Download or read book Pius 2nd, "el Più Expeditivo Pontefice" written by Zweder R. W. M. von Martels and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2003 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contains eleven essays on Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (1405-1464), humanist, author, courtier, inveterate traveller, conciliarist and then papalist, priest, bishop and finally pope under the name Pius II (1458-1464), urban architect of Pienza, grand patron of the arts, and would-be Crusader. Contributors include: Giuseppe Chironi, Thomas M. Izbicki, Zweder von Martels, Claudia Martl, Margaret Meserve, Rolando Montecalvo, Keith Sidwell, Marcello Simonetta, and Benedikt Konrad Vollmann.