Pope Innocent VIII
Pope Innocent VIII (Latin: Innocentius VIII; Italian: Innocenzo VIII; 1432 – 25 July 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1484 to his death, in July 1492. Son of the viceroy of Naples, Cybo spent his early years at the Neapolitan court. He became a priest in the retinue of Cardinal Calandrini, half-brother to Pope Nicholas V (1447–55), Bishop of Savona under Pope Paul II, and with the support of Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere. After intense politicking by Della Rovere, Cybo was elected pope in 1484. King Ferdinand I of Naples had supported Cybo's competitor, Rodrigo Borgia. The following year, Pope Innocent supported the barons in their failed revolt.
Innocent VIII
29 August 1484
25 July 1492
c. 1450
28 January 1467
7 May 1473
by Sixtus IV
25 July 1492 (aged 59–60)
Rome, Papal States
- Bishop of Savona (1466–1472)
- Bishop of Molfetta (1472–1484)
- Cardinal-Priest of Santa Balbina (1473–1474)
- Cardinal-Priest of Santa Cecilia (1474–1484)
- Camerlengo of the College of Cardinals (1482; 1484)
Your Holiness
Holy Father
None
During his papacy, Pope Innocent issued a papal bull on witchcraft named Summis desiderantes affectibus. In March 1489, Cem, the captive brother of Bayezid II, the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, came into Innocent's custody. Viewing his brother as a rival, the Sultan paid Pope Innocent not to set him free. The amount he paid to Pope Innocent was 120,000 crowns (an amount equal to all of the annual revenue to the Vatican) in addition to some holy relics and another sum of money to be paid annually. Any time the Sultan threatened war against the Christian Balkans, Innocent threatened to release his brother. On 28 January 1495, Cem was released by Innocent's successor, Pope Alexander VI, into the custody of King Charles's army.
Early years[edit]
Giovanni Battista Cybo was born in Genoa, the son of Arano Cybo and Teodorina de Mari. His father was from an old Genoese family of Greek ancestry,[1] a viceroy of Naples and then a senator in Rome under Pope Calixtus III. Giovanni Battista's early years were spent at the Neapolitan court. While in Naples he was appointed a Canon of the Cathedral of Capua, and was given the Priory of S. Maria d'Arba in Genoa.[2] After the death of King Alfonso (1458), friction between Giovanni Battista and the Archbishop of Genoa induced him to resign his canonry, and to go to Padua and then to Rome for his education.
Early career[edit]
In Rome he became a priest in the retinue of Cardinal Calandrini, half-brother to Pope Nicholas V (1447–55). In 1467, he was made Bishop of Savona by Pope Paul II, but exchanged this see in 1472 for that of Molfetta in south-eastern Italy. In 1473, with the support of Giuliano Della Rovere, later Pope Julius II, he was made cardinal by Pope Sixtus IV, whom he succeeded on 29 August 1484 as Pope Innocent VIII.[3]
Family[edit]
Innocent had at least seven illegitimate children born before he entered the clergy.[3] Only two of them, a son and a daughter, were recognized and legitimized, "towards whom his nepotism had been as lavish as it was shameless".[22] In 1487, he married his elder son Franceschetto Cybo (d. 1519) to Maddalena de' Medici (1473–1528), the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, later Pope Leo X. His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare and had a son, Aranino Cybo (father of Gherardo Cybo), and two daughters: Battistina Usodimare, who married Luigi d'Aragona, and Peretta Usodimare (Rome, 1478-Genoa, 3 December 1550), who married firstly Alfonso I del Carretto, and secondly Andrea Doria. Savonarola chastised him for his worldly ambitions.[23]
His grandnephew Bindo Altoviti was one of the most influential bankers of his time and a notable patron of the arts, being friends with Raphael and Michelangelo.