral con

37BAV, Barb. Lat., codex 5789, fols. 76r-76v, Ercole Gonzaga to Gian Matteo Giberti, No
vember 13,1537. The citation from Aquinas is from Summa Theologiae, Secunda secun
dae, 185, 3,".. ille qui d?bet aliquem eligere in episcopum, vel de eo providere, non
tenetur assumere meliorem simpliciter, quod est secundum caritatem, sed meliorem
quoad regimen ecclesiae, qui scilicet possit ecclesiam et instruere et defender? et pacifice
gubernare." See St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, vol. 47, The Pastoral and Reli
gious Lives (2a2ae, 183-189), ed. Jordan Aumann, O.P. (London, 1973), p. 70.
^Giuseppe Alberigo et al. (eds.), Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Decreta, 3rd ed.
(Bologna, 1973),p. 763: Sessio XXIV, de Ref., can. 4.
39Ercole Gonzaga, Breve ricordo di Monsignor Illustrissimo et Reverendissimo Mon
signor Hercole Gonzaga Cardinale di mantova dette cose spettanti alla vita dei
Chierici, al governo dette chiese, et alla cura dette Anime di questo suo Vescovato di
Mantova, Ristampato nel Mese di Marzo, 1561. Con la gionta dette Constitutioni della
compagnia del Santissimo Corpo del Signore nostro Iesu Christo (Mantua: Giacomo
Ruffinello, 156l),p.2r.

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 BY PAUL V. MURPHY 457

cerns about preaching were, thus, very close to those of Contarini and
Pole. He did act on this. The issue of prudence came into play, for ex
ample, in the career of the Augustinian, Andrea Ghetti da Volterra, who
had preached questionable doctrine in Mantua. As a result, both Gon
zaga and Pole warned him to be more careful to avoid scandal. What
ever he thought of the content, Gonzaga was clearly concerned about
the pastoral implications.40

Prudence in the preaching of difficult doctrines and emphasis on

virtues and vices may have been the ideal model for Gonzaga's preach
ers. However, even when preachers exceeded Gonzaga's boundaries of
prudence, he did not often, in fact, employ Pastor's "rod of iron " In gen
eral he showed a tact and a broad-mindedness when it came to licens
ing visiting preachers and disciplining those preachers who departed
from the norms of Catholic orthodoxy. Endimio Calandra, Gonzaga's
secretary, noted this "negligence" in his testimony in his own heresy
trial four years after Gonzaga's death. However, he attributed the pres
ence of many who preached reformed doctrine to widespread Protes
tant preaching throughout Italy, even in Rome.This was so, according to
Calandra, because "in those days things were not so strict."41 This open
ness resulted in a series of preachers in Mantua who, according to Calan
dra, presented "bad doctrine."42 Calandra's characterization of Gonzaga
as negligent in his attention to preaching must be judged in the more
heated context of the inquisitorial investigations of 1567 and 1568.
What appeared to be negligence in the years following the Council of
Trent may not have been regarded as such in the 1530's and 1540's.

Among the numerous preachers whom Gonzaga welcomed to Man

tua were the Capuchins, most prominently Bernardino Ochino.43 Ochino
entered the Capuchins in 1534 and served as vicar general from 1538
until his apostasy in 1542. Calandra testified that Gonzaga was present
at a sermon Ochino preached in Rome in 1534. On that occasion the
Capuchin spoke openly about reserved cases, that is, those penitential
matters that could only be handled by a local ordinary or the pope.44
Ochino came to Mantua in 1538 for a series of Advent sermons. The Flor
entine cardinal, Niccol? Gaddi, subsequently praised Gonzaga for hav

40ASM, AG, b. 1917, unnumbered fascicle, Ercole Gonzaga to Andrea Ghetti da Volterra,
January 8,1548.
41Settimo Costituto di Endimio Calandra, April 19, 1568, in Pagano, op. cit., p. 333.
42Secondo Costituto di Endimio Calandra, March 27,1568, in Pagano, op. cit., p. 251.
43ASM, AG, b. 1153, fol. 295r, Ercole Gonzaga to Federico Gonzaga, January 29, 1530.
44Secondo Costituto di Endimio Calandra, March 27,1568, in Pagano, op. cit., p. 250.

