LEO X
365
LEODEGAR
more clear of the French, and restored to the dominion of Sforza. Parma and Piacenza were again occupied by the papal troops. At the same time Leo declared Al- fonso d'Este a rebel to the holy see for having sided with the French, while the duke, on his part, complain- ed of the bad faith of the pope in keephig possession of Slodena and Keggio. The news of the taking of Milan was celebrated at Pome with public rejoicings, but in the midst of all tliis Leo fell ill on Nov. 25, and died Dec. 1, 1521, not without reasonable suspicion of poison, tin«ugh some have maintained that he died a natural death. (See Trollope, IJist. of Flurence, iv, 385 sq., who quotes strong proof in favor of the assertion that Leo X tlicd of poison.)
Personally Leo \vas generous, or rather prodigal ; he was fond of splendor, luxury, and magnificence, and therefore often in want of money, which he was obUged to raise by means not often creditable. He had a dis- cerning taste, was a ready patron of real merit, was fond of wit and liumor, not always refined, and at times degenerating into buffoonery : this was, indeed, one of his principal faidts. His state policy was like that of his contemporaries in general, and not so bad as tliat of some of them. He contrived, however, to keep Pome and the papal territory, as well as Flor- ence, in jjrofound peace during his reign — no trifling boon — while all the rest of Italy was ravaged by French, and Germans, and Spaniards, who committed all kinds of atrocities. He was by no means neglectful of his temporal duties, although he was fond of conviviality and ease, and many charges have been brought against his morals. He did not, and perhaps could not, enforce a strict discipline among the clergy or the people of Pome, where profligacy and licentiousness had reigned ahnost uncontrolled ever since the pontificate of Alex- ander VL It is to be regretted, however, that any one should have been able to say of a pope so distinguished as a patron of learning as Leo X that in his splendid and luxuriant palace Christianity had given place, both in its religious and moral influence, to the revived phi- losophy and the unregulated manners of Greece ; that the Vatican was visited less for the purpose of worship- ping the footsteps of the apostles than to admire the great worlds of ancient art stored in the papal palace (comp. London Quart. Rer. 183G, p. 294 sq. ; Taine, Jtal// [Pome and Xaples], p. 185). As a pontificate, that of Leo X, though it lasted only nine years, " forms one of the most memorable epochs in the history of modern Europe, whether we consider it in a political light as a period of transition for Italy, when the power of Charles Y of Spain began to establish itself in that country, or whetht-r we look upon it as that period in the liistory of the Western Church wliicli was marked by the mo- mentous event of Luther's Reformation. Put there is a third and a more favorable aspect under which the reign of Leo ought to be viewed, as a flourishing epoch for learning and the arts, which were encouraged by that pontiff, as they had been by his father, and, indeed, as they h.".ve been by his family in general, and for Avhich the glorious appellation of the age of Leo X has been given to the first part of the 10th century" (Engl. C>j- ('/(ip.). The services wliich Leo rendered to literature are many. He encouraged the study of tJreek, founded a (ireek college at Pome, established a Greek press, and gave the direction of it to .John Lascaris ; he restored the Ponian University, and filled its numerous chairs with professors; he directed the collecting of MSS. of tlic classics, and also of Oriental writers, as well as the searching after antiquities; and by his example encour- aged others, and among tlieni the wealthy merchant Cliigi, to the same. He patronized men of talent, of whom a galaxy gathered round him at Pome. He cor- responded with Erasmus, JNIachiavelli, Ariosto, and other great men of his time. He restored the celebrated li- brary of his family, wliich, on the expulsion of the Med- ici, had l)een plundered and dispcrsc<i. and which is known by the name of the BibUoteca Laiirenziana at
Florence. In short, Leo X, if not the most exemplary among popes, was certainly one of the most illustrious and meritorious of Italian princes. See Guicciardini, Storia d' Italia ; Poscoe, Life and Pontijicate of Leo X (Lend. 1805, 4 vols. 4to) ; Farroni, Vita Leonis X (1797) ; Audin, Leon X (1844) ; Giovio, Vita Leonis X (1C51) ; Artaud de Montor, llistoire des Souvet-ains papes,\o\. iv. For the bulls and speeches of pope Leo X, see Fabricius, Bihliotheca Lutina Mtdim et Injirmai yEtatis ; Sismondi, IList. des liejxiMiques Italiemies ; Panke, Hist, of the Pa- imctj, vol. i, ch. ii ; Schrcickh, Kirchengesch. xxxii, 491 sq. ; xxxiv, 83, 91 ; and his Kirchengesch. s. d. Ref. i, 76 sq., 314 sq. ; iii, 207 sq., 211 sq. ; Paumer, Gesch. der Pa- dagogik, i, 04 sq. ; Bower, IJist. of the Popes, vii, 400 sq. ; Trollope, //zs/or/y of Florence (Lond. 1865, 4 vols. 8vo), especiallv vol. iv, book x ; Leo, Gesch. Italiens, vol. v, ch. iii. (J.H.W.)