ABSTRACT
The ill-starred attempt to admit Marenzio to the papal singers invites a thorough investigation of the relations between Cardinal d'Este and Pope Gregory XIII, whose secular name was Ugo Boncompagni. Pope Boncompagni was born in Bologna in 1502 and took a law degree at the age of 28. Around that time, before becoming a priest, he fathered a natural son, Giacomo, the future duke of Sora. After participating in the Council of Trent he was elected pope on 14 May 1572. Relations between Luigi d'Este and Pope Gregory were characterized by formal cordiality. In 1579, when a quarrel broke out between the cardinal and his brother Alfonso regarding the will of their uncle Ippolito, who had died seven years earlier, the pope worked to achieve a mutual reconciliation. The idyllic relaxation in relations between cardinal and pope had direct repercussions on Marenzio's output.
