8 - The squadrone volante: ‘independent’ cardinals and European politics in the second half of the seventeenth century

Summary

Any observation concerning papal politics in the mid-seventeenth century which intends to relate the development of the conflict among European powers to the internal dynamics of the papal see must take into account the Innocentian Age during which the most significant and well-known changes occurred. However, this does not mean that an inevitable progression of events led from the trauma of the ‘iron century’ to the dawn of the ‘crisis of the European conscience’. It simply seems more correct and profitable to examine the latter from a mid-century viewpoint rather than taking a retrospective approach, as these aspects have already been looked upon as preliminary indications of the advances to be made during the Enlightenment.

Therefore we must clarify whether during the traumatic middle years of the seventeenth century – which remain the most obscure period in early modern European history – any significant changes took place. The best way to do this is by examining the perceptions of contemporaries. According to the traditional perspective, the peace treaties of Westphalia and the Pyrenees marked the definitive demise of the Apostolic See as a protagonist on the international political scene. This does not require a historiographical review, but it should be emphasized that undervaluing the papacy has led to a simplified conception of political manoeuvres during the seventeenth century. (In fact, this is probably true of the entire modern age.) This is particularly evident if we evaluate this interpretation in terms of the immobility and subjection of the potentates in the Italian peninsula.