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GREGORY XIII

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 575 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GREGORY XIII . (Ugo Buoncompagno), See also:pope from 1572 to 1585, was See also:born on the 7th of See also:January 1502, in See also:Bologna, where he received his See also:education, and subsequently taught, until called to See also:Rome (1530) by See also:Paul III., who employed him in various offices. He See also:bore a prominent See also:part in the See also:council of See also:Trent, 1562-1563. In 1564 he was made See also:cardinal by See also:Pius IV., and, in the following See also:year, sent to See also:Spain as See also:legate. On the 13th of May 1572 he was chosen pope to succeed Pius V. His previous See also:life had been rather worldly, and 'not wholly See also:free from spot; but as pope he gave no occasion of offence. He submitted to the See also:influence of the rigorists, and carried forward the See also:war upon See also:heresy, though not with the See also:savage vehemence of his predecessor. However, he received the See also:news of the See also:massacre of St See also:Bartholomew (23rd of See also:August 1572) with joy, and publicly celebrated the event, having been led to believe, according to his apologists, that See also:France had been miraculously delivered, and that the See also:Huguenots had suffered justly as traitors. Having failed to rouse Spain and See also:Venice against the See also:Turks, Gregory attempted to See also:form a See also:general See also:coalition against the Protestants. He subsidized See also:Philip II. in his See also:wars in the See also:Netherlands; aided the See also:Catholic See also:League in France; incited attacks upon See also:Elizabeth by way of See also:Ireland. With the aid of the See also:Jesuits, whose privileges he multi-plied, he conducted a vigorous propaganda. He established or endowed above a See also:score of colleges, among them the Collegium Romanum (founded by See also:Ignatius See also:Loyola in 1550), and the Collegium Germanicum, in Rome.

Among his noteworthy achievements are the reform of the See also:

calendar on the 24th of See also:February 1582 (see CALENDAR) ; the improved edition of the Corpus See also:juris canonici, 1582; the splendid Gregorian See also:Chapel in St See also:Peter's; the fountains of the Piazza Navona; the Quirinal See also:Palace; and many other public See also:works. To meet the expenses entailed by his liberality and extravagance, Gregory resorted to See also:confiscation, on the pretext of defective titles or See also:long-See also:standing arrearages. The result was disastrous to the public See also:peace: nobles armed in their See also:defence; old feuds revived; the See also:country became infested with bandits; not even in Rome could See also:order be maintained. Amid these disturbances Gregory died, on the Toth of See also:April 1585, leaving to his successor, See also:Sixtus V., the task of pacifying the See also:state. See the contemporary lives by Cicarella, continuator of Platina, De sills pontiff. Rom. ; Ciaconius, Vitae et res gestae summorum pontiff. Rom. (Rome, 1601-1602); and Ciappi, Comp. dell' attioni e See also:santa vita di Gregorio XIII (Rome, 1591). See also Bompiano, Hist. pontificatus Gregorii XIII. (Rome, 1655) ; See also:Ranke, Popes (Eng. trans., See also:Austin), i. 428 seq.

; v. See also:

Reumont, Gesch. der Stadt Rom, iii. 2, 566 seq.; and for numerous references upon Gregory's relation to the massacre of St Bartholomew, See also:Cambridge Mod. Hist. iii. 771 seq.

End of Article: GREGORY XIII

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