Henry Benedict Stuart

Henry Benedict Stuart
Jacobite pretender "Henry IX"
File:HenryIX 001.jpg Henry Benedict Stuart, "Cardinal-Duke of York"
Predecessor	"Charles III"
Burial	St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
Names Henry Benedict Maria Clement Thomas Francis Xavier Stuart
House	House of Stuart
Father	"James III and VIII"
Mother	Maria Klementyna Sobieska

Henry Benedict Cardinal Stuart (11 March 1725 – 13 July 1807) was the fourth and final Jacobite heir to publicly claim the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Unlike his father, James Francis Edward Stuart, and brother, Charles Edward Stuart, Henry made no effort to seize the throne.

He spent his life in the Papal States and had a long career in the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church, rising to become the Dean of the College of Cardinals and Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and Velletri. At the time of his death he was (and still is) one of the longest serving Cardinals in the Church's history.

In his youth, Henry's father made him Duke of York (in the Jacobite peerage), and it was by this title that he was best known. Upon the death of his brother in 1788 Henry became known by Jacobites, and within his personal entourage, as Henry IX of Great Britain, although publicly he referred to himself as Cardinal-Duke of York nuncupatus.

Notwithstanding his claim to the throne, Henry was in general a peaceable man, attentive to his duties, well respected and a generous host in Rome to many English and Scottish visitors, both Roman Catholic and Protestant .

Life

Henry Benedict Maria Clement Thomas Francis Xavier Stuart was born in exile at Rome on 6 March 1725 and baptized on the same day by Pope Benedict XIII, 37 years after his grandfather James II of Great Britain lost the throne, and ten years after his father's failed attempt to regain it. His father was James Francis Edward Stuart, known to his opponents as "the Old Pretender". His mother was the Princess Maria Klementyna Sobieska, granddaughter of the Polish King, John III Sobieski.

Portrait by Anton Raphael Mengs, 1756 (Musée Fabre, Avignon)

Henry went to France in 1745 to help his brother, Prince Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie", or "the Young Pretender") prepare the Jacobite campaign of that year. After its defeat, Henry Stuart returned to Italy. On 30 June 1747 Pope Benedict XIV conferred him with tonsure and created him Cardinal-Deacon of S. Maria in Portico in special consistory held on the 3 July 1747. On 27 August 1747 he was promoted to the four minor orders by the Pope. He received the subdiaconate on 18 August 1748 and diaconate on 25 August 1748. He was ordained priest on 1 September 1748 and consecrated titular Archbishop of Corinth on 2 October 1758.

He was advanced to the order of Cardinal Priest in 1748, maintaining title to S. Maria in Portico. In 1752 he transferred to the titulus of Ss. XII Apostoli. He was made Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati on 13 July 1761, and eventually succeeded to the See of Ostia and Velletri on his appointment as Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals on 26 September 1803.

He lived and worked in Frascati for many years, descending each afternoon in his carriage to Rome, where his position as vice-chancellor entitled him to the Palazzo della Cancelleria.

Henry was the last claimant to the English throne to touch for the King's Evil.

Personal relationships

Henry’s attachment to youthful favour was known to those around him, as noted by the diarist Hester Lynch Thrale (1741-1821): ‘Old Cardinal de York kept a Catamite publicly at Rome while I was there, tho’ a man of the best character possible, for Piety & Charity; with which - as a Person said to me – that Vice has nothing to do. They consider it a matter of taste’. Such evidence was confirmed by the (homosexual) diplomat and writer Giuseppe Gorani (1740-1819), who met Henry Stuart at his palace in 1793 – and unlike Thrale, found him arrogant and despised by the populace: ‘Everybody should shrink from making rash judgements: I like to unmask hypocritical people, but I want to have clear proof. Therefore I shall just tell what I saw without the pretension to draw conclusions from it. His palace seemed to me filled with young men of a very comely appearance, dressed as abbots. This led me to suspect that this Royal Eminence could have the taste with which some of his brethren are accused. Nevertheless, having not had the opportunity to ask these young people, I did not gather any proof that could confirm my suspicion.’

In reality, Gorani’s ‘suspicion’ was a certainty, so well known that even the strongly pro-Catholic writer Gaetano Moroni could not cover up an incident which occurred in 1752 between the 27-year old cardinal and his father (known among supporters as James III): ‘King James III was displeased by the great favour accorded by the cardinal to Monsignor Lercari, his major-domo, therefore he let it be understood that he wanted him dismissed from his service. The cardinal, who loved him exceedingly, secretly continued in his friendship, meeting him in arranged places. This only further irritated the king, and he asked the pope to have Lercari sent far away from Rome’.

