Paris de Grassis

Paris de Grassis (also Paride de' Grassi, c. 1470 – 10 June 1528) was the Master of ceremonies to Pope Julius II and Pope Leo X. He joined the Office of Ceremonies in May 1504 as a participating ceremonialist, progressed to role of president of the Office when he became bishop of Pesaro in 1513, and continued as president until he died in 1528. De Grassis' diary covers his work at the papal court from 1504 to 1521.

He was born at Bologna into a lesser patrician family. During his lifetime the family would rise in status from its professional roots in the law faculty at the University and in the College of Notaries to fill important offices in the Bolognese senate, as well as in the Bolognese church and at the papal court. His father, Baldassare, had been a member of College of Notaries since 1464, while other uncles graduated from the University of Bologna with doctorates in canon and civil law, taught at the same university, and sometimes served as canons in the Bolognese cathedral chapter or as elected members of the Anziani Consoli. The de Grassis men of Baldassare's generation married women from similar Bolognese patrician families including the Zambeccari, the Paleotti, the Bucchi, the Aldrovandi, and the Gozzadini. This created a network of families whose social status and employment derived from a select group of institutions, and which experienced diverse fortunes through the political disruptions caused by the fall of the Betivoglio family and the creation of the new senate by Pope Julius II.

His most successful uncle was Antonio de Grassis, nuncio to Frederick III and Bishop of Tivoli. Antonio's success established a clear path for his nephews to follow up the clerical hierarchy, leaving Bologna for the papal court in Rome. Paris' older brother Achille de Grassis, followed his uncle as an Auditor of the Rota, served as a papal diplomat under Julius II, was appointed Bishop of Città di Castello in 1506 and Archbishop of Bologna in 1511 and died in November 1523. Paris' eldest brother, Agamenone de Grassis, was the family's anchor in Bologna, where he worked as a notary, and held several governmental offices including a senator's seat in the Quaranta Consiglieri from 1511. In addition Paris had two sisters (Ludovica and Margherita) who married into the Morbioli and Gozzadini families respectively. The family Grassi Palace at Via Marsala 12 in Bologna now belongs to the municipal government. The family archive is housed in the Archivio di Stato di Bologna.

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