Pius Ii Neas Silvius Piccolomini The Humanist Pope

Excerpt from Pius II: AEneas Silvius Piccolomini; The Humanist Pope In every period of the world's history it is the intellectual and spiritual ideals which give character to the age. This is profoundly true of the Renaissance. The contrast between the mediaeval and the modern world has often been too sharply drawn, but nevertheless the fact remains that Italy in the fifteenth century was the exponent of a new intellectual ideal. Humanism is the child of the Renaissance, although the causes which brought it into being have their root far back in the Middle Ages. Humanism, moreover, is the controlling force which lies behind every aspect of Renaissance life. The highly civilised society, the political aspirations, the artistic and literary development of that marvellous age alike find their source in the humanist spirit. Many gloried in the name of humanist - great educators such as Guarino and Vittorino da Feltre, scholars such as Poggio and Aretino, Filelfo and Aurispa, to say nothing of the countless men of action, princes, warriors, and statesmen who were at once the pupils and the patrons of the men of letters. Yet among all that goodly company there is no fuller manifestation of humanism than that presented by AEneas Silvius Piccolomini. There were greater scholars than he, and more brilliant statesmen; but he belonged both to the intellectuals and to the men of action. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This book contains eleven essays on Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (1405-1464), humanist, author, courtier, inveterate traveller, conciliarist and then papalist, priest, bishop and finally pope under the name Pius II (1458-1464), urban architect of Pienza, grand patron of the arts, and would-be Crusader.