Foreign Policy. In the struggle with Cesare Borja, Pope Juilus II. regained the
Romagna; Cesare Borja died in 1507.
The
Republic of Venice occupied much of the territory previously
held by the Borja. Pope Julius II. declared the ban against the most serene republic and joined the
League of Cambrai (1509), in which the
Emperor,
France and
Spain (Castile, Aragon) had allied themselves against
Venice. The Venetian troops were defeated in the
Battle of Agnadello;
Venice evacuated the occupied
stretches of the
Romagna, and the pope signed peace, thus
leaving the
League of Cambrai, simultaneously lifting the ban. Now
France dominated northern Italy.
Pope Julius II. turned on a French ally and papal vassall, Duke of
Ferrara,
Alfonso d'Este; he was excommunicated, his fiefs declared confiscated. King Louis XII. had a French national synod reinstate
the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges (1510), call for a general council at Pisa in 1511. Emperor Maximilian approved the French
project and is said to have contemplated to have himself elected pope (Julius II. was severely ill in 1511). Julius II. countered by
calling for a general council to be assembled in the Lateran Palace in 1512.
Both councils met; the declaration by the Emperor's representative to recognize the Lateran Council (Dec. 3rd 1512) gave the latter
more weight. In 1511, the Pope,
Spain and
Venice formed the
Holy League directed against
France. The League suffered a severe blow in the Battle of Ravenna (1512); then Swiss
troops entered the war on the side of the League; the French were in the defensive. With Emperor and England threatening to
join the
Holy League,
France gave in; the political situation in northern Italy
was revised by the Congress of Mantua. The Papal State annexed
Parma,
Piacenza and Reggio.
In 1515, Pope Leo X., after a defeat of the League at the hands of
France, had to cede
Parma and Piacenza; he now established
close relations with
France; French King Francis I. cancelled the Pragmatic Sanction
of Bourges. A Concordat was signed which granted far-reaching autonomy to the church of
France and placed it under the king. (1516).
In 1519, Emperor Maximilian had died. Among the candidates to succeed him were King Francis I. of
France, Duke Frederick the Wise of
Ernestine
Saxony (the protector of Martin Luther) and Spanish King Charles I., future Emperor Charles V. Papal diplomacy,
fearing an overbearing power united under the Habsburg family, supporteed the Saxon, without success. Once crowned Emperor,
Charles V. found himself facing a French-Ottoman alliance; in this situation, the papacy sided with Habsburg's enemies.
Leo X. died in 1521 and was succeeded by Adrian VI. (1522-1523), a Dutchman who was Emperor Charles V.' favourite; he died the
year after and was succeeded by Clement VII. (1523-1534).
While the papacy had been preoccupied with trying to avoid a Habsburg hegemony, the
Ottoman Empire expanded, taking Belgrade
in 1521, Rhodes in 1522, crushing the
Hungarian monarchy in 1526 and appearing
in front of Vienna in 1529. Adrian VI. had signed a defensive alliance against the
Ottoman
Empire in 1523, shortly before he died. Clement VII. again sided with the French; in 1525, the Emperor defeated the French in
the Battle of Pavia; in 1526 Pope Clement formally joined the Holy League of Cognac, directed against the Habsburgs. Then, on
May 6th 1527, Imperial troops took Rome (
Sacco di Roma). The
Treaty of Barcelona (1529) reconciled both sides. In 1530, Clement VI. formally crowned Charles V. Emperor.
Pope Clement VII. was so entangled in foreign policy that he neither took sufficient notice of Ottoman expansion nor of the
reformation spreading during his rule. Even worse, the
Sacco di Roma
in 1527 plainly showed to the world that his authority lacked the power to enforce it. Not only protestant reformers challenged it;
so did King Henry III. of England, by separating the Church of England from Rome (1534).
The Papal State. Julius II. reestablished the Papal State, secured the
Romagna, gained Reggio,
Parma, Piacenza. In 1506, the Swiss Guard was established.
During the pontificate of Julius II., Bramante, Michelangelo and Raffael worked in Rome; Michelangelo painted the ceiling
of the Sistine Chapel. Leo X., a Medici, was a nepotist and enjoyed court life. Intending to transfer the Duchy of Urbino, held
by a relative of his predecessor, Francesco della Rovere, to a Medici, Pope Leo X. fought de duke. It was a costly and lengthy war,
and unsuccessful. Leo X. began the construction of St. Peter's Cathedral.
The foreign diplomacy of Clement VII. ended in a disaster, the
Sacco
di Roma (sack of Rome) by Imperial troops in 1527.
EXTERNAL
FILES |
Biography of Pope Julius II., from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1910 edition
Biography of Pope Leo X., from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1910 edition
Biography of Adrian VI., from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1907 edition
Biography of Clement VII., from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908 editoion
Article Pragmatic Sanction, from Catholic Encyclopedia 1911 edition
Giulio II - Lega Cambrai - Lega Santa, from Cronologia, in Italian
Guerra d'Urbino, from Cronologia, in Italian
Seconda Lega Santa - Sacco di Roma, from Cronologia, in Italian
Ultimi Anni di Clemente VII, from Cronologia, in Italian
Article Holy League, from infoplease
Le Concordat 1516, from Renaissance France,
in French
The League of Cambrai 1508, from Virtual History of Venice
Article Fifth Lateran Council, from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1910 edition
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DOCUMENTS |
Il Sacco di Roma (1527), texts and
documents, in Italian
Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, 1438, from Medieval Sourcebook
Exsurge Domine, Bull by Pope Leo X., 1520, from
Papal Library
Letter of Indulgence, 1502, from DHM, scan
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