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

CARDINAL MEDICI LEAVES ROME. 8l
impetuously reforming Pope; which, after the close of the war,
became painfully evident in its harsh severity, disgusted the
less strict members of the Curia with their life in Rome, and
Medici, like many others, left the Eternal City in 1558. The
voluntary exile which he thus took upon himself was not,
however, the consequence of any open breach with Paul IV.,
whose nephew. Carlo Carafa, honoured the Cardinal by a visit
in April ; it was rather a period of leave, which Medici asked
for in due form in order to undertake a cure for his gout at
the baths of Lucca, and this Paul IV. graciously accorded to
him together with a grant of 1000 ducats. This gout trouble,
for which the damp climate of Rome was most unsuitable,
was no mere fiction, although there were several other reasons
which induced the Cardinal to leave the Curia. The strict
regime in the city, his family affairs, and above all, certain
ambitious plans which he wished to discuss in person with
his patron, Cosimo I., all influenced him in coming to this
decision.^
When Medici left Rome on June 13th, 1558, he iirst repaired
to his episcopal see of Foligno,^ and in the middle of July
he proceeded to Florence. The consultations with Cosimo I.
concerned the next conclave. It was only now, when his
unruly and adventurous brother was dead, that the Duke of
Florence could look upon Cardinal Medici as a suitable candi-
date for the tiara. ^ Previously Cosimo had only entertained a
platonic friendship for Medici, and had curbed his ambition, but
with the death of Gian Giacomo things had completely changed.
In 1556 Cosimo seriously took up the Cardinal as a candidate
for the Papacy, in the hope of finding in him a willing tool
1 The false and prejudiced statements which Panvinius makes
in the 3rd edition of his Vita Pii IV. [cf. Appendix No. 37) have
been for the first time corrected by Susta (Pius IV., 63 seq.).
2 He *writes from there on June 19, 1558, to Annibale di Ems,
that he intends for reasons of health to go to Bagni di Lucca
(Hohenems Arch).
^ People used therefore to say that Gian Giacomo had procured
the Cardinal's hat for his brother by his marriage, and by his
death the tiara. Girol. Soranzo, 71.
VOL. XV. 6