Case Study: Renaissance Popes
The popes of this period were a reflection of the College of Cardinals that elected them. The College was dominated by cardinal-nephews (relatives of the popes that elevated them), crown-cardinals (representatives of the Catholic monarchies of Europe), and members of the powerful Italian families. There were two popes each from the House of Borgia, House of della Rovere, and House of Medici during this period. The wealthy popes and cardinals increasingly patronized Renaissance art and architecture, (re)building the landmarks of Rome from the ground up.
The Papal States began to resemble a modern nation-state during this period, and the papacy took an increasingly active role in European wars and diplomacy. Popes were more frequently called upon to arbitrate disputes between competing colonial powers than to resolve complicated theological disputes. To the extent that this period is relevant to modern Catholic dogma, it is in the area of papal supremacy. None of these popes have been canonized as a saint, or even regarded as Blessed or Venerable.
The Papal States began to resemble a modern nation-state during this period, and the papacy took an increasingly active role in European wars and diplomacy. Popes were more frequently called upon to arbitrate disputes between competing colonial powers than to resolve complicated theological disputes. To the extent that this period is relevant to modern Catholic dogma, it is in the area of papal supremacy. None of these popes have been canonized as a saint, or even regarded as Blessed or Venerable.
Guiding Question:
What events during the reign of the Renaissance Popes led to the Reformation? |
Topics for Discussion:
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Directions: In your notes define and describe the religious concepts and terms below. Then summarize the actions undertaken by the Renaissance popes that would led to the Reformation.
Define or describe the following religious concepts and terms:
you may need to look up the definition on the internet |
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Sources:
Source 1: How to become Pope
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Renaissance Popes
Pope Paul II
(1464-1471) |
Although Paul II was a committed opponent of humanist learning, he oversaw and approved the introduction of printing into the Papal States. The result was that books and other documents became far more numerous and less expensive to procure than the previous handwritten manuscripts. Printing put the materials needed for an advanced education into the hands of more people than ever before, including an increasing number of laypeople. The output of printing presses at this period was, as a matter of course, subject to governmental scrutiny; during Paul II's reign, books produced in the Papal States were largely limited to Latin classical literature and ecclesiastical texts.
The chronicler Stefano Infessura's republican and anti-papal temper makes his diary a far from neutral though well-informed witness. But it is certain that though Paul II opposed the humanists, he was the best in providing for popular amusements: in 1466 he permitted the horse-race that was a feature of Carnival to be run along the main street, the Via Lata, which now became known from this annual event as the Via del Corso. This event revealed deep Anti-Semitism, as the Pope forced Jews to run naked in the streets for the amusement of non-Jews. He has also been attributed with the practice of requiring Jews to visibly identify themselves by wearing yellow handkerchiefs in public, a process used later in Holocaust times. Paul II displayed an extravagant love of personal splendor that gratified his sense of self-importance. After his death Sixtus IV and a selected group of cardinals inspected the treasure laid up against expenditures against the Turks: they found 54 silver shells filled with pearls, to a value of 300,000 ducats, jewels and gold intended for refashioning, worth another 300,000 ducats, and a magnificent diamond worth 7,000 ducats, which was sent to Cardinal d'Estouteville to cover monies he had advanced to the pontiff. The coin was not immediately found. He had also amassed a collection of 800 gemstones. |
Pope Sixtus IV
(1471-1484) |
Nepotism
Sixtus IV sought to strengthen his position by surrounding himself with relatives and friends. His nephew Pietro Riario benefited from his nepotism. Pietro became one of the richest men in Rome and was entrusted with Pope Sixtus' foreign policy. However, Pietro died prematurely in 1474, and his role passed to his nephew Giuliano della Rovere. In his territorial aggrandizement of the Papal States, Sixtus' niece's son Cardinal Raffaele Riario was a leader in the failed "Pazzi conspiracy" of 1478 to assassinate both Lorenzo de' Medici and his brother Giuliano and replace them in Florence with Sixtus IV's other nephew, Girolamo Riario. The plot failed and the main organizer of the plot, was hanged on the walls of the Florentine Palazzo della Signoria. To this, Sixtus IV replied with an interdict and two years' of war with Florence. The Sistine Chapel was sponsored by Sixtus IV, as was the Sistine Bridge – the first new bridge across the Tiber since antiquity. All this was done to facilitate the integration of the Vatican Hill with the heart of old Rome. This was part of a broader scheme of urbanization carried out under Sixtus IV. |
Pope Innocent VIII
(1484-1492) |
Innocent had two illegitimate children born before he entered the clergy "towards whom his nepotism had been as lavish as it was shameless". In 1487 he married his elder son Franceschetto Cybo (d. 1519) to Maddalena de' Medici (1473–1528), the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his thirteen-year-old son Giovanni, later Pope Leo X. Savonarola chastised him for his worldly ambitions.
