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Pope Clement VII

Pope Clement VII

1478 CE1534 CE · Florence

Born Giulio de' Medici, illegitimate cousin of Leo X, he was legitimized and rose to cardinal and trusted papal adviser. As Clement VII he faced overwhelming crises with cautious, often vacillating diplomacy. His shifting alliances between Emperor Charles V and France contributed to the catastrophic 1527 Sack of Rome by imperial troops, during which he was besieged in Castel Sant'Angelo. He refused Henry VIII's request to annul his marriage, precipitating England's break with Rome, and was slow to counter the spreading Reformation. A notable patron—commissioning Michelangelo's Last Judgment—he is generally judged a cultivated but politically unfortunate pope.

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Stop 0 of 21478–1513Born

FlorenceItaly

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About Florence

Florence, the capital of Tuscany in central Italy. A leading city of the Italian Renaissance, it hosted the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438-1439) that briefly reunited the Latin and Greek churches, was the city of the friar Savonarola, and produced several Medici popes.

In Florence at the same time

Girolamo Savonarola, Pope Paul III, Pope Leo X

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In the same place & time

Sages whose lives overlapped with Pope Clement VII’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.

Across the traditions

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Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Pope Clement VII’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

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