LEO. 



brought over a number of young linguists, whose 

 influence assisted in promoting a taste for classical 

 liUraturr. He rvqiu-ttti the possessors of ancient. 

 nuimiM nptv, in nil countries, to make them known to 

 him; and tin- publication of the five first books of the 

 Annals of Tacitus was one of the finest fruits of his 

 efforts. Several private individuals followed Uie 

 example of the pope; among whom, Chigi, a merchant, 

 was distinguished, who established a collection of 

 works of art, and published an edition of I'iiular nnd 

 Theocritus. To prevent a union of Spain, France, 

 and Austria, Leo favoured a reconciliation between 

 the kings of England and France, and even pretended 

 to favour Louis's plans on Milan. His design <>t 

 obtaining the kingdom of Naples for one branch of 

 his family, and the duchies of Ferrara and Urbino for 

 other branches, made the friendship of this monarch 

 necessary, and produced a secret alliance between 

 them; but, when a French army appeared on the 

 frontiers, he was not satisfied with increasing his 

 power, by a purchase of Modena from the emperor 

 Maximilian, but also sent Bembo to Venice, to detach 

 the republic from the French alliance; in which, 

 however, he did not succeed. This artful, varying 

 policy was, at that time, universal, and Leo cannot 

 be especially blamed for it. After the death of 

 Louis XII., Francis I. having ascended the throne, 

 and war appearing unavoidable, Leo, joined the 

 alliance of the emperor, the king of Arragon, the 

 states of Florence, Milan, and Switzerland; but, after 

 the battle of Marignano, he withdrew, ami, in 1515, 

 he had an interview with Francis at Bologna, and 

 formed with him a concordate, advantageous to both, 

 but warmly censured by the French nation. In order 

 to increase the power and splendour of his family, 

 after the death of his brother Giuliano, he deposed 

 tie duke of Urbino, in 1516, and gave the duchy to 

 his nephew Lorenzo. Leo saw with regret the 

 reconciliation of the belligerent powers, which was 

 effected in the same year. In 1517, the duke of 

 Urbino, who had been deprived of his estates, recov- 

 ered them by force of arms. Leo, however, collected 

 a powerful army against him, and forced him to 

 renounce his claims on honourable terms. In the 

 same year, a conspiracy against the pope was dis- 

 covered, and cardinal Petrucci, who was suspected 

 of being the principal, was hanged, notwithstanding 

 the passport which had been given him. Others, 

 whose guilt was not sufficiently proved, were tor- 

 tured, deprived of their dignities, and banished. The 

 conduct of the pope, in this instance, was neither 

 magnanimous nor merciful. Leo's magnificence had 

 exhausted his finances. To procure money, particu- 

 larly for the completion of St Peter's, he put all 

 Christendom under contribution, by the sale of letters 

 of indulgence, (q. v.) This abuse roused the zeal of 

 Luther, and produced the reformation. Leo, at first 

 paid little regard to the attacks of Luther, and when 

 he could no longer keep silence, was inclined to 

 lenient measures. In compliance with the wishes of 

 Maximilian, he assumed more rigour, and summoned 

 Luther to appear in Rome, but finally agreed that he 

 should defend himself at Augsburg, before the car- 

 dinal Caietan. Nothing being decided by that mea- 

 sure, he issued, in Nov. 1518, the well-known bull, 

 in which he defended the papal authority of dispen- 

 sing indulgences, and threatened all, who maintained 

 contrary doctrines, with excommunication ; on which 

 Luther appealed to a general council. While open 

 war had thus broken out in the church, Leo endea- 

 voured to unite all Christian monarchs in a crusade 

 against the Turkish emperor Selim, who had made 

 himself master of Egypt ; but their mutual jealousies 

 prevented the execution of his plan. Besides these 

 public chagrins, Leo had great domestic misfortunes 



to suffer. Lorenzo, who had connected himself with 

 the French court by marriage, having died, and left 

 only a daughter, Leo therefore annexed Urbino to 

 the States of the Church, and the cardinal Giulio de' 

 Medici was placed in the government of Florence. 

 Though, in Germany, the reformation continued to 

 gain ground, Italy was not disturbed by foreign wars. 

 This state of things permitted Leo to indulge his 

 taste for splendour, to promote the arts and sciences, 

 and, at the same time, to increase the power of his 

 family. Although in alliance with France, he did 

 not give up his plan of preventing the aggrandize- 

 ment of that power in Italy. With this view, he 

 united with the emperor, in 1521, for the re establish- 

 ment of the family of Sforza, in Milan, and took Swiss 

 troops into pay. The war was begun successfully; 

 Parma and Pincenza were taken by the papal troops, 

 and annexed to the States of the Church. The allies 

 entered Milan without resistance, and occupied the 

 territory of the duke of Ferrara, whom Leo had 

 excommunicated as an ally of France. While 

 engaged in celebrating his successes, Leo died sud- 

 denly, Dec. 1, 1521. The age of Leo is described 

 in Koscoe's Life and Pontificate of Leo X. which has 

 been translated into German, Italian, and French. 



LEO XII., (ANNIBALE BELLA GENOA), born at 

 Genoa, Aug. 2, 1760, became cardinal March 8, 

 1816, and succeeded Pius VII. in the papal chair, 

 Sept. 28, 1823. He early served the interests of the 

 Roman court as a nuncio in Switzerland, at Dresden* 

 and at other German courts, went on an embassy t<> 

 Louis XVIII. from pope Pius VII., and was finally 

 created vicar-general of Rome. As pope, he made 

 himself beloved by the people, by the remission of 

 many taxes, by his benevolence, by personally 

 inspecting the public institutions for the poor, the 

 hospitals and the prisons. His firm maintenance of 

 the rights of the court of Rome involved him in dis- 

 putes with the French and Austrian governments in 

 1824. On Ascension-day, 1824, he announced the 

 next year as the year of jubilee. His circular epistle 

 to the nations of Christendom, on that occasion, con- 

 tains a warm attack on Bible societies. May 17, 

 1824, he gave to the Jesuits and their general, Louis 

 Fortis, the Roman college, which they had possessed 

 until 1773, together with the churcli of the holy 

 Ignatius, the oratorium, the museum, the library and 

 the observatory, in order that they might devote 

 themselves entirely to the education of the young. 

 Leo XII. also strengthened the connexion of the 

 apostolic see with the Spanish American republics, 

 particularly with Chile, and, in 1828, with Colombia, 

 by recognising Bolivar's bishops. He endeavoured 

 to free the States of the Church from robbers and 

 banditti, as well as to suppress the remains of Car- 

 bonarism. In 1825, he restored the prisons of the 

 inquisition. His attention was particularly directed 

 to the remedy of numerous abuses in the departments 

 of the Roman government, for instance, in the camera 

 apostolica. Leo died in Feb. 1829, and was succeeded 

 by cardinal Castiglione, who took the name of Pius 

 VIII. Pius died Dec. 1830, and was succeeded by 

 cardinal Cappellari (Gregory XVI.) 



LEO VI. emperor of the East, surnamed the Philo- 

 sopher, was the son of Basil 1., whom he succeeded, 

 in 886. He reigned weakly, and the ill success of 

 his generals against the Bulgarians, obliged him to 

 submit to such terms of peace as those barbarians 

 pleased to propose. A total defeat of his fleet, by 

 the Saracens, also took place a short time before his 

 death, which happened in 911, after a reign of 

 twenty-five years. He gave his name to several works, 

 the principal of which are, a Treatise on Tactics ; 

 Novella Constitutiones ; and Opus Sasilicon, a col- 

 lection of laws, begun by his father. He also 



