Pope Leo X: Did you mean...?

Built in the seventh century BCE, the ancient city of Byzantium proved to be a valuable city for both the Greeks and Romans. Because it lay on the European side of the Strait of Bosporus, the Emperor Constantine understood its strategic importance...

The Council of Clermont in central France was held in November 1095 and witnessed Pope Urban II's (r. 1088-1099) historic call for the First Crusade (1095-1102) to capture Jerusalem for Christendom from its Muslim occupiers. The Pope's speech...

A c. 1450 illustration showing Pope Joan giving birth during a procession. Pope Joan was a legendary female pope of the Middle Ages said to have reigned from 855 to 858. Her existence is disputed. (Spencer Collection)

The Unam Sanctam (1302) was a papal bull issued by Pope Boniface VIII (served 1294-1303) requiring the complete submission of all people, including kings, to the authority and dictates of the pope. As the Church was understood as holding...

A 15-16th century manuscript illustration of Pope Joan, a legendary female pope of the Middle Ages said to have reigned from 855 to 858. Her existence is disputed. (Bibliothèque nationale de France).

The government of the Byzantine Empire was headed and dominated by the emperor, but there were many other important officials who assisted in operating the finances, judiciary, military, and bureaucracy of a huge territory. Without elections...

Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536 CE) was a Spanish princess who famously became the Queen of England and the first wife of Henry VIII of England (r. 1509-1547 CE). When the marriage did not produce a male heir, Henry VIII became desperate to...

A medieval manuscript illustration showing Pope Innocent III (r. 1198-1216 CE) and the crusaders of the Albigensian Crusade in southern France (1209-1229 CE). (Chronicles of Saint-Denis, British Library, London)

A statue of Pope Urban II (r. 1088-1099 CE) who called for the First Crusade (1095-1202 CE). Clermont-Ferrand, France.

A 1526 CE portrait by Sebastiano del Piombo of Pope Clement VII (r. 1523-1534 CE). (National Museum of Capodimonte, Naples, Italy)