The Bad Popes

The Bad Popes
AuthorE. R. Chamberlin
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistory
PublisherDial Press
Publication date
1969 (1969)
Media typePrint
Pages310
ISBN0-880-29116-8

The Bad Popes is a 1969 book by E. R. Chamberlin documenting the lives of eight of the most controversial popes (papal years in parentheses):

  • Pope Stephen VI (896–897), who exhumed and tried his dead predecessor Pope Formosus.[1]: 19 
  • Pope John XII (955–964), who murdered several people.
  • Pope Benedict IX (1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048), who was accused of selling the Papacy.
  • Pope Boniface VIII (1294–1303), who regularly interfered in the politics of neighboring kingdoms.
  • Pope Urban VI (1378–1389), who tortured cardinals who had conspired against him.[1]: 153 
  • Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503), who, besides being openly promiscuous, was found guilty of nepotism.[1]: 204 
  • Pope Leo X (1513–1521), who once spent 17 of the Papal reserves on a single ceremony, leading Martin Luther to publish the 95 Theses and spark the Protestant Reformation.[1]: 218 
  • Pope Clement VII (1523–1534), whose power-politicking led to the Sack of Rome.

Reviews

References

  1. ^ a b c d Chamberlin, Russell (October 2003). The Bad Popes. Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0750933372.