Sixtus IV
Birth name	Francesco della Rovere
Papacy began	August 9, 1471
Papacy ended	August 12, 1484
Predecessor	Paul II
Successor	Innocent VIII
Born	July 21, 1414(1414-07-21) Celle Ligure, Italy
Died	August 12, 1484 (aged 70) Rome, Italy
Other popes named Sixtus

Sixtus IV (July 21, 1414 – August 12, 1484), born Francesco della Rovere, was Pope from 1471 to 1484. Events 48 BC - Caesar's civil war: Battle of Pharsalus - Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus Events 1099 - First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon - Crusaders under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon defeat Fatimid Pope Paul II ( February 23, 1417 &ndash July 26, 1471) born Pietro Barbo, was Pope from 1464 until his death in 1471 Pope Innocent VIII (1432 &ndash July 25, 1492) born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo) was Pope from 1484 until his death Events 356 BC - Herostratus sets fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World Celle Ligure is a Comune (municipality in the Province of Savona in the Italian region Liguria, located about 30 km west of Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Events 1099 - First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon - Crusaders under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon defeat Fatimid Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Events 356 BC - Herostratus sets fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World Events 1099 - First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon - Crusaders under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon defeat Fatimid Della Rovere is a noble historical family of Italy Coming from modest beginnings in Savona, Liguria, the family rose to prominence through Nepotism History See also History of the Papacy Catholics recognize the Pope as a successor to Saint Peter, who Jesus named as the "shepherd" and He founded the Sistine Chapel where the team of artists he brought together introduced the Early Renaissance to Rome with the first masterpiece of the city's new artistic age (Michelangelo's frescoes were added in a later phase). Sistine Chapel (Cappella Sistina is the best-known Chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni Two biographies were published of him during his lifetime One of them by Giorgio Vasari, proposed that he was the pinnacle of all

Biography

He was born to a modest family near Savona, Liguria, Italy: the precise town is variously stated to be Albisola or, more often, Celle Ligure, a town near Savona in the Republic of Genoa. This article is about the Italian city For the small town of Savona Canada please see Savona British Columbia, or the village in the USA, see Savona Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Albisola Superiore ( Genoese dialect: D'äto d'Arbisseua) is a Comune (municipality in the Province of Savona in the Italian Celle Ligure is a Comune (municipality in the Province of Savona in the Italian region Liguria, located about 30 km west of This article is about the Italian city For the small town of Savona Canada please see Savona British Columbia, or the village in the USA, see Savona Genoa ( Genova, ˈdʒɛːnova in Italian; Zena in Genoese and Ligurian; Genua in Latin and archaically in English He joined the Franciscan Order, an unlikely choice for a political career, and his intellectual qualities were revealed while he was studying philosophy and theology at the University of Pavia. The term Franciscan is commonly used to refer to members of Catholic Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Theology is the study of a god or the gods from a religious perspective The University of Pavia ( Italian: Università degli Studi di Pavia, UNIPV is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. He went on to lecture at many eminent Italian universities. He was elected Minister General of the Franciscan order in 1464. This is a list of the ministers general of the Order of Friars Minor. In 1467, he was made a Cardinal by Pope Paul II (1464–1471). A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official usually a bishop, of the Catholic Church. Pope Paul II ( February 23, 1417 &ndash July 26, 1471) born Pietro Barbo, was Pope from 1464 until his death in 1471

With his election to pope, Sixtus IV declared a renewed crusade against the Ottoman Turks in Smyrna. The Crusades were a series of military campaigns of a religious character waged by much of Christian Europe against external and internal opponents The Ottoman Turks were the subdivision of the Ottoman Muslim Millet that dominated the ruling class of the Ottoman Empire. This article is on the Ancient Greek city of Smyrna principally in connection with the ruins remaining to this day Fund-raising for the crusade was more successful than the half-hearted attempts to storm Smyrna, with little to show in return. Some fruitless attempts were made in unification with the Greek Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian Communion in the world For the remainder of his pontificate he turned to temporal issues and dynastic considerations. Sixtus continued the dispute with Louis XI of France (1461–1483), who upheld the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges (1438), according to which papal decrees needed royal assent before they could be promulgated in France. Louis XI ( July 3, 1423 – August 30, 1483) called the Prudent (le Prudent and the Universal Spider ( Middle The Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, issued by King Charles VII of France, on July 7, 1438, required a General Church Council with authority superior This was a cornerstone of the privileges claimed for the Gallican Church and could never be shifted as long as Louis XI maneuvered to replace Ferdinand I of Naples with a French prince, thus being in conflict with the papacy, which as a princely strategist could not permit it. The term Gallican Church usually refers to the Roman Catholic Church in France from the time of the Declaration of the Clergy of France ( Ferdinand I of Naples should not be confused with Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, a latter king of Naples

