Pope Paul II

Pope Paul II (Latin: Paulus II ; 23 February 1417 26 Cardinals.[6] Upon taking oce, Paul II was to convene
July 1471), born Pietro Barbo, was Pope from 30 August an ecumenical council within three years. But these terms
1464 to his death in 1471.
of subscription were modied by Paul II at his own discretion, and this action lost him the condence of the College of Cardinals. The justication for setting aside the
capitulations, seen to be under way by the Duke of Milans
1 Early life
ambassador as early as 21 September, lay in connecting
any abridgement of the Popes absolute monarchy in the
Paul was born in Venice, a nephew of Pope Eugenius IV Papal States with a consequent abridgement of his sole
(14311447) through his mother. His adoption of the authority in spiritual matters.[7] Almost from his coronaspiritual career, after having been trained as a merchant, tion, Paul withdrew and became inaccessible: audiences
was prompted by his uncles election as pope. His con- were only granted at night and even good friends waited
sequent promotion was rapid; and the ambitious young a fortnight to see him. His suspiciousness was widely atcleric became a cardinal in 1440 and gained popularity tested.
through his generosity. He boasted that if elected pope
he would buy each cardinal a villa to escape the summer
heat.[1]
After having been lay abbot of Santa Maria in Sylvis
since 1441, in 1445 he succeeded Giuliano Cesarini as
archpriest of the Vatican Basilica. Platina reported that
Pius II suggested he should have been called Maria Pietissima (Our Lady of Pity), as when he could not obtain
what he aimed at by praying, entreating, and requesting,
he would join tears to his petitions to make them the
sooner believed.[2] Some historians have suggested the
nickname may also have been an allusion either to Pauls
propensity to enjoy dressing up in sumptuous ecclesiastical nery,[3] or possibly a lack of masculinity reecting
possible homosexuality.[4]

Election as Pope

Main article: Papal conclave, 1464

He was elected to succeed Pope Pius II by the accessus
in the rst ballot of the papal conclave of 1464[5] with
a majority of fourteen of the nineteen cardinals present.
Beforehand, to secure to the cardinals a greater share of
power than they had enjoyed under Pius II, a capitulation
was subscribed by all except Ludovico Trevisan. It bound
the future Pope to continue the Turkish war, but he was
not to journey outside Rome without the consent of a majority of the cardinals, nor to leave Italy without the consent of all. The maximum number of cardinals was limited to twenty-four, and any new Pope was to be limited
to only one cardinal-nephew. All creations of new cardinals and advancements to certain important beneces
were to be made only with the consent of the College of

Unusual in ecclesiastical heraldry, Paul was known to display the

Sword of State and Sword of Justice in contemporary renditions
of his arms to remind Pauls opposition and detractors of the his
supreme power to make law and deal in death.

He wore rouge in public.[8] The story of Cardinal Ammanati that he meant to take the name Formosus II
(handsome),[9] but was persuaded not to, is more often repeated than the story that he was dissuaded from
Marcus, being Venetian and the Cardinal of San Marco,
because it was also the war-cry of Venice.[10] He had a pa1

LEGACY

pal tiara made for his own use studded with diamonds, 4 Final years
sapphires, emeralds, topaz, large pearls, and every kind
of precious gem.[8] He built the Palazzo San Marco (now Pope Paul rejected King George of Podbrady of
the Palazzo Venezia) and lived there even as pope, amass- Bohemia because he upheld the conventions of the
ing a great collection of art and antiquities.[11]
Council of Basel in favor of the Utraquists. In August 1465, Paul II summoned Podbrady before his Roman tribunal. When the King failed to come, Paul
allied himself with the insurgents in Bohemia and released the Kings subjects from their oath of allegiance. In December 1466, he pronounced the ban
3 Conict
of excommunication and sentence of deposition against
Podbrady. Podbradys apologist, Gregory of HeimA sore point was his abuse of the practice of creating car- berg, subsequently accused Paul of immorality, a move
dinals in pectore, without publishing their names. Eager that resulted in Gregorys own excommunication.
to raise new cardinals to increase the number who were
devoted to his interests, but restricted by the terms of the Just when the Kings goodwill disposed the Pope in facapitulation, which gave the College a voice in the cre- vor of reconciliation, Paul died suddenly of a heart atation of new members, in the winter of 146465 Paul tack on 26 July 1471. Reports of the death varied. Some
from severe indigestion after
created two secret cardinals both of whom died before claimed he had collapsed
[15][16]
eating
melon
in
excess.
their names could be published. In his fourth year as
Pope, he created eight new cardinals on 18 September A rumour was spread by the pontis detractors that he
1467. Five were candidates pressed by kings, placating died whilst being sodomized by a page boy.[17] Neverrespectively James II of Cyprus, Edward IV of England, theless, as a result a power vacuum was created in CenLouis XI of France, Matthias Corvinus of Hungary and tral Europe especially after Podbrady himself died in
Ferdinand I of Naples; one was the able administrator of March of that same year.
the Franciscans; and the last two elevated his old tutor and
a rst cardinal-nephew.[12] Two further cardinal-nephews
were added on 21 November 1468.[13] In a sign of his increasing secretiveness and paranoia, he added two more 5 Legacy
cardinals secretly at the same consistory, and four more
at the beginning of 1471, expecting to reveal them only Although Paul II was a committed opponent of humanist
in his testament.
learning, he oversaw and approved the introduction of
Tensions with the College of Cardinals came to the fore printing into the Papal States, rst at Subiaco in 1464 by
Arnold Pannartz and Konrad Sweynheim, and at Rome
when in 1466, attempting to eliminate redundant oces,
Paul II proceeded to annul the College of Abbreviators, itself in 1467. The result was that books and other documents became far more numerous and less expensive
whose function it was to formulate papal documents; a
storm of indignation arose, inasmuch as rhetoricians and to procure than the previous handwritten manuscripts.
poets with humanist training, of which Paul deeply disap- Printing put the materials needed for an advanced educaproved, had long been accustomed to beneting from em- tion into the hands of more people than ever before, inployment in such positions. Bartolomeo Platina, who was cluding an increasing number of laypeople. The output of
one of these, wrote a threatening letter to the Pope, and printing presses at this period was, as a matter of course,
was imprisoned, but later discharged. However, in Febru- subject to governmental scrutiny; during Paul IIs reign,
ary 1468, Platina was again imprisoned on the charge of books produced in the Papal States were largely limited
having participated in a conspiracy against the Pope, and to Latin classical literature and ecclesiastical texts.
was tortured along with other abbreviators, such as Filip
Callimachus, who ed to Poland in 1478, all of whom
had been accused of pagan views. Not unaccountably,
Platina, in his Vitae ponticum, set forth an unfavorable
delineation of the character of Paul II. Though Platinas
writing after the conict would tarnish the legacy of Paul
II, the conict would prove to have an greater eect on
the intellectual environment of Rome. Peter Partner explains, Probably its most important result was to convince men of letters that cultural conformity would be
enforced in Rome. More tangibly, after the crackdown
of Paul II, the Roman Academy took on a more religious
avour, turning in part to theology as a means of legitimizing its pursuits.[14]

