mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

Eleanor Herman
and it seems likely enough that Olimpia was pro-Olimpia. She didn’t
wear hair ribbons of any color, and her political leanings seemed impenetrable
under her long black widow’s weeds. She instilled in Gianbattista
the need to show strict impartiality so that no one faction would
oppose his election in the next conclave. And his red stockings, if they
could ever be glimpsed beneath his long robes, were simply part of a
cardinal’s uniform.
The enmity between France and Spain was further complicated in
1640 when Portugal, which had been a Spanish state since the last Portuguese
king died in 1580, rebelled against its heavy-handed overlords.
The Portuguese found a relative of the last king and proclaimed him
King John IV. Spain was horrified by the rebellion; losing the huge
harbor of Lisbon and the colony of Brazil would reduce it to a secondrate
power. The Spanish king sputtered angrily about treason and sent
soldiers to regain the rebellious region. The French were delighted at
the revolt and supported Portugal with men, arms, and money.
But Portugal’s status depended greatly on being recognized internationally.
After France recognized the new nation, there was a deafening
silence. Portugal pushed for recognition from the Papal States and sent
as ambassador the bishop of Lamego in the summer of 1642. The Spanish
ambassador, the marquis de los Vélez, was so furious at Portuguese
effrontery that on the night of August 20 he attacked the bishop’s carriage
in the streets of Rome with a group of armed men. Seven retainers
died in the brawl, after which the French and Spanish ambassadors,
and the Portuguese bishop, galloped out of Rome in a huff.
While the dispute over Portugal only ruffled diplomatic feathers, the
pope’s disagreement with the duke of Parma led to a costly war. Odoardo
Farnese, duke of Parma and Piacenza, despised Prince Taddeo’s
insistence on precedence and felt irreparably insulted by the pope’s upstart
nephew. On a visit to Rome in 1639, he refused to cede precedence
to Prince Taddeo and snubbed Anna Colonna publicly. One morning
he even barged into Urban’s Vatican bedroom, yanked open the papal
bed curtains, and complained bitterly to the startled pontiff under the
bedspread about the arrogance of his nephews.
This behavior reminded the pope that Odoardo owed the Papal
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