Sixtus IV Dies in Rome

1484

The Franciscan pope who had commissioned the Sistine Chapel and orchestrated the Pazzi Conspiracy died of gout. The conclave that followed produced Innocent VIII, who would father eight acknowledged children and preside over the Inquisition's witch-hunting expansion. The papal court was becoming, by any reasonable definition, a royal court. His pontificate irrevocably transformed the papacy from a spiritual office into a Renaissance court with dynastic ambitions and military campaigns.