Paris de Grassis

Paris de Grassis (c. 1470 - 10 June, 1528) was the Master of ceremonies to pope Julius II and pope Leo X.

Biography

He was born at Bologna. He was the nephew of Antonio de Grassis, nuncio to Frederick III and Bishop of Tivoli. Cardinal Achille de Grassis, his brother, one of the confidential diplomats of Julius II, was appointed Archbishop of Bologna by Leo X and died in 1523. In 1506 Paris de Grassis succeeded the famous John Burchard, master of ceremonies to popes Innocent VIII and Alexander VI, and continued his "Diarium". The portion of the diary written by de Grassis covers the closing years of Julius II and the pontificate of Leo X, and is a precious reference work for historians. In 1515 Leo X made him Bishop of Pesaro, but he retained his office of master of ceremonies until the pope's death.

He died at Rome in 1528.

Works

De Grassis was not a historian, merely a chronicler; with pedantic fidelity he jotted down the minutiae of all pontifical ceremonies, trivial occurrences at the Roman Curia, the consistories and processions, the coming and going of ambassadors, journeys, etc. He had no political prejudices, though he shows that he had but small sympathy for the French or for various curial dignitaries. His sole interest was ceremonial and court etiquette and the meticulous recording of all details relating to such. Nevertheless his eye was alert to catch all that went on around him; in consequence we owe him quite a number of anecdotes that throw much light on the characters of the two popes. Moreover, being the almost inseparable companion of both popes on their journeys, e.g. of Julius II during his campaign against the Romagna, he supplies us with many details that fill in or set off the narrative of the historian, down to such minute details such as the popes' food preferences and daily attire. Ordinarily his work offers more to the historian of Renaissance culture than to the student of ecclesiastico-political conditions. [cite book
last = Creighton
first = Mandell
title = A History Of The Papacy From The Great Schism To The Sack Of Rome
publisher = Kessinger Publishing
date = 2004
isbn = 1417944455 ] The sixteen manuscript copies of the "Diarium" are not all complete, the more important codices being those of the Vatican and of the Rossiana Library at Vienna. To de Grassis also is attributed, perhaps on better grounds, a book entitled "De caeremoniis cardinalium et episcoporum in eorum dioecesibus" (1564).

References

*CathEncy|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06729b.htm|title=Paris de Grassis
*Catholic