Pope Benedict XIV asked Cardinal Lercari, the uncle of the young monsignor, to suggest that he return to his native Genoa for a while. When young Lercari declined, the pope ordered him to leave. ‘The cardinal [York] considered himself much offended and the following night, he too left for Nocera, swearing never again to set foot in Rome unless Monsignor Lercari had been returned to him… The pope sent letters pleading with him to consider a situation in which the heretics would triumph in seeing such discord between a cardinal of the holy church and a prince so…respected for…his virtue’. Faced with such pressure from the pope himself, the young cardinal had no choice other than to return to Rome and seek reconciliation with his father.

Only after the pope’s death was Henry Stuart able to pursue his loves. Moroni admitted that ‘he liked having in his Court handsome and tall people, as is appropriate for great Princes’. Particularly close to him from 1769 onwards was Monsignor Angelo Cesarini, a nobleman from Perugia, who thanks to Stuart’s protection, won various honours, was made canon of the cathedral in Frascati (near Rome) and finally, in 1801, became Bishop of Milevi. When Stuart died, Cesarini was still at his side, just as he had been for 40 years.

French Revolution

At the time of the French Revolution, he lost his French Royal benefices and sacrificed many other resources to assist Pope Pius VI. This, in addition to the seizure of his Frascati property by the French, caused him to descend into poverty. The British Minister in Venice arranged for Henry to receive an annuity of £4,000 from King George III of Great Britain. Although the British government represented this as an act of charity, Henry and the Jacobites considered it to be a first installment on the money which was legally owed to him. (For many years the British government had promised to return the English dowry of his grandmother, Mary of Modena, but had never actually done so.)

Henry returned to Frascati in 1803. In September of that year he became the Dean of the College of Cardinals and hence Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and Velletri, though he still lived in the episcopal palace at Frascati. He died there on 13 July 1807, aged 82.

Post Mortem

Monument to the Royal Stuarts, Rome

Under his will, which he signed as "Henry R", he was succeeded in all his claimed British rights by his friend and nearest blood-relative, Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia. But Charles never publicly claimed nor renounced his Jacobite rights, nor have any of his successors to this day.

Contrary to popular belief, he did not leave the Crown Jewels to the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV of the United Kingdom. All his property was entrusted to Monsignor Angelo Cesarini for distribution. Cesarini sent the Prince of Wales several jewels from Henry's private collection. These included a "Lesser George" (thought to have been worn by Charles I at his execution, and now at Windsor Castle) and a St Andrew's Cross (now at Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh), which are insignia of the orders of the Garter and the Thistle, and also a ruby ring.

A new sarcophagus was needed when the bodies were moved in 1938. It is widely held that the cost of that new sarcophagus was paid by King George VI .

Henry Benedict, his brother, his father and his mother are buried in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. There is a monument to the Royal Stuarts designed by Antonio Canova in the basilica to their memory on one of the columns in the basilica proper. This was restored within living memory at the expense of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Cardinalatial titles

During his life, Cardinal Stuart was assigned the following Diaconia and Tituli:

• July 13, 1747 Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria in Portico
• September 16, 1748 Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria in Portico
• December 18, 1752 Cardinal Priest of Santi XII Apostoli
• February 12, 1759 Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria in Trastevere
• July 13, 1761 Cardinal Bishop of Frascati
• January 14, 1763 Comendatario of San Lorenzo in Damaso (proper of the cardinal vice-chancellor, held in addition to the suburbicarian sees)
• September 26, 1803 Cardinal Bishop of Ostia e Velletri (proper of the dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals)

Ancestors

Family of Henry Benedict Stuart

16. James I of England 8. Charles I of England 17. Princess Anne of Denmark 4. James II of England 18. Henry IV of France 9. Princess Henrietta Maria of France 19. Marie de' Medici 2. James Francis Edward Stuart 20. Francesco I d'Este, Duke of Modena 10. Alfonso IV d'Este, Duke of Modena 21. Maria Farnese 5. Mary of Modena 22. Hieronymus Martinozzi 11. Laura Martinozzi 23. Laura Mazarini 1. Henry Benedict Stuart 24. Jakub Sobieski 12. John III Sobieski 25. Zofia Teofillia Daniłowicz 6. Jakub Ludwik Sobieski 26. Henri Albert de La Grange d'Arquien 13. Marie Casimire Louise de la Grange d'Arquien 27. Françoise de La Châtre 3. Maria Klementyna Sobieska 28. Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg 14. Philipp Wilhelm, Elector Palatine 29. Magdalene of Bavaria 7. Countess Palatine Hedwig Elisabeth Amelia of Neuburg 30. George II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt 15. Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt 31. Sophia Eleonore of Saxony

See also

• Touch pieces

External links

• Henry Benedict Maria Clement Stuart Catholic Encyclopedia article
• Catholic Hierarchy