LEO X., Pope

LEO X., Pope, the second son of Lorenzo de' Medici, was born at Florence in December 1475. His original name was Giovanni or John. Having taken the tonsure at the early age of seven, he was presented with two rich abbeys, through the influence of his father with Louis XI. of France, and Pope Sixtus IV. Many other benefices followed; and, in 1488, when only thirteen, he was raised to the rank of cardinal by Innocent VIII. Hitherto he had been under the tuition of Chalcondylas, the famous Greek historian, and Angelo Poliziano; and, being naturally sedate even in his youth, he had evinced that love of classical learning for which he was afterwards so noted. He was now sent to Pisa to study theology, and, on his return in 1492, was invested with the purple, and soon afterwards went to reside in Rome as a member of the sacred college. On the accession of Pope Alexander VI., whose election he had opposed, he returned to Florence, and remained there until the invasion of Italy by Charles VIII. of France obliged his family to flee in 1494. Repairing to Bologna, he afterwards, in 1499, travelled through France and Germany, enjoying the society of learned men, and indulging his love of literature and the liberal arts. Returning to Rome, he lived in strict seclusion until the accession of Julius II. in 1503. Having recommended himself to the pope by his activity in public affairs, he was appointed governor of Perugia; and, in 1511, for his fidelity in this administration, he was rewarded with the high office of commander of the papal forces in the holy league against France. At the battle of Ravenna, in 1512, he was taken prisoner and conveyed to Milan, but, recovering his liberty soon afterwards, he returned to Bologna, where he governed the district as papal legate.

The death of Julius II., in 1513, recalled him to Rome, and in March of the same year he was elected his successor in the pontificate, and assumed the title of Leo X. No sooner was he seated in the papal chair, than the invasion of the north of Italy, by the French troops of Louis XII., summoned him to exercise his talent in the field. Mainly by means of Swiss auxiliaries the French were defeated at Novara, and Louis XII. was forced to seek absolution from the papal power. The peace that followed was spent by Leo in patronizing learning and the fine arts. Not long after his accession he had appointed Bembo and Sadoletti papal secretaries. He revived the Roman University by means of rich presents and valuable endowments, and by attracting to it eminent professors from different lands. A Greek press was also established; and by offering large rewards, he incited a search for ancient manuscripts in all the libraries and cloisters of Europe. In 1515, however, Leo's attention was diverted to the French, who, under the command of their young monarch, Francis I., had invaded Italy with the intent of retaking Milan. The Swiss auxiliaries of the pope were defeated at Marignano, 14th September 1515, and the French entered Milan, and seized the duchy. Seeing his own power in jeopardy, Leo, with characteristic prudence, and despite the advice of his cardinals, hastened to the king at Bologna; and there was concluded the concordat in which the pope, in return for the ceding of Parma and Piacenza to the French, shared with the king the rights of the Gallican church. During this crisis the Duke of Urbino, who was receiving the pope's pay, had proved treacherous; and in 1516 Leo, after a hard struggle, stripped him of his duchy, and, by conferring it upon his

Leo,
Leonardo
Leoben.

own nephew, increased the influence of his family. In 1517, alarmed at a conspiracy that had been formed to poison him, he created thirty-one cardinals in the same day, chiefly from among his own relations. To furnish money for his extravagant pleasures, in the same year he authorized the sale of indulgences, a practice that first roused the opposition of Luther. Desirous of recovering Parma and Piacenza, which he had ceded to Francis I., he formed, in 1521, a league with Charles V., stipulating, as one of the conditions, that Luther should be deprived of the emperor's protection. The allied armies were successful; the French were driven out of Milan, and Parma and Piacenza retaken. Leo, soon after receiving the welcome tidings at his favourite villa Malliana, returned to Rome, and there, amid the festivities and rejoicings on account of the success, was attacked by a sudden malady, which, after eight days, closed his career on the 1st December 1521.

Leo X. has been happily named by Ranke a child of fortune. After his auspicious birth and influential patrons had started him on the highway to preferment, a fair amount of prudence and conduct easily led him to his exalted position; and common policy, with little effort, enabled him to hold his seat. His greatest weakness was his excessive devotion to pleasure; and this being chiefly intellectual and æsthetic, was the cause, perhaps, of his greatest virtue—his liberal patronage to men of genius. During his autumnal residence in the country, the intervals between hawking, hunting, and fishing, were pleasantly squandered in listening to musicians, and improvisatori. When theatres and festivals failed to please in winter, the writings of Machiavel, the poems of Ariosto, and the paintings of Raphael, were sources of new and equally eager pleasure. Even his political activity, never following matters into details, and exercising only the nobler mental faculties, gratified his ruling passion. His heavy debts rendered him unpopular; while his neglect of religious duties, and his refusal of the sacraments on his death-bed, gave, perhaps, sufficient reason for the current belief that he was a sceptic. His chief claim to remembrance is founded on the striking events of the age in which he lived. (Roscoe's Leo X.; Sismondi's Literature; Ranke's Popes.)