Pope Alexander VIII
Pope Alexander VIII reigned from 1689 to 1691 and reversed his predecessor's austerity in almost every respect. Born Pietro Vito Ottoboni in Venice in 1610 into a noble family, he took a doctorate in law at Padua at twenty and served as an auditor of the Rota, governor of several papal cities, and Bishop of Brescia. He was made a cardinal in 1652 and was seventy-nine at his election. France secured his elevation, and he repaid it. He accepted the restitution of Avignon, which Louis XIV had seized, and adopted a conciliatory line towards the French crown on most matters. He was, however, unable to concede on the Gallican Articles of 1682, and in his final months issued a bull condemning them and declaring them null. He also condemned a set of Jansenist propositions in 1690, including the doctrine of philosophic sin. His nepotism was open and immediate. He made his twenty-two-year-old grand-nephew a cardinal, appointed relatives to lucrative offices, and enriched the family so visibly that Romans said the Ottoboni had made hay while the sun shone. Asked about the haste, he is reported to have remarked that it was already the twenty-third hour of the day — meaning that his time was nearly up. He spent seriously on the Vatican Library, buying the manuscript collection of Christina of Sweden after her death in 1689, which added a very substantial holding of classical and patristic material. He sent money and grain to Venice for the war against the Ottomans in the Morea, and reduced taxes in the Papal States. He died in February 1691.
- Lived: 1610 CE – 1691 CE
- Nationality: Italian
- Roles: pope, cleric
