mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

Mistress of the Vatican
The idea of a marriage between the Pamphili and Barberini families,
protecting each family from the other, had always appealed to them
both. Camillo had, of course, botched everything by first becoming a
cardinal and then marrying the princess of Rossano. But now there was
a new generation of Pamphilis and Barberinis of marriageable age. Another
alliance could be formed. And Olimpia decided it would be her
beloved granddaughter, Olimpiuccia Giustiniani, who would finally
join the two great papal houses.
Olimpiuccia had turned twelve, the minimum age required by the
church for a girl to marry. Olimpia decided her granddaughter would
marry the second son of Anna Colonna and the deceased Taddeo Barberini.
Twenty-year-old Prince Maffeo was better-looking and less
scholarly than his twenty-two-year-old brother, Carlo, who would be
ordered by his cardinal uncles to give up his birthright and become a
cardinal himself. Innocent should have named a Barberini cardinal in
his first creation after becoming pope, as a sign of gratitude to the family
that had made him a cardinal and led him on the road to the papal
throne. But better late than never.
Olimpia had cooked up the marriage while still in exile and made it
known to her family in Rome that their future was bleak indeed if the
match did not go through. The Pamphilis, Giustinianis, and Ludovisis
could lose everything if the next pope was unfriendly, she pointed out,
and her relatives agreed. The historian Ludovico Muratori wrote in his
annals of 1652, “Now Donna Olimpia, sister-in-law of the pope, and
others of the Pamphili family, seeing the decline of the decrepit pope,
decided to end the enmity of the Barberinis and cement friendship with
a house so powerful for its riches and protection.” 11
Gregorio Leti explained, “So in order to prevent the peril which
threatened her with entire ruin, she resolved, despite everything, to strike
a blow so strange that many people had difficulty believing it after it
was done. She negotiated a close alliance with the Barberinis to oblige
them with the union of blood, not only to pardon her all the past, but
also to defend her when the time came against all her enemies.” 12
No sooner was Olimpia back in Rome than she met with Francesco
Barberini about the proposed marriage and sent an offer to Cardinal
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