13 Facts About Olimpia Maidalchini

Olimpia Maidalchini was perceived by her contemporaries as having influence regarding papal appointments.

Olimpia Maidalchini is not to be confused with her daughter-in-law Olimpia Aldobrandini, who married her son Camillo.

Olimpia Maidalchini refused, and in 1608 married Paolo Nini, one of the wealthiest men in Viterbo.

Olimpia Maidalchini apparently attempted to influence her nephew's decisions; however, he proved so incompetent that in 1650 Innocent X sought a replacement.

Olimpia Maidalchini is often mentioned as a cousin of Olimpia Maidalchini.

Olimpia Maidalchini then began a career as a consistorial lawyer.

Olimpia Maidalchini was apparently instrumental in obtaining an appointment for Astalli as secretary to the Secretary of State, Cardinal Giovanni Giacomo Panciroli.

When Francesco Olimpia Maidalchini proved to be a failure as Cardinal-nephew, Innocent sought the advice of his Cardinal Secretary of State, and Cardinal Panciroli suggested Astalli.

Cardinal Decio Azzolino was assistant to Panciroli; Olimpia Maidalchini acted as his patron.

Olimpia Maidalchini was notorious for guarding access to Innocent X, and utilizing it to her own financial benefit.

Olimpia Maidalchini's wired widow's hood in the bust was interpreted by Ann Sutherland as a jab at the fact that neither Maidalchini nor her family provided for the burial of Innocent X after his death in 1655, which was paid for by Innocent X's former butler.

Olimpia Maidalchini allowed the pontiff's body to stay unburied for three days, and to be buried in "the simplest of forms imaginable".

Some sources even allege that Maidalchini was Innocent X's lover, an accusation which goes back to Gregorio Leti's Vita di Donna Olimpia Maidalchini, written under the pseudonym Gualdus, and that she poisoned cardinals to open up additional vacancies for simony.