future sister-in-law, the noted poetess and favorite in the papal court, Ersilia Cortese, resulted in scandal. Julius considered demoting him from the cardinalate after having compromised the pope's credibility. In 1562 he was given the titular church of San Callisto. Crimes and banishment After the death of Julius, Innocenzo took part in the two papal conclaves of 1555. In 1559, on the way to a third conclave from Venice he murdered two men, a father and son in Nocera Umbra who had "uttered ill words about him". For this crime he was arrested and imprisoned in the Castel Sant'Angelo, by order of Pope Pius IV; and the following year he was moved to the abbey of Montecassino, and placed in solitary confinement. Following the intervention of Cosimo I de' Medici, duke of Florence, Innocenzo was released but nevertheless forced to face a fine of 100,000 scudi, and threatened with the stripping of his cardinalate. From Rome, Innocenzo was banished to Tivoli, but returned to take part in the conclave of 1564. He also participated in the conclave of 1565–1566, which elected Pope Pius V; because of his aura of mischief, the guards searched him and discovered a note hidden in his cloak which contained forbidden information; this discovery caused an incredible stir and from that moment until the end of the conclave, Innocenzo and his conclavists were guarded more closely than any other cardinal in the conclave. In 1567, Innocenzo was accused of raping two low-class women in Brevia, near Siena. Charges were brought against him and he was brought to Rome with two Theatine priests assigned to act as guards. An investigation recommended against his execution or degradation, but he was nevertheless once again banished by Pope Pius V to Montecassino and then Bergamo. From there, Innocenzo worked with friendly cardinals to petition the new pope to release him from the monastery. To strengthen the case for his release, and to demonstrate that his outlook and attitude had changed, he began to project the image of a reformed prelate. Pope Gregory XIII restored Innocenzo's freedom and allowed him to return to Rome:"[b]ut his crown did not mean what it once did, because upon his return, Innocenzo was, once again, despised by all." Death and burial Innocenzo died in Rome on 2 November 1577 and was buried within a few hours, in complete anonymity, beneath an unmarked slab in the