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SIXTUS IV

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 164 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIXTUS IV . (See also:Francesco , della Rovere), See also:pope from the 9th of See also:August 1471 to the 12th of August 1484, was See also:born of a poor See also:family near See also:Savona in 1414. He entered the Franciscan See also:order at an See also:early See also:age and studied See also:philosophy and See also:theology at the See also:universities of See also:Padua and See also:Bologna. He speedily acquired a See also:great reputation as an eloquent preacher, and, after filling the offices of See also:procurator at See also:Rome and provincial of See also:Liguria, he was chosen See also:general of his order in 1464. Three years later he was, to his own surprise, made See also:cardinal-See also:priest of St Pietro in Vincoli by See also:Paul II., whom he succeeded as pope. Some writers have maintained that this sudden See also:elevation of the most See also:recent member of the Sacred See also:College was due to See also:bribery in the See also:conclave, whilst the apologists of Sixtus affirm it was due to the friend-See also:ship of the powerful and upright Cardinal See also:Bessarion, and explain that the pope, having been brought up in a mendicant order, was inexperienced and did not appreciate the liberality of his donations after his See also:election. There is no doubt that the expenditures of his pontificate were prodigal. Sixtus sent Cardinal Caraffa with a See also:fleet against the See also:Turks, but the expedition was unsuccessful. He continued to condemn the Pragmatic See also:Sanction in See also:France, and denounced especially the See also:ordinance of See also:Louis XI. which required (8th of See also:January 1475) the royal placet for the publication of all papal decrees. He likewise continued his predecessor's negotiations with the See also:Tsar See also:Ivan III. for thereunion of the See also:Russian See also:Church with the See also:Roman see and for support against the Turks, but without result. He was visited in 1474 by See also:King See also:Christian of See also:Denmark and See also:Norway, and in the following See also:year (12th of See also:June) he established the university of See also:Copenhagen. Sixtus soon abandoned his universal policy in order to concentrate See also:attention on See also:Italian politics, and the' admirable See also:energy which he had shown at first was clouded by the favours which he now heaped upon unworthy relations.

Not content with enriching them by gifts and lucrative offices, he made their aggrandizement the See also:

principal See also:object of his policy as a See also:secular See also:prince. Sixtus was cognisant of the See also:conspiracy of the Pazzi, plotted (1478) by his See also:nephew, Cardinal Riario, against Lorenzo de' See also:Medici. He entered into a fruitless and inglorious See also:war with See also:Florence, which kept See also:Italy for two years (1478—8o) in confusion. He next incited the Venetians to attack See also:Ferrara, and then, after having been delivered by their general, Roberto Malatesta, from a Neapolitan invasion, he turned upon them and eventually assailed them for refusing to .desist from the hostilities which he had himself instigated. He relied on the co-operation of Lodovico See also:Sforza, who speedily forsook him; and vexation at having See also:peace forced upon him by the princes and cities of Italy is said to have hastened his See also:death. Several events of his pontificate are noteworthy: he granted many privileges to the mendicant orders, especially to the See also:Franciscans; he endeavoured to suppress abuses in the See also:Spanish See also:Inquisition; he took See also:measures against the Waldenses; he approved (1475) the See also:office of the Immaculate Conception for the 8th of See also:December; in 1478 he formally annulled the decrees of the See also:council of See also:Con-stance; and he canonized St See also:Bonaventura (14111 of See also:April 1482). The most praiseworthy See also:side of his pontificate *as his munificence as a founder or restorer of useful institutions, and a See also:patron of letters and See also:art. He established and richly endowed the first foundling See also:hospital, built and repaired numerous churches, constructed the Sistine See also:Chapel and the Sistine See also:Bridge, improved church See also:music and instituted the famous Sistine See also:choir, commissioned paintings on the largest See also:scale, pensioned men of learning, and, above all, immortalized himself as the second founder of the Vatican library. These great See also:works, however, were not accomplished without grievous See also:taxation. See also:Annates were increased and See also:simony flourished. Though himself pious, of blameless morality, hospitable to a See also:fault, and so exempt from avarice, says his secretary See also:Conti, that he could not endure the sight of See also:money, it was Sixtus's misfortune to have had no natural outlet for strong affections except unworthy relatives; and his great vices were nepotism, ambition and extravagance. He died on the 12th of August 1484, and was succeeded by See also:Innocent VIII.

See L. Pastor, See also:

History of the Popes, vol. iv., trans. by F. I. Antrobus (See also:London, 1898) ; M. See also:Creighton, History of the Papacy, vol. iv. (London, 1901); F. See also:Gregorovius, Rome in the See also:Middle Ages, vol. vii., trans. by Mrs G. W. See also:Hamilton (London, 1900–1902); See also:Jacob See also:Burckhardt, Geschichte der See also:Renaissance in Italien (4th ed., 1904); J. A. See also:Symonds, Renaissance in Italy; E. Frantz, Sixtus IV. u. See also:die Republik Florenz (See also:Regensburg, 188o) ; I.

Schlecht, " Sixtus IV. u. die deutschen Drucker in Rom," in S. .Ehses, Festschrift zu elfhunderljahrigen Tubilaum See also:

des Campo Santo (See also:Freiburg, 1897) ; Aus den Annaten-Registern der PdpsteEugen IV., See also:Pius II., Paul II. u. Sixtus IV., ed. by K. Hayn (See also:Cologne, 1896). (C. H.

End of Article: SIXTUS IV

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