27 Facts About Pius II

Pius II was born at Corsignano in the Sienese territory of a noble but impoverished family.

Pius II was a Renaissance humanist, famous as an author in Latin before he became pope.

Pius II worked with his father in the fields for some years and at age 18 left to study at the universities of Siena and Florence.

Pius II settled in the former city as a teacher, but in 1431 accepted the post of secretary to Domenico Capranica, bishop of Fermo, then on his way to the Council of Basel .

Pius II visited England as well as Scotland, underwent many perils and vicissitudes in both countries, and left an account of each.

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Pius II supported the creation of the Antipope Felix V and participated in his coronation.

Pius II played a leading role in concluding a compromise in 1447 by which the dying Pope Eugene accepted the reconciliation tendered by the German princes.

Pius II had already taken orders, and one of the first acts of Pope Eugene's successor, Pope Nicholas V, was to make him Bishop of Trieste.

Pius II had led the dissipated life of a gentleman of the day and complained of the difficulty of practicing continency, a difficulty he did not surmount.

On his return from the congress, Pius II spent a considerable time in his native district of Siena, where he was joined by his erstwhile host in Mantua Ludovico Gonzaga.

Pius II described his delight with country life in very pleasing language.

Pius II was recalled to Rome by the disturbances occasioned by Tiburzio di Maso, who was ultimately seized and executed.

Pius II was engaged in a series of disputes with King George of Bohemia and Archduke Sigismund of Austria .

Pius II built a fortress in Tivoli called Rocca Pia in 1461.

Pius II invited all the Christian nobility to join, and the Venetians immediately answered the appeal.

Pius II succeeded in reconciling the Emperor and the King of Hungary and derived great encouragement as well as pecuniary advantage from the discovery of mines of alum in the papal territory at Tolfa.

Pius II condemned slavery of newly baptized Christians as a "great crime" in an address of 1462 to the local ruler of the Canary Islands.

Pius II did not condemn the concept of trading in slaves, only the enslavement of those who were recently baptised, who represented a very small minority of those captured and taken to Portugal.

In spite of suffering from a fever, Pope Pius II left Rome for Ancona in the hope of increasing the morale of the crusading army.

Pius II's body was interred at the Vatican, in Old St Peter's Basilica, in the Chapel of S Andrew.

Pius II was one of the most prominent authors of his period.

Pius II was greatly admired as a poet by his contemporaries, but his reputation in belles lettres rests principally upon his The Tale of Two Lovers, which continues to be read, partly from its truth to nature, and partly from the singularity of an erotic novel being written by a future pope.

Pius II composed some comedies, one of which alone is extant.

Pius II sketched biographical treatises on Europe and Asia, and in early and middle life produced numerous tracts on the political and theological controversies of his day, as well as on ethical subjects.

Pius II's Epistles contain one of the best known descriptions of the enthronement ceremony of the Carinthian dukes on the Prince's Stone and the Duke's Chair.

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Pope Pius II inaugurated an unusual urban project, perhaps the first city planning exercise in modern Europe.

Pius II refurbished his home town of Corsignano and renamed it Pienza, after himself.