The Papacy in the Late Middle Ages

Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484)

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Pope Sixtus IV

A member of the della Rovere family, Sixtus was the first of a string of popes who appeared to regard the papacy chiefly as a means of enriching their family. The term is nepotism (from the Latin nepos, which means relative and whence we get nephew), and it was the source of a good deal of political unrest in Italy for the next fifty years and more, for papal relatives were rewarded largely at the expense of existing political rulers.

At first glance he seems an unlikely candidate to be a corrupt pope. He studied law and theology then went into the Franciscan order, eventually rising to be Minister General.

Once he became pope, though, his primary order of business seemed to be to find either a noble title or high clerical position for his family and family allies. The della Rovere had long been influential and perhaps Sixtus' papacy was regarded as a payoff of sorts. Sixtus had lots of relatives.

Most prominently, Sixtus sought the duchy of Imola for his nephew Raffaele della Rovere, an ambition that involved war with Florence. He authorized or at least turned a blind eye to the Pazzi Conspiracy. He persuaded Venice to make war on Ferrara in order to benefit another nephew. A couple of others he made cardinals. There were many other, lesser forays into temporal politics, mainly in the Papal States.

Besides these activities, Sixtus has the dubious distinction of being the pope who authorized the Spanish Inquisition (the Roman one had been around for a couple of centuries). On a more positive note, he undertook grand construction in Rome, including the Sistine Chapel and the Sistine Bridge as well as a number of renovations. He was a strong patron of humanists and greatly expanded the Vatican Library.

Even so, it is for nepotism and the Pazzi Conspiracy that Sixtus is chiefly remembered. Of the thirty-two cardinals in office at the time of his death, twenty-three had been appointed by him. Of those, three bore the name della Rovere and one of Riario.