Original scientific paper
Archbishop Bartholomeo Zabarella (400-1445): Ecclesiastical Career between Padua, Rome, Split and Florence
Jadranka Neralić
; Hrvatski institut za povijest Zagreb
Abstract
Biography of Bartholomeo Zabarella (1400-1445) is similar to the biographies of many young men, offsprings of influential Paduan families in the early decades of the fifteenth century. He was a nephew to Francesco Zabarella, one of the most famous professors of canon law at the University of Padua, well trained diplomat in the service of the Carrara family, and the cardinal of the Holy See. His career path was therefore well programmed: with the doctor in utroque degree he embraced the ecclesiastical career within the Curia of Martin V (Colonna) and Eugenius IV (Condulmer). Starting from the office of apostolic protonotary in 1418, in the late twenties, at the age of 28, he was appointed archbishop of Split. However, he continued to reside in the Roman residence of the Patriarch of Constantinople and pope Gregory XII, Angelo Correr. By the end of 1432 he was assumed to the college of referendarii utriusque signaturae, and on 21 June 1434 he became auditor litterarum contradictarum which made him work in close contact with the cardinals Francesco Condulmer and Giordano Orsini, patriarch of Grado Biagio Molino, bishop of Cervia/Rimini Cristoforo Marcello, bishop of Concordia Daniele Scoti, bishop of Poreč and Trogir Angelo Cavazza, and the pope himself, both in Rome and in Florence during the 1430s. In the course of his busy curial career he witnessed important historical events such as the consecration of the Florentine cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore on 25 March 1436, or the Union of Latin and Greek Churches on 6 July 1439 in Florence. Bartholomeo’s fidelity to the pope in the most difficult period of his pontificate, was rewarded with the appointment to the archbishopric of Florence at the end of 1439, followed by that of apostolic legate to France and England. Both of these offices would have led him to the cardinalate, had he not died in Sutri on 13 August 1445.
He certainly showed considerable ability as he shrewdly balanced within two important, complex and complicated networks that animated his affairs. One was the University of Padua, led by teachers and students: a degree in canon and both laws could launch them to the successful Curial career. The other network was Roman Curia, delineated by the relationships internal to the Church hierarcy and personal favouritism.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
240902
URI
Publication date:
29.6.2020.
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