Leo X
At a glance:
- Series: Dictionary of World Biography: Renaissance
- Categories: Government and Politics, Arts, Religion, Ethics
- Subcategories: Reformation, Christianity, Christians, Churches, Patrons, Mentors, Catholic Church, Catholics, Popes, Papacy, Cardinals
- Curriculum: Italian History, Renaissance History
Article abstract: As a patron of the arts, Leo X turned Rome into the cultural center of the Western world. As pope, he engaged in secular politics and presided over the period in church history that witnessed the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation.
Early Life
Pope Leo X was born Giovanni de’ Medici, the second son of Lorenzo (the Magnificent) and his wife, Clarice Orsini. Though brought up in the lap of Renaissance luxury, he was groomed for a career in the Church from an early age. Tonsured at age seven, he was appointed a cardinal at age...
[The entire page is 2304 words long]
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