LEO X. (GIOVANNI DE MEDICI) , Pope, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, sovereign of Florence; born in Florence, Italy, in 1475. His father had him dedicated to the Church, and made a cardinal by In nocent VIII. at the age of 13 years. Ex iled from Florence, with the rest of his family, in 1494, he spent some years in travel in Germany, France, and Flan ders. In 1503 he returned to Rome and applied himself to the cultivation of science and the fine arts. He was ap pointed by Julius II. legate with the papal army, and in 1512 he was taken prisoner by the French at the battle of Ravenna, and only regained his liberty after the evacuation of Milan by the French. The Medici were restored to their supremacy at Florence by the arms of the Spaniards. In the following year, 1513, Cardinal de Medici was elected Pope on the death of Julius II., and made his entry into Rome on April 11, the anniversary of his capture at Ra venna. His pontificate of nine years is one of the most momentous of modern history in relation to great political changes, to the revival of literature and art, and, above all, to the Reformation. Leo X. succeeded in terminating the dis putes between Louis XII. and the court of Rome; he continued and brought to a close the Council of the Lateran; and, at a conference held at Bologna, con cluded a concordat with Francis I. of
France. In 1517 he discovered a con spiracy formed against him by two car dinals, one of whom was hanged, and the other imprisoned for life. He formed the project of a great war against the Turks, and resolved about the same time to complete the church of St. Peter at Rome. To raise the necessary money for these schemes he resorted to the sale of indulgences, the preaching of which in Saxony became the occasion of Luther's great enterprise. Leo published his first bull against Luther in June, 1520. See LUTHER. At the same epoch, war broke out afresh between the Emperor Charles V. and Francis I., the Pope allying him self first with Francis, and soon after with Charles. The patron of literature and the fine arts, he encouraged the study of Greek and the collection of ancient manuscripts; restored the Roman Uni versity and the great Laurentian Library of Florence; and gained the name, uni versally conceded, of "Restorator of Let ters." He died in 1521.
LEo XI., Pope, of the Medici family, elected Pope 1605, at a very advanced age, and died in less than a month.