The chronicler Stefano Infessura's republican and antipapal temper makes his diary a far from neutral though
well-informed witness. But it is certain that though Paul
II opposed the humanists, he was the best in providing
for popular amusements: in 1466 he permitted the horserace that was a feature of Carnival to be run along the
main street, the Via Lata, which now became known from
this annual event as the Via del Corso. This event revealed deep Anti-Semitism, as the Pope forced Jews to
run naked in the streets for the amusement of non-Jews.
He has also been attributed with the practice of requiring Jews to visibly identify themselves by wearing yellow
handkerchiefs in public, a process used later in Holocaust
times. Paul II displayed an extravagant love of personal

3
splendor that gratied his sense of self-importance.[18]
After his death Sixtus IV and a selected group of cardinals inspected the treasure laid up against expenditures
against the Turks: they found 54 silver shells lled with
pearls, to a value of 300,000 ducats, jewels and gold intended for refashioning, worth another 300,000 ducats,
and a magnicent diamond worth 7,000 ducats, which
was sent to Cardinal d'Estouteville to cover monies he
had advanced to the ponti. The coin was not immediately found.[19] He had also amassed a collection of 800
gemstones.[20]

[13] The great number of cardinal-nephews created in the

reigns of Sixtus IV, Alexander VI, and Julius II were testimony to the eectiveness of Paul II in opening the oodgates, Francis A. Burkle-Young asserts.
[14] Partner, Peter, The Popes Men: The Papal Civil Service in
The Renaissance (Clarendon Press), 2324.
[15] Paolo II in Enciclopedia dei Papi, Enciclopedia Treccani,
http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paolo-ii_
%28Enciclopedia_dei_Papi%29/
[16] Vita Pauli Secundi Ponticis Maximi, Michael Canen-

sius, 1734 p.175

However, the Catholic Encyclopedia asserts, justice requires notice of his strict sense of equity, his reforms in [17] Leonie Frieda, The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women,
the municipal administration, and his ght against ocial
Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427
bribery and trac in posts of dignity.[21]
1527, chapter 3 (HarperCollins, 2013) ISBN 978-0-06156308-9
In statecraft, Paul II lacked eminence and achieved nothing of consequence for Italy. In the Papal States, how- [18] Pastor IV 1894:16, 20.
ever, in 1465 he eliminated the regime of the counts
of Anguillara, a house that had played a consistent anti- [19] A cardinals report to the Duke of Milans ambassador,
related in Pastor vol. IV 1894:211.
papal role since the plot of Stefano Porcari and the unruly
insurrection of Tiburzio di Maso in 1460.
[20] Money and Beauty: Bankers, Boticelli and the Bonre of
the Vanities, Giunti, Florence, 2011

See also

[21] N. A. Weber (1913). "Pope Paul I". Catholic Encyclopedia XI. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Cardinals created by Paul II

8 References
7

Notes

[1] D'Elia, Anthony (2009). A sudden terror: The plot to kill

a renaissance pope. Harvard.

Pastor, Ludwig (1894). The History of the Popes

from the Close of the Middle Ages IV. ISBN 0-84340650-X.

[2] Platina, Lives, 2:276

[3] He was described as a collector of statuary, jewellery,
and (it was said) handsome youths (Dynes, 1990)

9 External links

[4] Karlen, Sexuality and homosexuality, New York, 1971.

"Paul. The name of ve popes. Paul II". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.

[5] The populace assembled in front of the Vatican received

the news with joy, Pastor duly notes (IV:ii); acclamation
of a new bishop of Rome by the people was a custom of
the early church long in abeyance.

Francis A. Burkle-Young, The election of Pope

Paul II (1464)"

[6] Ref. Burkle-Young

[7] Oered by Pastor IV 1894:21.
[8] Anthony D'Elia, A sudden terror: The plot to kill a renaissance pope, Harvard, 2009
[9] The chronicler N. della Tuccia says that for half a century no handsomer man had been seen in the Senate or
the Church (Pastor IV 1894:16.
[10] Pastor IV 1894:13 and note, 15.
[11] Michael Walsh, The Conclave, Norwich 2003
[12] Francis A. Burkle-Young, The election of Pope Sixtus
IV (1471): Background"". Fiu.edu. Retrieved 2013-0623.

10

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10.1

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