The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church

The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church
Cardinals of Milan from 1165 until 2003

12th Century

13th Century

14th Century

History (Wikipedia): Around 400 BC, the Celtic Insubres settled Milan and the surrounding region. In 222 BC, the Romans conquered the settlement, which was then renamed Mediolanum. After several centuries of Roman control, Milan was declared the capital of the Western Roman Empire by Emperor Diocletian in 286 AD. Diocletian chose to stay in the Eastern Roman Empire (capital Nicomedia) and his colleague Maximianus ruled the Western one. Immediately Maximian built several gigantic monuments, like a large circus 470 m x 85 m (1,540 ft x 279 ft), the Thermae Herculeae, a large complex of imperial palaces and several other services and buildings.

With the Edict of Milan of 313, Emperor Constantine I guaranteed freedom of religion for Christians. The archdiocese of Milan was established in the fourth century; before, ite was an apostolic eparchy. The city was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, so the imperial residence was moved to Ravenna. In 452, the Huns overran the city. In 539, the Ostrogoths conquered and destroyed Milan in the course of the Gothic War against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. In the summer of 569, the Lombards (from which the name of the Italian region Lombardy derives), a Teutonic tribe conquered Milan, overpowering the small Byzantine army left for its defence. Some Roman structures remained in use in Milan under Lombard rule. Milan surrendered to the Franks in 774 when Charlemagne, in an utterly novel decision, took the title "King of the Lombards" as well (before then the Germanic kingdoms had frequently conquered each other, but none had adopted the title of King of another people). The Iron Crown of Lombardy dates from this period. Subsequently Milan become part of the Holy Roman Empire.

The Duchy of Milan was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire, in what is now northern Italy. Created in 1395, when it included twenty-six towns and a wide rural area lying between the hills of Montferrat and the Venetian Lagoon, the Duchy was conquered by the Austrians during the 18th century War of the Spanish Succession, and in 1714 it was ceded to Austria by the Treaty of Baden. It remained an Austrian possession until 1796, when it was conquered by a French army under Napoleon Bonaparte, and ceased to exist a year later as the result of the Treaty of Campo Formio, when Austria ceded it to the new Cisalpine Republic. After the defeat of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna of 1815 restored many other states which he had destroyed, but the Duchy of Milan was not among them. Instead, its former territory became part of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, with the Emperor of Austria as its king. In 1866 what was left of this kingdom was annexed by the new Kingdom of Italy.

Sources: Franco Arese, "Cardinali e vescovi milanesi dal 1535 al 1796" in Archivio storico lombardo, CVII (1981), ser. X, VI, 163-234; Eugenio Cazzani, Vescovi e arcivescovi di Milano. Nuova ed./ a cura di Angelo Majo, 2. ed. Milano : Massimo : NED, 1996. Note: Originally published 1955, now enlarged and updated; Angelo Majo, Storia della chiesa ambrosiana. 5 vols. 2nd ed. Milano : NED, 1983-1986. Contents: v. 1. Dalle origini a San Galdino -- v. 2. Dall'tà comunale a Carlo Borromeo -- v. 3. Della riforma cattolica a Gaetano Gaysruck -- v. 4. Dal secondo Ottocento al card. A.C. Ferrari -- v. 5. Dal card. Achille Ratti ai giorni nostri; and General list of cardinals, The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church.

In parentheses is the year of promotion to the cardinalate.

12th century
Galdino (1165)
Uberto Crivelli (1173) (Pope Urban III)

13th century
Uberto da Pirovano (1205)
Gerardo da Sessa, O.Cist. (1211)

14th century
Simone Brossano (1375)