published in an abridged version under the title Memoirs
of a Renaissance Pope: The Commentaries of Pius II (1960).
Further reading: Zweder von Martels and Arjo Van-
derjagt (eds), Pius II: Selected Studies on Aeneas Silvius Pic-
colomini (Leyden, Netherlands: Brill, 2003); Rosamund
J. Mitchell, The Laurels and the Tiara: Pope Pius II,
1458–1464 (London: Harvill, 1962).
Pius IV (1499–1565) Pope (1559–65)
Born Giovanni Angelo de’ Medici in Milan, he was edu-
cated at Pavia and Bologna where he studied philosophy
and medicine and took a doctorate in law. He became an
archbishop in 1545 and cardinal in 1549. After being
elected pope in 1559 he reconvened the Council of TRENT
for its final and most important session (1562–63). Pius
produced a new Index of Forbidden Books (1564) and
prepared a new edition of the Roman Catechism. He was
a patron of MICHELANGELOand oversaw the erection of
many public buildings.
Pius V, St. (1504–1572) Pope (1566–72)
Born Michele Ghislieri near Alessandria, Italy, he became
a Dominican and in 1528 was ordained priest. He became
bishop of Nepi and Sutri in 1556 and a cardinal in 1557.
As pope he was a resolute reformer, implementing the rec-
ommendations of the Council of TRENT, revising the
liturgy, and reorganizing the papal household. Pius in-
stigated the Christian alliance that in 1571 won the deci-
sive naval battle against the Turks at LEPANTO, and he also
successfully halted the advance of the Reformation in
Italy and Spain, but had little success in England. He ex-
communicated ELIZABETH I (1570), forbidding English
Catholics to give her their allegiance, which caused wide-
spread anti-Catholic feeling there (see RECUSANCY). He
was canonized in 1712.
Pizarro, Francisco (c. 1471–1541) Spanish soldier,
conqueror of Peru
Born in Trujillo, Estremadura, Pizarro was illegitimate and
illiterate. He went to Darien in 1509 and accompanied
BALBOAon his expedition to the Pacific (1513) before set-
tling in Panama. In 1522 Pizarro and Diego de Almagro
were commissioned to claim Peru for Spain. Their first ex-
pedition (1524–25) was abortive, but the following year,
sailing down the west coast of South America, they
reached the Isla del Gallo. Pizarro then continued to the
Peruvian coast with about 12 men. Returning to Spain
(1528), Pizarro appealed to the emperor, who appointed
him governor of Peru (New Castile) in 1529. In 1531 he
marched with 183 men, including his two brothers, to Ca-
jamarca, where he seized the Inca Atahuallpa, extorting a
huge ransom. Reinforced by Almagro, Pizarro murdered
Atahuallpa in 1533 and entered the Inca capital at Cuzco.
He founded Lima in 1535, but soon afterwards territorial
disputes broke out between Pizarro and Almagro. The lat-
ter was defeated and executed (1538), but his supporters
then conspired and assassinated Pizarro at Lima.plague An infectious disease transmitted by rat fleas, es-
pecially in overcrowded or insanitary conditions. In 1348
three galleys brought bubonic plague to Genoa from the
East. The Black Death, as it became known, spread with
great rapidity and fearsome mortality throughout Europe.
By 1350 the first wave of the disease had worked itself out,
killing about a third of Europe’s population—some 25
million deaths, including one and a half million in Eng-
land alone. At frequent intervals over the following three
centuries the plague returned, bringing with it disruption
and death. At Venice, for example, some 20 epidemics of
bubonic plague are recorded between 1348 and 1630. The
impact on society was considerable. The decline in the
market and the labor shortage resulting from the Black
Death were largely to blame for the economic depression
of the late 14th century. The safest strategy, open only to
the rich and powerful, was flight and isolation. Of those
who stayed in the towns and were forced back on their
own or other’s remedies, many died. In the face of panic
and desperation there was little room for any medical or-
thodoxy to emerge. While a few physicians, such as FRA-
CASTORO, began to suspect that the disease spread by
contagion, the majority attributed the epidemic outbreaks
to astrological, theological, or meteorological conditions,
against which they were helpless.
See also: MEDICINE
Further reading: Paul Slack, The Impact of Plague in
Tudor and Stuart England (London and Boston, Mass.:
Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985; repr. Oxford, U.K.:
Clarendon Press, 1990).Plantin press The printing house founded in Antwerp by
Christophe Plantin (c. 1520–89). Plantin was a French-
man who had worked in Caen and Paris before settling in
Antwerp as a bookbinder in 1548. The first book from his
press, Giovanni Bruto’s La institutione di una fanciulla nata
nobilmente (1555) has a parallel text in Italian and French.
It was followed by about 1500 others, including liturgical,
scientific, and medical books, classics, dictionaries,
Waghenaer’s navigational guide Spieghel der Zeevaerdt
(1584–85) (see WAGGONERS), and the Antwerp Polyglot
Bible or Biblio regia (1568–73) subsidized by Philip II of
Spain and edited by ARIAS MONTANO. By 1576 Plantin had
16 presses at work. He also published books produced by
other printers. His illustrated books, among them many
HERBALS, used the products of a team of draftsmen led by
Pieter van der Borcht, reproduced at first in woodcuts and
later in engravings. The Plantin stock of pictures was used
by other printers too; for example, the second edition of
GERARD’s Herball (1633) drew its illustrations from this
source, though even the first (1597) had a dragon tree
based on a Plantin orginal. Type was also carefully chosen33882 2 PPiiuuss IIVV