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 458 BETWEEN SPIRITUALI AND INTRANSIGENTI

ing provided for the preaching of Ochino. Gaddi was confident that
Gonzaga would be confirmed in the good opinion that he already had
of the preacher.45 Following this visit Ochino wrote to Duke Federico
Gonzaga to thank him for the kindness that he had showed while he
was there. Ochino returned to Mantua in April of 1539. He afterwards
wrote again to the duke about the kind reception he received from Er
cole.46 Cardinal Gonzaga's sister-in-law, Margherita Pale?logo, wrote a
few days later to express her pleasure that Ochino had spent three days
with Cardinal Gonzaga.47 Vittoria Colonna also encouraged Gonzaga in
this support for Ochino and informed him that he had gained the re
spect of the preacher, who, after his stay in Mantua in 1538, informed
her of Gonzaga's "solid and real virtue."48 Such was Gonzaga's esteem
for the Capuchin that even in the very days of Ochino's flight to
Switzerland, he negotiated through his ambassador in Rome to have
him return to preach at Mantua. On August 7, 1542, as questions con
cerning his orthodoxy came to be raised more seriously in Rome,
Ochino wrote to Cardinal Gonzaga from Verona indicating that he
might not make it back to Mantua as requested. He added: "Wherever I
will be, I will always be most devoted to you."49
In the weeks after Ochino avoided the summons of Paul III to present
himself at Rome and took flight from Italy in August of 1542, Gonzaga
publicly expressed surprise at the Capuchin's decision. His knowledge
of it, however, was surely more intimate than he admitted, for, by his
own account, Gonzaga met the fleeing Ochino by chance along a road
in the Mantovano. On September 22,1542, he wrote to the Duke of Fer
rara:"! saw with my own eyes Fra Bernardino dressed in secular cloth
ing between le Grazie and Mantua going all alone to Germany, but then
I did not know that." He added that he learned only later of Ochino's
destination from Gian Matteo Giberti, who informed him of Ochino's
arrival in Switzerland.50 On November 6, Gonzaga wrote two further let

45ASM, AG, b. 1908, unnumbered busta. Fascicle identified as "1539. dal 18o Febraio al
12 Xbre. Paese vari. Diversi." Niccol? Gaddi to Ercole Gonzaga, May 11,1539.
^Bernardino Ochino to Federico Gonzaga, April 26, 1539, in Benedetto Nicolini,
Bernardino Ochino e la Riforma in Italia (Naples, 1935), p. 62.
47ASM, AG, b. 1908, unnumbered fascicle, Margherita Pale?logo to Ercole Gonzaga,
May 1,1539: "me stato molto caro per la litera di Vostra Reverendissima Signoria ehe per
tre di l'abia avuto seco a Mantua el padre fra bernardino. . . ."
48Victoria Color?na to Ercole Gonzaga, January 16, 1539 in Alessandro Luzio, "Vittoria
Colonna," Rivista storica mantovana, 1 (1885), 34, n. 1.
49ASM,AG,b. 1475, unnumbered fascicle labeled "paesi dello Stato," Bernardino Ochino
to Ercole Gonzaga, August 7,1542:"Ma dove saro,li sar? sempre affetionatissimo."
50Ercole Gonzaga to Ercole D'Est?, September 22,1542, in Luzio, op. cit., p. 42:'To con
questi occhi proprii vidi fra Bernardino travestito in habito di secolare fra le Gratie e Man

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 BY PAUL V MURPHY 459

ters on Ochino's flight. He wrote to his brother Ferrante to inform him

that it was true that Ochino had gone among the "Lutherans" and ex
pressed astonishment that such a friar, and at his age, would do such a
thing.51 He also wrote to the humanist bishop of Alba, Girolamo Vida, that
from what he had heard, Ochino had been called to Rome for a "very
good and holy purpose." He acknowledged that Ochino passed through
the Mantovano dressed as a soldier and forwarded to Vida a copy of the
letter that he had received from Giberti on the subject.52 With these let
ters Gonzaga may have been protecting himself in the tense religious
climate in Italy in the months following the departure of Ochino.

The sixteenth-century Capuchin historian, Bernardino Croli da Colpe

trazzo, also left an account of the meeting between Gonzaga and Ochino.
This version conflicts with Gonzaga's and raises questions as to Gonzaga's
candor. Croli claimed that while Ochino was on his way to Switzerland
"he went to zpalazzo outside of Mantua where Cardinal Gonzaga and
Ascanio Colonna were staying," where Gonzaga recognized him.53 Ochino,
according to the Capuchin account, asked Gonzaga not to be scandal
ized by his being dressed without a habit, because he was going to es
cape for his life and requested that Gonzaga not ask for any further
information.54 It is not likely that Gonzaga and Ochino would have en
countered one another in a chance meeting on the road, as Gonzaga's
version indicated.55 Nor does it seem credible that Gonzaga's suspicions
would not have been aroused by the friar's secular clothing. It is more
likely that Ochino had intentionally gone to Gonzaga at one of his resi

