RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Pius I-n
endeavored to unite all Europe against the Turks, who already held in their control the citadel of classical Greek culture. So upon his urgent appeal, Nicholas V., on Sept. 30, 1453, issued the crusading bull, and Piccolomini, at the diets of Regensburg and Frankfort in 1454, delivered lofty orations against the hereditary foe of Christendom. The circumstance that, following the new papal election of 1455, Piccolomini transcended his commissioned authority, and in the name of the emperor acknowledged the obediency of Calixtus III., although the promises of the deceased pope had not so much as been rehearsed, let alone approved, finally brought him the greatly desired red hat, in Dec, 1456, though his thanks for its bestowal were cold. Thenceforth he remained at Rome in close alliance with Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, later Alexander VI. He it was, at the conclave after the death of Calixtus III., in 1458, who carried through the election of Piccolomini.
Rome joyfully acclaimed the election of the worldly-fashioned humanist. Nevertheless, his election proved a disappointment to the mendicant literati, who beset him with all sorts of petitions. To his teacher alone, the aged Filelfo in Florence, was he accessible, and to him he granted a pension, though this was irregularly paid, and His Work thus eventually gave occasion to inas Pope, vectives against the donor. However, Pius II. expended considerable sums in the acquisition of manuscripts and for the copying of valuable codices, besides employing artists of every kind, particularly architects, at Rome, Siena, and Corsignano. The first project which the new pope desired to carry out, was that of a crusade to recover Constantinople. An assembly of Christian princes, convened at Mantua, was opened by Pius II. himself; but the proposition to impose a general tithe for the purpose was withstood on the part of Venice and France, and also met with obstruction in the case of the Austrian Duke Sigismund's delegate, Gregory of Heimburg (q.v.). It was in course of the strife with him (for he appealed from the pope to a general council) that the notorius bull Execrabilis appeared, Jan. 18, 1460, which even thus early applied the ban against an appeal of that kind. This reveals the extreme of contrasts expressed in the man who formerly at Basel had championed the superiority of the councils over the popes. The action that emanated from Mantua, and even evoked a bull declaring war and issuing summons for a crusade (Jan. 14, 1460), had no practical result, because meanwhile, at Naples, the conflict which broke out between the Spanish and the French pretenders for the sovereignty rendered all procedure against the Turks impossible. The pope then turned his attention to other objects. He endowed with affluence his nephews and other favorites at Siena; he sought to annul the pragmatic sanction of Bourges (1438); in Germany, the opposition of the archbishop of Mainz, Dieter of Isenburg, necessitated measures of the utmost stringency, including that prelate's deposition (1461) followed next by the ban, which was not revoked until 1464. It was in Bohemia, however, that the strife became hottest. In 1458, King Podiebrad
had been forced to promise, in conjunction with his oath of obedience to Calixtus III., that he would " lead back the Bohemian people from all errors and heresies to the true Catholic faith and into obedience toward the Roman Church," which promise Podiebrad was unable to meet because the Utraquists (see Huss, John), under Rokyczana, were too strong. On the contrary, at the national diet of May 15, 1461, he was compelled to guarantee them the perpetuation of the articles compacted at Prague. Accordingly, Pius II. stepped in with absolute power, and annulled the concession by the Council of Basel in favor of the Bohemians, although he himself had advised its adoption. Podiebrad, who personally was a Utraquist, now sided openly with that party. His subsequent citation to Rome, under date of June 15, 1464, on charge of heresy was rendered inoperative by the pope's death.
A matter of less moment was involved in a conflict with Duke Sigismund of Tyrol, mentioned above as Duke Sigismund of Austria. For years the latter had stood at odds with the bishop of Brixen, the famous cardinal of Cues (Cusanus),
Conflicts who claimed the suzerainty over Tyrol, and Cusanus had been commissioned dur-
Failures. ing the convention at Mantua as governor of Rome, for he was an old friend of Pius II. But when he returned to Tyrol, Sigismund waylaid him and took him prisoner. Ban and interdict were the sequel (1460). On promising to procure at Rome the repeal of the church penalties, Cusanus recovered his freedom; but as nevertheless he failed to effect the desired repeal, he did not return to Tyrol. Neither did he survive the conclusion of subsequent negotiations between Pius II. and the duke (1461). With all these conflicts and cares, the pope was not permitted to compass his favorite plan. Even his marvelous attempt miscarried whereby the Sultan Muhamed II. was to be converted by epistolary persuasion. Above all, there was dearth of money. Within the papal domain, and but eight miles from Rome, the rich and sumptuous camp of the Alouni was discovered; whereupon Pius II. once again convened envoys of various powers, and in 1463 promulgated a new bull in behalf of a crusade. But except at Venice, which had a twofold interest in the enterprise, and Hungary, which was immediately menaced, the war against the Turks found no response. Then the pope headed affairs in person. In June, 1464, he journeyed to Ancona; and had the satisfaction, on August 12, when already gravely ill, of outliving the arrival of the Venetian fleet. But three days later he died, in his last words earnestly commending to those about him the crusade and the dependent members of his family. He seemed to have realized what had been his strongest motive in connection with this undertaking, to expiate, by means of a " good death," an evil life. " We think," for so had he said in the discourse wherewith he proclaimed the beginning of the crusade, " it might go well with us if God should please to have us end our days in his service."
The tremendous chasm which seams his life Pius II. himself attempted to cover under a still greater equivocation. All that he formerly assailed at
Pius II- VI