Prospero Colonna (cardinal)

Prospero Colonna (c. 1410–1463) was a cardinal-nephew of Pope Martin V (Odo Colonna), whose election ended the Western Schism. Colonna was excommunicated for a period due to his rebellion against Martin V's successor, Pope Eugene IV, becoming one of the few excommunicated cardinals. Despite this, Colonna was the leading candidate to succeed Eugene IV in the papal conclave, 1447, where he was two votes away from election for the first three days.

Colonna is also known as a patron of Roman humanism.

Colonna was born circa 1410, the fifth child of Count Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna and Sveva Caetani, of the signori of Sermoneta, two of the great baronal families of Rome. Colonna was an apostolic notary and, at the age of 11, made a canon of the cathedral of Liège in 1421, losing the title for a time and regaining it in 1426. In the same year 1426 he became provost of the St. Martin's Cathedral of Utrecht.

Colonna was also the Archdeacon of Canterbury from June 1424 to December 1434, appointed by Martin V, his uncle. Colonna claimed several ecclesiastical revenue streams in England, including the prebend of Laughton, York, worth an estimated ₤33 per annum, a matter of dispute between Colonna and Thomas Chapman, as well as Chapman's successor John Lax. Colonna acquired other English benefices at a time when the right of the pope to appoint English bishops was a matter of controversy.

...
Wikipedia