Ercole Consalvi, a Roman cardinal, born in Rome, June 8, 1757, died there, Jan. 24, 1824. His father was the marchese Giuseppe Con-salvi, and his mother Maria Carandini, sister of the cardinal of that name. Educated in the college of Frascati, he won the regard of Cardinal York, who remained through life his friend and protector. He entered very young the ranks of the Roman prelacy, and was soon appointed auditor of the rota, the highest civil court in Rome, at the solicitation, it is thought, of the exiled aunts of Louis XVI. He became minister of war to Pius VI., after whose death he was chosen secretary of the conclave which elected Pius VII. This election was in a great measure due to Consalvi's tact, and his reputation for ability caused the new pope to appoint him his pro-secretary of state, then cardinal, and finally titular secretary of state. In that capacity he proceeded to Paris in 1801, to negotiate a concordat for the restoration of religion. "While the pope was in France on the occasion of the coronation of Napoleon, Con-salvi remained at the head of the government in Rome. In 1806, when Napoleon quarrelled with the pope, he insisted on Consalvi's removal from office.

The secretary besought Pius VII. not to hesitate in accepting his resignation as a peace offering, and the pope yield-' ed, appointing Casoni his successor. In 1810 he was compelled by Napoleon to go to Paris, and for refusing to be present at the marriage of Napoleon with Maria Louisa was banished to Rheims. In 1813 he was permitted to join the pope in Fontainebleau, and advised him to recall the concordat which he had been forced to sign. On the first restoration Pius VII. sent him to Paris to compliment Louis XVIII.; and after the final downfall of Napoleon he continued to be the representative of the holy see in the congress of Vienna. He obtained the consent of the congress that the Papal States should be restored to their integrity, and successfully resisted the partition of France. He continued at the head of the Roman government until the death of Pius VII. in August, 1823. During his administration he did much to improve the Papal States; he advised and framed the motu proprio of 1816, suppressing all feudal rights, monopolies, and oppressive taxes; abolished torture, and the punishment of the corda or estrapade; and to him also is due the abolishment of the death penalty for heresy.

A new civil code, a commercial code, and a penal code were drawn up in harmony with the spirit of the age; he improved the registry of mortgages, introduced a better system of police, established workhouses in the principal towns, extirpated the banditti from the Campagna, planned the embellishment and sanitary improvement of Rome, and encouraged the liberal arts in the persons of Canova and Thorwaldsen. He left a large sum for a monument to Pius VII. Consalvi's memoirs have been published by Cretineau-Joly (2 vols., Paris, 1864).