The Piccolominis and Pienza

Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini (18 October 1405 - 14 August 1464) had a very simple origin. He was born to the very large family of a simple soldier. The Black Death reduced his siblings from 18 to two sisters, leaving only Enea to work the fields with his father.

Eventually he became a priest and secretary to a bishop, then secretary to the antipope Felix V, then pope himself as Pius II, recounted in this post. What that leaves out was that he used his authority as pope to indulge in some urban planning, designing a "perfect city."

His perfect city started as the town of Corsignano in Siena, his birthplace. It appears in records as early as the 9th century. The Piccolomini family came into possession of parts of it about a century before Enea was born. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II had given an ancestor, Engelbherto Piccolomini, a fiefdom there in 1220. This is the town he chose to become "Pienza" ("Pius city").

He rebuilt the town over five years into what he considered an ideal Renaissance city, with a cathedral (the building on the left in the illustration), palaces for the family and for the bishop, and a new town hall in a trapezoidal pattern. He intended it as a vacation place from Rome.

The rebuilding was overseen by Bernardo Rossellini (1409–1464), whose design work was enhanced by his skill at assembling a large number of skilled stoneworkers to create a premier workshop in Florence.

Pope Pius was the only pope until that time who had written an autobiography. In 1462 he began an account of his life, including details about the structures of Pienza. This was perhaps unnecessary, because they still stand. (In 1996 Pienza was declared a UNESCO Heritage site.)

This was an early example of urban planning. Are there others? What was the status of urban planning in the Middle Ages? Let's start to answer that question tomorrow.

Pope Felix V

In a surprising turn in 1439, during a time when the papacy was in turmoil and rival popes were almost commonplace, the Council of Basel chose Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy, to be the next pope. He agreed to take on the role in 1440, taking an oath that had been written by the Council of Basel and leaving Savoy in the hands of his son.

The delegation to Chateau Ripaille to inform Amadeus that he was the Council of Basel's choice to be the next pope included a man named Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini. He was secretary to one of the Council of Basel members, the Bishop of Fermo, Domenico Capranica. (Domenico was interested in Basel because Pope Eugene IV had refused to make Domenico a cardinal.) Piccolomini became secretary to the new pope.

Officially, Amadeus is considered an antipope, Felix V, and his decisions had little effect on the Roman Catholic Church. Going to Basel to meet with the Council there and accept the position, he used Basel originally as his base of operations. The Council was seeking to reform the structure of the Church, and Felix ordered the Alma universitas studii curiae Romanae, the "Universal School for the Study of the Roman Curia" in 1440, which 20 years later would become the University of Basel, formalized by Pope Pius II.

There was another pope, Eugene IV, who had been crowned by Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund. Sigismund had allowed the Council of Basel to form, granting safe conduct rights to all those traveling to it. He had been succeeded by Emperor Frederick III, who in 1447 canceled the safe conducts. Frederick ordered the burgomeister of Basel to disperse the members of the Council. They all moved to Lausanne to join Felix and create a papal headquarters there.

When Pope Eugene IV died in 1447, the College of Cardinals in Rome elected Tommaso Parentucelli as Pope Nicholas V. Both popes wanted to come to a settlement of the dual papacies. At a session in 1449 of the Council of Lausanne, Felix agreed to give up his title. The Council of Lausanne voted to accept Nicholas V as their pope as well.

What to do with Amadeus VIII? He was made Bishop of Sabina and a cardinal. He did not have long to enjoy the title and the life with less pressure. He died on 7 January 1451 and was buried at Ripaille, the chateau to which he had originally retired from political life to live as a monk.

Felix V's secretary, Piccolomini, had an interesting background, and became a pope himself, Pius II! Let's take another look at him next.

The Pope and Dracula

Pope Pius II (18 October 1405 - 14 August 1464) was very busy, looking for political alliances and ways to expand his authority.

It wasn't all politics: in 1461 he canonized Saint Catherine of Siena. Much of the rest of his energy was put into more worldly actions, however, even if they had religious goals.