tova, che andava tutto solo alia volta di Alemagna, ma allhora non seppi gi? questo parti
colare, ma poco dapoi per una di lui al Vescovo di Verona intesi che di gi? era arrivato in
Terra di Grisoni. . ." Giberti subsequently wrote of the spirituali to Gonzaga and sug
gested that "sara bene lassare la loro compagnia." ASM, AG, b. 1912, fol. 849, Gian Matteo
Giberti eo Ercole Gonzaga, August 28,1542.
5,BAV, Barb. Lat., codex 5791 fols. 71v-79r, Ercole Gonzaga to Ferrante Gonzaga, No
vember 6,1542:"Fu vero che Fra Bernardino ando tra Lutherani dove si sta di presente. Et
chi potra giammai credere in huomo che viva poi che un tale religioso et nel l'et? ch'egli
si truova ha rotta la capezza: quello che sia di lui pi? oltra, non lo so, senon che si dice es
sere in Gineva Terra di suiceri et ivi predicare come se fosse il vescovo" (fols. 76r-76v)
,2BAV, Barb. Lat., codex 5791, fols. 71v-78r, Ercole Gonzaga to Girolamo Vida, November
6,1542.
"Bernardino Croli da Colpetrazzo, Monumenta hist?rica ordinis Minorum Cap
puchinorum,Vol. 2 (Assisi, 1939), p. 437:"se n'ando a un palazzo fuor di Mantova dove
stava ITllustrissimo Cardinale Consaga e il Signor Ascanio Colonna."
s"/ibiV/.:"Vostra Signoria non si scandalize di questo, perch? io fo per scampare la vita; et
se contenti de non saper'altro."
"Gigliola Fragnito has also noted the difficulty in Gonzaga's account. See "Gli spiritu
ali,'" pp. 784-785.

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 460 BETWEEN SPIRITUAL! AND INTRANSIGENTI

dences, displaying both confidence in approaching Gonzaga and con

cern for the cardinal's well being. The relationship between the two
must have been sufficiently secure for Ochino to be sure that the cardi
nal would not interfere with his escape. By withholding complete in
formation on his intentions, Ochino provided Gonzaga with the basis of
plausible denial that he knew what the Capuchin intended.

Gonzaga's circumspection about Ochino came to light in the testi

mony of Endimio Calandra in 1567 and 1568. Gonzaga's former secre
tary recounted events following the flight of Ochino during his trial.
When inquisitors asked him if he knew Marcantonio Flaminio, the edi
tor of the Beneficio di Cristo, he admitted that he knew him somewhat.
He mentioned that Flaminio had visited Mantua with Pole soon after
Paul III had appointed the English cardinal as legate to the Council of
Trent in October of 1542, not long following the flight of Ochino and
Pietro Martire Vermigli. Calandra elaborated: "When we were at table in
the house of my cardinal Ercole, Flaminio said publicly that the apostles
of Italy had departed, meaning the above mentioned friars." The in
quisitors then asked if Flaminio had made it clear of whom he was
speaking and whether Cardinals Gonzaga and Pole had understood
him. He responded:
Marcantonio Flaminio specifically named Fra Bernardino and Don Pietro
Martire and spoke strongly, so that whoever was at table understood. And the
cardinals also understood if they wanted to understand, and they made no re
ply at all nor did any one else make a reply to Flaminio.56

Both Croli and Calandra present us with a picture of a cardinal who

avoided interfering in the flight of an apostate or of criticizing him af
terwards. Although Gonzaga never publicly approved the open preach
ing of heretical doctrines among the people of Mantua, this episode
illustrates that he seems to have avoided, when possible, disciplining
those who did so, and there is no evidence here of the "rod of iron." Fur
ther, in the late 1530s and early 1540s Gonzaga did not view Ochino's
preaching as being so much in conflict with his own vision of the
Church that he needed to take punitive action. That it was Paul III,
with whom Gonzaga shared a mutual contempt, who had summoned

^Quarto Costituto di Endimio Calandra, April 2,1568, in Pagano, op. cit.,p. 298:"Et es
sendo a tavola il detto Flaminio in casa del cardinale mio Hercole, disse publicamente
ch'erano partiti gli apostoli d'Italia, intendendo delli sopradetti frati. Marc'Antonio
Flaminio nomino in specie fra Bernardino et don Pietro Martire et disse forte, che ogniuno
ch'era a tavola intese: et intesero anco i cardinali se volsero intendere, et non replicarono
cosa alcuna ne vi fu altra persona che replicasse o dicesse cosa alcuna al Flaminio."

