Page:The history of medieval Europe.djvu/630

 574 THE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE court from France. This was the foundation of the later Church liberties claimed by the Gallican Church. In reform by 1482 Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of inFrance Castile secured from the pope pretty complete and Spain CO ntrol of the Church and even of the inquisition in Spain, and proceeded to execute a thorough reformation of the Spanish clergy. They saw to it that the right sort of men became bishops, that the clergy in general were well educated and of high moral character, and that purity of doctrine was maintained. After the conciliar movement was over, the popes de- voted themselves largely to Italian affairs. They gave some ~, attention to the Turkish menace, planning cru- 1 ne popes # of the sades against the advancing Moslems ; they were enaissance st .jj i 00 k ec i U p to as international arbiters, as appears in the appeals of the Portuguese and Spanish sover- eigns to the pope to sanction their exclusive title to all new discoveries in America and the East ; but they neglected the problem of reforming the Church until it was unpleasantly forced upon their attention once more by the Protestant revolt. For the present some of them played a prominent part in Italian politics, while others were patrons of the Renaissance. One or two were learned men themselves, namely, Nicholas V, who founded the great Vatican Lib- rary, and Pius II, who before his election was the humanist, iEneas Sylvius. To this Italian Renaissance, which thus captivated the Papacy, we now turn.