His grandnephew was Bindo Altoviti, one of the most influential bankers of his time and patron of the arts, being friends with Raphael and Michelangelo. In July 1492 Innocent fell into a fever. He was said to have been given the world's first blood transfusion by his Jewish physician Giacomo di San Genesio, who had him drink the blood of three 10-year-old boys. The boys subsequently died. The evidence for this story, however, is unreliable and may have been motivated by anti-semitism. Innocent VIII died himself on the 25th of July. |
Pope Alexander VI
(1492 - 1503) |
Contemporary accounts suggest that Rodrigo Borgia (later Pope Alexander VI) was "handsome, with a very cheerful countenance and genial bearing. He was gifted with the quality of being a smooth talker and of choice eloquence. Beautiful women were attracted to him and excited by him in quite a remarkable way, more strongly than how 'iron is drawn to a magnet'." Rodrigo Borgia was also an intelligent man with an appreciation for the arts and sciences and an immense amount of respect for the Church. He was capable and cautious, considered a "political priest" by some. He was a gifted speaker and great at conversation. Additionally, he was "so familiar with Holy Writ, that his speeches were fairly sparkling with well-chosen texts of the Sacred Books"
Of Alexander's many mistresses the one for whom passion lasted longest was Vannozza (Giovanna) dei Cattanei, born in 1442, and wife of three successive husbands. The connection began in 1470, and she had four children whom he openly acknowledged as his own: Cesare(born 1475), Giovanni (born 1476), Lucrezia (born 1480), and Gioffre (born 1481 or 1482). For a period of time, before legitimizing his children after becoming Pope, Rodrigo pretended that his four children with Vannozza were his niece and nephews and that they were fathered by Vannozza's husbands. Before his elevation to the papacy, Cardinal Borgia's passion for Vannozza somewhat diminished, and she subsequently led a very retired life. Her place in his affections was filled, according to some, by the beautiful Giulia Farnese ("Giulia la Bella"), wife of an Orsini. However, he still very dearly loved Vannozza, in a way he considered 'spiritual', and his love for his children by Vannozza remained as strong as ever and proved, indeed, the determining factor of his whole career. He lavished vast sums on them and lauded them with every honor. Vannozza lived in the Palace of a late Cardinal, or in a large, palatial villa. The children lived between their mother's home and the Papal Palace itself. The atmosphere of Alexander's household is typified by the fact that his daughter Lucrezia apparently lived with Giulia at a point. |
Pope Innocent III
(1503) |
Was Pope from 22 September 1503 to his death on 18 October 1503. He had one of the shortest pontificates in papal history.
On 13 October he was on his deathbed with gout and after a brief pontificate of 26 days he died on 18 October 1503. He died after celebrating a consistory (he didn't create new cardinals) of an ulcer in the leg or, as some have alleged, of poison administered at the instigation of Pandolfo Petrucci, the ruler of Siena. |
Pope Julius II "The Warrior Pope"
(1503 - 1513) |
Giuliano Della Rovere thenceforth took the name of his fourth century predecessor, Julius I, and was pope for nine years, from 1503 to 1513.
From the beginning, Julius II set out to defeat the various powers that challenged his temporal authority; in a series of complicated stratagems he first succeeded in rendering it impossible for the Borgias to retain their power over the Papal States. Indeed, on the day of his election, he declared
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Despite Julius II's political and bellicose achievements, his chief title to honor is to be found in his patronage of art and literature. He did much to improve and beautify the city. In 1506 he laid the foundation stone of the new St. Peter's Basilica. However, he also demolished the old St. Peter's Basilica, which had stood for more than 1,100 years. He was a friend and patron of Bramante and Raphael, and a patron of Michelangelo. Several of Michelangelo's greatest works (including the painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel) were commissioned by Julius.
Pope Leo X
(1513-1521) |
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