§ 48. LITERATURE AND GENERAL SURVEY. 403
392-592. — Bkxrath : Art. Jrilius IL, in Herzog, IX. 621-625. —Villari : Machiavelli. — Ranke : I. 36-59. — Reumont : III., Ft. 2, pp. 1-49. — Gregorovius : VIII. — Creighton : IV. 54-176. — Pastor: III.
For § 56. Leo X. — Eegesta to Oct. 16, 1515, ed. by Hergenrother, 8 vols., Rome, 1884-1891. —Mansi : XXXII. 649-1001. —Paris de Grassis, as above, and ed. by Armellini : II diario de Leone X, Rome, 1884. — Vettori : Sommario. — M. Sanuto, Venetian ambassador: Diarii, I.-XV., Venice, 1879 sqq. — *Paulus Jovius, b. 1483, acquainted with Leo : De Vita Leonis, Florence, 1549. The only biog. till Fabroni's Life, 1797. — *L. Lan- Ducci : Diario Fiorentino 1450-1516, continued to 1542, ed. by Badia, Florence, 1883. —*W. Roscoe : Life and Pontificate of Leo X, 4 vols., Liverpool, 1805, 6th ed. rev. by his son, London, 1853. The book took high rank, and its value continues. Apologetic for Leo, whom the author considers the greatest pope of modern times. Put on the Index by Leo XII., d. 1829. A Germ, trans, by Glaser and Henke, with valuable notes, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1806-1808. Ital. trans, by Count L. Bossi, Milan, 1816sq. — E. Muntz : Raphael, His Life, Work, and Times, Engl, trans., W. Armstrong, London, 1896. —E. Armstrong: Lor. de' Medici, New York, 1896. —H. M. Vaughan : TTie Medici Popes (Leo X a7id Clement VIL), London, 1908. — Hefele-Hergenr«)ther : VIIL 592-855. — Reumont : III. Pt. 2, pp. 49-146. Villari : 3Iachiavelli. — Creighton : IV. — Gregorovius : VIIL — Pastor : IV. — Kostlin: Life of Luther, I. 204-525. — *A. Schulte : Die Fugger in Bom. 1495-1523, 2 vols. , Leipzig, 1904. — Burckh ardt. — Symonds.
Popes.— Nicolas v., 1447-1465 ; CalixtusIIL, 1455-1458 ; PiusII., 1458- 1464 ; Paul IL, 1464-1471 ; Sixtus IV., 1471-1484 ; Innocent VIIL, 1484- 1492; Alexander VL, 1492-1503; Pius IIL, 1503; Julius IL, 1503-1513; Leo X., 1513-1521.
The period of the Reformatory councils, closing with the Basel-Ferrara synod, was followed by a period notable in the history of the papacy, Jthe period of the Renaissance popes. These pontiffs of the last years of the Middle Ages were men famous alike for their intellectual endowments, the prostitution of their office to personal aggrandizement and pleasure and the lustre they gave to Rome by their patronage of letters and the fine arts. The decree of the Council of Constance, asserting the supreme authority of oecumenical councils, treated as a dead letter by Eugenius IV., was definitely set aside by_ Pius II. in a bull forbidding appeals from papal decisions and affirming finality for the pope's authority. For 70 years no general assembly of the Church was called.
The ten pontiffs who sat on the pontifical throne, 1450-1517, represented in their origin the extremes of fortune, from the occupation of the fisherman, as in the case of Sixtus IV., to the
404: THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
refinement of the most splendid aristocracy of the age, as in the case of Leo X. of the family of the Medici. In proportion as they embellished Rome and the Vatican with the treasures of art, did they seem to withhold themselves from that sincere religious devotion which would naturally be regarded as a prime characteristic of one claiming to be the chief pastor of the Christian Church on earth. No great principle of administration occupied their minds. No conspicuous movement of pious activity received their sanction, unless the proposed crusade to reconquer Constantinople be accounted such, but into that purpose papal ambition entered more freely than devotion to the interests of religion.
This period was the flourishing age of nepotism in the Va^can. ITie bestowment of papal favors by the pontiffs upon their nephews and other relatives dates as a recognized practice from Boniface VIIT. In vain did papal conclaves, following the decree of Constance, adopt protocols, making the age of 30 the lowest limit for appointment to the sacred college, and putting a check on papal favoritism. Ignoring the instincts of modesty and the impulse of religion, the popes bestowed the red hat upon their young nephews and grandnephe ws and upon the sons of princes, in spite of their utter disqualification both on the ground of intelligence and of morals. The Vatican was beset by relatives of the pontiffs, hungry for the honors and the emoluments of office. Here are some of those who were made cardinals before they were 30 : Calixtus III. appointed his nephews, Juan and Rodrigo Borgia (Alexander VI.), the latter 25, and the little son of the king of Portugal ; Pius II., his nephew at 23, and Francis Gonzaga at 17 ; Sixtus IV., John of Aragon at 14, his nephews, Peter and Julian Rovere, at 25 and 28, and his grandnephew, Rafaelle Riario, at 17 ; Innocent VIII., John Sclafenatus at 23, Giovanni de' Medici at 13 ; Alexander VI., in 1493, Hippolito of Este at 15, whom Sixtus had made archbishop of Strigonia at 8, his son, C?esar Borgia, at 18, Alexander Farnese (Paul III.), brother of the pope's mistress, at 25, and Frederick Casimir, son of the king of Poland, at 19 ; Leo X., in 1513, his nephew, Innocent Cibo, at 21, and his cousin, the illegitimate Julius de' Medici, afterwards Clem-