Girolamo Aleandro
Cardinal and scholar (1480-1542)
Hieronymus Aleander (born Girolamo Aleandro; 13 February 1480 – 1 February 1542) was a Venetian humanist, linguist, and cardinal.
Life
Aleander was born on 13 February 1480 in Motta di Livenza, in the province of Treviso, part of the Republic of Venice. The son of a doctor, he studied medicine, philology, and theology in Padua. In Venice, he became acquainted with Erasmus and Aldus Manutius, and at an early age was reputed one of the most learned men of the time, with a knowledge of Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Chaldaean. In 1508, he went to Paris on the invitation of Louis XII as professor of belles lettres, and from 1513 to 1516 held the position of Rector of the University of Paris at the Sorbonne. Entering the service of Érard de La Marck, prince-bishop of Liège, he was sent by that prelate on a mission to Rome, where Pope Leo X retained him, giving him (1519) the office of librarian of the Vatican.
In the following year, he went to Germany to be present as papal nuncio at the coronation of Emperor Charles V, and was also present at the Diet of Worms, where he headed the opposition to Martin Luther, advocating the most extreme measures to repress the doctrines of the reformer. His conduct evoked the fiercest denunciations of Luther, but it also displeased more moderate men, especially Erasmus. The edict against the reformer, which was finally adopted by the emperor and the diet, was drawn up and proposed by Aleander. After the close of the Diet, the papal nuncio went to the Netherlands, where he instigated the executions of two monks of Antwerp due to their embrace of the Reformation, resulting in their being burnt in Brussels.
The public source identifies “Girolamo Aleandro” as cardinal and scholar (1480-1542). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Girolamo, Aleandro and Cardinal.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q918330. VIAF identifies the subject as 17319843. The Library of Congress control number is no90016420. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1480, 1542, 1508 and 1513.
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This entry incorporates text from “Girolamo Aleandro” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.