Julius

Julius, the name of three popes, of whom the second and third deserve especially to be noticed.—JULIUS II., originally Giuliano della Rovere, a nephew of Sixtus IV., was born at Albizuola, near Savona, in 1443. He was vehemently opposed during his cardinalate to the designs of Alexander VI. for the aggrandisement of his family, and one of his earliest measures on his election to the pontificate, in 1503, was to resume possession of the duchy of the Romagna, which had been bestowed upon Cæsar Borgia. Julius was himself beyond all suspicion of nepotism or selfish designs of aggrandisement; but his public career during his pontificate was almost entirely devoted to political and military enterprises for the complete re-establishment of the papal sovereignty in its ancient territory—Bologna, Ferrara, &c.—and for the extinction of foreign domination and foreign influence in Italy. In pursuing his designs, for the purpose of compelling from the republic of Venice the restitution of the papal provinces on the Adriatic, Julius not only entered into the league of Cambrai with the Emperor Maximilian, Ferdinand of Aragon, and Louis XII. of France, but had recourse to spiritual arms, by placing the republic under the ban of the church; and on the submission of Venice, apprehending the ambitious designs of Louis, he withdrew from the league, and entered into an opposite alliance, the 'Holy League,' to which Spain and England were parties. During this bitter quarrel with Louis XII. the latter attempted, but ineffectually, to enlist the sympathies of the church against the pope. The Council of Pisa, which was convened under Louis's influence, was an utter failure; and the opposing council, fifth of the Lateran, assembled by Julius, but not brought to a close during his lifetime, completely frustrated the designs of the French king. It has been said without grounds that Julius, in his hatred of France, tried to draw even the Turks into the league, but on the contrary one of his most cherished dreams was a holy war under his own command. As an ecclesiastical ruler Julius has little to recommend him in the eyes of churchmen. As a political sovereign he is described by Ranke as 'a noble soul, full of lofty plans for the glory and weal of Italy;' and Professor Leo considers him, with all his defects, as one of the noblest characters of that age in Italy. He was a liberal and judicious patron of art, and a friend of the rising literature of the time. He died in February 1513. There are Lives by Dumcsnil (Paris, 1873) and Brosch (Gotha, 1877).—JULIUS III., born at Rome in 1487, was known before his elevation to the pontificate as Cardinal del Monte. He was one of the three legates of the pope under whom the Council of Trent was opened; and after his election to the papacy in 1550 he himself reopened (in 1551) that council, which had been suspended for upwards of two years. He is connected with English history as having sent Cardinal Pole to organise with Mary the reunion of the kingdom with Rome; but his general government of the church is marked by no very striking events, and his private character is sullied by the taint of nepotism. He died in March 1555.