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Abstract:  NOBLEMEN, SOLDIERS AND JUSTICE IN THE ECCLESIASTICAL STATE (1560-1605) The military noblemen involved in judiciary events in the Ecclesiastical State between the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries ere usually given a special treatment and the cases were resolved in their favour. The pontiffs, with the sole exception of defending the dignity of their seat, we willing to pardon the crimes committed by these noblemen because of the interests of the prestigious cardinals and foreign sovereigns whom they served. Furthermore, the popes encouraged this condition in order to attract the aristocracy to the counter reformation model of the Christian soldier and to guarantee to their families- from which the general of the Holy Church was selected- the aid of the exclusive dependencies of the Holy Seat. However as late as the early seventeenth century the military nobles continued to ignore this and refused to give up their own liberty of action.