Christ's Faithful People
Christ's Faithful People
1503 - 1513 AD
Giulano Della Rovere, born in poverty at Albrissola in Liguria, became one of the most powerful Renaissance popes. His fortune was made when his uncle became Pope Sixtus IV. Sixtus made Giuliano (who had been a Franciscan) a cardinal and heaped honors upon him. At his uncle's death Giuliano eagerly competed for the tiara with Rodrigo Borgia. Though forced to accept Innocent VIII as a compromise, Giuliano soothed his ambition by doing much of the governing for that easy-going pontiff. At the next conclave Giuliano and Rodrigo once more strove for election. This time Rodrigo won, and as Alexander VI he had little use for his rival. Giuliano, on his part, eyed the Borgia Pope with suspicion and busied himself with intrigue. He even worked on Charles VIII of France to invade Italy. At Alexander's death Giuliano once more tried for the tiara once more failed. But when Pius III quickly passed away, Giuliano finally succeeded. He took the name Julius II.
Julius was fifty when elected. He was vigorous, irascible, a man of his own counsel, very much a man of his own age, an outstanding personality in an age of individualists. He is chiefly remembered for two things: he rebuilt the papal kingdom, and he made Rome a Mecca for artists and art-lovers.
Julius devoted himself to the task of becoming master in the papal kingdom. He managed to get Caesar Borgia out of the country. He drove the Baglioni out of Perugia, and when the Bentivogli of Bologna proved stubborn, he excommunicated them and their supporters, and battered his way into the city. Venice, insolent on its lagoons, defied the Pope and held on to portions of Romagna. Julius formed the League of Cambrai with Emperor Maximilian and Louis XII of France. League forces soon compelled the proud republic to disgorge its ill-gotten gains. This pleased the Pope, but another result of the war did not. France got hold of Milan. The stormy but shrewd Julius now raised the cry "Out with the barbarians." Against France he formed the "Holy League" with Ferdinand and his old enemy Venice. Again the Pope was successful, and the French retreated beyond the Alps.
Louis XII had countered this political "Holy League" by inspiring a church council at Pisa in 1511 with the help of a few rebellious cardinals. As usual Julius acted decisively. He called a true council to meet at the Lateran. This Fifth Lateran Council left the French council at Pisa to wither on the vine. Unfortunately, though the Lateran Council checkmated the French, it did not produce the thoroughgoing reform so badly needed.
Julius II was a truly great patron of art. He set Michael Angelo to work on the Sistine Chapel, Raphael on the Vatican, and Bramante to plan St. Peter's. In his reign the capital of the Renaissance may be said to have moved from Florence to Rome.
After ailing for some time Julius II died peacefully on February 21, 1513. His death was regretted by the Romans, for if he had not been a great Pope, he had been a good king. Julius II shocked many by his open display of power politics, but it must be said that if Julius worked like a secular prince, it was not to promote the glory of his own family, but the welfare of the papal kingdom. He has been called the second founder of the papal states.
