The Renaissance

under the pope’s control, but Julius found
to his chagrin that the cities of Italy, weak-
ened by many years of warfare, remained
an inviting prey to the armies of the Holy
Roman Empire, which after the death of
Julius in 1513 would invade the peninsula
and devastate Julius’s imperial city in the
brutal Sack of Rome in 1527.

Julius is remembered by historians as
the “Warrior Pope,” determined to make
the Papacy a political and military power
that would be feared throughout Italy and
in the rest of Europe. But he is more re-
spected as a patron of the arts. Determined
to turn Rome into an imposing symbol of
the church’s power, he brought artists and
architects to the city and paid them gener-
ously to dedicate their lives and works to

producing monumental works for the

church. He commissioned Donato Bra-

mante to rebuild Saint Peter’s Basilica and

Michelangelo Buonarroti to decorate the

ceiling of the Sistine Chapel with a series

of fresco paintings that would become the

single most imposing work of Italian Re-

naissance art. He contributed a large por-

tion of the income he earned from his es-

tates and benefices to the raising of palaces

and fortifications in the city, playing a key

role in transforming Rome from a chaotic

medieval town into the imposing and

monumental city that it remains to this

day.

SEEALSO: Alexander VI; Bramante, Do-

nato; Charles VIII; Michaelangelo Buonar-

roti

Julius II