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 BY PAUL V MURPHY 461

Ochino may have also inclined Gonzaga to step aside when the Ca
puchin took flight.

Gonzaga's relationship with Pier Paolo Vergerio also underlines this

willingness to deal with learned reformers in a lenient fashion, so long
as they exercised discretion in discussing religious issues. It also illus
trates the practical limits of Gonzaga's patrician reform. The relation
ship between Gonzaga and Vergerio dated to at least the summer of
1535, when the Mantuan cardinal supported Vergerio's candidacy as
bishop of Capodistria.57 Vergerio first visited Mantua in November of
153758 and returned there in the spring of 1539. In May of 1539 Cardi
nal Pietro Bembo reported to Gonzaga about the favorable impression
he had left upon Vergerio, writing that Vergerio had spoken well of
Gonzaga's studies and of his piety. Bembo added that Vergerio felt that
he had left Mantua a better person than when he had arrived.59 Verge
rio's most recent biographer argues that Gonzaga was the source of his
first encounter with Evangelism.60 This seems likely, given the scholarly
interests of Gonzaga in the years immediately following his return to
Mantua, for Vergerio would have had access to the many books that
Gonzaga had purchased for his personal library. His commitment to a
reform consonant with the ideals of the spirituali became more pro
nounced during his four years of residence in Capodistria from 1541 to
1544. He left there in December of 1544 after accusations against him
of heresy became public. Vergerio's participation in the spreading of
scandalous rumors about the pope's son, Pier Luigi Farnese, further
complicated his difficulties.61

As his conflict with Roman authorities intensified, Vergerio grew

more dependent upon the protection of Gonzaga. Perhaps their com
mon dislike of the Farnese prepared the ground for their friendship.

57BAV, Barb. Lat., codex 5793, fol. 87r, Ercole Gonzaga to Cristoforo Madruzzo, January
30,1546: "Fui in questi anni passati in buona parte cagione di fere Monsignore Capodis
tria vescovo della Patria sua.. . ."
58See Anne Jacobson Schutte, Pier Paolo Vergerio.The Making of an Italian Reformer
(Geneva, 1977), pp. 121-122.
59Pietro Bembo to Ercole Gonzaga, May 6,1539, in Opere del cardinale Pietro Bembo
(4 vols.; Venice, 1729; anastatic reproduction: Ridgewood, New Jersey, 1965), III, 25.
^Schutte^.c^p. 121.
6,Vergerio repeated a rumor that Paul Ill's son, Pier Luigi Farnese, had sexually as
saulted Cosimo Gheri, bishop of Fano, in 1537. Gheri committed suicide, it was said, out
of shame. See also Gigliola Fragnito,"Gli 'spirituali,'" p. 788. Pio Paschini in Pier Paolo Ver
gerio il giovane e la sua apostasia: un episodio delle lotte religiose nel Cinquecento
(Rome, 1925), p. 56, finds the earliest reference to the rumor of the assault in a letter of
Ercole Gonzaga to the Duke of Ferrara.

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462 BETWEEN SPIRITUALI AND INTRANSIGENTI

Vergerio avoided a summons to appear in Rome in 1545 by traveling to

Mantua. With the protection of Gonzaga he refused to present himself
to the officers of the Inquisition in Venice. In 1545 and 1546 Vergerio
found a haven in Mantua, where he used Gonzaga's residence as his
mailing address, and in the Mantovano at the Benedictine monastery of
San Benedetto in Polirone.62 Gonzaga spent time at the monastery with
Vergerio in August of 154563 He shared with Vergerio a treatise he had
written on the Lord's Prayer, which Vergerio then forwarded to Cardinal
Pole without Gonzaga's knowledge. Vergerio characterized it as "full of
doctrine and spirit." Subsequently Gonzaga wrote to Cardinal Pole in
some embarrassment that this composition had been shared.64

Gonzaga and Vergerio also collaborated on a work to assist the dying

called II modo di consolar gli infermi et condannati alla morte. Gon
zaga mentioned the work in a letter to Vergerio and noted that the in
quisitor was examining it. It received two readings by the inquisitors
before it was officially held up, an obstruction that disturbed Gonzaga.65
Vergerio also began to write a paraphrase on the seven penitential
psalms while in the Mantovano.66 Gonzaga had access to that work but
chose not to express his opinion on it in writing, preferring to withhold
his views until they were together, a reservation common in the corre
spondence of the spirituali during this period of rising theological ten
sions.67 Neither of the above-mentioned works survive. Not long before his
departure from Mantua in January of 1546, Vergerio wrote of Gonzaga:
"This lord cardinal is headed in a good direction, completely intent on
sacred studies and on the governance of souls."68 This admiration was mu

