Francesco della Rovere, born in Celle Ligure, …

Years: 1471 - 1471

Francesco della Rovere, born in Celle Ligure, a town near Savona, to Leonardo della Rovere and Luchina Monleoni, a Ligurian family of modest means.

Della Rovere had joined the Franciscan Order as a young man, an unlikely choice for a political career, and his intellectual qualities had been revealed while he was studying philosophy and theology at the University of Pavia.

He had gone on to lecture at Padua and many other Italian universities.

Della Rovere had been elected Minister General of the Franciscan order at the age of fifty in 1464, and 1467 had been appointed Cardinal by Pope Paul II, with the titular church being the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli.

Cardinal della Rovere is renowned for his unworldliness and has even written learned treatises entitled On the Blood of Christ and On the Power of God.

His pious reputation is one of the deciding factors that prompted the College of Cardinals to elect him pope upon the unexpected death of Paul II at the age of fifty-four.

Upon being elected pope, della Rovere adopts the name Sixtus—a name that has not been used since the fifth century.

One of his first acts is to declare a renewed crusade against the Ottoman Turks in Smyrna.

After the conquest of Smyrna, the fleet disbands, however.

Some fruitless attempts are made towards unification with the Greek Church.

Sixtus, for the remainder of his pontificate, will turn to temporal issues and dynastic considerations, taking advantage of his position to engage in nepotism on a grand scale.

Related Events

Filter results