Cardinal Bernhard Clesius

In January 1531 the prince-electors met in Cologne and chose Ferdinand of Habsburg, brother of Emperor Charles V, as King of the Romans, the heir to the imperial title. Among the men in the city for that election was Bernhard von Cles, Clesius in Latin, and Bartholomaeus Bruyn painted him during the visit. Clesius came from the Trentino, trained as a lawyer, and became Bishop of Trent in 1514. He began in politics as a privy councillor to Emperor Maximilian I, served Ferdinand as a minister from 1522, crowned him King of Bohemia in 1527 and rose to be his supreme chancellor. The cardinal's red he wears here was new, granted only in 1530. His coat of arms appears twice, on his seal ring and on the little bell standing on the table.