Like a number of Popes, Sixtus IV adhered to the system of nepotism. Nepotism is the showing of favoritism toward relatives and friends based upon that relationship rather than on an objective evaluation of ability Meritocracy or suitability In the fresco by Melozzo da Forlì he is accompanied by his Della Rovere and Riario nephews, not all of whom were made cardinals: the protonotary apostolic Raffaele Riario (on his right), the future Pope Julius II (1503–1513) standing before him, and Girolamo Riario and Giovanni della Rovere behind the kneeling Platina, author of the first humanist history of the Popes. Melozzo da Forlì (c 1438 - November 8, 1494) was an Italian Renaissance painter near the Umbrian school, the first who practised Della Rovere is a noble historical family of Italy Coming from modest beginnings in Savona, Liguria, the family rose to prominence through Nepotism In the Roman Catholic Church, protonotary apostolic ( Latin protonotarii apostolicii) is the title for a member of the highest non-episcopal college of Raffaele Sansoni Galeoti Riario ( May 3, 1461 &ndash July 9, 1521) was an Italian Cardinal of the Renaissance Pope Julius II (5 December 1443 &ndash 21 February 1513 born Giuliano Della Rovere, was Pope from 1503 to 1513 Girolamo Riario ( 1443 - April 14, 1488) was Lord of Imola and Forlì in the 15th century Bartolomeo Platina, originally named Sacchi, (1421 in Piadena ( Platina in Latin) near Mantua &ndash 1481 in Rome Humanism is a broad category of ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appealing to universal His nephew Pietro Riario also benefited of his nepotism, becoming one of the richest men in Rome and being entrusted of Sixtus IV's foreign policy, but died prematurely in 1474, his role passing to Giuliano della Rovere. Pietro Riario ( 1445 - January 3 1474) was an Italian cardinal and Papal diplomat

The secular fortunes of the Della Rovere began when Sixtus invested his nephew Giovanni with the signoria of Senigallia and arranged his marriage to the daughter of Federico III da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino; from the union came a line of Della Rovere dukes of Urbino that lasted until the line expired, in 1631. Senigallia or Sinigaglia is a Comune and port town on Italy 's Adriatic coast 25 km by rail north of Ancona in the Marche region Federico da Montefeltro, also known as Federico III da Montefeltro ( Castello di Petroia, June 7, 1422 &ndash Ferrara, September ^[1]

In his territorial aggrandizement of the Papal States Sixtus IV's niece's son Cardinal Raffaele Riario, for whom the Palazzo della Cancelleria was constructed, was a leader in the 1478 failed "Pazzi conspiracy" to assassinate both Lorenzo de' Medici and his brother and replace them in Florence with Sixtus IV's other nephew, Girolamo Riario. The Papal States, State(s of the Church or Pontifical States (in Italian Stato Ecclesiastico, Stato della Chiesa, Stati della Chiesa Raffaele Sansoni Galeoti Riario ( May 3, 1461 &ndash July 9, 1521) was an Italian Cardinal of the Renaissance The Palazzo della Cancelleria (Italian for "Palace of the Chancellery" meaning the Papal Chancellery) is a palace in Rome, situated between the present The Pazzi family were Tuscan nobles who were Bankers in Florence in the 14th century Lorenzo de' Medici (January 1 1449 &ndash 9 April 1492 was an Italian statesman and de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic during the Italian Renaissance Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany Francesco Salviati, archbishop of Pisa and a main organizer of the plot, was hanged on the walls of the Florentine Palazzo della Signoria. Cardinal Francesco Salviati Riario was the Archbishop of Pisa in 1475 The Palazzo Vecchio (IPA pronunciation vɛkio (Italian for Old Palace is the town hall of Florence, Italy To this Sixtus IV replied with an interdict and two years' of war with Florence. In the Roman Catholic Church, the word interdict (in’tér-dikt usually refers to an Ecclesiastical penalty He also encouraged the Venetians to attack Ferrara, which he wished to obtain for another nephew. The Most Serene Republic of Venice ((Serenìsima Repùblica Vèneta or Repùblica de Venesia Serenissima Repubblica Ferrara is a city in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. The angered Italian princes allied to force Sixtus IV to make peace, to his great annoyance.

