for election, but the Imperialists (who were caucusing in the Hall of the Secret Consistory) refused to come to the Chapel and carry out the electoral process. It was Farnese who, using both blandishments and threats, managed to get the Imperialists to give in and assemble with the rest of the cardinals in the Cappella Paolina. On the afternoon of 23 May, the Feast of the Ascension, the seventy-eight year old Cardinal Gian Pietro Carafa of Naples was elected pope by acclamation. He chose the name Paul IV. He had been the co-founder of the Theatine Order, and was a promoter of reform in the Church. He was no humanist, however, and preferred the doctrine of Thomas Aquinas. He was also a vigorous opponent of Protestantism, and anything that favored it. He saw heretics everywhere, even inside the College of Cardinals, and as an Inquisitor he showed no scruple or mercy for those who were tainted. Showing all of the traditional prejudices against the Jews, and especially against converted Jews, he issued a bull on 14 July 1555, Cum nimis absurdum, creating the Jewish Ghetto of Rome. He refused to recognize the election of Ferdinand I as Holy Roman Emperor, and he refused to recognize the retirement of Charles V. He ruled until his death on 18 August 1559, or rather his nephew, Cardinal Carlo Carafa, did. It was only three months before his death that Paul IV was fully informed of the misdeeds of his nephews, Cardinal Carafa, Giovanni Caraffa Duke of Paliano, and Antonio Carafa Marchese of Montebello. When the Florentine Ambassador, Bongiano Gianfiliazzi, had attempted to have an audience with Paul IV to enlighten him about his corrupt nephews, the door was slammed in his face by Cardinal Carafa. Obviously, there was no room in the Curia for the advice of Cardinal Farnese. There was considerable danger to Farnese properties because of Paul IV's anti-imperial policy. It was in 1556 that Cardinal Farnese commissioned Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola to take in hand the half-completed fortress at Caprarola and turn it into a country villa. Actual construction began in 1559 and was completed in 1573. Even when half completed, in 1561, Cardinal Alessandro commissioned Taddeo Zuccari and his workshop to decorate the rooms on the lower floor. The Stanza della solitudine was decorated by the same artists between 1563 and 1565, in accordance with a design created by