Pope Pius II
Pope Pius II (Latin: Pius PP. II, Italian: Pio II), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini (Latin: Aeneas Silvius Bartholomeus; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August 1458 to his death.
This article is about the Pope. For the Austrian general, see Enea Silvio Piccolomini (general).
Pius II
19 August 1458
14 August 1464
4 March 1447
15 August 1447
by Juan Carvajal
17 December 1456
by Callixtus III
14 August 1464 (aged 58)
Ancona, Marche, Papal States
Aeneas Silvius was an author, diplomat, and orator, and private secretary of Antipope Felix V and then the Emperor Frederick III, and then Pope Eugenius IV.[1] He participated in the Council of Basel, but left it in 1443 to follow Frederick, whom he reconciled to the Roman obedience. He became Bishop of Trieste in 1447, Bishop of Siena in 1450, and a cardinal in 1456.
He was a Renaissance humanist with an international reputation. Aeneas Silvius' longest and most enduring work is the story of his life, the Commentaries, which is the only autobiography of a pope ever to have been published. It appeared posthumously, in 1584, 120 years after his death.
Early life[edit]
Aeneas was born at Corsignano in Sienese territory of a noble but impoverished family. His father Silvio was a soldier and member of the House of Piccolomini, and his mother was Vittoria Forteguerri, who had 18 children including several twins, though no more than ten were alive at one time. The plague (iniqua lues) finally left him with only two sisters, Laudamia and Catherina.[2] He worked with his father in the fields for some years.
In 1423, at the age of 18, he left to study at the university of Siena, where he first followed the humanities curriculum, and then that of civil law.[3] At Siena he studied under the Augustinian Andreas of Milan, the noted historian.[4] His preceptor and professor of civil law was Antonio de Rosellis.[5] He also studied law under Mariano Sozzini.[6] He then attended the university of Florence where he studied under Francesco Filelfo, and where he became friends with Poggio Bracciolini, Leonardo Bruni, and Guarino da Verona.[7] He settled in Siena as a teacher.
Illness and death[edit]
On 26 April 1463, Pius II published his most famous retracation in the bull "In Minoribus Agentes," addressed to the rector and members of the University of Cologne. In it, he witdrew his treatise against Pope Eugenius IV and in favor of the Council of Basel. It contained the famous remark, "reject Aeneas, retain Pius" (Aeneam rejicite, Pium recipite).[91]
In spite of suffering from a fever, Pope Pius II left Rome for Ancona on 18 June 1464, arriving on 18 July.[92] He hoped to increase the morale of the crusading army. However, the armed forces melted away at Ancona for want of transport and the outbreak of pestilence, and when at last the Venetian fleet arrived, led by Doge Cristoforo Moro, the dying Pope could only view it from a window. He died two days later, on 14 August 1464.
The cardinals at Ancona decided to put the papal galleys in the hands of the doge of Venice, on the understanding that they would be handed over to the next pope. They also sent the 48,000 gold ducats which Pius had on hand for the crusade to Matthias of Hungary. The crusade of Pius II was at an end.[93]
Despite the canonical requirement that the conclave to elect a successor should take place in the place where he died, Pius II's body was taken to Rome and interred at the Vatican, in Old St. Peter's Basilica, in the Chapel of St. Andrew. When his nephew, Pius III, died in 1503, he was buried next to Pius II. In 1506, because of the demolition of Old St. Peter's, the tombs were moved to the crypt. In 1612, when the church of St. Andrea della Valle was completed, the bodies of both popes, as well as parts of their funeral monuments, were moved there and re-entombed on 1 February 1613.[94]