As a temporal prince who constructed stout fortresses in the Papal States, Sixtus IV committed himself to Venice's aggression against Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, inciting the Venetians to attack in 1482 in the so-called War of Ferrara. The Papal States, State(s of the Church or Pontifical States (in Italian Stato Ecclesiastico, Stato della Chiesa, Stati della Chiesa Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the Ercole I d'Este ( October 26, 1431 &ndash June 15, 1505) was Duke of Ferrara from 1471 until 1505 List of Dukes of Ferrara and of Modena In 1452 the Italian family of Este, Lords of Ferrara, were created Dukes of Modena and The War of Ferrara (also known as the Salt War, it Guerra del Sale) ending with the Peace of Bagnolo, was fought in 1482-1484 between Ercole I d'Este Their combined assault was opposed by an alliance of the Sforzas of Milan, the Medicis of Florence along with the King of Naples, normally a hereditary ally and champion of the Papacy. Sforza was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy, based in Milan. Milan (Milano Milan (listen) is one of the largest cities in Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany The following is a list of monarchs of the Kingdom of Naples. For refusing to desist from the very hostilities that he himself had instigated (and for being a dangerous rival to Della Rovere dynastic ambitions in the Marche), Sixtus IV placed Venice under interdict in 1483. The Marche (plural originally from le marche de Ancona, referring to the March of Ancona) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy.

Sixtus IV consented to the Spanish Inquisition and issued a bull in 1478 that established an Inquisitor in Seville, under political pressure from Ferdinand of Aragon, who threatened to withhold military support from his kingdom of Sicily. The Spanish Inquisition started and was established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile to maintain A Papal bull is a particular type of Letters patent or charter issued by a Pope. An inquisitor was an official in an Inquisition, an organisation or program intended to eliminate Heresy and other things frowned on by the Roman Catholic Church Seville ( Spanish: Sevilla, see also different names) is the artistic cultural and financial capital of southern Spain. Ferdinand II of Aragon the Catholic (Fernando II de Aragón y V de Castilla "el Católico" Ferran II d'Aragó "el Catòlic" Ferrando II d'Aragón Sicily ( Italian and Sicilian: Sicilia) is an autonomous region of Italy. Nevertheless, Sixtus IV quarrelled over protocol and prerogatives of jurisdiction, was unhappy with the excesses of the Inquisition and took measures to condemn the most flagrant abuses in 1482. In ecclesiastical affairs, Sixtus IV instituted the feast (December 8) of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. For dogmatic context see Roman Catholic Mariology. For artistic depictions see Roman Catholic Marian art. He formally annulled (1478) the confusedly reformist decrees of the Council of Constance. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Council of Constance is the 16th Ecumenical council.

Sixtus IV is one of several Popes suspected of being homosexual. ^[2]

