Early life Francesco Todeschini-Piccolomini, a member of the House of
Piccolomini was born in
Sarteano on 9 May 1439, as the fourth child of Nanno Todeschini and Laudomia Piccolomini, the sister of
Pope Pius II. Francesco was received as a boy into the household of Aeneas Silvius who permitted him to assume the name and arms of the Piccolomini family. He studied
Canon law at the
University of Perugia, and obtained a
doctorate after the completion of his studies.
Cardinalate In 1457, Todeschini-Piccolomini was granted the office of Provost of the
Collegiate Church of Sankt Viktor in Xanten (later
Xanten Cathedral), which had been a benefice of his uncle. Francesco held the benefice from 1457 to 1466, and again from 1476 to 1495. Cardinal Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini was elected pope as
Pius II on
19 August 1458. In the excited tumult following the announcement, the Roman mob sacked his house, which was located near the church of
S. Agostino, not far from the north end of the
Piazza Navona; even the marble stones were taken. When the Piccolomini family arrived in Rome, therefore, they had no palazzo of their own to use as their base of operations. Francesco moved into the
Vatican Palace with his uncle. Pius II was aware that this was a temporary situation; he remarked in a letter to his nephew Antonio that "One is not the nephew of a pope forever (
non-semper pontificis nepos). In 1461, the Pope authorized Cardinal Francesco to purchase a property near the
Campo de' Fiori in Rome which had belonged to the recently deceased Cardinal
Giovanni Castiglione. The documents made it clear that it was not the Pope or the Papacy which were buying the property, but the Piccolomini family, and that it was private property, not property of the Church, even though Cardinal Francesco's deaconry was not far distant. On this land, Cardinal Francesco, with the Pope's help, built the Piccolomini Palace. In 1476, Cardinal Francesco deeded the palace to his brothers Giacomo and Andrea, and their descendants, on the condition that it not be alienated from the male line. The Palazzo Piccolomini no longer survives, having been razed to make room for the new church of
Sant'Andrea della Valle, which was begun in 1591. Piccolomini already held the office of
protonotary apostolic at the time that he was appointed the administrator of the
Archdiocese of Siena in 1460. He was granted the title and the insignia of an archbishop, but he did not receive
episcopal consecration until a week before his coronation as pope. The episcopal duties at Siena were carried out by an auxiliary bishop,
Antonio Fatati. Pope Pius II, who was visiting
Siena at the time, appointed his nephew a cardinal on 5 March 1460, naming him Cardinal-Deacon of
Sant'Eustachio on 26 March. He was also named
commendatory abbot of the monastery of
San Vigilio, Siena. He reconstructed and extended the residence next to the church, which he continued to use throughout his life. In 1460, the Pope appointed him legate of the
March of Ancona, with the experienced
Bishop of Marsico as his counsellor. He departed Rome on 30 April, and returned on 1 February 1461 for consultations; he returned to
Ancona on 1 June 1461, and was back in Rome on 8 November. He proved studious and effective in his job. Piccolomini was made the archdeacon of Brabant in
Cambrai in 1462 and he held that benefice until 1503. On 26 March 1463, Pope Pius II granted Cardinal Francesco the monastery of
San Saba on the
Aventine Hill in commendam. The cardinal immediately began extensive restoration, construction, and decoration works on the ancient buildings, spending at least 3,000
ducats on the work. Piccolomini was named Vicar of
Rome and the rest of the
Papal States on 21 June 1464, as Pius II departed Rome for Ancona, where he intended to meet the Venetians and launch a crusade in the Balkans. However, Pius II died at Ancona on 14 August 1464, terminating the project.
