On 3 July 1532, Cardinal Ippolito was named Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, the most lucrative office in the Roman Curia. Along with that post he was transferred to the Titular church of San Lorenzo in Damaso. He was a friend to, and possibly had a liaison with, Giulia Gonzaga, the Countess of Fondi. He loved Catherine de' Medici, but they never married. Alessandro de' Medici once caught him and Catherine de' Medici in a private embrace. However, when he was sent away as a Cardinal, they weren't allowed to see each other any longer. Some theories suggest that the reason Clement made Ippolito Cardinal was to keep him and Catherine de' Medici apart. By 24 April 1531, Catherine had been promised to Henry, the son of King Francis I of France, in a draft contract of marriage. Catherine was 11, and Cardinal Ippolito was 21. Ippolito's cousin, Pope Clement, died on 25 September 1534. The Conclave elected Cardinal Alessandro Farnese on 12 October and he chose the name Paul III. In 1535, free of his cousin's influence, Cardinal Ippolito acted as Florentine ambassador to Emperor Charles V, happily conveying complaints against the administration of Alessandro de' Medici. Suffering from a low-grade fever for eight days, Ippolito died from malaria in Itri, in southern Lazio, although there were rumors that he had been poisoned either by Alessandro de' Medici, whose abuses he was intending to denounce, or by Pope Paul III, who aimed to acquire Ippolito's lucrative benefices for his own nephews. During the Renaissance, the Medici developed a large menagerie with human zoo in the Vatican. In the 16th century, Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici had a collection of people of different races as well as exotic animals. He is reported as having a troupe of so-called Savages, speaking over twenty languages; there were also Moors, Tartars, Indians, Turks and Africans. References Bibliography External links 16th-century Italian cardinals Rulers of Florence 1511 births 1535 deaths Ippolito Ambassadors of the Republic of Florence Archbishops of Avignon Cardinal-nephews Diplomats of the Holy See Deaths from malaria 16th-century people of the Republic of Florence 16th-century Italian Roman Catholic archbishops 16th-century rulers in Europe Infectious disease deaths in Lazio