and
Berruguete . From the first day of his papacy, Pius' greatest priority was freeing Europe from the threat of the Turks, through a great crusade. He had also been preparing a bull, which in the event he never published, outlining his plans for a reform of the Roman Curia.
Congress at Mantua After allying himself with
Ferdinand (Ferrante), the
Aragonese claimant to the throne of Naples, in opposition to the French House of Anjou, his next important act was to convene a congress of the representatives of Christian princes at
Mantua for joint action against the
Turks. In anticipation of his departure for Mantua, Pius issued the bull "Cum Concedente Deo" on 5 January 1459, in which he considered the possibility of the pope dying outside Rome; he ordered that the conclave to elect his successor should take place only in Rome, contrary to previous practice. On 11 January 1459 Pope Pius appointed Cardinal
Nicholas of Cusa Vicar-General of the city of Rome and of the Patrimony of S. Peter; and on 15 January he named Bishop Galeazzo Cavrini of Mantua his Governor of Rome. He finally set out for the north on 22 January. While at Mantua, he undertook to mediate in the dispute between
Sigismund of Austria and Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa over the bishopric of Brixen, which had been given Nicholas by
Pope Nicholas V in 1450, without the consent of the emperor, the count of Tyrol (Sigismund), or the cathedral chapter of Brixen. A public reconciliation was arranged, but no resolution of the basic problem was achieved, but rather postponed to a Diet to be held at Trent two years in the future. Sigismund, who had not been friendly toward the papacy for some years, left Mantua on 29 November 1459, even more irritated than before. Pius' efforts had failed. Both returned to the north, and in April 1460 trouble broke out again. Cusa, who was at Bruneck and engaged in negotiations with Sigismund, was surrounded, captured by the archduke, and forced to agree to Sigismund's demands. Cusa appealed to Pius II. A restrained Pius only summoned Sigismund to appear before him and explain his conduct, but Sigismund appealed to a future council in a statement handed the pope by his proctor on 4 August 1460. On 8 August, Sigismund was excommunicated and his domains were placed under the interdict. On 26 September 1459, Pope Pius had called for a new crusade against the Ottomans, and on 14 January 1460, he proclaimed the official crusade that was to last for three years. The pope influenced
Vlad III Dracula, whom he held in high regard, to start a war against Sultan
Mehmed II of
Turkey. This conflict at its peak involved the
Wallachians trying to assassinate the Sultan (see
The Night Attack). After his departure from Mantua on 19 January 1460, Pius II reached his former bishopric of Siena on 30 January, where, exhausted by his exertions at Mantua, he was advised by his doctors to rest, either in the city or at the Petriolo hot springs. There he was joined by his recent host in Mantua,
Ludovico Gonzaga. Pius described his delight with country life in very pleasing language.
New cardinals At the same time, since he had long been concerned with the content of the College of Cardinals and with the behavior of some of its members, The French faction among the cardinals, especially d'Estouteville and
Alain de Coëtivy, obstructed every move that might harm King
Louis XI, who was hostile to the idea of a crusade. Two cardinals had died six months previously,
Antonio de la Cerda y Lloscos and the Infante
Jaime of Portugal. Some of the Italian cardinals, led by the Patriarch of Aquileia,
Lodovico Scampi, were hostile to him personally and skeptical of his project. Pius decided to hold a consistory for the creation of new cardinals. Suggestions poured in from all sides, petitioning for at least ten new cardinals. During Lent of 1460, he began consultations with the current cardinals, whose consent was necessary. On 4 March 1460, the Wednesday of
Ember Days, a formal consistory was held to make the final decisions on the candidates. Pope Pius' opening address was frank and detailed in cataloguing the shortcomings and faults of the luxurious lifestyle of the cardinals, and their activities on behalf of monarchs rather than the church: "Your lifestyle is such that you would appear to have been chosen, not to govern the state, but called to enjoy pleasures. You avoid neither hunting, nor games, nor the company of women. You put together parties that are more opulent than is fitting. You wear clothes that are far too expensive. You overflow with gold and silver.... We can't keep people from making requests, but we can easily refuse to entertain them. Think about who are appropriate, and I will choose from among their number...." He then gave the names of those who nominated themselves, or who had been nominated by others." When he finished, Cardinal Scarampi rose to speak. He remarked that Pius' predecessors had named nobles, eminent for learning and holy life. But he was proposing people whom Scarampi would not employ in his kitchen or in his stables. In fact, according to the cardinal, there was no need for new cardinals: "With too many of us, our value declines." Finally, Pius was able to secure a positive vote on five names, and he was able to pressure the cardinals into accepting his own nomination of a sixth. These were:
Angelo Capranica, bishop of Rieti and brother of Cardinal
Domenico Capranica;
Bernardo Eroli, bishop of Spoleto;
Niccolò Fortiguerra, bishop of Teano;
Alessandro Oliva de Saxoferrato, the
Prior General of the
Order of Hermits of Saint Augustine (the pope's choice, whose candidacy was much resisted); Pius' nephew
Francesco Todeschini-Piccolomini, a
protonotary apostolic; and
Burkhard von Weisbriach, archbishop of Salzburg. The appointment of Weisbriach was made
in pectore, and was not published until 31 May 1462, to avoid offending the foreign powers. The five cardinals whose names were published were all Italians. On 7 March 1460, Pope Pius had to write to the Duke of Burgundy,
Philip the Good, apologizing for having been unable to convince the cardinals to vote for the duke's almoner, Jean Jouffroy, bishop of Arras. He wrote that it was because the cardinals would have no
ultramontanes as cardinals. Pius was recalled to Rome, reaching the city on 6 October 1460. His presence was urged by the disturbances occasioned by
Tiburzio di Maso, who, when captured, confessed that he had planned to overthrow the papal government and plunder the cardinals and merchants. He was executed on 31 October. The European powers, however, had not ceased their pressure for the appointment of more cardinals. The cardinals, however, were insistent that there should be no creation of non-Italians. An agreement was finally reached that there would be six new cardinals, three Italians and three "ultramontani", thereby preserving the balance of power. On 18 December 1461, six cardinals were announced:
Bartolomeo Roverella, archbishop of Ravenna;
Jacopo Piccolomini-Ammannati, bishop of Pavia;
Francesco Gonzaga, who was only 17;
Jean Jouffroy, the nomination of Louis XI and Philip the Good;
Louis d'Albret, son of the Count of Dreux; and
Jaume Cardona, bishop of Urgel. The name of Burkhard von Weisbriach of Salzburg was also finally published.
