The Pope: Difference between revisions

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* Julius II (1503-1513): Real name, Giuliano della Rovere. [[Church Militant|The Warrior Pope]], famous for commanding troops at the front, wearing armor and directing siege works. Bitter enemy of Alexander VI. Also famous for overseeing Michelangelo when the artist painted the ceiling to the Sistine Chapel. Played by Rex Harrison in ''The Agony and the Ecstasy'', opposite Charlton Heston as Michelangelo.

* Alexander VI (1492-1503): Formerly Rodrigo Borgia (or Borja), he was from Spain. Bought the vote and appointed a lot of relatives to Church jobs. He let Rome fall into a state of decay, and had a little party called the [[wikipedia:Banquet of Chestnuts|Banquet of Chestnuts]] (which, to borrow the words of [[Stephen Fry]], revolved around a night of naked prostitute racing in the Vatican). His son [[Magnificent Bastard|Cesare]]'s transformation of the Romagna district into a tyrannical, yet ordered state inspired a writer by the name of [[Niccolo Machiavelli]]. Also fathered a daughter, [[Femme Fatale|Lucrezia]], widely (but wrongly) rumored to have [[Black Widow|poisoned her husbands and several lovers]] (she would've had a much better life had the rumors been true). He was not [[Deadly Decadent Court|that far from the norm in those days]], to be fair. Also, he handed King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile the ''Inter Caethera'' documents that let them start colonizing America. He was subject to a [[Historical Villain Upgrade]] for ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'' and ''<nowiki>[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood]]</nowiki>'', with Cesare joining him for the latter in said upgrade. In ''[[The Borgias]]'', he's played by Jeremy Irons.

** Alexander's descendants include most of the noble and royal families of Catholic Europe. One of his descendants was a [[Badass Preacher|Jesuit]] named St. Francis Borgia; another is actress Brooke Shields, whose paternal grandmother was an Italian princess.

** Alexander's descendants include most of the noble and royal families of Catholic Europe. One of his descendants was a [[Badass Preacher|Jesuit]] named St. Francis Borgia; another is actress [[Brooke Shields]], whose paternal grandmother was an Italian princess.

* Clement V (1305–14): Real name, Raymond Bertrand de Got. The French pope who had [[The Knights Templar]] condemned for heresy, mainly as a favor to the French king, Philip the Fair, and they both died within the year (allegedly, he and the King were cursed by the last Templar Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, while was burning at the stake). Moved the Papal court away from Rome and eventually settled in Avignon, where the Papacy would stay until 1403.

* Boniface VIII (1294-1303): Real name, Benedetto Caetani. Remembered as the Pope who started the tradition of jubilees, special years of remission of sins and universal pardon, in the year 1300. A strong supporter of the idea that the Pope held supremacy over all Christian monarchs. Said monarchs disagreed strongly, and he was dramatically taken captive by the Chief Minister of the French king shortly before the end of his life. A political enemy of Dante Aligheri, who included a few [[Take That|take thats]] against Boniface, regarding his post mortem destination, in his ''[[Divine Comedy]]''.