Adrian VI (1459-1523)

Adrian VI (pope, 1522-1523) was born Adrian Florisze at Utrecht, Holland in 1459 as the last non-Italian pope. Formerly a professor of theology at Louvain, he was a tutor and confidant of Emperor Charles V — who made him bishop of Tortosa in Spain (1516) and soon after the regent over Aragon and Castine, where he assumed the title Grand Inquisitor. He was made a cardinal by Pope Leo X in 1517.

Coming to the papacy in the midst of one of its greatest crises, when it was threatened not only by Lutheranism to the north but also by the advance of the Ottoman Turks to the east. Refusing to compromise theologically, he condemned Martin Luther as a heretic. His zeal for reform was unbounded, but his pontificate ended after less than two years. During that time he managed to alienate the Romans by his rigor — though his ideals would be what the Catholic Reformers who came after would try to enforce. Adrian is looked upon as a forerunner of that reform.