Ruling Peacefully: Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga and Patrician Reform in Sixteenth-Century Italy (review)

Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga is an attractive but ambiguous figure in sixteenth-century Italian religious history. A member of the ducal Gonzaga family as well as a bishop who for seventeen years was de facto ruler of Mantua, he had no precise Italian counterpart; closer would have been a German prince-bishop. Curiously enough, despite his uniqueness he has not attracted a recent biographer. While aspects of his political and ecclesiastical career have been examined, Gonzaga the man has remained in the shadows.

Murphy's book now offers a series of building blocks toward a modern biography. He discusses Cardinal Gonzaga as both secular prince and ecclesiastical head of Mantua as well as papal legate during the third session of the Council of Trent, and has drawn on extensive manuscript sources in presenting a carefully crafted image of the cardinal. Gonzaga emerges as a complex and at times contradictory figure. His thought is by no means easy of access especially when examined against the background of the nascent Counter-Reformation in the 1540s and '50s. Professor Murphy stresses that while his subject "never departed from traditionally orthodox positions" (42), he held broad and relatively tolerant views of religion, befriended a number of persons who later were suspected of heterodoxy by the Inquisition, and tried to keep above the fray in the increasingly sharp controversies between conservative Italian Catholics and philo-Protestants.

The six chapters of the book follow the principal stages of Gonzaga's career, beginning with his intellectual formation, in which the Mantuan philosopher Pietro Pomponazzi played an important part. If one can argue from the content of his large library (the catalogue of which is included in the appendix), he was well-read in philosophy but did not have an extensive education in theology and relied on advisers and counselors. True to family tradition, he as a younger son became Bishop of Mantua at the age of sixteen, thus clearly violating canon law.

Chapters 2 and 3, the heart of this study, deal with Gonzaga's efforts to reform the office of the bishop and his own diocese of Mantua. The author argues that these efforts were distinctive on account of Gonzaga's aristocratic status, and has coined a new term, "patrician" or "aristocratic" reform. He maintains that Gonzaga's unique combination of secular and ecclesiastical office enabled him to accomplish more than some of his famous contemporaries of lesser social status could achieve. This distinctive element of Gonzaga's career gives the reader a good picture of an Italian prince and bishop in action. At least on paper, the cardinal championed reform of the clergy, tightened discipline, and was concerned with elevating the educational standard of priests, but to what extent these efforts bore fruit is not clear. As regent for his two minor nephews from 1540 to 1556, he maneuvered skillfully between the Habsburg and Valois and tried to preserve such neutrality as he could. Even after joining the imperial camp he remained courteous to the French. Often his tightrope-walking required exquisite diplomacy, and his schooling in this endeavor stood him in good stead when Pope Paul III appointed him as one of the legates to the Council of Trent, where he dealt with controversial issues like the obligation of bishops to reside in their dioceses.

Chapter 4 explores well-known issues of Gonzaga's relations with the spirituali, or proponents of Catholic reform whose theology was influenced by Protestant thinkers. It is not clear where Gonzaga stood on a number of contested theological matters, and a curious passage from one of his letters surely invites more comment. The cardinal declared that he was "a Catholic and a good one," adding, "It is enough that I am of the Company of Christ" (115). Maybe more extensive use could have been made of Endimio Calandra's depositions before...