Julius III. (Giovanni Maria del Monte): Pope 1550-55. He was born of a distinguished Roman family, being nephew of Cardinal Antonio del Monte, in Rome in 1487. By favor of Julius II. he succeeded his uncle as archbishop of Siponto, and in 1536 became cardinal under Paul III. As papal legate at the opening of the Council of Trent in 1545, he managed to thwart all the plans of the emperor. In spite of the opposition of the cardinals with imperial sympathies, he was elected pope after the death of Paul III.. in 1550. Henceforth he thoroughly reversed his policy toward the emperor, inviting him to reopen the council after its suspension, and turned away from Henry II. of France, whereupon the latter sided with the Farnese nephews and tried to constitute them proprietors of the contested possessions in southern Italy which heretofore they had held from the Church as retainers. The pope was again obliged to suspend the council when Maurice of Saxony, in 1552, turned unexpectedly against the emperor, and almost captured him at Innsbruck. The most momentous event during the pontificate of Julius III. was the death of Edward VI. of England, and the return of England to the Roman obedience. Julius despatched Cardinal Pole (see POLE, REGINALD) as plenipotentiary legate to Queen Mary Tudor, and he brought it to pass that Parliament again recognized the papal supremacy, though subject to acceptance of the consummated transfer of church property to state or private possession. He then achieved the bloody realization of the Counter-Reformation in England. The pontificate of Julius III. occurred at a time when in Italy, too, the nullification of the reforming movement was prosecuted with every instrument of force and cunning. He assured free play and advancement to the Inquisition, even though his indolent nature did not so energetically and personally interest him in this matter as proved true of his successors. That his moral life before and after his elevation to the papal throne bears no strict scrutiny, is attested by the utterances of many contemporaries. The avowed favorite Innocent, originally a street urchin of Parma, was not the only unworthy recipient on whom he bestowed church dignities and goods. He likewise endowed his relatives in this way; but the full time of political nepotism was past. Julius died May 23, 1555, shortly after sending Cardinal Morone to Germany, with the purpose of giving such a turn to the religious peace at the impending Diet of Augsburg, that Germany should be led back to the bosom of the Roman Church after the precedent of England. The same aim was to be promoted also by the Collegium Germanicum in Rome, founded by Ignatius Loyola, and formally opened in 1552, where the élite of the Jesuit order were to be educated for the battle against German Protestantism.

K. BENRATH.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: The bulls of Julius are in A. M. Cherubini, Magnum bullarium Romanum, i. 778 sqq., Turin ed., vi. 401 sqq. Consult: Des faitz et gestes du pape Jules III, Geneva (?), 1551; O. Raynaldus, Annales ecclesiastici, Cologne, 1694-1727; Paolo Sarpi, The Historie of the Councell of Trent, pp. 298-303, 371, 376, 382-389, London, 1629; C. Weiss, Papiers de l'état du cardinal de Granvelle, vol. iii., Paris, 1841; W. G. Soldan, Geschichte des Protestantismus in Frankreich, i. 226 sqq., Leipsic, 1855; Petrucelli della Gattina, Hist. diplomatique des conclaves, ii. 23 sqq., Paris, 1864; A. von Reumont, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, iii. 2, pp. 503 sqq., Berlin, 1870; L. Maynier, Étude historique sur le concile de Trente, pp. 586 sqq., Paris, 1874; M. Brosch, Geschichte des Kirchenstaats, i. 189 sqq., Gotha, 1880; De Leva, in Rivista storica Italiana, 1884, pp. 632 sqq.; Ranke, Popes, i. 206-210 et passim; Bower, Popes, iii. 317; KL, vi. 2002-05; and literature under TRENT, COUNCIL OF.