Italian cleric and politician Pope Julius II was BOTD in 1443. Born Giuliano della Rovere Ablisola in Genoa to an impoverished branch of the Italian nobility, he was educated by his uncle who was later elected Pope Sixtus IV. With his uncle’s assistance, Giuliano was made a cardinal in 1471, holding eight bishoprics at one time. He spent many years overseas as a papal legate, and became involved with the Papal State’s war with Naples. Elected Pope in 1503, he named himself Julius in honour of Roman emperor Julius Caesar. Nicknamed “The Warrior Pope”, he ensured the independence and security of the Papal States, organised the Swiss Guards for his personal protection and made a truce with the de Medici family to share political. He became a central figure of the Italian Renaissance, establishing the Vatican Museums and commissioning the rebuilding of St Peter’s Basilica. Among the artworks he commissioned were Raphael’s frescos in the Apostolic Palace (including The School of Athens) and Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. To raise money for his warmongering and renovations, he renewed the medieval practice of indulgences, accepting donations to the Church in exchange for forgiveness from sin. He fathered an illegitimate daughter in 1483, whom he married off to a noble family. In 1511, the Church brought charges against him of committing lewd sex acts with male prostitutes, and he is also thought to have contracted syphilis. He was featured prominently in Niccolò Machiavelli’s book The Prince as an example of a successful ecclesiastical ruler. He died in 1513 aged 69. After his death, the theologian Erasmus accused him of sexual impropriety in his 1514 dialogues Julius Excluded from Heaven. He has been played multiple times onscreen, notably by Rex Harrison in the 1965 Michelangelo biopic The Agony and the Ecstasy.