62In January of 1546 Vergerio wrote to Girolamo Muzio that he should write to him in
care of Gonzaga's residence. See Schutte, op cit., p. 207. n. 62.
6?See Paolo Piva,L'Altro'Giulio Romano. II Duomo diMantova, la chiesa di Polirone,
e la dialettica col medioevo, p. 119, n. 92.
^Pier Paolo Vergerio to Ercole d'Est?, January 13,1546, transcribed in Walter Friedens
burg, "Vergeriana 1534-1550," Archiv f?r Reformationsgeschichte, 10 (1913), 93.
65BAV, Barb. Lat., codex 5793, fols. 32r-33r, Ercole Gonzaga to Pier Paolo Vergerio, Octo
ber 22,1545, published in Rodolfo Renier,"Vergeriana," Giomale storico della letteratura
italiana, 24 (1894), 454. BAV, Barb. Lat., codex 5793, fol. 124, Ercole Gonzaga to Reginaido
Nerli, April 15,1546. Vergerio took credit for the work in 1549 but later credited Gonzaga
for most of it. See Schutte, op. cit., pp. 192-193- See also J. M. De Bujanda, Index de Rome
1557, 1559. Les premiers index romains et l'index du Concile de Trente,Vol. 8: Index des
livres interdits (Sherbrooke and Geneva, 1990), p. 623.
^Schutte, op. cit., p. 193, n. 22.
67BAV, Barb. Lat., codex 5793, fols. 32r-33r, Ercole Gonzaga to Pier Paolo Vergerio, Octo
ber 22,1545. Also published in Renier,"Vergeriana," p. 454.
^Pier Paolo Vergerio to Ercole d'EsteJanuary 13,1546,in Friedensburg,"Vergeriana,"p.93.

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 BY PAUL V. MURPHY 463

tual as Gonzaga displayed his trust in Vergerio by seeking his advice on

chaplains for nuns and by permitting him to ordain some of his clergy.69

During this period Gonzaga offered diplomatic support to Vergerio

in his struggle with ecclesiastical authorities. In the summer of 1545 he
instructed his agent in Rome, Ippolito Capilupi, to fulfill any requests
made by Vergerio.70 He specified that support by directing Capilupi to
speak to the pope on Vergerio's behalf.71 It seems that Gonzaga may
have assisted Vergerio in attempting to arrange meetings with sympa
thetic ecclesiastical officials. In August of 1545 Gonzaga wrote to Car
dinal Marino Grimani, the brother of Giovanni, the Patriarch of Aquileia,
Vergerio's immediate ecclesiastical superior and one whose duty it
might have been to judge him. He informed Cardinal Grimani that he
had asked Vergerio to present himself to Grimani in order to present his
case more effectively.72

Vergerio eventually left Mantuan territory in January of 1546 to place

himself under the judgment of the Council of Trent. Gonzaga then
wrote to Cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo, bishop of Trent, in order to en
sure that Vergerio be given a fair hearing. Gonzaga volunteered that he
himself had had a hand in Vergerio's promotion to the see of Capodis
tria and considered the effort well-spent. This was especially so, he
added, considering Vergerio's work while in residence there, a telling af
firmation from a resident bishop who had been carrying out his own re
form for over ten years. Gonzaga explained to Madruzzo that he had
offered Vergerio his support as he would to any friend in order to see
that justice was done. He hoped that this would happen in the Council
as had been the case for previous prelates who had been accused of
various sins.73 Gonzaga proceeded to warn Madruzzo of the alternative,
noting the choice made by others such as Ochino and Vermigli if justice
were not done:

... he may cast himself down as others of ours have done, or keeping him
self on his feet he will go from here to there shrieking desperately, and so,

69BAV, Barb. Lat., codex 5793, fols. 32r-33r, Ercole Gonzaga to Pier Paolo Vergerio, Octo
ber 22, 1545. On the ordinations see the letter of Giovanni Pietro Ferretto to Giovanni
della Casa,December 17,1545, in Buschbell,op. cit.,p. 283.
ASM,AG,Coppialettere, codex 6497, Ercole Gonzaga to Ippolito Capilupijuly 1,1545.
^Ibid.,?o\. 62%same to same,August 7,1545.
2BAV, Barb. Lat., codex 5793, fols. 8r-8v Ercole Gonzaga to Marino Grimani, August 29,
1545.
^Ibid., fols. 87r-88r, Ercole Gonzaga to Cristoforo Madruzzo, January 30, 1546:"come
sono state terminate tante altre di vescovi accusati di varii peccati. . ." (fol. 87v)

