The POPE Encyclopedia
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LEO X
Pope from 1513 to 1521, considered one of the Renaissance popes whose reign hastened the rise of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. The second son of Lorenzo de'Medici the Magnificent, Giovanni de'Medici was born in Florence in 1475, growing up in the culturally resplendent court of the Medicis. Made a cardinal at the age of thirteen (although not officially invested until 1492) by Pope Alexander VI, he was taught by the foremost humanists of the time and later studied theology and canon law at Pisa (1489-1491). With the exile of the Medicis from Florence in 1494, Giovanni wandered across Europe, journeying to France, Germany, and Holland from 1494-1500. Returning to Rome in 1500, he became one of the leading figures in the pontificate of Julius II; Julius appointed him legate to Bologna in 1511 and commander of the oft-used papal army. In April 1512, Giovanni was captured at Ravenna, escaping a short time later. That same year he helped secure the turn of his family to prominence in Florence, becoming de facto master of the city until 1513 and the summons to attend the conclave to choose a successor to Julius. Only thirty-eight years old, he was nevertheless elected pope on March 11, 1513, in a vote free of bribes and simony. The tone of his reign was set by his exclamation, "Let us enjoy the papacy which God has seen fit to bestow upon us!'' The incomparably lavish inauguration festivities alone cost a staggering 100,000 ducats, one seventh ot the vast wealth Julius had left for his successor. The rest was soon spent on hunting parties, dances. banquets, theatrical spectacles, and every form of excess and entertainment. Leo was personally generous, moral and free of any serious wickedness, but his court and enjoyments of the papacy were unprecedented. Artisans and writers flocked to Rome to share in the pope's patronage and cardinals vied to create palaces worthy of the golden age of culture in which they lived. Such was the appalling state to which papal finances were soon reduced that Leo turned to bankers for loans from such banking houses as the Gaddi, Salviati. and especially the Chigi, money secured at the usurious rate of 40 percent. To repay them, the pontitf sold offices and indulgences, creating in 1517 alone thirty new cardinals and so netting 500,000 desperately needed ducats. Other revenue was squeezed out of the survivors of an assassination plot orchestrated by Cardinal Petrucci in 1517; Petrucci was strangled, and the other members of the cabal pardoned after paying various ransoms, some around 50,000 ducats. The shadow upon his reign was the rise of Martin Luther, whom Leo excommunicated in 1520 and whose tirades against the Church found fertile ground in Germany. In the political field, Leo was as vacillating in his alliances as he was disinterested in the reform of the Church. He at first concluded a concordat with King Francis I of France in 1516 to replace the long-standing Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, but then, realizing he had alienated the Holy Roman Empire at a time when he very much needed its help against Luther, he supported the electioin of Charles (V) as emperor and concluded an anti-French alliance. This did little to stem the Lutheran tide and his successors would bear the full brunt of the Reformation, the dangers of which Leo and his advisors, including Niccolo Machiavelli, had failed to recognize. Leo died on December 1, 1521. Successor: Adrian VI.
THE POPE ENCYCLOPEDIA - Matthew Bunson Published by Crown Trade Paperbacks 201 East 50th Street, New York New York 10022, USA ISBN 0-517-88256-6
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