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See also: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: 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: 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. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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