Italy First In 1353
Innocent VI sent him as a legate into Italy, with a view to the restoration of the papal authority in the states of the Church, at the head of a small mercenary army. After receiving the support of the archbishop of
Milan,
Giovanni Visconti, and of those of
Pisa,
Florence and
Siena, he started a campaign against
Giovanni di Vico, lord of
Viterbo, who had usurped much of the Papal territories in the
Latium and
Umbria. Giovanni was defeated in the battle of Viterbo of 10 March 1354 and signed a treaty of submission. To mark his authority over Viterbo, he immediately decided to build a palace there near the San Faustino church. Albornoz then moved to the
Marche and
Romagna against the
Malatesta of
Rimini and the
Ordelaffi of
Forlì. The Papal commander
Rodolfo II da Varano, lord of
Camerino, defeated
Galeotto Malatesta, forcing his family to become a loyal ally of the Pope. This was followed by the submission of the
Montefeltro of
Urbino and the
da Polenta of
Ravenna, and of the cities of
Senigallia and
Ancona. Towards the end of 1356 Albornoz was appointed as
bishop of Sabina. Only
Giovanni Manfredi of
Faenza and
Francesco II Ordelaffi of
Forlì were at that point resisting the Papal reconquest. In 1356,
a crusade was declared against them. Albornoz had managed to submit only the former when he was being recalled in 1357, being replaced by
Androin de la Roche,
abbot of Cluny. Before leaving, in a meeting with all the Papal vicars held on 29 April 1357, Albornoz issued the
Constitutiones Sanctæ Matris Ecclesiæ, which regulated all the matters of the Papal States and its division into provinces. They remained effective until 1816.
Second to
Pope Clement I from a symbolic miniature illustration in one of the Collegio's biblical manuscripts The Cardinal was honoured as
Pater Ecclesiæ at his arrival in Avignon. His sojourn there was to be short, however, as Giovanni di Vico and Francesco Ordelaffi (who had hired the famous
condottiero Konrad von Landau's
"Grand Company") were menacing the fragile balance of his last conquests. Returned to Italy, Albornoz found an agreement with Landau, forcing
Ordelaffi to surrender on 4 July 1359. He then promulgates in the name of the pope the
Constitutiones Sanctae Matri Ecclesiae, general regulations of the pontifical administration of the domain of Saint-Pierre. Albornoz missed only
Bologna to complete his rebuilding of the Papal States. When that city was attacked by
Bernabò Visconti of
Milan, its ruler, Giovanni d'Oleggio, decided to hand it over to Albornoz. In the meantime, Innocent died: the Spanish cardinal refused the tiara, and
Urban V was elected. Under him Albornoz started the military campaign against Visconti and, when all attacks failed, Urban proclaimed a crusade against him. As Urban's greatest desire was that of a crusade against the Turks, the two parts signed a hasty peace, which was highly favourable to Visconti. The relentless work of Albornoz ushered in a decade of warfare and atrocity culminating in the massacre of Cesena, a town faithful to the Papal cause whose entire population was executed by the Papal forces while paving the way of
Urban V to Rome (1367). As legate, Albornoz showed himself to be an astute manager of men and effective fighter. He began by making use of
Cola di Rienzo (former leader of the citizenship freedom in Rome), whose release from prison at Avignon he secured. After the murder of the tribune in 1354 Albornoz pursued his task of restoring the pope's authority by intrigue and force with remarkable success. However, the ten years of bloody warfare conducted by Albornoz accomplished very little to secure the pacification of Italy for now four mercenary companies roved through Italy spreading further bloodshed and strife. The Papal State was itself far from completely pacified; a savage and devastating war went on from 1361 to 1367 between Rome and
Velletri while in 1366-7 there was a general rebellion in Campagna. Despite all and as a mark of gratitude the pope appointed him legate at
Bologna in 1367, but he died at
Viterbo the same year. According to his own desire his remains were carried to Toledo, where Henry of Castile had them entombed with almost royal honours. The
college of Saint Clement at Bologna was founded by Albornoz for the benefit Castilian, Aragonese and Portuguese students, in 1364. ==Archbishop==