Adrian de Castello (c. 1460–c. 1521)

Italian scholar, politician, and cleric. In 1488 he was sent by Pope Innocent VIII to England, where he held senior positions in the church. In 1492, the year Innocent died, he returned to Rome and was made clerk of the papal treasury, while at the same time acting as Henry VII's ambassador at Rome. In 1517 he was accused of complicity in the plot to poison Leo X, and was stripped of all his offices 1518. He fled to Venice, and is thought to have been murdered on his return journey to Rome after the death of Leo X.

Adrian was born in Tuscany. He became the agent of the English king Henry VII in Rome. In 1502 he was made bishop of Hereford, in 1503 cardinal, created by Alexander VI, and in 1504 bishop of Bath and Wells. He apparently never revisited England after leaving 1492, but was promoted during his absence.