Castello del Buonconsiglio monumenti e collezioni provinciali

Bernardo Cles (1485-1539; Prince-Bishop 1514-1539)

Bernardo Cles was born in Cles (in the Non Valley) on 11th March 1485, to a noble Trentino family, and was son to Ildebrando who was member of the Aulic council for the House of Austria. He finished rhetoric studies at Verona, moving on to Bologna where he took a degree in Canon and Civil Law. He became Canon in the Cathedral of Trento in 1512, collaborating with Bishop George Neideck who nominated him counsellor and sent him to Trento to govern the Principality in his absence. In 1513 Emperor Maximilian called him to Innsbruck to become one of his counsellors, but in June of the next year, following the death of Giorgio Niedeck, the Chapter of Trento unanimously elected him the new bishop. He had to postpone his return to Trento due to his many duties linked to his international political role, taking up the position of Prince-Bishop on 8th September 1515. Despite Bernardo Cles’s continued contact with popes, governors and intellectuals of international status (including Erasmus of Rotterdam), he always maintained an elevated interest in the territory he governed, which was small in size, but of great strategic importance. In fact, it was both the geographical position of Trento and Cles’s diplomatic bravura that led the way for the new council of the Catholic Church in the principality of Trento. Bernardo Cles was thus responsible for the preparation of the most important religious and political event in the history of Trento.

However, there was no shortage of problems at home, with the “Peasants’ War” which broke out in May 1525 and was subsequently overcome by Cles, not without bloodshed.
In 1528 he promulgated the Statute of Trento in a new text which remained in force until 1807. There were 11 volumes that collected the documentary sources of the laws and feuds of the Principality, to form a code which carried Cles’s name.

In order to bring Trento up to the cultural and aesthetic standards reached by other Italian cities, Cles was patron to an extensive urban renovation. This included the significant reconstruction of the church of S. Maria Maggiore (1520) in Renaissance style, and also the widening of the main streets and the decorating of the house façades as part of the urban and artistic renovation of the town of Trento. Cles also commissioned the building of the Sanctuary of the Virgin Mary (1533) in Civezzano, not far from Trento. The castles in his property, such as Stenico and Toblino, were also subject to change and expansion in this period. The Prince-Bishop was also active in Cles in the Non valley, patronising the reconstruction of the parish church and carrying out improvements to the family castle.

Cles’s name is also strongly associated with works of rebuilding and decoration of the Magno Palazzo at Buonconsiglio Castle, which began in 1528 to finish in 1536. He employed some of the best artists of the time who carried out their work supervised by the Prince-bishop himself: Dosso and Battista Dossi, Girolamo Romanino, Marcello Fogolino, Vincenzo Grandi, Alessio Longhi and Zaccaria Zacchi.

Bernardo Cles, was made cardinal by order of Charles V in 1530, and was careful to not neglect his pastoral duties despite also being a political man and educated humanist. In 1537-1538 he concluded the first pastoral visit in the history of the diocese before the Council, of which written documentation remains.

He was nominated Apostolic Administrator of the episcopate of Brixen in 1538, entering into service on 13th July 1539 with the intention of commencing his pastoral activity. His death came about a mere two weeks later, on the 30th of the same month. His body was taken to Trento and buried in the Cathedral.