LEO X

born Dec. 11, 1475, Florence died Dec. 1, 1521, Rome original name Giovanni de' Medici one of the most extravagant of the Renaissance popes (reigned 151321), who made Rome a centre of European culture and raised the papacy to significant political power in Europe. He depleted the papal treasury, and, by his response to the developing Reformation, he contributed to the dissolution of the unified Western church. Leo excommunicated Martin Luther in 1521. Additional reading William Roscoe, The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth, 2 vol. (1853, new ed. 1973), the standard biography of Leo X (well documented and containing a good index); Ludwig von Pastor, The History of the Popes, from the Close of the Middle Ages, 3rd ed., vol. 78 (1950), the best source on the life and times of Leo X (well documented and well indexed); E.P. Rodocanachi, Le Pontificat de Lon X, 15131521 (1930), contains an excellent bibliography; G.K. Brown, Italy and the Reformation to 1550 (1933), a study of Pope Leo as a principal figure of the Reformation.