Pope Sixtus IV

The cardinals of Sixtus IV

At the death of Sixtus, the conclave of cardinals that met to elect his successor numbered thirty-two surviving cardinals, a greater number than at any time since the close of the twelfth century, excepting perhaps for the multiplied rival cardinalates of the Great Schism (1378-1417). Of the thirty-two, only three cardinals survived from before Paul II (1464-1471): the two nephews of Calixtus III (1455-1458), Rodrigo and Luis Borgia, and the nephew of Pius II (1458-1464), Francesco di Nanni Todeschini de' Piccolomini. Six further cardinals survived from the pontificate of Paul II: Thomas Bourchier, Oliviero Caraffa, Marco Barbo, Jean Balue, Giovanni Battista Zeno, and Giovanni Michiel. The remaining twenty-three had been made cardinals by Sixtus IV, and the roster of the princely houses of Italy, France and Spain will be familiar to any reader of Renaissance history: Giuliano della Rovere, Stefano Nardini, Pedro Gonsalvez de Mendoza, Giovanni Battista Cibo (soon to be Pope Innocent VIII), Giovanni Arcimboldi, Philibert Hugonet, Giorgio da Costa, Charles de Bourbon l'ancien, Pierre de Foix le jeune, Girolamo Basso della Rovere, Gabriele Rangoni, Pietro Foscari, Juan of Aragon, Raffaele Sansoni Riario, Domenico della Rovere, Paolo Fregoso, Giovanni Battista Savelli, Giovanni Colonna, Giovanni Conti, Juan Moles de Margarit, Giangiacomo Sclafenati, Giovanni Battista Orsini, and Ascanio Maria Sforza-Visconti.

Related Topics:
Conclave - Twelfth century - Great Schism - 1378 - 1417 - Paul II - 1464 - 1471 - Calixtus III - 1455 - 1458 - Pius II - Pope Innocent VIII

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