nals, the body responsible for electing the
pope. In 1492, on the death of Sixtus IV,
he was thwarted in his goal by Cardinal
Rodrigo Borgia, his rival, who attained the
Papacy as Alexander VI. Angrily denounc-
ing the election, Della Rovere fled Italy in
fear for his life and journeyed back to
Paris, where he convinced King Charles
VIII to attempt an invasion of Italy and
the conquest of Naples. Della Rovere’s aim
was to depose Alexander, but when he
reached Rome in the company of the king,
the pope outmaneuvered him by bribing
one of Charles’s key ministers.
In 1503 Alexander became gravely sick
after a banquet and soon died. His succes-
sor, Pius III, reigned for only a few days
after his election. Della Rovere then con-
vened the College of Cardinals and
through bribery managed to have himself
raised to the Papacy through the shortest
conclave in the history of the church.
Taking the name Julius II, he set out
to regain control of the Romagna region
of north central Italy, where many pros-
perous cities were being ruled by tyrants,
including Cesare Borgia, and rival states,
particularly the Republic of Venice, that
had little allegiance to the Papacy. In 1506,
marching northward at the head of a pa-
pal army, he defeated the Baglioni clan of
Perugia and Giovanni Bentivoglio, the
ruler of Bologna. In 1508 Julius formed
the League of Cambrai with Louis XII of
France, Maximilian I, and Ferdinand II of
Aragon against Venice. The pope put the
city under an interdict. At the Battle of
Agnadello the League routed the merce-
nary army raised by Venice, and Julius
brought the cities of Rimini and Faenza
back under his own authority. Seeking to
liberate Italy completely from foreign
domination, Julius then turned against the
French, forming the Holy League with Fer-
dinand II, Henry VIII of England, and his
former enemy, Venice, to attack French
troops in Italy.
Julius began the attack by excommuni-
cating and deposing Alfonso, the duke of
Ferrara, who at the time was allied with
France. The pope’s actions raised the ire of
the French king Louis XII, who gathered
his bishops into a synod at the city of
Tours to declare themselves free of obedi-
ence to the pope, and who conspired with
Emperor Maximilian to dethrone Julius.
The French invaded Italy and seized Bolo-
gna in 1511, reinstating Giovanni Ben-
tivoglio as the city’s ruler. The French army
was thrashed at the Battle of Ravenna in
1512 and driven out of Italy, Bologna as
well as Param, Piacenza, and Reggio camePope Julius II, in a portrait by master
painter Raphael. NATIONALGALLERYCOLLEC-
TION;BY KIND PERMISSION OF THETRUSTEES OF THE
NATIONALGALLERY,LONDON/CORBIS.REPRODUCED
BY PERMISSION.
Julius II