ADRIAN VI, Pope. - Pontiff from 1522 to 1523. Born at Utrecht on 2 March 1459, he was the son of Florenz Boeyens and Gertruda. The family was neither rich nor poor. After his father's death, his education was entrusted by his mother to the Brothers of the Common Life, at Deventer or at Zwolle. Enrolled at the University of Louvain in 1474, he studied philosophy for two years and theology and canon law for ten. Having finished his studies, he obtained a chair of philosophy. In 1490 he was licensed and the following year became a doctor of theology. With the revenues of his benefices he gave generous alms and founded a college for poor students. He was also parish priest of Goedereede, personally fulfilling his duties during the holidays. Appointed professor of theology, he had as disciples Erasmus of Rotterdam and other noted men of letters. A series of his lectures was published by a disciple (1515); by another, his lessons on the Most Holy Sacrament (1516), in which he showed himself an advocate of frequent communion. These two works had many editions. Elected dean of the church of St. Peter in 1497, he had to assume the functions of rector of the university.
Through his spotless life, his high conception of duty, his reforming zeal for morals especially among the clergy, and his great erudition, wisdom and prudence, he became the beloved counselor of many and also of the court. The Emperor Maximilian made him tutor of his nephew Charles, for whom A. procured the full hereditary right to the Spanish throne.
From 1516, together with Ximénez and, after the latter's death, alone, he governed Spain. In 1516 he was elected bishop of Tortosa, in 1517 he became inquisitor of Aragon and of Navarre and in 1518 also of Castile and of León. In 1517 he was created cardinal. During Charles V's journey of coronation he quelled, more by prudence than by arms, the general rebellion that had broken out in Spain. He was elected Pontiff on 9 Jan. 1522.
Two things A. wished to achieve: the abolition of abuses in the Curia and in the Church, and the union of the Christian princes against the danger of the Turks. He began by eliminating the accumulation of benefices, took severe measures against simony, struck at the nepotism of prelates and in general at all the vices of the clergy and the people, sought to improve the financial situation of the Church and of the Papal State by making great savings, also in order to be able to give subsidies to the States that would have had to resist the invasion of the Turks.
He incurred the hatred of all those accustomed to the grandiose festivities, the favors and the frivolous life of his predecessor's court, a hatred that was unleashed in libels and pasquinades. He was, however, at fault in alienating even good men, and this because of his sometimes aloof character, particularly toward the Italian prelates. It was an error which he sought at a later time to remedy.
He sent Chieregati as first apostolic nuncio to the Diet of Nuremberg to present his plans for reform, hoping to avert the danger of Lutheranism and to win over the German princes (1522-1523). He did not obtain the execution of the Edict of Worms. Nor did he succeed in quelling the conflict between Charles V and Francis I. Wishing to remain faithful to the policy of neutrality between the parties, he was forced by the enmity of Francis I to make a defensive pact with Charles V (1523). In his efforts for the spiritual good of Switzerland, Poland and other countries, he met with no few disappointments.
Having died on 14 Sept. 1523, he was buried provisionally in the chapel of St. Andrew in St. Peter's. The epitaph read: Hadrianus sextus hic situs est qui nihil sibi infelicius in vita duxit quam quod imperaret. On 12 Aug. 1533 the body was transferred to the church of S. Maria dell'Anima, where Card. Enckevoirt raised a worthy monument to him. Although much slandered in life and in death, no one ever dared to attack the integrity of this Pontiff or his intentions. - See Pl. XXIV.
Bibliography5 works
Pancrazio Maarschalkerweerd