Gigli, Giovanni
GIGLI, GIOVANNI
Bishop, English agent at the Roman Curia; b. Bruges, 1434; d. Rome, Aug. 25, 1498. Gigli, son of a merchant of Lucca, was a doctor of civil and canon law by 1477, when he became a naturalized Englishman. He served as a papal collector in England, and became papal subdeacon by 1483 and prothonotary apostolic by 1488. These curial connections led to his appointment as resident English proctor at Rome (1490–98). His services were rewarded by substantial preferments after 1477: he held canonries in Wells, St. Paul's, London, Lichfield, Lincoln, and Salisbury and was archdeacon of London (1482–90) and of Gloucester (1489–97). Having been provided on Aug. 30, 1497, to the See of worcester, he was consecrated at Rome on September 10, and held the see until death. Although he enjoyed some reputation as a humanist, he used his literary abilities chiefly to further his career.
Bibliography: b. behrens, "The Origins of the Office of English Resident Ambassador at Rome," English Historical Review 49 (1934) 640–656. r. weiss, "Lineamenti di una biografia di G. Gigli …, " Rivista di storia della Chiesa in Italia 1 (1947) 379–391. a. b. emden, A Biographical Register of the Scholars of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500, 3 v. (Oxford 1957–59) 2: 764–765.
[c. d. ross]