Who he was
Giovanni de' Medici, second son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, was destined for the Church from childhood, made a cardinal at thirteen, and taught by leading humanists before studying theology and canon law at Pisa. After the Medici were driven from Florence in 1494 he lived for years as a patron of letters and the arts, and he was taken prisoner by the French at Ravenna in 1512 but escaped. He was elected pope in March 1513, aged only thirty-seven. He died in Rome in December 1521.
What he is remembered for
He brought the Fifth Lateran Council to a close and made the Concordat of Bologna with France in 1516. He was a lavish patron of art and learning, above all of Raphael, who painted his portrait and designed the tapestries for the Sistine Chapel. His reign saw the start of Martin Luther's revolt in Germany in 1517, sparked by the preaching of an indulgence for the rebuilding of St Peter's, and the Catholic Encyclopedia judges that he gave too little attention to the reform the Church needed.
Sources
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