Pope Innocent VIII

Giovanni Battista Cybo grew up at the Neapolitan court, son of Naples' viceroy, and climbed through the Church as a protégé of Cardinal Calandrini. Pope Sixtus IV made him cardinal in 1478; six years later, after Cardinal Della Rovere's intense politicking, Cybo became Pope Innocent VIII over his rival Rodrigo Borgia. He promptly backed a failed baronial revolt against the very king who had opposed his election. In 1485 he issued Summis desiderantes affectibus, the papal bull on witchcraft that would shadow Europe for generations. Then in 1489 Cem, brother and rival to the Ottoman Sultan, fell into his hands. Innocent brokered the arrangement: 120,000 crowns up front plus annual payments and holy relics in exchange for keeping Cem captive, with the implicit threat of release hanging over any Ottoman aggression in the Balkans. He died in July 1492, and three years later his successor handed Cem to the French.