The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

CHAPTER II.
Previous Life and Character of Pius iv. The Beginning
OF HIS Pontificate.
Cardinal Gian Angelo de' Medici who was elected Pope
after a conclave of three and a half months and was crowned
on January 6th 1560,1 had not up to this time, in any respect,
plaj^ed an important part. He was a native of Milan, and was
born there on Easter Sunday (March 31st), 1499, being the
son of Bernardino de' Medici and his wife, Cecilia Serbelloni.
The Medici of Milan, who could trace their history back to
the XlVth century, belonged to the less important patrician
families of the capital of Lombardy. Their coat of arms was
a golden ball on a red field, and they were in no way related to
the celebrated family of the same name in Florence. Several
members of the family practised as doctors in Milan, but most
of them turned their attention to jurisprudence and practised
as notaries. 2 This was the case with Bernardino de' Medici,
^An *Avviso di Roma of January 6, 1560 (Urb. 1039, p. 114,
Vatican Library) announces that Pius IV. wished that the pomp
should be moderate and the surplus given to the poor. Forty
persons were crushed to death in the crowds. See the sources
in Cancellieri, 109 ; cf. also the pamphlets : La felice creatione
et coronatione d. S*^ di N.S.Pio IV. con le feste et livree fatte
dalli sig. Romani (s. 1. et a. , and : Gewisse Zeytung mit was
Pracht u. Gepreng im Anfang des 1560 Jars zu Rom gekront
sey der yetsige Pabst Pius IV. (s. 1 et a.).
2 Cf. the work of Calvi : Famiglie Milanesi, IV., Milan 1885,
and SusTA, Pius IV., 9 scq., 155 seq., whose details given in the
Czech language have hitherto been little known, although they
form the most complete record of the previous history of Pius IV.
that we possess. Here, too (p. 1 59 scq.) we have the first thorough
criticism of Panvinius as a biographer of Pius IV. Cf. Appendix
No. 37.
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