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464 BETWEEN SPIRITUALI AND INTRANSIGENTI

wanting to prohibit his speaking we will make him furious, both in words
and deeds.74

Gonzaga concluded with a quotation from Saint Paul: "God has chosen
the weak of the world [to shame the strong]." Perhaps this was an ad
mission that Vergerio was not a theological or ecclesiastical heavy
weight but one who might nevertheless be an instrument of God. He
encouraged patience on the part of the bishops in Trent toward his
"friend and brother."75

Gonzaga's defense of Vergerio illustrates his loyalty to a friend and

prot?g?. He may not have agreed with Vergerio on fundamental theo
logical questions, or perhaps he did not fully appreciate the significance
of Vergerio's ideas, but he must have viewed him as a positive pastoral
influence. This allowed the Istrian to engage in writing and discussions
with Mantuan clergy which, as it turned out, included questionable top
ics. Gonzaga also sought for him the benefit of a fair hearing. He saw
this not only as the right thing to do but as most practical. In essence,
Gonzaga urged the bishops at the Council of Trent not to encourage
further apostasies from the Roman Church. That Vergerio's opponents
were the Farnese probably did nothing to lessen Gonzaga's interest in
protecting him.
Gonzaga did have his limits, however. In August of 1546 his patience
with Vergerio came to an end. The immediate cause for the break was
Vergerio's making public a letter from a Mantuan that erroneously
claimed that Pietro Bertano had apostatized and gone to Germany Gon
zaga expressed his resentment at this and asked Vergerio to stop writ
ing to him because he had become too much trouble and had caused
him much displeasure. Although he expressed his love and desire to be
of service to Vergerio, Gonzaga wanted it to be at a distance and with
out intimacy because Vergerio had shown himself to be "more loving
than prudent." This was evident in his having risked damaging the rep
utation of another bishop. Gonzaga took umbrage at the suspicions at
the Council of Trent and among officials in Rome concerning his own
work in Mantua and his relationship with Vergerio. He therefore or
dered Vergerio to stay away from him and his priests. Gonzaga con
cluded, with what may be a comment on the Istrian's prodigious
74Ibid.: "Si pr?cipitera come hanno fatto degli altri nostri, o, tenendosi pure in piedi
andr? di qua o di la stridendo come un disperato e cosi volendogli prohibir il parlare il
faremo furiare e con parole e con fatti" (fol. 87v)
^Ibid. The scriptural citation is 1 Corinthians 1:27:". . . God chose what is weak in the
world to shame the strong. . . ." The Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, 2nd ed.
(New York, 1971).

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 BY PAUL V. MURPHY 465

capacity to publish his thoughts, by expressing the hope that God

would give Vergerio as much prudence as he had words.76 Vergerio
tried to explain himself by emphasizing that the difficulty arose from
misunderstanding in Mantua, but to no avail.77 Any likelihood that the
relationship might have been re-established disappeared the following
month precisely as a result of Vergerio's relationships with Gonzaga's
subjects. It happened that Gonzaga's vicar found that one of the priests
of Mantua was preaching heretical doctrines and possessed forbidden
books. Testimony was taken that the priest had spoken against sacra
mental confession, vows, the intercession of the saints, fasting, prayers
for the dead, satisfaction for sins, and purgatory. He was found to be in
possession of works by Luther, Melanchthon, Calvin, Bucer, and others.
The priest denied all of the accusations and excused his possession of
the books by saying that Vergerio had suggested them.78

Gonzaga felt aggrieved on a number of counts. First, Vergerio had im

pugned Gonzaga's honor as the ruler of Mantua. Gonzaga had risked his
reputation to provide cover for Vergerio in difficult times. Vergerio's ac
tivities in Mantua and Trent did not reflect an awareness that the bishop
of Capodistria might show some gratitude by staying out of trouble. In
giving heretical advice to Mantuan priests he had crossed a social as
well as a theological boundary. The concession of theologically ques
tionable discussions among members of the cardinal's entourage did
not extend to the ordinary priest.

Second, Vergerio had been imprudent. Prudence was the quality that
Gonzaga used to describe Bertano when he had chosen him to be
bishop of Fano and was an element in his appraisal of other preachers.
Gonzaga, the ruler of Mantua, demanded greater circumspection from
his associates. In Gonzaga's view, Vergerio had left him no recourse
other than to hold him at arm's length. Although Gonzaga separated
himself from Vergerio, he did not forget him. Fifteen years later he at
tempted to draw him back to the Roman Church when he himself went
to Trent as papal legate.79 Gonzaga's actions may be understood as
those of one responsible for both religious and civic life in Mantua. His

76BAV, Barb. Lat., codex 5793, fols. 156v-157r, Ercole Gonzaga to Pier Paolo Vergerio, Au
gust 13,1546.
^ASM, AG, b. 1915, unnumbered fascicle, Pier Paolo Vergerio to Ercole Gonzaga, August
29,1546.
78Francesco Marno to Ercole Gonzaga, September 6, 1546, Buschbell, op. cit., p. 279.
79On the negotiations for Vergerio's attendance at the Council in 1561 see Frederic C.
Church, The Italian Reformers, 1534-1564 (1932; reprint, New York, 1974), pp.
328-330.

