ABSTRACT
Niccolo Machiavelli held a low opinion of Francesco della Rovere, Pope Sixtus IV—as he did of numerous Renaissance personages. Francesco was made a cardinal in 1467 and was elected pope in August of 1471. At the time of his election he was respected as a man of blameless life. To win the election he bribed several accommodating cardinals, the arrangements being entrusted to his favorite nephew, Pietro Riario. Immediately after the election Pope Sixtus declared that he had found only five thousand florins in the papal treasury. The learned Franciscan monk became a venal, treacherous and violent pope. After his election Pope Sixtus made two of his nephews cardinals: Pietro Riario and Giuliano della Rovere, who would become Julius II. He showered other honors on his relatives. To raise money Sixtus adopted two thoroughly deplorable methods. He sold offices—everything from election to the College of Cardinals to the smallest favor—at the papal court to the highest bidder.