Naples, Rimini, Poland In the struggle for the
Kingdom of Naples between the supporters of the
House of Aragon and the
House of Anjou, the
Papal States were at this time troubled by rebellious barons and marauding
condottieri, whom he gradually, though momentarily, quelled. The Neapolitan War was also concluded by the success of the Pope's ally the Aragonese Ferdinand. In particular, the Pope engaged for most of his reign in what looked like a personal war against
Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Lord of
Rimini, with the result of the almost complete submission of that condottiero. Pius II also tried mediation in the
Thirteen Years' War of 1454–66 between
Poland and the
Teutonic Knights, but, when he failed to achieve success, cast an
anathema over Polish and Prussians both. Pius II was also engaged in a series of disputes with
King George of Bohemia and
Archduke Sigismund of Austria (who was excommunicated for having arrested
Nicholas of Cusa,
Bishop of Brixen). In June 1461, Pius II canonized Saint
Catherine of Siena. In October 1461, he gained what at first appeared to be a brilliant success by inducing the new king of France,
Louis XI, to abolish the
Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, by which the papal authority in France had been weakened. But Louis XI had expected that Pius II would in return espouse the French cause in
Naples, and when he found himself disappointed he virtually re-established the Pragmatic Sanction by royal ordinances. Pius II built a fortress in
Tivoli called
Rocca Pia in 1461. The
Diocese of Ljubljana was established on 6 December 1461 by
Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor. On 9 September 1462, Pope Pius confirmed the action.
Crusade The crusade for which the Congress of Mantua had been convoked made no progress. In November 1463, Pope Pius II tried to organize the crusade against the Ottomans, similar to what Nicholas V and Calixtus III had tried to do before him. Pius II invited all the Christian nobility to join, and the Venetians immediately answered the appeal. So did George Kastriot Skanderbeg the leader of Albanian resistance, who on 27 November 1463 declared war on the Ottomans and attacked their forces near Ohrid. Pius II's planned crusade envisioned assembling 20,000 soldiers in Taranto, and another 20,000 would be gathered by Skanderbeg. They would have been marshaled in Durazzo under Skanderbeg's leadership and would have formed the central front against the Ottomans. The Pope did his best: he addressed an eloquent letter to the Ottoman ruler,
Mehmet II, urging him to become a Christian. The pope even suggested that if Mehmed were to convert, he would be recognized as "Emperor of the Greeks and of the East." If it was delivered, the invitation was not successful. In April 1462, a public pageant was staged for the pope to receive the relics of the head of
Saint Andrew when it was brought from Patras in the Peloponnese to Rome by Thomas Palaeologus. Pius II succeeded in reconciling the Emperor and the King of Hungary, and derived great encouragement as well as pecuniary advantage from the discovery of mines of
alum in the papal territory at
Tolfa, However, France was estranged; the
Duke of Burgundy broke his positive promises;
Milan was engrossed with the attempt to seize
Genoa; Florence cynically advised the Pope to let the Turks and the
Venetians wear each other out. Pius II was aware that he was nearing his end, and his malady probably prompted the feverish impatience with which, on 18 June 1464, he assumed the cross and departed for
Ancona to conduct the crusade in person.
Slavery Pius condemned the enslavement of newly baptized Christians as a "great crime". In a letter of 7 October 1462, addressed to the Bishop of
Rubico in the
Canary Islands, Pius instructed bishops to impose ecclesiastical penalties on transgressors. Pius did not condemn the concept of trading in slaves, only the enslavement of Christians, who represented a very small minority of those captured and taken to Portugal.
Pienza Pope Pius II inaugurated an unusual urban project, perhaps the first city-planning exercise in modern Europe. He refurbished his hometown of Corsignano (
province of Siena) and renamed it
Pienza, after himself. A cathedral and palaces were built in the best style of the day to decorate the city. They survive to this day. He also issued a
papal bull,
Cum almam nostram urbem, on 28 April 1462, prohibiting damage to ancient ruins in Rome or
Campagna. == Illness and death ==