Princely patronage

Pope Sixtus IV appoints Platina as Prefect of the Library, by Melozzo da Forlì

As a civic patron in Rome, even the anti-papal chronicler Stefano Infessura agreed that Sixtus IV should be admired. Stefano Infessura (c 1435 &ndash c 1500 was an Italian humanist historian and lawyer The dedicatory inscription in the fresco by Melozzo da Forlì in the Vatican Palace records: "You gave your city temples, streets, squares, fortifications, bridges and restored the Acqua Vergine as far as the Trevi. Melozzo da Forlì (c 1438 - November 8, 1494) was an Italian Renaissance painter near the Umbrian school, the first who practised Acqua Vergine is one of the several aqueducts that serve the city of Rome, in Italy, with pure drinking-water The Trevi Fountain (Fontana di Trevi is the largest — standing 25 . . " In addition to restoring the aqueduct that provided Rome an alternative to the river water that had made the city famously unhealthy, he restored or rebuilt over 30 of Rome's dilapidated churches, among them San Vitale (1475) and Santa Maria del Popolo, and added seven new ones. The Sistine Chapel was sponsored by Sixtus IV, as was the Ponte Sisto, the Sistine Bridge – the first new bridge across the Tiber since antiquity – and the building of Via Sistina (later named Borgo Sant'Angelo), a road leading from Castel Sant'Angelo to Saint Peter. Sistine Chapel (Cappella Sistina is the best-known Chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. The Tiber ( Latin Tiberis, Italian Tevere) is the third-longest River in Italy, rising in the Apennine mountains For the town with the same name see Castel Sant'Angelo (RI The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as the Castel Sant'Angelo, is a towering All this was done to facilitate the integration of the Vatican Hill and Borgo with the heart of old Rome. Vatican Hill (in Latin, Vaticanus Mons) is the name given long before the founding of Christianity, to one of the hills on the side of the Borgo (sometimes called also I Borghi) is the 14th historic district ( Rione) of Rome. This was part of a broader scheme of urbanization carried out under Sixtus IV, who swept the long-established markets from the Campidoglio in 1477 and decreed in a bull of 1480 the widening of streets and the first post-Roman paving, the removal of porticoes and other post-classical impediments to free public passage. Urbanizationn (also spelled urbanisation) is the physical growth of Urban areas into rural or natural land as a result of population in-migration to an existing The Capitoline Hill, between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the seven hills of Rome.

Ponte Sisto, the first bridge built at Rome since Antiquity

At the beginning of his papacy in 1471, Sixtus IV donated several historically important Roman sculptures that founded a papal collection of art that would eventually develop into the collections of the Capitoline Museums. The Capitoline Museums ( Italian Musei Capitolini) are a group of art and archeological Museums in Piazza del Campidoglio He also refounded, enriched and enlarged the Vatican Library. The Vatican Library ( Latin: Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana) is the Library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City. He had Regiomontanus attempt the first sanctioned reorganization of the Julian calendar and increased the size and prestige of the papal chapel choir, bringing singers and some prominent composers (Gaspar van Weerbeke, Marbrianus de Orto, and Bertrandus Vaqueras) to Rome from the North. Johannes Müller von Königsberg ( June 6, 1436 &ndash July 6, 1476) known by his Latin Pseudonym Regiomontanus The Julian calendar, a reform of the Roman calendar, was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC and came into force in 45 BC (709 Ab urbe condita

His bronze funerary monument, now in the basement Treasury of St. Peter's Basilica, like a giant casket of goldsmith's work, is by Antonio Pollaiuolo. The Basilica of Saint Peter (Basilica Sancti Petri officially known in Italian as the Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano and commonly known as St Antonio del Pollaiolo ( January 17, 1429 /1433 &ndash February 4, 1498) also known as Antonio di Jacopo Pollaiuolo or Antonio The top of the casket is a lifelike depiction of the pope lying in state. Around the sides are bas relief panels, depicting with allegorical female figures the arts and sciences (Grammar, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, Painting, Astronomy, Philosophy, and Theology). Each figure incorporates the oak tree ("rovere" in Italian) symbol of Sixtus IV. The overall program of these panels, their beauty, complex symbolism, classical references, and arrangement relative to each other is one of the most compelling and comprehesive illustrations of the Renaissance worldview.

In addition to being a patron of the arts, Sixtus IV was a patron of the sciences. Before becoming Pope, spent time at the then very liberal and cosmopolitan University of Padua, which maintained considerable independence from the Church and had a very international character. The University of Padua ( Italian Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) located in Padua, Italy, was founded in 1222 As pope, he issued a papal bull allowing local bishops to give the bodies of executed criminals and unidentified corpses to physicians and artists for dissection. It was this access to corpses which allowed the anatomist Vesalius along with Titian's pupil Jan Stephen van Calcar to complete the revolutionary medical/anatomical text De humani corporis fabrica. Andreas Vesalius ( Brussels, December 31, 1514 - Zakynthos, October 15, 1564) was an anatomist, Physician Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c 1485 &ndash August 27 1576 better known as Titian, was the leading painter of the 16th-century Venetian Jan Van Calcar also known as Jan Steven(szoon Van Calcar or Johan Stephen von Calcar, (born circa 1499 died 1545 was a German -born Italian De humani corporis fabrica libri septem ( On the fabric of the human body in seven books) is a textbook of human anatomy written by Andreas Vesalius

