Pope Pius II


Pius II
Bishop of Rome
Detail of the Portrait of Pius II by van Gent and Berruguete (c. 1472-76, Ducal Palace, Urbino)
ChurchCatholic Church
Papacy began19 August 1458
Papacy ended14 August 1464
PredecessorCallixtus III
SuccessorPaul II
Orders
Ordination4 March 1447
Consecration15 August 1447
by Juan Carvajal
Created cardinal17 December 1456
by Callixtus III
Personal details
Born
Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini

18 October 1405
Died14 August 1464(1464-08-14) (aged 58)
Ancona, Marche, Papal States
Coat of armsPius II's coat of arms
Other popes named Pius

Pope Pius II (Latin: Pius PP. II, Italian: Pio II), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini (Latin: Aeneas Silvius Bartholomeus; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August 1458 to his death.

Aeneas Silvius was an author, diplomat, and orator, and private secretary of Antipope Felix V and then the Emperor Frederick III, and then Pope Eugenius IV.[1] He participated in the Council of Basel, but left it in 1443 to follow Frederick, whom he reconciled to the Roman obedience. He became Bishop of Trieste in 1447, Bishop of Siena in 1450, and a cardinal in 1456.

He was a Renaissance humanist with an international reputation. Aeneas Silvius' longest and most enduring work is the story of his life, the Commentaries, which is the only autobiography of a pope ever to have been published. It appeared posthumously, in 1584, 120 years after his death.

  1. ^ Piccolomini wrote a biography of Frederick III, Historia rerum Friderici III., imperatroris, (in Latin), Strasburg: Spoor, 1685 [the first edition].