The Bad Popes

The Bad Popes

Author	E. R. Chamberlin
Language	English
Genre	History
Publisher	Dial Press
Publication date	1969 (1969)
Media type	Print
Pages	310
ISBN

The Bad Popes is a 1969 book by E. R. Chamberlin documenting the lives of eight of the most controversial popes (papal years in parentheses):

• Pope Stephen VI (896–897), who exhumed and tried his dead predecessor Pope Formosus.
• Pope John XII (955–964), who murdered several people.
• Pope Benedict IX (1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048), who was accused of selling the Papacy.
• Pope Boniface VIII (1294–1303), who regularly interfered in the politics of neighboring kingdoms.
• Pope Urban VI (1378–1389), who tortured cardinals who had conspired against him.
• Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503), who, besides being openly promiscuous, was found guilty of nepotism.
• Pope Leo X (1513–1521), who once spent 1⁄7 of the Papal reserves on a single ceremony, leading Martin Luther to publish the 95 Theses and spark the Protestant Reformation.
• Pope Clement VII (1523–1534), whose power-politicking led to the Sack of Rome.