Luigi d'Aragona


Luigi d'Aragona was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal. He had a highly successful career in the church, but his memory is affected by the allegation that he ordered the murder of his own sister and two of her children.

Early life

Luigi d'Aragona was born in Naples on September 7, 1474, the son of Arrigo d'Aragona and Polissena de Centellas. His sister was Giovanna d'Aragona, Duchess of Amalfi, and he was the natural grandson of Ferdinand I of Naples. He held the title of marquis of Gerace.
On June 3, 1492, he married Battistina Cibo Usodimare, granddaughter of Pope Innocent VIII, at the Vatican in the presence of the pope. When Battistina died, Luigi ceded his title of marquis to his brother Carlo and determined to enter the ecclesiastical state.

Ecclesistical career

He received the tonsure on May 6, 1494 from Alessandro Carafa, Archbishop of Naples, in the Archbishop's Palace. He then became a protonotary apostolic. Pope Alexander VI made him a cardinal deacon in pectore in the consistory of May 1494. His creation was published in the consistory of February 19, 1496 and he received the red hat and the deaconry of Santa Maria in Cosmedin.
On December 10, 1498, he became the apostolic administrator of the see of Lecce, holding this post until March 24, 1502. In 1499, he accompanied Joan of Naples to Spain and traveled from there to the Kingdom of France. On March 10, 1501, he became apostolic administrator of the see of Aversa, holding this position until May 21, 1515. He was also administrator of the see of Policastro from 1501 until April 22, 1504, and administrator of the see of Cappacio from January 20, 1503 until March 22, 1514.
Following the death of Pope Alexander VI, he traveled to Rome, arriving on September 10, 1503. He participated in the papal conclave of September 1503 that elected Pope Pius III, and then in the papal conclave of October 1503 that elected Pope Julius II.
He traveled to Venice in 1507. During the War of the League of Cambrai, on January 2, 1511, he followed the pope in his campaign against the French in the siege of Mirandola. He was administrator of the see of Cádiz from February 10 to June 6, 1511; administrator of the see of León from June 6, 1511 to December 17, 1516; and administrator of the see of Cava from 1511 to May 5, 1514.
He assisted at the opening of the Fifth Council of the Lateran; the council later charged him with reforming the church. He participated in the papal conclave of 1513 that elected Pope Leo X. At his request, the new pope removed the censures against Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara on April 10, 1513. From September 1, 1513 to March 3, 1518, he served as legate a latere to the March of Ancona and vicar general with special powers. Returning to Rome, he lived in the Piazza Scossacavalli, and accompanied the pope hunting in Magliana, and, in 1516, on a trip to North Italy.
He was administrator of the see of Alessano from May 18, 1517 to May 17, 1518, and administrator of the see of Nardò from June 17, 1517 until his death. In April 1517, he left Rome for a tour of Switzerland, Germany, the Low Countries, and France, where he was entertained lavishly by Francis I of France. He arrived back in Rome on March 16, 1518. The cardinal's secretary, Antonio de Beatis, wrote a history of this trip that is much valued by historians. He died on January 21, 1519. He is buried in Santa Maria sopra Minerva.

Death of his sister

In 1510 his sister Giovanna d'Aragona, the widowed Duchess of Amalfi, was discovered to have married her household manager, Antonio Beccadelli di Bologna and given birth to two children by him. The Cardinal and his brother Carlo were allegedly enraged, perceiving the marriage to be a stain on the family honour. The couple fled from Amalfi with their children, but the duchess was intercepted on her way to Venice. With her children and her maid, she was brought back to Amalfi. None of them were ever seen again. Her husband Antonio was murdered in 1513. Matteo Bandello, who knew her husband, wrote an account of these events, alleging that the Cardinal and his brother had arranged for the Duchess and her children to be strangled, and paid an assassin to kill Antonio.
In John Webster's play The Duchess of Malfi, based on these events, Luigi d'Aragona appears in fictionalised form as "The Cardinal", a villainous figure described by the play's version of Antonio in the words, "the spring in his face is nothing but the engend'ring of toads; where he is jealous of any man, he lays worse plot for them than ever was impos'd on Hercules"