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466 BETWEEN SPIRITUAL! AND INTRANSIGENTI

was a defense against activities that threatened to overturn that society

and the social norms he understood to be valid. Therefore, he offered a
degree of tolerance to those in the upper levels of society, as long as
they operated within prudent limits. Strict orthodoxy, however, was re
quired of people of more modest social status. This highlights again his
role as an aristocratic guardian of religious and social order.

Most of the preceding has dealt with Gonzaga's relations with re

formers and preachers on a peninsula-wide basis. Gonzaga's relation
ships to those in Mantuan territory also reveal his enigmatic position as
patron and reformer. In this regard nothing is so important as the story
of Endimio Calandra (d. 1576?), Gonzaga's secretary for twenty years.
He was born of a prominent Mantuan family. His father, Giovanni Gia
como Calandra, had served in the household of Ercole's brother Fede
rico. During his employment with Gonzaga, Endimio had complete
access to the cardinal's books and papers. Only he and Gonzaga's other
principal secretary, Camillo Olivo, had the privilege of deciphering
Gonzaga's most private correspondence when it arrived in code. Ca
landra and Gonzaga also discussed theological issues. Following the
death of Pope Paul III in 1549, Calandra accompanied Gonzaga to Rome
to assist him during the conclave.

Soon after their return to Mantua in late February of 1550, Calandra

lost the confidence of Gonzaga and left the post of secretary. The rea
sons for this rupture remain somewhat unclear. Partially it was due to
the distrust of Cardinal Gonzaga's brother Ferrante, who claimed that
Endimio had spoken too freely concerning matters of faith.80 The criti
cism of Cardinal Marcello Cervini may have also played a role. Calandra
testified that Cervini "held certain things against me for which he
would have proceeded against me were it not for regard for Cardinal
Gonzaga."81 Calandra added that it was then that Gonzaga informed him
that he no longer considered him worthy of his favor.82 Calandra no
longer had access to the cardinal's library and within a year he left Man
tua. Gonzaga steadfastly refused to allow him back into the good graces
of the family. Not until after the death of the cardinal did Calandra re

mNono Costituto di Endimio Calandra, May 3, 1568, in Pagano, op. cit., p. 350: "una
riprensione dal signor don Ferrante perch'io parlassi troppo liberamente in queste cose
della fede."
Ibid.:". .. haveva delle cose contra di me, che haverebbe potuto proceder? conto
della religione et che restava per amor di Sua Signoria illustrissima."
*2Ibid:uEt allhora il cardinal mi disse che,poich? ci era questa opinione di me, non mi
reputava pi? degno della gracia sua."

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 BY PAUL V. MURPHY 467

enter the service of the Gonzaga, acting as ambassador at Venice from

1563 toi 565.83

In 1567, four years after Gonzaga's death, Roman officials began to

carry out an inquisition in Mantua. Calandra, along with many other
Mantuans, went on trial. He co-operated with his judges and gave ex
tensive testimony on many religious figures of sixteenth-century Man
tua. He described a city where, in the 1530s and 1540s, unorthodox
religious views were widespread. He did not hesitate to point the finger
at those who held those views, including many of Gonzaga's closest as
sociates. In speaking of his own beliefs, Calandra admitted to holding to
the doctrine of justification by faith alone, albeit in a somewhat idio
syncratic form. He did not believe that works merited salvation, but he
did believe that they might merit a higher place in heaven. He also held
that in the Eucharist there was not truly the body and blood of Christ,
but a symbolic presence?an understanding of the Eucharist he claimed
to have learned from Gonzaga's old tutor, Pietro Bertano.84

