§ 110.11. =Paul II., Sixtus IV. and Innocent VII., A.D. 1464-1492.=--Among the popes of the last forty years of the 15th century =Paul II.=, A.D. 1464-1471, was the best, though vain, sensual, greedy, fond of show, and extravagant. He was impartial in the administration of justice, free from nepotism, and always ready to succour the needy. His successor, =Sixtus IV.=, A.D. 1471-1484, formerly Franciscan general, was one of the most wicked of the occupants of the chair of Peter. His appeal for an expedition against the Turks finding no response outside of Italy, his love of strife found gratification in fomenting internal animosities among the Italian states. In favour of a nephew he sought the overthrow in A.D. 1478 of the famous Medici family in Florence. Julian was murdered, but Lorenzo escaped, and the archbishop, as abettor of the crime, was hanged in his official robes. The pope placed the city under ban and interdict. It was only the conquest of Otranto in A.D. 1480, and the terror caused by the landing of the Turks in Italy, that moved him to make terms with Florence. His nepotism was most shamelessly practised, and he increased his revenues by taxing the brothels of Rome. His powerful government did something towards the improvement of the administration of justice in the Church States and his love of art beautified the city. In A.D. 1482 Andrew, archbishop of Crain, a Slav by birth and of the Dominican order, halted at Basel on his return from Rome, where he had been as ambassador for Frederick, and, with the support of the Italian league and the emperor, issued violent invectives against the pope, and summoned an œcumenical council for the reform of the church in its head and members. The pope ordered his arrest and extradition, but this the municipal authorities refused. After a volley of bulls and briefs, charges and appeals, and after innumerable embassies and negotiations between Basel, Vienna, Innsbrück, Florence, and Rome, in which the emperor abandoned the archbishop and the papal legates dangled an interdict over Basel, the authorities decided to imprison the objectionable prelate, but refused to deliver him up. After eleven months’ imprisonment, however, he was found hanged in his cell in A.D. 1484. Sixtus had died three months before and Basel was absolved by his successor =Innocent VIII.=, A.D. 1484-1492. In character and ability he was far inferior to his predecessor. The number of illegitimate children brought by him to the Vatican gave occasion to the popular witticism: “_Octo Nocens genuit pueros totidemque puellas, Hunc merito poterit dicere Roma patrem_.” The mighty conqueror of half the world, Mohammed II., had died in A.D. 1481. His two sons contested for the throne, and Bajazet proving successful committed the guardianship of his brother to the Knights of St. John in Rhodes.