PIUS
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PIUS
by his friends. Attracted by tlie fame of the cele-
brated Filelfo, he shortly after spent two years in the
study of the classics and poetry at Florence. He re-
turned to Siena at the urgent request of his relatives,
to devote his time to the study of jurisprudence. Pass-
ing through Siena on his way to the Council of Basle
(q. v.), Capranica, Bishop of Fermo, invited Enea to
accompany him as his secretary. Bishop and secre-
tary arrived there in 1432, and joined the opposition
to Pope Eugene IV.
Piccolomini, however, soon left the service of the impecunious Capranica for more remunerative em- ployment with Nicodemo della Scala, Bishop of Frei- sing, %vith Bartolomeo, Bishop of Novara, and with Cardinal Albergati. He accompanied the latter on several journeys, particularly to the Congress of Arras, which in 1435 "discussed peace between Burgundy and France. In the same year his master sent him on a secret mission to Scotland. The voyage was very tem- pestuous and Piccolomini vowed to walk, if spared, barefoot from the port of arrival to the nearest shrine of Our Lady. He landed at Dunbar and, from the pilgrimage of ten miles through ice and snow to the sanctuary of \A'hitekirk, he contracted the gout from which he suffered for the rest of his life. Although on his return from Scotland Cardinal Albergati was no longer at Basle, he determined to re- main in the city, and to his human- istic culture and oratorical talent owed his appoint- ment to differ- ent important functions by the council. He con- tinued to side with the opposition to Eugene IV, and associated particu- larly with a small circle of friends who worshipped classical antiquity and led dissolute lives. That he freely indulged his passions is evi- (XVI Century) deuced not onlyby
the birth of two illegitimate children to him (the one in Scotland, the other at Strasburg), but by the friv- olous manner in which he glories in his own disorders. The low moral standard of the epoch may partly ex- plain, but cannot excuse his dissolute conduct. He had not yet received Holy orders, however, and shrank from the ecclesiastical state because of the obligation of continence which it imposed. Even the inducement to become one of the electors of a successor to Eugene IV, unlawfully deposed, could not overcome this reluc- tance ; rat her than receive the diaconate he refused the proffered honour.
He was then appointed master of ceremonies to the conclave which elected Amadeus of Savoy to the papacy. He likewi.se belonged to the delegation which was to escort to Basle in 1439 the newly-elected anti- pope, who assumed the name of Felix V and chose Piccolomini as his secretary. The latter's clear- sightedness, however, soon enabled him to realize that the position of the schismatic party could not fail to become untenable, and he profited by his presence as envoy of the council at the Diet of Frankfort in 1442 again to change masters. His literary attainments were brought to the attention of Frederick III, who crowned him iini)irial poet, and offered him a position in his service which was gladly accepted. On 1 1 Nov., 1442, Enea left Basle for Vienna, where he assumed in
January of the following year the duties of secretary
in the imperial chancery. Receding gradually from his
attitude of supporter of Felix V, he ultimately became,
with the imperial chancellor Schlick, whose favour he
enjoyed, a partisan of Eugene IV. The formal recon-
ciliation between him and this pope took place in 144.5,
when he came on an official mission to Rome. He was
first absolved of the censures which he had incurred as
partisan of the Council of Basle and official of the
antipope. Hand in hand with this change in personal
allegiance went a transformation in his moral charac-
ter and in March, 1446, he was ordained subdeacon at
Vienna. The same year he succeeded in breaking up
the Electors' League, equally dangen^us to Eugene IV
and Frederick III, and shortly afterwards a delega-
tion, of which he was a member, laid before the pope
the conditional submission of almost all Germany. In
1447 he was appointed Bishop of Trieste; the follow-
ing year he played a prominent part in the conclu-
sion of the Concordat of Vienna; and in 1450 he
received the Bishopric of Siena. He continued, how-
ever, until 1455 in the service of Frederick III, who
had frequent recourse to his diplomatic ability. In
1451 he appeared in Bohemia at the head of a royal
embassy, and in 1452 accompanied Frederick to Rome
for the imperial coronation. He was created cardinal
IS Dec, 1456, by Calixtus III, whose successor he
became.
The central idea of his pontificate was the liberation of Europe from Turkish domination. To this end he summoned at the beginning of his reign all the Chris- tian princes to meet in congress on 1 June, 1459. Shortly before his departure for Mantua, where he was personally to direct the deliberations of this assembly, he issued a Bull instituting a new religious order of knights. They were to bear the name of Our Lady of Bethlehem and to have their headquarters in the Island of Lemnos. History is silent concerning the actual existence of this foundation, and the order was probably never organized. At Mantua scant attend- ance necessitated a delay in the opening of the sessions until 26 Sept., 14.59. Even then but few delegates were present, and the deliberations soon revealed the fact that the Christian states could not be relied on for mutual co-operation against the Turks. Venice pursued dilatory and insincere tactics; France would promise nothing, because the pope had preferred Ferrante of Aragon for the tltrone of Naples to the pretender of the House of Anjou. Among the German delegates, Gregory of Heimburg (q. v.) assumed an ostentatiously disrespectful attitude toward Pius II; the country, however, ultimately agreed to raise 32,000 footmen and 10,000 cavalry. But the promise was never redeemed, and although a three years' war was decreed against the Turks, the congress failed of its oljject, as no practical results of any importance were attained. It was apparent that the papacy no longer commanded the assent and respect of any of the Powers. This was further demonstrated by the fact that Pius, on the eve of his departure from Man- tua, issued the Bull "Execrabilis", in which he con- demned all appeals from the decisions of the pope to an oecumenical council (18 Jan., 1460).
During the congress war had broken out in southern Italy about the po.ssession of the Kingdom of Naples. The pope continued to support Ferrante against the Angevin claimant. This attitude was adverse to ecclesiastical interests in France, where he aimed at the repeal of the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges. At his accession to the throne in 1461, Louis XI sup- pressed indeed that instrument; but this papal suc- cess was more apparent than real. For Louis's expec- tation of support in southern Italy was not realized; and opposition to the suppression manifesting itself in France, his dealings with the Church underwent a corresponding change, and royal ordinances were even issued aiming at the revival of the former Gallicaa
