Pope Sixtus IV

"Francesco della Rovere" redirects here. For the archbishop, see Francesco della Rovere (archbishop).
Pope

Sixtus IV
Bishop of Rome
Portrait of Sixtus IV by van Gent and Berruguete, c. 1474 – 76 (oil on panel, 116 × 56.4 cm, Louvre)
ChurchCatholic Church
Papacy began9 August 1471
Papacy ended12 August 1484
PredecessorPaul II
SuccessorInnocent VIII
Previous post(s)
Orders
Consecration25 August 1471
by Guillaume d'Estouteville
Created cardinal18 September 1467
by Paul II
Personal details
Born
Francesco della Rovere

21 July 1414
Celle Ligure, Republic of Genoa
Died12 August 1484(1484-08-12) (aged 70)
Rome, Papal States
Coat of armsSixtus IV's coat of arms
Other popes named Sixtus
Papal styles of
Pope Sixtus IV
Reference styleHis Holiness
Spoken styleYour Holiness
Religious styleHoly Father
Posthumous styleNone
Ordination history of
Pope Sixtus IV
History
Episcopal consecration
Consecrated byGuillaume d'Estouteville
Date25 August 1471
Cardinalate
Elevated byPope Paul II
Date18 September 1467 in pectore (revealed 19 September 1467)
Episcopal succession
Bishops consecrated by Pope Sixtus IV as principal consecrator
Pierre Engelpert25 March 1477
Georg Hessler13 February 1480
Giuliano della Rovere1481
Matthias Scheit31 December 1481

Pope Sixtus IV (or Xystus IV,[1] Italian: Sisto IV; born Francesco della Rovere; 21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 until his death. His accomplishments as pope included the construction of the Sistine Chapel and the creation of the Vatican Library. A patron of the arts, he brought together the group of artists who ushered the early Renaissance into Rome with the first masterpieces of the city's new artistic age.

Sixtus founded the Spanish Inquisition through the bull Exigit sincerae devotionis affectus (1478), and he annulled the decrees of the Council of Constance. He was noted for his nepotism and was personally involved in the infamous Pazzi conspiracy, a plot to remove the Medici family from power in Florence.[2]

  1. ^ Filip Malesevic, Inventing the Council inside the Apostolic Library: The Organization of Curial Erudition in Late Cinquecento Rome (De Gruyter Saur, 2021), pp. 465–466.
  2. ^ Lauro Martines, April Blood: Florence and the Plot Against the Medici, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003, pp. 150–196.