History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome, Volume III

Volume III of this History of the Papacy opens with the Council of Basel in revolt against Pope Eugenius IV, who doggedly defends papal autonomy against the movement for church reform. Dominating this volume is Aeneus Sylvius Piccolomini, Pope Pius II. A world famous author, diplomat, and Renaissance humanist, he dies in Ancona, at the head of a failed crusade. Creighton writes of him, "Weakness and strength are strangely blended; vanity and littleness mix with high purpose and far-reaching plan