Most people know the Renaissance popes for nepotism, politics, and art patronage. Almost nobody knows about Pius the Second.
Before he became pope, Enea Silvio Piccolomini wrote erotic novellas that became European bestsellers. He served an anti-pope pretender at the Council of Basel. He fathered illegitimate children. He was crowned poet laureate by Emperor Frederick the Third himself. And he spent one memorable night in a Scottish barn while goats ate the straw from under him — and wrote about it later with complete self-irony.
Then he converted, rose from secretary to cardinal in six years, and was elected Pope Pius the Second in 1458.
His greatest legacy is not the ideal Renaissance city he built from scratch (Pienza, now a UNESCO site). It is a book: the Commentarii, thirteen volumes dictated between papal audiences, written in the third person like Caesar's Gallic Wars. The only autobiography ever written by a sitting pope. The next one would be written by Francis — in 2025.
The text lay in manuscript for 120 years. When finally published in 1584, the first edition quietly cleaned up the inconvenient parts. The first complete scholarly translation into English appeared only in the 2000s.
He died in Ancona in August 1464, waiting for a crusade fleet. Two Venetian ships appeared on the horizon. He died the next day. When word reached the camp, the crusaders immediately went home.
I made a documentary about his life if anyone wants the link — happy to share in the comments. https://youtu.be/-YZdszqcYUs