Pope Innocent VIII

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Pope Innocent VIII

Pope Innocent VIII (1432 – July 25, 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was Pope

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
from 1484 until his death.

anni Battista Cybo (or Cibo) was born at Genoa

Genoa

Genoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000....
of Greek extraction, the son of Arano Cybo or Cibo (c. 1375-c. 1455) who under Pope Calixtus III (1455–58) had been a senator at Rome, and wife Teodorina de Mari (c. 1380-), and paternal grandson of Maurizio Cybo or Cibo and wife Saeacina Marocelli.

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Pope Innocent VIII (1432 – July 25, 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was Pope

Pope

Biography

Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo) was born at Genoa

Genoa

Naples

Naples is a city in southern Italy, the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. The city is known for its rich history, art, culture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,800 years old....
court, and subsequently he went to Padua

Padua

Padua is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 ....
and Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
for his education. In Rome he became a priest in the retinue of cardinal Calandnini, half-brother to Pope Nicholas V

Pope Nicholas V

Pope Nicholas V , born Tommaso Parentucelli, was Pope from March 6, 1447 to his death in 1455....
(1447–55); the influence of his friends procured for him, from Pope Paul II

Pope Paul II

Pope Paul II , born Pietro Barbo, was Pope from 1464 until his death in 1471....
(1464–71) the bishopric of Savona, and in 1473, with the support of Giuliano Della Rovere

Pope Julius II

Pope Julius II , nicknamed Il Papa Terribile , was born Giuliano della Rovere. He was Pope from 1503 to 1513. His reign was marked by an aggressive foreign policy, ambitious building projects, and patronage for the arts....
, later Pope Julius II

Pope Julius II

Cardinal (Catholicism)

A cardinal is a senior Ecclesiology official, usually a Bishop , of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope....
by Pope Sixtus IV

Pope Sixtus IV

Pope Sixtus IV , born Francesco della Rovere, was Pope from 1471 to 1484. He founded the Sistine Chapel where the team of artists he brought together introduced the Early Renaissance to Rome with the first masterpiece of the city's new artistic age....
(1471–84), whom he succeeded on August 29, 1484 as Pope Innocent VIII.

The conclave

Papal conclave

A papal conclave is a meeting of the College of Cardinals to elect the pope, or Bishop of Rome, who is considered by Catholics to be the Apostolic Succession of Saint Peter and earthly head of the Catholic Church....
was riven with faction, while gangs rioted in the streets. Cardinal Giuliano did not have sufficient votes at the conclave to be elected, so he turned his energies towards the election of Cybo, whom he was confident that he could control.

Shortly after his coronation Innocent VIII addressed a fruitless summons to Christendom

Christendom

Christendom usually refers to Christianity as a territorial phenomenon. It can also refer to the part of the world in which Christianity prevails....
to unite in a crusade against the infidel

Infidel

Infidel is an archaic English language term designating a person who rejects some or all of the essential doctrines of one's own religion or rejects the existence of God - specifically a Muslim to a Christian, a Christian to a Muslim and a Gentile to a Jew It is also a general term used for unbelievers in respect to a particular religion....
s; the amount of his own zeal may in some degree be estimated from the fact that in 1489, in consideration of a yearly stipend of 40,000 ducat

Ducat

The ducat is a gold coin that was used as a trade currency throughout Europe before World War I. Its weight is 3.4909 grams of .986 gold, which is 0.1107 troy ounce, actual gold weight, actual gold weight....
s and a gift of the Holy Lance

Holy Lance

The Holy Lance is the name given to the lance that pierced Jesus's side in Gospel of John of the crucifixion of Jesus....
, he consented to favour Bayazid II (1481–1512) by detaining the Sultan

Sultan

Sultan is an Islamic honorifics, with several historical meanings. Originally it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", or "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ???? sulah, meaning "authority" or "power"....
's fugitive brother Cem

Cem

Prince Cem , sometimes called Djem or Jem Sultan, was a pretender to the Ottoman Empire throne in the 15th century. He was a son of Mehmed II the Conqueror and younger brother of Sultan Bayezid II....
in close confinement in the Vatican

Vatican City

Vatican City , officially the State of the Vatican City , is a Landlocked country sovereignty city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, the Capital of Italy....
.

Innocent VIII, in his papal bull

Papal bull

A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a pope. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end to authenticate it....
Summis desiderantes
Summis desiderantes

Summis desiderantes affectibus was a papal bull issued by Pope Innocent VIII on December 5, 1484.The bull was written in response to the request of Dominican Order Inquisition Heinrich Kramer for explicit authority to prosecute witchcraft in Germany, after he was refused assistance by the local ecclesiastical authorities....
(5 December, 1484) instigated severe measures against magicians and witches in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
. In 1487, he confirmed Tomas de Torquemada

Tomás de Torquemada

Tom?s de Torquemada was a fifteenth century Spain Dominican Order, first Inquisitor General of Spain, and confessor to Isabella I of Castile. He was famously described by the Spanish chronicler Sebasti?n de Olmedo as "The hammer of heretics, the light of Spain, the saviour of his country, the honour of his order"....
as grand inquisitor of Spain

Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
; he was a strong supporter of the Spanish Inquisition

Spanish Inquisition

The Spanish Inquisition was an ecclesiastical tribunal established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile....
; he also urged a crusade against the Waldensians

Waldensians

Waldensians, Waldenses or Vaudois are names for a Christian spiritual movement of the later Middle Ages, descendants of which still exist in various regions....
, offering plenary indulgence

Indulgence

An indulgence, in Roman Catholic theology, is the full or partial remission of temporal punishment due for sins which have already been forgiven....
to all who should engage in it. In 1486, he prohibited, on pain of severe ecclesiastical censures, the reading of the nine hundred propositions of Pico Mirandola.

