Markus Sitticus von Hohenems Altemps

Markus Sitticus III von Hohenems Altemps, Cardinal Altemps (19 August 1533 – 15 February 1595) was a German Catholic prelate, who was Bishop of Constance (1561–89), papal legate and Cardinal.

Biography

He was born at Hohenems, a sovereign county in the Vorarlberg, the second son of the noble Wolf Dietrich von Ems (1507–1538), a courtier of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and his wife Chiara Medici, sister of Giovanni Angelo Medici (Pope Pius IV). Markus Sitticus was the brother of Jakob Hannibal von Hohenems, a general of Charles V and of Philip II of Spain; he was a cousin of Charles and Federico Borromeo and uncle of both Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau and Marcus Sittich von Hohenems, who were Prince-Bishop of Salzburg in 1587-1612 and 1612–1619, respectively.

From 1550 Markus Sittich von Hohenems was a member of the company headed by his uncle Gian Giacomo Medici, marchese di Melegnano, one of the last of the Renaissance condottieri. In 1552 he participated in Charles V's efforts to win Metz back from France, and in 1554/55 he was present at the siege of Siena and repulsed a Turkish attack on the Tuscan port of Piombino.

His uncle Giovanni Angelo Medici was raised to the papacy at the end of 1559 and, having assumed the tiara 6 January 1560 as Pius IV, proved generous in dispensing benefices to his Italian and German nephews: Marco Sittico was made bishop of Cassano, 29 May 1560. With other members of the German branch of the family relocated in Italy, he adopted the surname Altemps as a calque equivalentof Hohenems. In the Holy Roman Empire the Hohenems were raised to the rank of Reichsgrafen by Emperor Ferdinand I, 27 April 1560. Markus Sittikus was made a cardinal at the consistory of 26 February 1561.^[1]

With papal support he was named co-adjutor to the ailing Bishop of Constance, Christoph Metzler, whom he succeeded in the see. Though he lacked theological training, he served as a papal legate to the Council of Trent, and served in diplomatic capacities Pius V, Gregory XIII and Sixtus V.

In 1568 Marco Sittico bought a property in Rome that he immediately set about rebuilding as the Palazzo Altemps, to designs by Martino Longhi; he also built the Villa Mondragone at Frascati. He assembled a formidable collection of Roman antiquities and sculptures. He died at Rome in 1595.

He guided the education and early career of his nephew, Marcus Sittich von Hohenems (1574-1619); his illegitimate son Roberto was made duca di Gallese, took the family name of Altemps, and married Cornelia Orsini.^[2]

Notes

1. ^ Miranda, "Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church": Hohenems
2. ^ George L. Williams, Papal Genealogy: The Families and Descendants of The Popes 2004: Appendix B: Papal Dynasties, p. 220

Persondata
Name	Hohenems Altermps, Markus Sitticus
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Date of birth	19 August 1533
Place of birth
Date of death	15 February 1595
Place of death