Renaissance Papacy during 15th and early 16th C.
POPES: Martin
V Colonna Roman noble 1420
enters
Florentine connection: Cosimo di Medici as
papal banker
Eugenius IV 1434 Roman uprising led by Colonna; takes refuge in
Florence under Cosimo;
appoints Cardinal
Giovanni Vitelleschi as Governor of
Papal States:
ruthless condottiere,
suppresses Roman nobility in Latium (Lazio)
presides over Council of Ferrara/Florence 1438-9; Eastern (Greek)
Emperor John Palaeologus & Orthodox
Patriarch seek aid against Turks
NICHOLAS V 1447-55 first Pope after Schism to hold power unopposed;
refortification of Castel Sant'Angelo:
strengthens fort's defenses
building extended bastions, towers; also
papal apartment on top
1st humanist Pope: studied Greek in
Florence; manuscript collector;
Cosimo consults with him on organization of
library of San Marco
begins Vatican Library: hires scribes
to copy all known Latin and
Greek book manuscripts, available to
humanist scholars
building program for city of
Florentine Humanists in
Poggio
Bracciolini (1380-1459) studies
Latin as part of Salutati's circle
1403 papal secretary; goes to Constance for
council, manuscripts
1430-40 writes De varietate fortunae (On
the vagaries of fortune)
Maxim: "Quanto fuit Roma ruina ipsa
docet."
("The ruins themselves show how great
Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire 1780's:
last chapter: Poggio & Eugenius IV on
ruins of Capitoline
1452 back to
Flavio Biondi: employed
as humanist scholar at papal court 1433-1463
1444-46 Roma Instaurata (
urges
Pope to rebuild city of
used to reconstruct ancient Roman archeology
& topography
Callixtus III (1455-1459) first Borgia Pope (
makes two nephews
Cardinals including Rodrigo Borgia (Alexander VI)
Pius II (1458-1464) Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini (
humanist and conciliarist at
Council of
Memoirs of a Renaissance
Pope (account of his own election, trading votes in the “privy”)
1460 Execrabilis: condemns
conciliar theory as heretical: “Forget Aeneas, follow Pius.”
effort to
launch a Crusade (dies in Ancona 1464)
Pinturrichio paintings in Siena
Duomo Piccolomini Library
Sixtus IV (1471-1480) Francesco della Rovere (uncle of Julius II, below)
builds Sistine Chapel in Vatican Palace; nepotism (promotes relatives)
1478 role in Pazzi Conspiracy
against Lorenzo and Giuliano dei Medici
Vatican fresco 1477 (transferred to canvas):
Melozzo da Forli, Sixtus IV
installing Platina as Vatican librarian with four nephews: from left --
Giovanni della Rovere, made
Signore of Senigallia (in red)
married to daughter of
Federico di Montefeltro Duke of Urbino
Girolamo Riario, made Count of
Imola and Forli, assassinated 1488 (married to Catherina Sforza)
Giulano della Rovere Cardinal
di San Pietro in Vincula (later Julius II below)
Raffaele Riario, Cardinal of
San Giorgio and favorite of Sixtus IV
Innocent VIII (1480-1492) Giovanni Battista Cibo (Venetian)
financial corruption, indulgence sales;
first Pope to publicly recognize children while
Pope (recognizes only two out of 8 or more)
marries his illegitimate son to daughter
of Lorenzo de’ Medici; appoints Giovanni as Cardinal age 13
1484 Papal bull on persecution of witches in
Germany (Summis desiderantes affectibus)
1489 return of the spear of
Longinus from Holy Land through a deal with the Turkish Sultan
Alexander VI Rodrigo Borgia (1492-1503) Spaniard, from Valencia
mistress before elected
Pope: Vannozza dei Cattanei (inn keeper in Campo dei Fiori)
3 or 4 children: sons: Juan, murdered in Rome, perhaps with
collaboration of brother
Cesare Borgia (Duke Valentino) head of papal
armies
= Machiavelli's hero: man of action,
hope to unify Italy
daughter
Lucrezia Borgia married in ceremony in Vatican to Este Duke of Ferrara
after elected, mistress Jiulia Farnese, officially
married to an Orsini
Johannes Burchardus, Diary
from court of Alexander VI: recounts Borgia family life
Julius II della Rovere (1503-1513) fortress at
"warrior Pope," personally directs Papal
troops in battle: marches on
conquest of
Erasmus'
pacifistic treatise: (from Julius Exclusus Heaven)
patron of Michelangeol (Julius’ tomb,
Sistine ceiling), plans to rebuild
Leo X Medici (1513-1521) Giovanni, son of Lorenzo de’ Medici, made
Cardinal at age 13
election demonstrates restored Medici power;alliance
of Popes & Florence strengthened
patron of
Raphael, 1517 Conspiracy of Cardinals to assassinate the Pope
Hadrian VI (1522-23)
Dutch Pope; last non-ltalian pope until 20th C.
Polish Pope, John Paul II
Clement VII Medici (1523-34) illegitimate son of Giuliano de’ Medici
(assassinated 1478)
prisoner
during Sack of Rome (1527)
by the German troops of Emperor Charles V Hapsburg
Paul III (1534-1549) Alessandro Farnese,
old Roman family, builds Palazzo Farnese (off Campo dei Fiori)
brother of Alexander VI’s
mistress, Giulia Farnese, made Cardinal by Alexander VI
finally calls Council of Trent (1543-63) which represents beginning of
Counter Reformation