Giovanni Battista Caprara
Italian Roman-Catholic priest, Archbishop of Milan
Giovanni Battista Caprara Montecuccoli (1733 – 1810) was an Italian statesman and cardinal and archbishop of Milan from 1802 to 1810. As a papal diplomat, he served in the embassies in Cologne, Lausanne, and Vienna. As Legate of Pius VII in France, he implemented the Concordat of 1801, and negotiated with the Emperor Napoleon over the matter of appointments to the restored hierarchy in France. He crowned Napoleon as King of Italy in Milan in 1805.
Early life
Caprara was born at Bologna on 29 May 1733 to Count Francesco Raimondo Montecuccoli and Countess Maria Vittoria Caprara. He took his maternal surname since she was the last of her line of the Capraras. He was the brother of Count Alberto Caprara, a general and diplomat in the service of Austria.
He studied at the Collegio Nazareno in Rome, and earned a doctorate in utroque iure at the Sapienza University of Rome on 23 September 1755.
With his doctorate in law, Caprara was appointed in 1755 referendary of the Tribunals of the Apostolic Signature; from 1758 to 1761, he served as vice-legate of the papal state of the Romandiola, with its capital at Ravenna. Caprara was ordained a priest on 22 December 1765.
“Giovanni Battista Caprara” enters the record as italian Roman-Catholic priest, Archbishop of Milan. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Giovanni, Battista and Caprara can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q877126. VIAF identifies the subject as 44290146. The Library of Congress control number is no2002099181. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1733, 1810, 1802 and 1801.
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