Lentorama 2010: Two Millennia of Pointy Hats

Day 32: Adrian VI (1522-3)

Adrian is the only Dutch pope, and was the last non-Italian pope until John Paul II. Early in his career he was tutor to future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who would be influential in landing Adrian a variety of posts, mainly in Spain.

Adrian was elected pope as a compromise candidate for the cardinals who were divided pro- and anti-Medici. Some feared that Adrian would favor Charles given their relationship, while others were afraid that Adrian would move the papal court to Spain, but Adrian set out to rule impartially and with a reforming bent.

Not that he had much success, given his ignorance of how the papacy worked and of Rome in general. He never got the support he needed to get a handle on indulgences and other dispensations that earned the papacy money, and his willingness to admit that the Curia had a role to play in the rise of Martin Luther and the Reformation was not something other cardinals wanted to admit. His somewhat surprising death barely a year into his papcy likely spared Adrian from a frustrating tenure.