From reason of state to reason of church

The main focus of my dissertation is an analysis of the early-seventeenth century Roman Curia, when there was a shift from an ideologically diversified Sacred College to one that was more religiously compliant. I would argue that the Baroque papacies (from Clemens VIII to Innocent X, 1592-1655), represented a turning point in the Catholic Church's self-perception. I think that one the best ways to analyze the rise of a modern Church is through a study of Baroque cardinals, whose corporate mentality and institutional powers dictated much of the Church politics.; The gap between the political writers of the time and Rome's understanding of its spiritual leadership was illustrated by the elaboration of a 'reason of state' to serve the Catholic sovereigns that stressed the difference between secular states and the Papal monarchy (Chapter 1). I will consider Gregory XV's conclave reform (Chapter 2), one of the major institutional changes in the seventeenth-century Curia, one that exposed the alliance between religion and politics, and the limitation that this same alliance was imposing to religion. While Cardinal Bellarmino refused to follow his party during the conclave---because he intended to vote following his conscience---Cardinal Savoy, in the same years, argued that religion was not the essence of the cardinalate (Chapter 3). The importance of family in early modern Europe, and the discipline that it imposed on its members, had a large relevance in shaping individual trajectories. The cardinalate was one of the best careers open to cadets of high rank. The relevance of cardinals' wills in my dissertation is a reflection of this preponderance of family ties, status, and finances in the making of cardinals' identities, and in delaying the success of the Catholic reform. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 analyze the wills, and discuss both the increase in 'pious' bequests during the Baroque period, and the importance of Rome as a political center.