The Papacy in the Late Middle Ages

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Pope Innocent VIII

Pope Innocent VIII (1484-1492)

The next pope was Giovanni Battista Cibò, Genoese born. He was elected by a specific faction in Rome. The actions of earlier popes were quickly returning the papacy to a time when the papal throne was largely a prize of Roman leading families, and once again there were gang fights in the streets surrounding the election of a pope.

Innocent was a generally harmless and agreeable pope, who was nevertheless also largely ineffectual. Most of his successes were symbolic and hardly more than gestures. For example, he recognized the right of the Tudors to rule England, as if they needed such approval. He conferred the title "Catholic Majesty" on the king of Spain, though Ferdinand likewise hardly needed such honorific. He received the Holy Lance from the Sultan of Turkey; it had been lost to Saladin at the Battle of Hattin three hundred years before, but the age of crusading was long gone and the gesture neither cost the Sultan much nor earned the pope much.

He was, however, severely orthodox. He struck out against witches in Germany, preached a crusade against the Waldensians, and appointed the notorious Torquemada to head the Inquisition in Spain.

He was the first pope who openly acknowledged his children. One epigram claimed he had so many children that he deserved the title of "father of Rome." He favored his children greatly and conferred lands and titles upon his son, Franceschetto.

He chiefly had to deal with Naples. While he managed to keep Rome from being occupied by a Neapolitan army, he failed to neutralize the threat and bequeathed this problem to his successor.