One of his first actions in 1458 was to make an alliance with Ferdinand II of Aragon who was pressing a claim to Naples (Naples was being contested between the House of Aragon and the House of Anjou.) In 1461, however, he persuaded King Louis XI of France to abolish something called the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, established in 1438 that required a Church Council every ten years that had power to overrule the papacy in France. Louis thought that, in turn, Pius would support him in the Naples question, but Pius stood by his alliance with Ferdinand and Louis reinstated the Pragmatic Sanction again.

He tried to mediate between the two sides of the Thirteen Years' War between Poland and the Teutonic Knights. Failing to bring them to agreement, he declared both groups anathema.

When Duke Sigismund arrested Nicholas of Cusa (when he was bishop of Brixen) for attempting reforms and reclaiming lost diocesan revenue, Pius excommunicated Sigismund.

He was very concerned about the Turks, who had come as far west as they ever had in 1453 with the taking of Constantinople. He convened a congress in Mantua in 1459 to arrange a new Crusade against the Turks. The attempt failed; Christendom did not rise to the occasion. He did, however, inspire a prince of Wallachia, a province in Romania, to mount a war against Sultan Mehmed II of Turkey. That prince was named Vlad Tsepes, also known as Vlad III, or Vlad the Impaler, but whose other nickname came down to modern times as a famous literary figure: Dracula.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about how Dracula tried to save Christendom from infidels.

The Loving Pope Pius II

Pius II was the only pope to write an autobiography while he reigned. Lest you think he probably sanitized his life so that it seemed more appropriate for a pope, in this case he included events that were quite the opposite. He was an author of more than an autobiography: he also wrote Historia de duobus amantibus ("A Tale of Two Lovers"; see the illustration), and others.

Born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini to a soldier, he was one of 18 children (many of whom did not live long). He worked at the family farm until the age of 18, when he left to study at Siena, where he settled as a teacher. In 1431 he left teaching to be secretary to a bishop who was on his way to the Council of Basel, but changed jobs when that bishop ran out of money. He then went to Scotland on a secret mission, where he had a dalliance and fathered a child, who died young. He described Scotland as "wild, bare and never visited by the sun in winter."

Back in Basel, he was offered a diaconate, but disliked the obligation of abstinence. He was sent to Strasbourg, where he fathered another child (who died at 14 months). Later, at the court of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, he was named court poet for his cleverness and facility with language. While there, it is believed that he observed events that were turned into the "Tale of Two Lovers."

Enea did not care much for morals or strictness, but he realized that the way to power lay in the Church. His diplomatic skills working for Pope Eugene IV impressed those around him, so Eugene's successor Nicholas V made him Bishop of Trieste, and later Bishop of Siena. Now he wanted to advance, and desired to become a cardinal. He thought his chance came in 1455, but then Pope Calixtus III wanted to promote his own nephews first, and so Enea did not become a cardinal until 1456.

That meant, however, that he was part of the papal conclave on 10 August 1458, right after Calixtus died. Enea did his best to work his diplomatic skills among the cardinals and, although there were many with more experience and better ethical reputations, he managed to gather the votes so that a second ballot elected him unanimously.

According to his own writing, he did not rise above the desires of the flesh, but he did not neglect papal duties, and was keen on spreading Christianity, calling for a crusade against the Turks, who had taken Constantinople in 1453 and were now a strong presence in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Politics makes strange bedfellows, and successful Crusades sometimes required allying oneself with potentates you would not normally work with. Pius reached out to a voivode ("chief military leader") of a region in Romania called Wallachia, whose position north of the Turks would make him a helpful ally in surrounding them. Tomorrow, I'll talk about the link between Pius and a few other people mentioned in this blog, and then about his alliance with someone who had never before been mentioned: Dracula.

See you then.

Decline of the Republic of Siena

After a number of different governing bodies (a pun will become clear once you read this), Siena turned to Gian Galeazzo Visconti to lead them against the threat of Florentine expansion. He was thrust out of power five years later, however, and they went back to a council, in this case the Ten Priors. In an even more surprising move, they allied with Florence against Naples' King Ladislaus.

