The Wars of the Papal States 1492-1517 - Italian Princes, Warrior Popes, and Holy Roman Emperors

by Mandell Creighton

On August 6, 1492, the twenty-three Cardinals in Rome entered the Conclave. The death of Innocent VIII had been long foreseen, and the probabilities of the future election had been discussed. Innocent’s nephew, Lorenzo Cibo, was anxious for the election of someone bound to his house by ties of gratitude. His candidate was the Genoese Cardinal Pallavicini; but Cardinal Cibo shared the incompetence of his family, and when he saw that his first proposal was unacceptable he had no one else to propose. Charles VIII of France was anxious to secure the election of Cardinal Rovere, and sent 200,000 ducats to a Roman bank as a means of furthering his desire. A Pope in the French interest was dreaded by Milan; and Cardinal Ascanio Sforza was resolutely opposed to Rovere. Sforza did not judge it wise to put himself forward as a candidate; he rather wished to have a Pope who would owe everything to him, and he joined with Raffaelle Riario in pressing the election of Cardinal Borgia. There were many reasons why Borgia should be acceptable. As a Spaniard he would hold a neutral position towards political parties in Italy, and the recent successes of the Spanish monarchs had turned men's eyes to Spain as a power which was rising to importance in the affairs of Christendom. Moreover Borgia was the richest Cardinal in Rome; his election would vacate many important offices, for which there were eager candidates. The former objections to his personal character disappeared in the low tone of morality which was now almost universal.The first days of the Conclave were spent in the futile proceeding of making regulations to bind the future Pope. Ascanio Sforza, seconded by Orsini, was working hard to secure the election of Borgia, who debased himself to make the most humble entreaties. Borgia’s wealth was a useful argument to confirm the minds of waverers; Ascanio Sforza’s zeal was increased by the promise of the office of Vice-Chancellor and Borgia’s palace; Orsini, Colonna, Savelli, Sanseverino, Riario, Pallavicini, even the nonagenarian Gherardo of Venice, all received promises of benefices or gifts of money. So matters proceeded smoothly in the Conclave, and late in the evening of August 10 the election of Rodrigo Borgia was unanimously accomplished...

Genres: History

409 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 28, 2015

About the author

Mandell Creighton (1843-1901) was a famous historian and the first editor of the English Historical Revue. His intelligence and energy made an impression upon everyone he met. Admired by Queen Victoria, only his untimely death stopped him becoming Archbishop of Canterbury. His wife Louise was a prolific historian in her own right.

Reviews

[Peter C Lyon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author died in 1901, and, whatever the case, this book is a fantastic value for $.99. It's vastly stronger than other nineteenth-century histories I've read. However, I hope that someone can improve "The Wars of the Papal States..." in a modern context.

This book reminded me of a delicious pizza, with some excellent spots, but ultimately lacking context (crust) and crucial features. It's too bad, because Creighton is obviously a nonpareil authority and stellar writer who has done a ton of work on the subject. Parts of the book truly shine.

The fundamental problem, to me, was lack of context. The book delves so deeply into Italian politics from the get-go that the reader rather infrequently "flies blind." Some more context on each chapter to set the scene would be enormously beneficial. For starters, why was Italy so Balkanized at that time period? Was the traditional role of the Papal states vis a vis their Italian neighbors? What were the underlying interests of France, Spain, the HRE, Venice, England, and the Ottoman Empire regarding the "boot."

Secondly, in the Kindle version at least, the map is poor and so condensed that it's almost unreadable. I found myself referring back to the Internet to locate a place like Ferrera. More detailed and frequent political and military maps would be hugely beneficial.

Moreover, the e-version could really use an "X-Ray" feature to keep track of the dozens of characters involved.

Timelines should be included to allow amateur historians to better track key dates.

The copyediting is inexcusable. The e-version, at least, is riddled with poor and/or absent punctuation and some other errors that distract from the text. Shameful to smear a book this good with errors like that.

Again, Creighton was stupendous, but this feels like it was a rushed draft to the publisher.

[Colin Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very in depth and well paced

For anyone interested in the broad scheme of the political and military actions between 1492-1517, this is perfect. In depth without being a specific local history.

[James Cobb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book should have been titled “The Politics of the Papal States” or “The Lives and Loves of Ambitious Popes” as very few military matters are dealt with. Instead the machinations of Alexander VI, Julius II and Leo X to secure and expand the Papal States are detailed ib great length. Their use of treaties with France, Spain and the Empire to subdue Florence and Venice subverted the goal of Italian unity. Long discourse on art and architecture add nothing to the discussion but the examination of the Lateran Council, although to drawn out, is on point as church reform had great bearing on politics. The author’s style is fine even though he loses sight of his topic.