PAUL II, Pope. - Pietro Barbo, son of a sister of Eugene IV, b. in Venice on 23 February 1417, d. in Rome on 26 July 1471. He was created cardinal by his uncle on 1 July 1440; he received the bishopric of Vicenza on 16 June 1451 from Nicholas V, and then that of Padua from Pius II on 9 March 1459, to which however he renounced on 26 March 1460. As cardinal he began the great mass of the Palace with the garden, annexed to his presbyteral title of St. Mark, and showed himself a passionate collector of gems, antiquities, medals and art objects; he showed less favor to the humanists, since it seemed to him that they were misdirecting the young. Created pontiff on 30 August 1464, he professed not to consider himself bound by the electoral capitulation concluded and sworn during the conclave, as being one that impaired the legitimate authority of the pontiff.
He maintained the government with great mildness and strove to repress the factions and private reprisals that disturbed order and peace in the City, provided for the grain supply and favored agriculture; he subjected the statutes of the city to a revision (1469) in order to improve the public administration; he promoted public entertainments. For the security of the patrimony he subdued the Anguillara and in the summer of 1469 strove to restore order in Romagna and peace in Italy. He tried in vain to promote an expedition against the Turks, who were extending their conquests in Greece and the Aegean islands, and he refused to recognize George Poděbrady as king of Bohemia because he was favorable to heretics. He welcomed to Rome Emperor Frederick III at Christmas of 1468, George Scanderbeg in 1466, Borso d'Este in 1471, then created duke; he gave refuge to Catherine, queen of Bosnia, driven from her kingdom in 1467; he provided for the reorganization of the knights of Rhodes. In the reorganization of the Curia he wished to reduce the number of abbreviators, provoking the wrath of the curials affected (1464), particularly of Bartolomeo Platina, who was insolent against the Pope and was also imprisoned. There was later talk also of revolutionary intentions on the part of those who together with Pomponio Leto made up the Roman Academy, as though they intended to repeat the deeds of Stefano Porcari, taking advantage of riots that broke out in 1468. In the face of an inquiry, some fled, others such as Pomponio and Platina were subjected to trial, but since nothing positive had been found against them, in the spring of 1469 they were set at liberty.
The Pope was buried in the Vatican Basilica, but his grandiose tomb was broken up in the reconstruction of this. - See pl. LIV.
