The Bad Popes

1969 book by E. R. Chamberlin

The Bad Popes ; 55 years+ago (1969)&rft.pub=Dial+Press&rft.pages=310">

Author| E. R. Chamberlin
Language| English
Genre| History
Publisher| Dial Press

Publication date

| 1969; 55 years ago (1969)
Media type| Print
Pages| 310
ISBN| 0-880-29116-8

The Bad Popes is a 1969 book by E. R. Chamberlin that documents the lives of eight of the most controversial popes (papal years in parentheses):

* Pope Stephen VI (896–897), who had his predecessor Pope Formosus exhumed, tried, de-fingered, briefly reburied, and thrown in the Tiber.[1]: 19
* Pope John XII (955–964), who gave land to a mistress, murdered several people, and was killed by a man who caught him in bed with his wife.
* Pope Benedict IX (1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048), who "sold" the Papacy.
* Pope Boniface VIII (1294–1303), who is lampooned in Dante's Divine Comedy.
* Pope Urban VI (1378–1389), who complained that he did not hear enough screaming when Cardinals who had conspired against him were tortured.[1]: 153
* Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503), a Borgia, who was guilty of nepotism and whose unattended corpse swelled until it could barely fit in a coffin.[1]: 204
* Pope Leo X (1513–1521), a spendthrift member of the Medici family who once spent 1/7 of his predecessors' reserves on a single ceremony.[1]: 218
* Pope Clement VII (1523–1534), also a Medici, whose power-politicking with France, Spain, and Germany got Rome sacked.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d Chamberlin, Russell (October 2003). The Bad Popes. Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0750933372.

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