ADRIAN OF CASTELLO (DE CORNETO)

Cardinal and humanist; b. Corneto, 1458 or 1459; d. 1521. In 1488 Innocent VIII sent him to Scotland as papal nuncio to reconcile James III and his dissident nobles. James was killed before Adrian's arrival, but Adrian reached England, where he gained favor with King Henry VII and became his agent in Rome. He returned to England in 1489 for the collection of Peter's Pence. He was made bishop of Hereford in England, Feb. 14, 1502, and was raised to the cardinalate, May 31, 1503, by Alexander VI. He also acted as secretary of the Papal Treasury and ambassador of Henry VII. After the death of Alexander VI, his involvement in politics incurred the displeasure of Julius II. In 1509 he left for Venice and later for Trent, where he remained until the death of the pope. In 1511 he returned to Rome for the election of Leo X; became implicated with Cardinal Alfonso Petrucci in a plot to poison Leo X; confessed to being privy to it, and although forgiven by Leo, found it safer to reside in Venice. At the insistence of Henry VIII, he had been deprived of his office as collector of Peter's pence, and on July 5, 1518, he was degraded from the cardinalate and the bishopric of Bath, England, and the honors were given to Thomas Wolsey. A probable rumor mentions that Adrian was murdered in 1521 on his way to Rome after the death of Leo X. Among his writings are De vera philosophia ex quatuor doctoribus ecclesiae (Bologna 1507) and De sermone latino et modo latine loquendi (Basel 1513).

Bibliography: b. gebhardt, Adrian von Corneto (Breslau 1886). j. wodka, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche 1:158.

[m. i. c. duffey]