Fifteenth Century: Eleven Popes
204. Innocent VII, 1404-1406. Had been a professor at Universities of Padua and Perugia and had spent 10 years in England. Even though he was unsuccessful in ending the schism, he was admired for his strictness of life and patronage of learning. On September 1, 1406 he re-organised the University of Rome establishing faculties of medicine, philosophy, logic and rhetoric, and a chair of Greek. Italian.
205. Gregory XII, 1406-1415. Over eighty years old when elected, at one time Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, and Cardinal Priest of San Marco in Venice, Angelo Correr was elected because of his known desire of the end of the schism. He was however vacillating. Eventually he resigned three weeks before the election of his successor, Martin V, elected as a result of the work of the Council of Constance that ended the schism. Venetian.
206. Martin V, 1417-1431. The last and greatest of the Popes of the house of Colonna. He set about the re-building of Rome which had been occupied by the House of Anjou. He summoned some of the greatest painters of the early Renaissance to Rome among them Gentile de Fabriano, Pisanello, and Masaccio. He was the first Pope to bestow the Golden Rose, sometimes still given to Queens. Under him the authority of the Holy See was reasserted after decades of weakening under the various schisms. He was essentially a peacemaker, who summoned a Reforming Council to Basle in 1431. Austere in his personal life, he lived simply in the Palace of the Holy Apostles, in the centre of Rome. Simone Ghini who sculpted his tomb described him as "temporum suorum felicitas" - "the joy of his times". He entered into concordats with Germany, France, Spain and England, kept in close contact with Constantinople. He denounced violent anti-Jewish preaching (1422 and 1429) and forbade the compulsory baptism of Jewish children. His appointees as Cardinals were exceptionally distinguished. Italian.
207. Eugene IV, 1431-1447. A monk, nephew of Pope Gregory XII. In conflict with the Council of Basle, he precipitated serious conflicts that took years to resolve. However, almost despite this tough-minded Pontiff, the Council succeeded in restoring unity between East and West, with the Greek Orthodox Church recognizing once again the Primacy of the Pope, and with agreed statements on Purgatory, the Mass, and the Creed. As well, the Monophysite Armenians (1439), the Copts of Egypt (1443) and Nestorian sects in Mesopotamia and Cyprus (1444, 1445) returned to Catholic unity. Possibly the greatest mind of the age, the Archbishop of Nicaea, John Bessarion, became a Catholic, and was appointed Cardinal. The Graeco-Latin humanism of the early Renaissance finds its most complete expression of this intellectual, benevolent and noble Prince of the Church. His library, which before the fall of Constantinople was the greatest contemporary treasure house on Greek thought and culture, formed the basis of the Library of San Marco in Venice. Obstinate, and politically inexperienced, Eugene seems to have committed many blunders, but as priest and Pope he conveyed a sense of lofty majesty. He had a highly developed sense of justice, worked unceasingly for the poor and suffering. At the beginning of his pontificate St Joan of Arc had been put to death by the English (May 30, 1431). As he lay dying he is said to have regretted ever leaving his Monastery. Venetian.
208. Nicholas V, 1447-1455. Son of a doctor, Tommaso Parentucelli was a student at the University of Bologna, he had taught part-time to earn his keep. More patient, and politically adroit than Eugene, Nicholas was the conciliator that the Church so desperately needed. Few Popes worked so hard for peace, and the end of wars as did Nicholas. He finally ended the schism, and in thanksgiving proclaimed 1450 a year of Jubilee. In the same year he canonized the popular St Bernadine of Siena, and sent Cardinals Nicholas of Cusa and Capistrano to Germany and Cardinal d'Estouteville of England on missions of reform. He brought the intellectual and artistic aspirations of the Renaissance and the Church together. Under his guidance the Church became again the leader of culture. News of the sack of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453 filled Europe with horror and fear. One of the greatest Popes of his time. Italian.
209. Callistus III, 1455-1458. Alonso de Borja (Borgia) the first Spanish Pope since Damasus I (366-384). His overriding desire was to drive the Turks out of Constantinople. The so-called "Great Powers" were almost totally disinterested in this, being preoccupied with national (and self) interests When Sultan Muhammad II, the conqueror of Constantinople moved towards Belgrade, he sent Cardinal Juan Caravajal as his legate, along with St John Capistrano, to the Hungarian outpost manned by the famous John Hunyady, who had raised an army at his own expense - the Hungarian king and nobles had fled - and confronted the huge Turkish force and beat them on July 22, 1456. In memory of this event, the Pope ordered that the feast of the Transfiguration should always been observed on August 6. He ordered that the case of Joan of Arc be re-opened and found her to be innocent of the charges brought against her by the English. A kindly, quiet, unassuming man, his one fault that was to plague the Church for many years to come, was his nepotism. The evil family from which he came as a shining exception, produced among others Alexander VI, the most worthless and fearful figure to be inflicted on the Papacy in the course of its long and dramatic history. Spaniard.
