Background
Adriano Castellesi was born in 1460 in Tarquinia, Italy.
Adriano Castellesi was born in 1460 in Tarquinia, Italy.
While in England Adriano Castellesi was appointed (1503), by Henry VII, to the see of Hereford, and in the following year to the more lucrative diocese of Bath and Wells, but he never resided in either.
Returning to Rome, he became secretary to Alexander VI and was made by him cardinal (May 31, 1503).
He bought a vigna in the Borgo near the Vatican, and thereon erected a sumptuous palace after designs by Bramante; and it was here, in the summer of 1503, that he entertained the pope and Cesare Borgia at a banquet that went on till nightfall despite the unhealthy season of the year, when ague in its most malignant form was rife.
Soon after the election of Leo X the cardinal was implicated in the conspiracy of Cardinal Petrucci against the pope, and confessed his guilt; but, pardon being offered only on condition of the payment of 25, 000 ducats, he fled from Rome and was subsequently deposed from the cardinalate.
As early as 1504 he had presented his palace (now the Palazzo Giraud-Torlonia) to Henry VII as a residence for the English ambassador to the Holy See; and on his flight Henry VIII, who had quarrelled with him, gave it to Cardinal Campeggio.
Adrian first fled to Venice.
It is said that he was murdered by a servant when on his way to the conclave that elected Adrian VI.
