Pope Clement XI (Latin: Clemens XI; 23 July 1649 – 19 March 1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was Pope from 23 November 1700 to his death in 1721.
Clement XI was a patron of the arts and of science. He was also a great benefactor of the Vatican Library, his interest in archaeology is credited with saving much of Rome’s antiquity. In fact, he authorized excavations of the Roman catacombs. He was of Italian and distant Albanian origin.
Giovanni Francesco Albani was born in 1649 in Urbino to a distinguished family. His mother Elena Mosca (1630-1698) was an Italian, descended from the noble Mosca family of Pesaro, while his father Carlo Albani (1623-1684) was a patrician descended from the noble Albani family that had established itself in Urbino from northern Albania in the 15th century.
Albani was educated at the Collegio Romano in Rome from 1660 onwards. He became a very proficient Latinist and gained a doctorate in both canon and civil law. He was one of those who frequented the academy of Queen Christina of Sweden. He would serve as a papal prelate under Pope Alexander VII and was appointed by Pope Innocent XI as the Referendary of the Apostolic Signatura. Throughout this time, he also served as the governor of Rieti, Sabina and Orvieto.
There have been fourteen popes named Clement.
There have also been three antipopes named Clement.