210. Pius II, 1458-1464. Aeneas Piccolomini. In 1445 this poet, writer of novels and erotic comedies, was converted, and some time later was ordained. The election of such a literary connoisseur and man of letters to the Papacy on the death of Callistus III was hailed by humanists. The Pope ardently desired the end of conflict with the Turks, and, among other schemes, wrote a famous letter to the Sultan in which he refuted the teaching of the Koran passage by passage, explained the Christian faith, and invited the Sultan to abandon Islam, be baptized and accept the crown of the Eastern Empire. When, as usual the European powers showed little interest in a crusade, he decided to go himself, and took the Cross in St Peters - despite the fact that he was dying. An act that was as hopeless as it was chivalrous. Very ill and almost unable to move, Pius set off for Ancona and died as the Venetian fleet hove into view. He did all he could to stop the slave trade, the oppression of the Jews. Not only was he one of the greatest of all Popes, but he was the most gifted, interesting, charming, and picturesque and adventurous men in the West. He is the only Pope to have left his memoirs behind, the Commentaria - with the wealth of biographical and nature descriptions regarded as the most beautiful written before Goethe. He called himself a "lover of woods". Founder of the Universities of Basle, Nantes, and Ingolstadt, he completed only one part of his famous cosmography which was to be a geographic and ethnological study of the world as it was then known. His universal knowledge was everywhere admired. He was always making gifts, and never had money for himself. Gregovorius, the well-known German historian summed him up: "His life as Pope was without flaw: he was moderate, kind, humane and considerate." Italian
211. Paul II, 1464-1471. As Pope he dismissed a lot of neo-pagan literati who attached themselves to the Papal Court, and earned the life-long hatred of one Bartolomeo Sachi, called Platina, who took revenge on Paul II in his notoriously slanted History of the Popes by distorting his image, right up to the present time. The advance of the Turks worried the Pope as it had worried his predecessors; but like them got little help from the Western monarchs. He supported the Albanian patriot George Skandebeg, who came to Rome seeking support against Islam. He founded the Vatican Printing Press, and installed the first press in Rome. He punished severely public officials who accepted gifts. While he had little luck with the Christian West, he was successful in negotiating a pact against the Turks with the Iranian Prince Uzzan-Hassan. Venetian.
212. Sixtus IV, 1471-1484. A contradiction. Of blameless character and morals, his nepotism brought terrible misfortunes upon the papacy and the Catholic Church; and yet it was also a time of immortal greatness for the arts which he patronized. He had little success containing the Turkish advances, and spent more time restoring Rome, changing it from a mediaeval to a renaissance city. He drew to Rome the world's greatest sculptors, painters and architects, founded the Sistine choir, built the Sistine chapel, refounded the Vatican library and established the famous Vatican archives. He negotiated with Ivan III of Russia against the Turks, but to no avail. Italian.
213. Innocent VIII, 1484-1492. An irresolute man, chronically ill and yet personally very agreeable, he showed little interest in reform. The first Pope to enter into diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire. During his Pontificate Ferdinand and Isabella drove the Moors from Spain. In 1486 he recognized Henry VII as rightful king of England. At his death, Rome and the Papal States were in a state of anarchy, and were ripe for the terrible distress that fell upon them in the person of his successor. Genovese.
214. Alexander VI, 1492-1503. One of the darkest days for the Church. As a young man, before becoming Pope, Rodrigo de Borja had lived a dissolute life, fathering numerous children. As Pope he used his power to further the wealth and power of his family. Devout, despite his loose morals, Rodrigo de Borja was orthodox in faith, but loose in morals. His concern for the needs of the Church took second place to his love of art, luxury and the enhancement of his family. Cesare his son, born before he became Pope, appears to have murdered Juan Borja, grandfather of the holy St Francis Borgia, third General of the Jesuits, whose life was spent making reparation for the incalculable harm done by his family to the Church. This Pope has been again and again been quoted as an argument against the Papacy as an institution. The truth is that any institution that could survive a Borgia would have to possess and be influenced by higher forces than even this Pope could affect. Like the Apostolic College, the See of Peter also had its Judas. Spaniard.
