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Pope | |
| Predecessor | Pius IV |
| Successor | Gregory XIII |
| Born | 29 February 1468 Florence, Republic of Florence |
| Died | 28 January 1539 Rome, Papal States |
Ippolito de' Medici was born in 1511 to Giuliano de' Medici and Pacifica Brandano in Florence and was made a cardinal by his 1st Cousin once removed Pope Pius IV in 1529. He was raised in hatred of the Lutherans for their rebelion against his family's popes. When Pius was dying he asked the cardinals (most of which owned him their places) to elect another Medici to the Papacy and they did. Ippolito was crowned the pope Alexander VII. And straight away he declared that everyone that followed Luther's successor Carl Pfaff (who claimed the Papacy in the name of Sixtus V) would be beheaded or the emperor of the land where he lived would be excommunicated. When in 1535 the second part of the Protestant Wars broke out in Hungary, he almost excommunicated Louis II. And Robert IV was in constant danger as Lutherans used the troubles brought by his regency. Finally in 1538 the decided that he will order the end of Lutherans and decided to declare a Crusader against Lutherans. By this time most Christians had enough with this bloody time. In the end Alexander became a paranoid and finally in January he was found dead on the floor of St Peter's Basilica. All the cardinals decided that the next pope would be diplomatic and not a Medici and so they decided to give the Papacy to García de Loaysa (Pope Gregory XIII).