mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

Eleanor Herman
heavily embroidered with scarlet and gold thread, with huge tabbed
cuffs extending halfway up the forearm, and adorned with tassels woven
of real gold. Perfuming the gloves often cost twice as much as the
gloves themselves, so rare were the fragrances. In fact, on May 29, 1621,
less than two months after his arrival in Naples, Gianbattista wrote to
Rome asking for a shipment of gloves.
The position of papal nuncio to Naples was a heavy financial burden
and only awarded to the richest candidates willing to spend their own
money. The salary was low and very few expenses were reimbursed by
the pope. But it was a path to the riches of a cardinal’s hat, and many
churchmen were eager for the opportunity.
Without Olimpia’s money, Gianbattista would never have been considered
for the post. Olimpia paid for the servants, the food, the festivities,
the secret bag-of-gold bribes, and all of those perfumed gloves. As
careful as she was with money, all of her Naples expenses were well
worth it. For one thing, she would do anything, give anything, to help
Gianbattista, the one person who truly appreciated her, the one person
she truly trusted. For another, her expenses were actually an investment.
If he should be made cardinal, she would be paid back with interest.
And most important of all, she exercised real power, which had
always been her dearest dream.
We can assume that Olimpia was up to her elbows in intrigue and
loving every moment of it—plotting, planning, bribing, manipulating,
dictating coded letters, and decoding letters from the Vatican as soon as
they arrived. Although they were not aware of it, the viceroy of Naples,
the king of Spain, and the pope himself were all dealing with her political
suggestions. It was worth all the money she spent to play such a
major role in high-level international politics.
The Venetian ambassador to Rome, Alvise Contarini, reported that
“to the same signora Donna Olimpia, [Gianbattista] declared himself to
be very much obliged for the rich dowry carried into the Pamphili family
and for having provided for his needs.” 2
Cardinal Sforza Pallavicino, who knew Olimpia well later in life,
wrote that she “carried into the Pamphili family much patrimony that
was used most instrumentally to honorably sustain the house, and from
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