Also, although the Noveschi families had been exiled, a prominent Sienese named Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini became Pope Pius II, and his influence allowed the nobles to return. The head of the Noveschi was Pandolfo Petrucci, who spent his time gathering political power until finally he was able to set himself up as a tyrant.

As with Gian Galeazzo Visconti, sometimes a strong individual is needed to get a government back on track. (Machiavelli's advice on this came about a decade after Petrucci's coup.) He did lead Siena back to greatness, promoting arts and sciences. Unfortunately, the Petrucci family was power-hungry. Pandolfo was succeeded by his son Borghese, but four years later Borghese was ousted by his cousin Raffaello. Raffaello was a cardinal, and his duties forced him to hand the control his nephew Francesco, who managed a year before Pandolfo's youngest son Fabio ousted him. Fabio was not well-liked, and in 1525 Siena exiled him.

With the Petrucci family gone, Siena saw even more internal strife. Once again the Noveschi were ousted. They were supported by Pope Clement VII, who sent an army to Siena, but it was defeated. Taking advantage of the chaos, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V installed a Spanish garrison about 1529, but Siena got rid of them in 1552 with help from France. Charles sent an army with Florentine help to lay siege to Siena, who endured for 18 months before giving up, surrendering to Spain. Since King Philip II of Spain owed large sums to the Medicis, he gave Siena to Florence. Self-rule was denied them for a long time.

One of the creations of the Republic was the Monte di Pietà or "mount of piety," founded in 1472, where poor people could get loans with manageable interest. It got its funds from charitable donors, and loans would be assured by the borrower handing over possessions as collateral. Yes, it functioned more like a pawnbroker, or an organized charity, but it helped numerous people and inspired similar arrangements all over Europe. This Siena institution never stopped functioning. Today it is called the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, and qualifies as the oldest continuously functioning bank in the world.

Pope Pius II has been mentioned before, once even involving politics, but I'd like to look at him more closely, especially because he has a link to an even more interesting character that you all have heard of, but has not yet been mentioned here. More tomorrow (and, of course, the next day).

Isabella of Castile

Wedding portrait of Isabella and Ferdinand (1469)

Everyone knows about Isabella of Castile and how she financed Columbus' excursion to discover a new route to Asia. Recent posts on this blog have revealed her anti-semitism. There was a long road, however, before she reached the events of 1492.

She was born on 22 April 1451, and there was never any speculation that she might one day rule Castile. She had an older half-brother, Henry, who was 26 when Isabella was born. When Henry succeeded their father (John II of Castile) in 1454, Isabella and a younger brother, Alfonso, were sent with their mother to live in a run-down castle in another region, away from the capital. Despite the simple accommodations, Isabella was raised by her mother to be educated and devout. In 1462, Isabella and Alfonso were brought back to the royal palace in Segovia. Isabella was put in the queen's household where her education became more extensive.

When Alfonso died in 1468 (probably from plague), Isabella inherited his possessions. Castilian nobles wanted to use Isabella as a fiscal point to dethrone Henry, but Isabella wasn't having it. She negotiated a settlement with Henry: she would not become a threat to his throne, he would name her heir-presumptive. Moreover, he would not force her into a political marriage of which she did not approve, but she would not marry without his consent.

Years earlier, at the age of 6, she had been betrothed to Ferdinand, son of the king of Navarre. Ferdinand's father and Isabella's brother were trying to make a firm alliance between their two countries, but their relationship did not last. Years later, however, after numerous other potential betrothals in which Isabella invoked her old agreement to avoid a forced marriage, she contacted Ferdinand secretly and expressed her wish to marry him.

There was a problem with consanguinity, the two being second cousins, but a papal bull from Pius II—thanks to the efforts of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia (later Pope Alexander VI)—gave them a dispensation. Isabella, on the pretense of visiting her brother's tomb, left Henry's court. Meanwhile, Ferdinand crossed into Castile while in disguise. The two met up at the town of Valladolid.* Having successfully outmaneuvered her brother, the pair were wed on 19 October 1469. Isabella was 18, Ferdinand was 17.

*They later made valladolid their capital city. Christopher Columbus died there.