Pope Sixtus IV [SEP] position held
Pope Sixtus IV
Pope Sixtus IV (21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484), born Francesco della Rovere, was Pope from 9 August 1471 to his death in 1484. His accomplishments as Pope included the construction of the Sistine Chapel and the creation of the Vatican Archives. A patron of the arts, he brought together the group of artists who ushered the Early Renaissance into Rome with the first masterpieces of the city's new artistic age.
Sixtus aided the Spanish Inquisition though he fought to prevent abuses therein,
of law at the University of Rome, and had taken later for his secretary, a position he held also under Paul II and Sixtus IV. At Rome Raffaelo held himself aloof from the court, devoting his time to the practice of piety and to the study of philosophy of theology and of the Greek language, the latter under George of Trebizond.
In 1477, he went to Hungary with Cardinal Louis of Aragon, on the latter's mission to Matthias Corvinus. Upon his return, Raffaelo was persuaded by Gaspare da