Pope Pius Iii
POPE PIUS III (Francesco Nanni-Todeschini-Piccolomini), pope from the 22nd of September to the 18th of October 1503, was born at Siena on the pth of May 1439. After studying law a* Perugia, he was made archbishop of Siena and cardinal-deacon of St Eustachio, when only twenty-two years of age, by his uncle Pius II., who permitted him to assume the name and arms of the Piccolomini. He was employed by subsequent popes in several important legations, as by Paul II. at the diet of Regensburg, and by Sixtus IV. to secure the restoration of ecclesiastical authority in Umbria. He bravely opposed the policy of Alexander VI., and was elected pope, amid the disturbances consequent upon the death of the latter, through the interested influence of Cardinal della Rovere, afterwards Julius II., and was crowned on the 8th of October 1503. He permitted Cesare Borgia to 'return to Rome, but promptly took in hand the reform of the curia: Pius was a man of blameless life, and would doubtless have accomplished much had he lived. His successor was Julius II.
See L. Pastor, History of the Popes, vol. vi., trans, by F. I. Antrobus (London, 1898); M. Creighton, History of the Papacy, vol. v. ( London, 1901); F. Gregorovius, Rome in the Middle Ages, vol. viii., trans, by Mrs G. W. Hamilton (London, 1900-1902); Piccolomini, "II Pontificate di Pio III.," m^Archivio star, ital., vol. ( v.(Firenze, 1903).
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