In Rome he built for summer use the Belvedere of the Vatican

Belvedere

Belvedere in Italian literally means beautiful view.It is used as a generic architectural term , and has been used to name many things:...
, on an unarticulated slope above the Vatican Palace, which his successor would turn into the Cortile del Belvedere

Cortile del Belvedere

Donato Bramante's Cortile del Belvedere, the Courtyard of the Belvedere, designed from 1506 onwards, was a major project of the High Renaissance at Rome, reverberating in its details in courtyards, formalized piazzas and garden plans throughout Western Europe for centuries....
. In season he hunted at Castello della Magliana, which he enlarged. Invariably short of money, he institutionalized simony

Simony

Simony is the ecclesiastical crime of paying for holy offices or positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus, who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:18-24....
at the papal court, creating new titles of offices that were discreetly auctioned.

In 1489, Ferdinand I of Naples

Ferdinand I of Naples

Ferdinand I , also called Don Ferrante, was the Monarchs of Naples and Sicily from 1458 to 1494. He was the natural son of Alfonso V of Aragon by Giraldona Carlino....
having repeatedly refused to pay the tariff for his investiture, and a shaky peace of 1486 having failed, Innocent VIII found reason to excommunicate Ferdinand and invite Charles VIII of France

Charles VIII of France

Charles VIII, called the Affable, , was List of French monarchs from 1483 to his death. Charles was a member of the House of Valois. His invasion of Italy initiated the long series of Italian Wars which characterized the first half of the 16th century....
to come to Italy with an army and take possession of the Kingdom of Naples

Kingdom of Naples

The Kingdom of Naples is the modern day name for a polity which existed on the southern part of the Italian peninsula. Also known contemporaneously, and somewhat confusingly, as the Kingdom of Sicily, this kingdom was founded after the secession of the island of Sicily from the old Kingdom of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers...
. The conflict was not ended until 1494, after Innocent VIII's death.

An important event that coincided with his pontificate was the fall of Granada

Granada

Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada , in the autonomous communities of Spain of Andalusia, Spain....
in January 1492, which was celebrated in the Vatican with great rejoicings. The Pope was sent a hundred fine Moorish

Moors

In the Spanish language, the term for Moors is Moro; in Portuguese language the word is mouro. There seems to have been some confusion about the relationship of the word moro/mouro to the word moreno , both from Greek language ma?ros, i.e....
slaves, whom he distributed among the Curia

Curia

A curia in early Ancient Rome times was a subdivision of the people, i.e. more or less a tribe, and with a metonymy it came to mean also the meeting place where the tribe discussed its affairs....
and to friends, and granted Ferdinand II of Aragon

Ferdinand II of Aragon

Ferdinand the Catholic was king of Aragon , Sicily , Naples , Valencia , Sardinia and Navarre, Count of Barcelona, de jure uxoris King of Crown of Castile and then Regent of that country also from 1508 to his death, in the name of his mentally unstable daughter Joanna the Mad....
the epithet "Catholic Majesty."

Innocent VIII died on July 25, 1492, leaving behind him numerous children, of whom only two were publicly acknowledged, the others presented in the usual way as nephews. In 1487 he married his elder son Franceschetto Cybo

Franceschetto Cybo

Franceschetto Cybo was an Italian nobleman, the illegitimate son of Pope Innocent VIII .Born in Naples, he was married for diplomatic reasons to Lorenzo il Magnifico's daughter, Maddalena di Lorenzo de' Medici....
(d. 1519) to Maddalena de' Medici

Maddalena di Lorenzo de' Medici

Maddalena de' Medici was the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici and Clarice Orsini.Born in Florence, she was educated with her siblings to the humanistic cultures by figures such as Agnolo Poliziano....
(1473-1528), by whom he had issue, the natural daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici

Lorenzo de' Medici

Lorenzo de' Medici was an Italy statesman and de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic during the Italian Renaissance. Known as Lorenzo the Magnificent by contemporary Florentines, he was a diplomat, politician and patron of scholars, artists, and poets....
, who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his thirteen-year-old son Giovanni, later Pope Leo X

Pope Leo X

Pope Leo X, born Giovanni de' Medici was Pope from 1513 to his death. He was the last non-priest to be elected Pope. He is known primarily for the sale of indulgences to reconstruct St....
. His daughter Teodorina Cibo married Gerardo Usodimare and had female issue. Savonarola chastised him for his worldly ambitions. The unsympathetic Roman chronicler Stefano Infessura

Stefano Infessura

Stefano Infessura was an Italy Renaissance humanism historian and lawyer. He is remembered through his municipalist Diary of the City of Rome, a partisan chronicle of events at Rome by the Colonna family's point of view....
provides many lively details, among them the apparent attempt to revive Innocent VIII on his deathbed by blood transfusion

Blood transfusion

Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood or blood-based products from one person into the circulatory system of another. Blood transfusions can be life-saving in some situations, such as massive blood loss due to Physical trauma, or can be used to replace blood lost during surgery....
s from three young male children (who died as well in the process).