Giulio II

Giuliano Della Rovere was born at Albissola Superiore, near Savona, in 1443. He held various bishoprics before becoming cardinal of  San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome. He was elected Pope on 1 November 1503, following the brief reign of Pius III Todeschini-Piccolomini. He died on 21 February 1513. A choleric pontiff full of worldly ambitions,  he pursued a policy of military repossession of the territories of the Pontifical State menaced by  Cesare Borgia. He made himself the promoter of the League of Cambrai in 1508, allying himself with Maximilian of Austria and Louis XII against the Republic of Venice. He later made an alliance with Switzerland against France in the Holy League. Ludovico Ariosto met Julius II on a number of missions: he was indeed in Rome immediately after he had begun service with Cardinal Ippolito in October 1503 for the conclave that elected Julius II. He paid homage to the new Pope together with other courtesans from the Este court. Perhaps he went to Rome again in 1505 to obtain the benefice of Santa Maria dell’Oliveto. Whilst he was certainly received by Julius II in July and December of 1509, in May 1510 and twice, with a stopover in Florence, in August 1510. On these embassies on behalf of Cardinal Ippolito d’Este Ariosto undertook complex mediations with the Pope, who was against the policy of the House of Este and disliked Cardinal Ippolito. A sign of Julius II’s hostility towards the House of Este emerges also with the case of the murder of  Ercole Strozzi, exploited by the Pope when in 1510, in an audience conceded to the ambassador from Ferrara Ruini, he attacked Duke Alfonso I d’Este accusing him of being behind the death of Ercole Strozzi.

Raffaello, Portrait of Julius II, London, National Gallery