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LEO XI

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 437 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LEO XI . (Alessandro de' See also:Medici) was elected See also:pope on the 1st of See also:April 16o5, at the See also:age of seventy. He had See also:long been See also:archbishop of See also:Florence and See also:nuncio to See also:Tuscany; and was entirely See also:pro-See also:French in his sympathies. He died on the 27th See also:day of his pontificate, and was succeeded by See also:Paul V. See the contemporary See also:life by Vitorelli, continuator of Ciaconius, Vitae et res gestae summorum Pontiff. Rom. ; See also:Ranke, Popes (Eng. trans., ,Austi, ii. 330; v..See also:Reumont, Gesch. der Stadt Rom. iii. 2, 604; See also:Broach, Gesch. See also:des Kirchenstaates (1880), i. 350. LEo XIL (Annibale della See also:Genga), pope from 1823 to 1829, was See also:born of a See also:noble See also:family, near See also:Spoleto, on the 22nd of See also:August 1760. Educated at the Accademia dei See also:Nobili ecclesiastici at See also:Rome, he was ordained See also:priest in 1783, and in 1790 attracted favourable See also:attention by a tactful See also:sermon commemorative of the See also:emperor See also:Joseph II.

In 1792 See also:

Pius VI. made him his private secretary, in 1793 creating him titular archbishop of See also:Tyre and despatching him to See also:Lucerne as nuncio. In 1794 he was transferred to the nunciature at See also:Cologne, but owing to the See also:war had to make his See also:residence in See also:Augsburg. During the dozen or more years he spent in See also:Germany he was entrusted with several See also:honourable and difficult See also:missions, which brought him into contact with the courts of See also:Dresden,See also:Vienna, See also:Munich and See also:Wurttemberg, as well as with See also:Napoleon. It is, however, charged at one See also:time during this See also:period that his finances were disordered, and his private life not above suspicion. After the abolition of the States of the See also:Church, he was treated by the French as a See also:state prisoner, and lived for some years at the See also:abbey of Monticelli, solacing himself with See also:music and with See also:bird-See also:shooting, pastimes which he did not eschew even after his See also:election as pope. In 1814 he was chosen to carry the pope's congratulations to See also:Louis XVIII.; in 1816 he was created See also:cardinal-priest of See also:Santa Maria See also:Maggiore, and appointed to the see of Sinigaglia, which he resigned in 1818. In 182o Pius VII. gave him the distinguished See also:post of cardinal See also:vicar. In the See also:conclave of 1823, in spite of the active opposition of See also:France, he was elected pope by the zelanti on the 28th of See also:September. His election had been facilitated because he was thought to be on the edge of the See also:grave; but he unexpectedly rallied. His See also:foreign policy, entrusted at first to Della Somaglia and then to the more able Bernetti, moved in See also:general along lines laid down by See also:Consalvi; and he negotiated certain concordats very advantageous to the papacy. Personally most frugal, Leo reduced taxes, made See also:justice less costly, and was able to find See also:money for certain public improvements; yet he See also:left the finances more confused than he had found them, and even the elaborate See also:jubilee of 1825 did not really mend matters. His domestic policy was one of extreme reaction.

He condemned the See also:

Bible See also:societies, and under Jesuit See also:influence reorganized the educational See also:system. Severe See also:ghetto See also:laws led many of the See also:Jews to emigrate. He hunted down the See also:Carbonari and the Freemasons; he took the strongest See also:measures against See also:political agitation in theatres. A well-nigh ubiquitous system of espionage, perhaps most fruitful when directed against See also:official corruption, sapped the See also:foundations of public confidence. Leo, temperamentally stern, hard-working in spite of bodily infirmity, died at Rome on the loth of See also:February 18x9. The See also:news was received by the populace with unconcealed joy. He was succeeded by Pius VIII.

End of Article: LEO XI

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