204. Innocent VII, 1404-1406. Had been a professor at Universities of Padua and Perugia and had spent 10 years in England. Even though he was unsuccessful in ending the schism, he was admired for his strictness of life and patronage of learning. On September 1, 1406 he re-organised the University of Rome establishing faculties of medicine, philosophy, logic and rhetoric, and a chair of Greek. Italian.
205. Gregory XII, 1406-1415. Over eighty years old when elected, at one time Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, and Cardinal Priest of San Marco in Venice, Angelo Correr was elected because of his known desire of the end of the schism. He was however vacillating. Eventually he resigned three weeks before the election of his successor, Martin V, elected as a result of the work of the Council of Constance that ended the schism. Venetian.
206. Martin V, 1417-1431. The last and greatest of the Popes of the house of Colonna. He set about the re-building of Rome which had been occupied by the House of Anjou. He summoned some of the greatest painters of the early Renaissance to Rome among them Gentile de Fabriano, Pisanello, and Masaccio. He was the first Pope to bestow the Golden Rose, sometimes still given to Queens. Under him the authority of the Holy See was reasserted after decades of weakening under the various schisms. He was essentially a peacemaker, who summoned a Reforming Council to Basle in 1431. Austere in his personal life, he lived simply in the Palace of the Holy Apostles, in the centre of Rome. Simone Ghini who sculpted his tomb described him as "temporum suorum felicitas" - "the joy of his times". He entered into concordats with Germany, France, Spain and England, kept in close contact with Constantinople. He denounced violent anti-Jewish preaching (1422 and 1429) and forbade the compulsory baptism of Jewish children. His appointees as Cardinals were exceptionally distinguished. Italian.
207. Eugene IV, 1431-1447. A monk, nephew of Pope Gregory XII. In conflict with the Council of Basle, he precipitated serious conflicts that took years to resolve. However, almost despite this tough-minded Pontiff, the Council succeeded in restoring unity between East and West, with the Greek Orthodox Church recognizing once again the Primacy of the Pope, and with agreed statements on Purgatory, the Mass, and the Creed. As well, the Monophysite Armenians (1439), the Copts of Egypt (1443) and Nestorian sects in Mesopotamia and Cyprus (1444, 1445) returned to Catholic unity. Possibly the greatest mind of the age, the Archbishop of Nicaea, John Bessarion, became a Catholic, and was appointed Cardinal. The Graeco-Latin humanism of the early Renaissance finds its most complete expression of this intellectual, benevolent and noble Prince of the Church. His library, which before the fall of Constantinople was the greatest contemporary treasure house on Greek thought and culture, formed the basis of the Library of San Marco in Venice. Obstinate, and politically inexperienced, Eugene seems to have committed many blunders, but as priest and Pope he conveyed a sense of lofty majesty. He had a highly developed sense of justice, worked unceasingly for the poor and suffering. At the beginning of his pontificate St Joan of Arc had been put to death by the English (May 30, 1431). As he lay dying he is said to have regretted ever leaving his Monastery. Venetian.
208. Nicholas V, 1447-1455. Son of a doctor, Tommaso Parentucelli was a student at the University of Bologna, he had taught part-time to earn his keep. More patient, and politically adroit than Eugene, Nicholas was the conciliator that the Church so desperately needed. Few Popes worked so hard for peace, and the end of wars as did Nicholas. He finally ended the schism, and in thanksgiving proclaimed 1450 a year of Jubilee. In the same year he canonized the popular St Bernadine of Siena, and sent Cardinals Nicholas of Cusa and Capistrano to Germany and Cardinal d'Estouteville of England on missions of reform. He brought the intellectual and artistic aspirations of the Renaissance and the Church together. Under his guidance the Church became again the leader of culture. News of the sack of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453 filled Europe with horror and fear. One of the greatest Popes of his time. Italian.
209. Callistus III, 1455-1458. Alonso de Borja (Borgia) the first Spanish Pope since Damasus I (366-384). His overriding desire was to drive the Turks out of Constantinople. The so-called "Great Powers" were almost totally disinterested in this, being preoccupied with national (and self) interests When Sultan Muhammad II, the conqueror of Constantinople moved towards Belgrade, he sent Cardinal Juan Caravajal as his legate, along with St John Capistrano, to the Hungarian outpost manned by the famous John Hunyady, who had raised an army at his own expense - the Hungarian king and nobles had fled - and confronted the huge Turkish force and beat them on July 22, 1456. In memory of this event, the Pope ordered that the feast of the Transfiguration should always been observed on August 6. He ordered that the case of Joan of Arc be re-opened and found her to be innocent of the charges brought against her by the English. A kindly, quiet, unassuming man, his one fault that was to plague the Church for many years to come, was his nepotism. The evil family from which he came as a shining exception, produced among others Alexander VI, the most worthless and fearful figure to be inflicted on the Papacy in the course of its long and dramatic history. Spaniard.
