Pius II
1405–1464
Pope and author

Pope Pius II led the Roman Catholic Church from 1458 to 1464. He tried to unite Europe in a crusade against the Ottoman Turks*. He also left a legacy as a humanist* and writer.

Pius II was born Enea Piccolomini, the son of poor nobles from the Italian city of Siena. He studied at the University of Siena before serving as secretary to several church leaders. After attending the Council of Basel (1431–1449), he came to believe that church councils, rather than the pope, should decide the policies of the Roman Catholic Church.

Piccolomini traveled throughout Europe and learned a great deal about the nations of Europe and their leaders. In the 1440s he served Frederick III, the Habsburg ruler of Germany and Austria who later became Holy Roman Emperor*. Around this time Piccolomini abandoned his support for church councils and embraced the idea that the pope and the Holy Roman Emperor should join forces to unite Christian Europe. He feared that rivalry between countries was tearing Europe apart.

Piccolomini left Frederick's service to enter the priesthood, and he became bishop of Trieste in 1447. Nine years later Pope Calixtus III made him a cardinal. In 1458 he was elected Pope Pius II and made plans for a military campaign against the Ottoman Turks. However, few European leaders supported the cause and the expedition fell apart before leaving Italy. Pius, who was seriously ill by the time he reached the fleet's departure port of Ancona, died there in 1464.

Pius II was the most important literary figure among all the popes. As a young man he wrote light pieces, including a novella (a short novel) that became one of the most popular works of the 1400s. His memoirs became one of the classics of Renaissance literature.

(See alsoHabsburg Dynasty; Ottoman Empire; Popes and Papacy. )

* Ottoman Turks

Turkish followers of Islam who founded the Ottoman Empire in the 1300s; the empire eventually included large areas of eastern Europe, the Middle East, and northern Africa

* humanist

Renaissance expert in the humanities (the languages, literature, history, and speech and writing techniques of ancient Greece and Rome)

* Holy Roman Emperor

ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, a political body in central Europe composed of several states that existed until 1806