Fondo Borghese
Item
Nota de estado
Finalizado
Country
IT
Name of institution (English)
Vatican Apostolic Archives
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
ita
Contact information: postal address
Cortile del Belvedere, 00120 Vatican City
Contact information: phone number
0039 0669883314
0039 0669883211
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
archivio@aav.va
Reference number
Fondo Borghese
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (English)
Borghese Fonds
Title (official language of the state)
Fondo Borghese
Language of title
ita
Creator / accumulator
Borghese, Aldobrandini and Salviati families
Date(s)
1592/1621
Language(s)
ita
lat
Extent
2,000 storage units
Type of material
Textual Material
Physical condition
Good
Scope and content
The Fondo Borghese is currently divided into five series, which interact with two other archival collections present in the Archivio Apostolico Vaticatono: the Archivio Borghese and the Fondo Salviati. The Borghese fonds contains official acts of the Holy See, correspondence with the nuncios, minutes and registers of letters written by popes, cardinals and prelates. It includes documents related to the pontificates of Clement VIII Aldobrandini (1592-1605) and Paolo V Borghese (1605-1621). The fonds also comprises various types of documents related to the government of the Church and the Papal States. Among the documentation preserved in this fonds, there are some records regarding the negotiations undertaken by attorneys of the Portuguese New Christians before the Holy See, with the aim of achieving the general pardon and the reform of the Inquisition in Portugal. It is the case of the "Memoriale porrectum a noviter conversis Regni Portugalliae continens narrativam rerum gestarum circa eos a regibus, et Inquisitoribus illius Regni spatio 48 anni" (series 1, no. 893), and of the late 16th century collection of accounts by the Portuguese New Christians against the proceedings of the Portuguese Inquisition, as well as papal bulls regarding the Iberian inquisitions (about this document, see Mateus and Nelson Novoa, 2008).
Archival history
The original nucleus of this vast collection consisted of documents from the Borghese family archive, which was enriched with the archives of two other families: the Aldobrandini, following the marriage of Paolo Borghese with Olimpia Aldobrandini; and the Salviati, following the marriage of Marcantonio Borghese with Marianna Salviati. The fonds was acquired by the Holy See in 1892, directly from the Borghese family.
Administrative / Biographical history
The Borghese family was a noble family originally from Siena, who moved to Rome in the 16th century. After the election of Camillo Borghese as Pope Paul V in 1605, the family gained notoriety and influence. Paul V bestowed privileges upon family members and named as cardinal his nephew Scipione Caffarelli (1576–1633), who ended up playing a leading role in church politics and arts, as a patron of Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680). He also funded the restoration and construction of some buildings in Rome, among them the Villa Borghese, where he gathered his art collection.
Another nephew of Pope Paul V, Marcantonio II (1601–58), who obtained the principality of Sulmona and became prince of Vivaro, married Camilla Orsini in 1619, thereby joining the estates of the Orsini family to the Borghese House. His son Paolo married Olimpia, the heiress of the Aldobrandini family. Paolo and Olimpia's grandson, Marcoantonio III (1660–1729), became viceroy of Naples. His nephew Marcantonio IV (1730–1800) enlarged the family estates through his marriage to Maria Salviati. A son of Marcantonio IV, Camillo Fillipo Ludovico (1775–1832), married Napoleon's sister Marie Pauline in 1803 and was named governor of Piedmont during the French occupation. Camillo's reputation was stained for having sold the Borghese family art collection to Napoleon. Only a part of it was recovered in 1815. The grandsons of Francesco Borghese, Camillo's brother, split the family into two branches: the Borghese and the Torlonia.
Another nephew of Pope Paul V, Marcantonio II (1601–58), who obtained the principality of Sulmona and became prince of Vivaro, married Camilla Orsini in 1619, thereby joining the estates of the Orsini family to the Borghese House. His son Paolo married Olimpia, the heiress of the Aldobrandini family. Paolo and Olimpia's grandson, Marcoantonio III (1660–1729), became viceroy of Naples. His nephew Marcantonio IV (1730–1800) enlarged the family estates through his marriage to Maria Salviati. A son of Marcantonio IV, Camillo Fillipo Ludovico (1775–1832), married Napoleon's sister Marie Pauline in 1803 and was named governor of Piedmont during the French occupation. Camillo's reputation was stained for having sold the Borghese family art collection to Napoleon. Only a part of it was recovered in 1815. The grandsons of Francesco Borghese, Camillo's brother, split the family into two branches: the Borghese and the Torlonia.
Access points: locations
Access points: corporate bodies
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
Finding aids
Indexes available for consultation in the archive: Indici 192, 193, 1052.
Links to finding aids
Existence and location of copies
An eighteenth-century copy of the "Memoriale" (series 1, no. 893) is preserved in the Códices collection of the Biblioteca da Ajuda (46-X-14 and 15).
Author of the description
Andrea Cicerchia and Carla Vieira, 2022
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