Julius II

Julius II (1443–1513), pope (1503–13). As Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere he went into exile (1492–1503) when his bitter enemy Borgia became pope Alexander VI. As pope, Julius commanded the armies that reconquered the Papal States; he then led the Holy League against France (1510). The fifth Lateran Council (1512), which he assembled, attacked corruption in the church. A patron of Raphael, Michelangelo, and Bramante, Julius II laid the foundation stone of St. Peter's Cathedral.