Before he was pope, he wrote a bestselling erotic novel
In 1444, years before he was elected Pope Pius II, the humanist Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini wrote The Tale of Two Lovers (Historia de duobus amantibus) — an erotic tale of the affair between a married woman and a courtier, told largely through their exchanged love letters. It became one of the runaway bestsellers of the 15th century and is often cited as one of the earliest novels-in-letters in European literature. Later, as pope, he tried to disown the racy writings of his youth.
How we know
Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini 1405–1464; Historia de duobus amantibus written 1444 in Vienna, before he took holy orders; a 15th-century bestseller. Elected Pope Pius II in 1458; in a 1463 retraction bull he distanced himself from his youthful writings.
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