The Lady Olimpia, AKA The Pope of Rome

<p>Donna Olimpia Maidalchini Pomphilji was born in 1591 to a humble family in Italy. When she was fifteen, her father tried to imprison her in a convent to avoid paying a dowery. Olimpia defied him and married the wealthiest man in town. Her husband died three years later, leaving her a wealthy widow.</p> <p>In 1612, at twenty-one, she married fifty-one-year-old Pamphilio Pamphilj, trading her wealth to obtain a title. She would now be known as Lady Olimpia. Olimpia took her brother-in-law, thirty-eight-year-old Monsignor Pamphilj, under her wing to help him climb the Vatican ladder to Cardinal.</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/@rooksfran/the-lady-olimpia-aka-the-pope-of-rome-13f2d0a6d4fd"><strong>Learn More</strong></a></p>