210. Pius II, 1458-1464. Aeneas Piccolomini. In 1445 this poet, writer of novels and erotic comedies, was converted, and some time later was ordained. The election of such a literary connoisseur and man of letters to the Papacy on the death of Callistus III was hailed by humanists. The Pope ardently desired the end of conflict with the Turks, and, among other schemes, wrote a famous letter to the Sultan in which he refuted the teaching of the Koran passage by passage, explained the Christian faith, and invited the Sultan to abandon Islam, be baptized and accept the crown of the Eastern Empire. When, as usual the European powers showed little interest in a crusade, he decided to go himself, and took the Cross in St Peters - despite the fact that he was dying. An act that was as hopeless as it was chivalrous. Very ill and almost unable to move, Pius set off for Ancona and died as the Venetian fleet hove into view. He did all he could to stop the slave trade, the oppression of the Jews. Not only was he one of the greatest of all Popes, but he was the most gifted, interesting, charming, and picturesque and adventurous men in the West. He is the only Pope to have left his memoirs behind, the Commentaria - with the wealth of biographical and nature descriptions regarded as the most beautiful written before Goethe. He called himself a "lover of woods". Founder of the Universities of Basle, Nantes, and Ingolstadt, he completed only one part of his famous cosmography which was to be a geographic and ethnological study of the world as it was then known. His universal knowledge was everywhere admired. He was always making gifts, and never had money for himself. Gregovorius, the well-known German historian summed him up: "His life as Pope was without flaw: he was moderate, kind, humane and considerate." Italian
211. Paul II, 1464-1471. As Pope he dismissed a lot of neo-pagan literati who attached themselves to the Papal Court, and earned the life-long hatred of one Bartolomeo Sachi, called Platina, who took revenge on Paul II in his notoriously slanted History of the Popes by distorting his image, right up to the present time. The advance of the Turks worried the Pope as it had worried his predecessors; but like them got little help from the Western monarchs. He supported the Albanian patriot George Skandebeg, who came to Rome seeking support against Islam. He founded the Vatican Printing Press, and installed the first press in Rome. He punished severely public officials who accepted gifts. While he had little luck with the Christian West, he was successful in negotiating a pact against the Turks with the Iranian Prince Uzzan-Hassan. Venetian.
212. Sixtus IV, 1471-1484. A contradiction. Of blameless character and morals, his nepotism brought terrible misfortunes upon the papacy and the Catholic Church; and yet it was also a time of immortal greatness for the arts which he patronized. He had little success containing the Turkish advances, and spent more time restoring Rome, changing it from a mediaeval to a renaissance city. He drew to Rome the world's greatest sculptors, painters and architects, founded the Sistine choir, built the Sistine chapel, refounded the Vatican library and established the famous Vatican archives. He negotiated with Ivan III of Russia against the Turks, but to no avail. Italian.
213. Innocent VIII, 1484-1492. An irresolute man, chronically ill and yet personally very agreeable, he showed little interest in reform. The first Pope to enter into diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire. During his Pontificate Ferdinand and Isabella drove the Moors from Spain. In 1486 he recognized Henry VII as rightful king of England. At his death, Rome and the Papal States were in a state of anarchy, and were ripe for the terrible distress that fell upon them in the person of his successor. Genovese.
214. Alexander VI, 1492-1503. One of the darkest days for the Church. As a young man, before becoming Pope, Rodrigo de Borja had lived a dissolute life, fathering numerous children. As Pope he used his power to further the wealth and power of his family. Devout, despite his loose morals, Rodrigo de Borja was orthodox in faith, but loose in morals. His concern for the needs of the Church took second place to his love of art, luxury and the enhancement of his family. Cesare his son, born before he became Pope, appears to have murdered Juan Borja, grandfather of the holy St Francis Borgia, third General of the Jesuits, whose life was spent making reparation for the incalculable harm done by his family to the Church. This Pope has been again and again been quoted as an argument against the Papacy as an institution. The truth is that any institution that could survive a Borgia would have to possess and be influenced by higher forces than even this Pope could affect. Like the Apostolic College, the See of Peter also had its Judas. Spaniard.
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