The cardinals of Sixtus IV

At the death of Sixtus IV, the conclave of cardinals that met to elect his successor numbered thirty-two surviving cardinals, a greater number than at any time since the close of the twelfth century, excepting perhaps for the multiplied rival cardinalatial colleges of the Great Schism (1378–1417). A papal conclave is a meeting of the College of Cardinals to elect the Pope (or Bishop of Rome) who is considered by Catholics to be the Successor Of the thirty-two, only three cardinals survived from before Pope Paul II: the two nephews of Pope Calixtus III (1455–1458), Rodrigo and Luis Borgia, and the nephew of Pope Pius II (1458–1464), Francesco di Nanni Todeschini de' Piccolomini. Pope Paul II ( February 23, 1417 &ndash July 26, 1471) born Pietro Barbo, was Pope from 1464 until his death in 1471 Pope Calixtus III ( December 31, 1378 &ndash August 6, 1458) né Alfonso de Borja, was Pope from April Pope Pius II, born Enea Silvio Piccolomini ( Latin Aeneas Sylvius; October 18, 1405 &ndash August 14, 1464) Six further cardinals survived from the pontificate of Paul II: Thomas Bourchier, Oliviero Carafa, Marco Barbo, Jean Balue, Giovanni Battista Zeno and Giovanni Michiel. Oliviero Carafa (1430 &ndash 20 January 1511) was an Italian Cardinal and diplomat of the Renaissance. Jean Balue (c 1421 &ndash October 5 1491) was a French cardinal and minister of Louis XI. Giovanni Battista Zeno or Zen (died May 7 1501) was a cardinal of The Catholic Church. The remaining twenty-three had been made cardinals by Sixtus IV, and the roster of the princely houses of Italy, France and Spain echoes the chronicles of Renaissance history: Giuliano della Rovere, Stefano Nardini, Pedro Gonsalvez de Mendoza, Giovanni Battista Cybo (later Pope Innocent VIII), Giovanni Arcimboldi, Philibert Hugonet, Giorgio da Costa, Charles de Bourbon l'ancien, Pierre de Foix le jeune, Girolamo Basso della Rovere, Gabriele Rangoni, Pietro Foscari, Juan of Aragon, Raffaele Sansoni Riario, Domenico della Rovere, Paolo Fregoso, Giovanni Battista Savelli, Giovanni Colonna, Giovanni Conti, Juan Moles de Margarit, Giovanni Giacomo Sclafenati, Giovanni Battista Orsini, and Ascanio Maria Sforza-Visconti. Pope Julius II (5 December 1443 &ndash 21 February 1513 born Giuliano Della Rovere, was Pope from 1503 to 1513 Pope Innocent VIII (1432 &ndash July 25, 1492) born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo) was Pope from 1484 until his death Dom Jorge da Costa (1406 &ndash September 18, 1508) was a Portuguese Cardinal. Girolamo Basso della Rovere (died September 1, 1507) was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic church. Infante don Juan de Trastamara de Aragon y de Trastamara de Castilla, ( 28 June 1478 in Seville&ndash 4 October 1497) Prince of Raffaele Sansoni Galeoti Riario ( May 3, 1461 &ndash July 9, 1521) was an Italian Cardinal of the Renaissance Della Rovere is a noble historical family of Italy Coming from modest beginnings in Savona, Liguria, the family rose to prominence through Nepotism Giovanni Battista Savelli (1422 Rome - September 18, 1498, Castel Gandolfo) was an Italian cardinal from the 15th century Giovanni Colonna (born 1934 is a contemporary Italian scholar of ancient Italy and in particular the Etruscan civilization. Giovanni Conti ( November 17 1882 - March 1 1957) was a deputy of the Kingdom of Italy and a senator in the Italian Republic Giovanni Giacomo Sclafenati (Schiaffinati (died December 9 1497) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church. Giovanni Battista Orsini, or Jean-Baptiste des Ursins, was 37th Grand Master of the Order of the Knights Hospitaller from 1467 to 1476 Ascanio Maria Sforza Visconti ( March 3, 1455 - May 28, 1505) was an Italian Cardinal of the Catholic Church, generally

Notes