History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome, Volume IV

Volume Four of Creighton's "History of the Papacy" opens with the election of Pope Paul II, whom the author describes as "a man of handsome appearance, naturally suave and courteous, with all a Venetian's love of splendour." Paul II proved reticent and reclusive and failed to pacify turbulent Bohemia. He was succeeded by Francesco della Rovere, Pope Sixtus IV, with whose election "began a system of personal intrigue which rapidly grew into a serious scandal...and elevated nepotism into a political principle." His nephew, Cardinal Pietro Riario lived a life of dissolute luxury and died young. Sixtus IV condoned the Pazzi Conspiracy in which Guiliano de' Medici was murdered. During the pontificate of his successor, Innocent VIII, Lorenzo the Magnificent emerged as the preeminent Italian statesman of the Age. Volume Four concludes with the pontificate of Alexander VI, father of Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia, who sealed the fate of the fiery reformer Girolamo Savonarola by excommunicating him. - Summary by Pamela Nagami