Conclaves of 1464 and 1471 Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini participated in the
conclave that elected
Pope Paul II in 1464. As a nephew of the late pope, he should have had considerable influence in the politics of the election. Of the twenty cardinals who participated, however, the twelve who had not been named by Pius II agreed among themselves that they would not vote to elect anyone except one of themselves. This excluded Francesco Piccolomini and all of his uncle's cardinals. As it happened, the first vote was still in progress when Cardinal Pietro Barbo of Venice received the required two-thirds of the votes, and the scrutiny was quickly made unanimous. He chose the name
Paul II (1464–1471). Cardinal Piccolomini was named
Legatus de latere in Germany on 20 February 1471. He was accompanied as his secretary by Agostino Patrizi Piccolomini, the former private secretary of Pius II, who wrote an account of the mission. He departed on 18 March, and served in this important legation for the
Imperial diet at Regensburg/Ratisbon, and was still there when the Pope died on 26 July 1471. Consequently, he was absent for the Conclave of 1471 which elected
Pope Sixtus IV. He returned to Rome on 27 December 1471. He succeeded to the position of
Cardinal Protodeacon in 1471, upon the promotion of Cardinal
Rodrigo Borgia to the
see of Albano on 30 August 1471. Francesco served in a new legation for
Pope Sixtus IV, to restore ecclesiastical authority in
Umbria.
Conclaves of 1484 and 1492 Todeschini-Piccolomini participated in the conclave of 1484 which resulted in the election of
Pope Innocent VIII, and as the protodeacon he made the first public announcement of the election and
crowned the new pope. According to
Stefano Infessura, he was one of the half-dozen cardinals who had slept soundly in their beds on the night between 28 August and 29 August, and had not participated in the clandestine midnight conferences that produced a two-thirds majority for Cardinal Giovanni Battista Cibo. Neither had he engaged in the extensive simoniac trading that took place. He was made the administrator of
Fermo in 1485; he resigned the position in 1494, in favor of Agostino Piccolomini. He was reappointed when Agostino resigned in 1496, and he kept that post until his election to the Papacy. He was appointed papal legate to Perugia on 5 November 1488, and departed Rome on 15 November. He served in Perugia until 1489. Todeschini-Piccolomini participated in the conclave of 1492 which elected
Pope Alexander VI. He belonged to the faction of the more senior cardinals who gathered around Cardinal
Oliviero Carafa of Naples. Cardinal Francesco was sufficiently respected that he received six votes at the first scrutiny (Sixteen were needed to elect), seven on the second, and one on the third. He resisted the election of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia almost to the end, as one of the five hold-outs. As Cardinal Protodeacon Piccolomini announced and crowned the new pontiff. He served as the protector of
England at the Roman Curia from 1492 to 1503, and of
Germany. He was appointed legate to King
Charles VIII of France, whose army was then entering Tuscany, in the consistory of 1 October 1494, departing Rome on 17 October; he returned to Rome on 5 March 1495, after the King declined to meet him. On 27 May 1495, he and numerous other cardinals accompanied Pope Alexander VI on a visit to
Orvieto, which had been arranged to avoid a meeting between the Pope and King Charles, who was returning from his expedition against
Naples. Charles was in Rome from 1 to 4 June, and the Pope and his retinue returned to the city on 27 June. He was named the administrator of the diocese of
Pienza and Montalcino on 31 October 1495, and occupied it until 14 March 1498, when he resigned in favor of his relative, Girolamo Piccolomini. Following the murder of his son
Giovanni Borgia in 1497, Alexander VI appointed Francesco Piccolomini a member of a commission of six cardinals, in a short-lived effort to reform the
Roman Curia. On 8 February 1501, Pope Alexander also appointed Piccolomini, in his capacity as Protodeacon, to a commission to take charge of the income from the
tithe (
decuma), and dispensing it for yet another contemplated crusade against the Turks.
The Piccolomini Library In 1502 he commissioned a library with access from an aisle of
Siena Cathedral that was intended to house the library of
humanist texts assembled by his uncle. Francesco commissioned the artist
Pinturicchio to fresco its vault and ten narrative panels along the walls, depicting scenes from the life of
Pope Pius II. Its iconography illustrating the donor's career gives an edited version of Pius II's life, passing over his former support of the
Antipope Felix V. Though Pinturicchio labored for five years, the books never reached their splendid destination; yet the Piccolomini Library is a monument of the
High Renaissance in Siena. Some of Pope Pius III's most famous portraits can be viewed in the
Louvre Museum. ==Pontificate==