How did papacy deal with threats to its power during the Renaissance period?
What will be an ideal response?
Answers will vary. The papacy was, of course, concerned with the growth of secular culture and the influence of humanism in politics, particularly in the Italian city-states. However, it had its own issues to deal with, in a military and political sense, in combatting the republican ideals that many people saw as desirable implants for the Papal States. There was no pretense of republicanism in this territory, but there was a need to reassert the authority of the papacy after the debacle of the Avignon papacy undermined Rome's authority. Several powerful families, notable the Visconti, saw the weakened papal authority during this time period as a vulnerability that made Roman lands ripe for taking. The papacy was then forced to hire an army to protect its lands, which led to a decrease in income and made it still more vulnerable. Also undermining papal credibility was the venality of popes after the end of the Great Schism, when popes were elected from powerful families and looked out for their own interests first, rather than those of the church. An example of this was the election of Pope Alexander VI of the Borgia family, who subsequently appointed his illegitimate son as a cardinal and gave him territory carved from the Papal States. Cesare Borgia then went on to seize military command and attack three regions to bring them under control of the Papal States. Julius II, a later pope, led his own army rather than relying on mercenary soldiers in an attempt to bring several regions under papal control. He also lived a rather extravagant lifestyle as a patron of the arts.
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