s came to occupy the position of princes of one of the
Italian states, and were elected, like the doges of Venice, by a small
oligarchy. Within seventy years the families of Borgia, Piccolomini,
Rovere, and Medici were each represented by more than one pontiff, and
a majority of the others were nearly related by blood or marriage to
one of these great stocks. The cardinals were appointed from the
pontiff's sons or nephews, and the numerous other {16} offices in their
patronage, save as they were sold, were distributed to personal or
political friends.

Like other Italian princes the popes became, in the fifteenth century,
distinguished patrons of arts and letters. The golden age of the
humanists at Rome began under Nicholas V [Sidenote: Nicholas V 1447-55]
who employed a number of them to make translations from Greek. It is
characteristic of the complete secularization of the States of the
Church that a number of the literati pensioned by him were skeptics and
scoffers. Valla, who mocked the papacy, ridiculed the monastic orders,
and attacked the Bible and Christian ethics, was given a prebend;
Savonarola, the most earnest Christian of his age, was put to death.

[Sidenote: 1453]

The fall of Constantinople gave a certain European character to the
policy of the pontiffs after that date, for the menace of the Turk
seemed so imminent that the heads of Christendom did all that was
possible to unite the nations in a crusade. This was the keynote of
the statesmanship of Calixtus III [Sidenote: Calixtus III 1455-8] and
of his successor, Pius II. [Sidenote: Pius II 1458-64] Before his
elevation to the see of Peter this talented writer, known to literature
as Aeneas Sylvius, had, at the Council of Basle, published a strong
argument against the extreme papal claims, which he afterwards, as
pope, retracted. His zeal against the Turk and against his old friends
the humanists lent a moral tone to his pontificate, but his feeble
attempts to reform abuses were futile.

[Sidenote: Paul II 1464-71]

The colorless reign of Paul II was followed by that of Sixtus IV,
[Sidenote: Sixtus IV 1471-84] a man whose chief passion was the
aggrandizement of his family. He carried nepotism to an extreme and by
a policy of judicial murder very nearly exterminated his rivals, the
Colonnas.

[Sidenote: Innocent VIII 1484-92]

The enormous bribes paid by Innocent VIII for his election were
recouped by his sale of offices and spiritual