Calandra's testimony also contains the clearest statements available

as to the explicit refusal of Gonzaga to share in heretical beliefs and
therefore serves as a counterbalance to the material on Gonzaga's rela
tions with Ochino and Vergerio. In his trial Calandra was specifically
asked about the orthodoxy of his late employer. Calandra testified: "I
never knew the cardinal to be a heretic."85 He also stated that while it
was common to speak openly about these matters of religion he did not
often do so with Gonzaga. When they did speak of them it was because
Gonzaga assigned Calandra the duty of reading the prohibited books in
his library and then to report to him what he thought of them. On oc
casion Calandra admitted to Gonzaga that he found himself moved by
some of the arguments of the Protestants. Gonzaga's response, in Ca
landra's description, was telling. He paraphrased the cardinal as saying:
they did not move him at all as he read them with the opinion that they were
false. At the same time that he read these Lutheran opinions, he read Saint
Thomas on the same topics.86

85See/Wtf.,p.l32.
H4Primo Costituto di Endimio Calandra, March 25, 1568, in Pagano, op. cit., pp.
237-238.
mSettimo Costituto di Endimio Calandra, April 19, 1568, in Pagano, op. cit., p. 333:
"... per me non ho mai conosciuto il cardinal per her?tico."
mSesto Costituto di Endimio Calandra, April 9,1568, in Pagano, op. cit., p. 313:"Lui mi
replicava che lui non movevano niente perche le leggeva con questa opinione: che
fussero false. Et nel medemo tempo che lui si faceva referir? queste opinioni lutherane, si
faceva legger san Tomaso sopra le medesime."

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468 BETWEEN SPIRITUALI AND INTRANSIGENTI

Calandra's testimony is important for two reasons. On the one hand,

it confirms evidence available elsewhere that Gonzaga permitted a
great deal of latitude to those around him when it came to the discus
sion of theology.87 It demonstrates that Gonzaga employed men whom
he knew to be of questionable orthodoxy as late as the 1550's. Indeed,
Gonzaga does not seem to have been very strict. His protest in the quo
tation that opened this article that he was a member of the "Company
of Christ" with its rather Erasmian lack of external norms would seem
to confirm that. Further, the admission that he had someone to teach
him what he should say and think reveals Gonzaga as not being utterly
certain of what the details of that allegiance might entail. On the other
hand, Calandra's assertion of Gonzaga's orthodoxy serves to underline
the generally conventional attitudes of Gonzaga when it came to mat
ters of his own faith, about which he had few doubts. Moreover, he was
not without defenders among even conservative elements in the Church.
In 1554, Girolamo Muzzarelli, O.P. (d. 1561), Master of the Sacred Palace,
attested to his orthodoxy in a letter to Marcello Cervini: "In Mantua I
have seen the Catholic zeal of the cardinal... I think that his reverend
lordship has no need of the spur."88

Given all of this paradoxical activity, it is not surprising that scholars

have struggled to understand Ercole Gonzaga. He comes into clearer fo
cus with recognition of a central fact of Gonzaga's life: his role as a great
lord of northern Italy. As regent for his nephews, Gonzaga's political
role was, quite literally, conservative. His responsibilities entailed pre
serving intact the duchy that his brother Federico had left behind. Car
dinal Gonzaga strenuously opposed any activity that threatened that
inheritance. Preaching or discussions which, by the standards of Catholic
orthodoxy, might be seen as scandalous or imprudent could present
such a threat to the civil and religious stability of Mantua. I argue that
Gonzaga's awareness of his role in Mantuan society and the role of his
family in the affairs of Italy and Europe served as the foundation for his
outlook on life and provided the ground for his understanding of re
form, a patrician reform. This is not, however, to limit analysis of Gon
zaga's activities with regard to reform and heresy to mere political

H1Settimo Costituto di Endimio Calandra, Apr? 19, 1568, in Pagano, op. cit., p. 333:
"L'ho ben conosciuto per negligente nelle cose delli predicatori: ma forse anco questo
poteva proceder? perch? in Roma s'erano anco sentiti delli predicatori che predicavano
pure alla lutherana, come so predicava anco qui in Mantova, perche allhora le cose non
andavano cosi strette."
^Girolamo Muzzarelli to Marcello Cervini, February 13,1554, in Buschbell, op. cit., p.
321: "In Mantova ho conosciuto il zelo catholico del cardinale ... ho giudicato Sua Signo
ria Reverendissima non haver bisogno de sproni. . . ."

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 BY PAUL V. MURPHY 469

calculation. If politics and political stability were his only concerns,

then he could easily have taken far more severe measures against
heresy in his diocese than he actually did. It is precisely Gonzaga's re
straint, well into the 1550's, when confronting those who lacked ortho
doxy that reveals his genuine interest in reform. It gives evidence of a
broad-mindedness in matters of faith that sought to preserve, in a gen
eration of increasingly clear and requisite norms, much of what earlier
contemporaries such as Contarini and Pole had undertaken. In this he
exemplifies much in the history of the Catholic Church in a period of
uneasy transition.

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