The Papacy in the Late Middle Ages

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Pope Pius II

Pope Pius II (1458-1464)

Enea Silvio Piccolomini, also known as Aeneas Silvius, was a trained humanist who was actually poet laureate at the court of Emperor Frederick III. We have a number of his works, including a wonderfully cynical account of the process of papal elections.

Even though he's one of the most sympathetic of the Renaissance popes, Pius achieve very little in his pontificate. What he did accomplish was largely due to his friendship with Frederick III; conversely, he managed to alienate Louis XI of France. His most lasting accomplishment, appropriately enough, wasn't religious at all. It was the beginning of the town of Pienza, the first planned community, which still stands as a testament to Renaissance ideals.

He is also remembered for the tragic end of his days. Pius had from the beginning of his pontificate tried to field a crusade for the recovery of Constantinople. This increasingly occupied his attention in 1463 and in 1464 he determined to take the cross himself. He was already sick with fever when he set out for Ancona, where he was told the crusader army was waiting.

There was no crusader army, but only a few ships from Venice. Pius was too sick to ride and was carried into Ancona in a litter. His servants kept the curtains closed so he could not see that there was no army, no crusaders. He died in Ancona, able to see the Venetian ships through a window but not the failure of his plans.