Adrian Vi

ADRIAN VI. (Adrian Dedel, not Boyens, probably not Roden burgh, 1459-1523), pope from 1522 to 1523, was born at Utrecht in March and became tutor to the seven-year-old Charles V. Charles secured his succession to the see of Tortosa, and on Nov. 14, 1516, commissioned him inquisitor-general of Aragon. During the minority of Charles, Adrian was associated with Cardinal Ximenes in governing Spain. After the death of the latter Adrian was appointed, on March 14, 1518, general of the reunited inquisi tions of Castile and Aragon, in which capacity he acted until his departure from Tarragona for Rome on Aug. 4, 1522. When Charles left for the Netherlands in 1520 he made Adrian regent of Spain. In 1517 Leo X. had created him cardinal priest SS. loannis et Pauli; on Jan. 9, 1522, he was almost unanimously elected pope. Crowned in St. Peter's on Aug. 31, at the age of 63, he entered upon the lonely path of the reformer. His programme was to attack notorious abuses one by one ; but in his attempt to improve the system of granting indulgences he was hampered by his cardinals ; reduction of the number of matrimonial dispen sations was impossible, for the income had been farmed out for years in advance by Leo X. In dealing with the early stages of the Protestant revolt in Germany Adrian did not fully recognize the gravity of the situation. At the diet which opened in Dec. 1522 at Nuremberg he was represented by Chieregati, whose instruc tions contain the frank admission that the whole disorder of the church had perchance proceeded from the Curia itself, and that there the reform should begin. But Adrian was stoutly opposed to doctrinal changes, and demanded the punishment of Luther for heresy. The statement in one of his works that the pope could err in matters of faith ("haeresim per seam determinationern ant Decretalem asserendo") has attracted attention; but as it is a private opinion, not an ex cathedra pronouncement, it is held not to prejudice the dogma of papal infallibility. On Sept. 14, 1523, he died, after a pontificate too short to be effective.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-Most

of Adrian VI.'s official papers disappearedBibliography.-Most of Adrian VI.'s official papers disappeared soon after his death. He published Quaestiones in quartum senten tiarum praesertim circa sacramenta (Paris, 1512, 1516, 1518, 1537; Rome, 1522), and Quaestiones quodlibeticae XII. (1st ed. Louvain, 1515). See L. Pastor in Geschichte der Papste, vol. iv. pt. ii. ; Adrian VI. und Klemens VII. (Freiburg, 1907) ; also Wetzer und Welte, Kirchenlexikon, 2nd ed., and Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopiidie, 3rd ed., under "Hadrian VI."; H. Hurter, Nomenclator literarius recentioris theologiae catholicae, torn. iv. Innsbruck (1899), 1027; The Cam bridge Modern History, vol. ii. (19o4), 19-21; H. C. Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, vol. i. (1906) ; Janus, The Pope and the Council, 2nd. ed. (London, 1869), 376. Biographies:-A. Lepitre, Adrian VI. (Paris, 1880 ; C. A. C. von Hoffer, Papst Adrian VI. (Vienna, 188o) ; L. Casartelli, "The Dutch Pope," in Miscellaneous Essays (London, 1906). For Adrian I. to Adrian V. see U. Chevalier, Bio. Bibliographie (19o5) ; and Liber Pontificalis, ed. Duchesne (2 vols. Paris 1886-92).