15 May 1252-Torturing People for Confessions Authorized by Pope Innocent IV 15 May 1455-Crusade Against Turks Proclaimed by Pope Calixtus III  

The Borgia Apartments Detail of fresco Resurrection showing Alexander VI in prayer painted by Pinturicchio  

Picture of the day: THE APPARITION OF THE VIRGIN TO POPE CALIXTUS III BY SANO DI, ALSO ANSANO DI PIETRO DI MENCIO PIETRO  

7 May 1274-The Second Council of Lyon opens in France to regulate the election of the pope. 7 May 1342-Election of pope Clement VI     Picture of the day:   LORENZO DE MEDICI BY PAT NICOLLE  

...the end of the Renaissance. 147 Swiss Guards, including their commander, die fighting the forces of Charles V in order to allow Pope Clement VII to escape into Castel Sant'Angelo.   6 May 1574 – Birth of Pope Innocent X   Picture of the day:   Marriage of Lucrezia Borgia by Angus McBride  

4 May 1493-Pope Alexander VI divides the New World between Spain and Portugal along the Line of Demarcation. Pope Alexander VI published a bull, 'Inter caetera', which granted to Spain (the Crowns of Castile and Aragon) all lands to the "west and south" of a pole-to-pole line 100 leagues west and...

3 May 1469-Birth of Niccolo de Machiavelli,politician and writer     2 May 1519-Death of Leonardo da Vinci         3 May 1528-Death of Clarice de'Medici, granddaughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent