Giuliano della Rovere was born on the 5th of December 1443 in Albisola, a small coastal town near Savona in the Republic of Genoa, into a noble but impoverished family known as the House of della Rovere. He was the son of Raffaello della Rovere and Theodora Manerola, a woman of Greek ancestry, and grew up with three brothers and a sister, yet his path to power was paved with rough edges and coarse language that would define his character. Educated by his uncle, Fr. Francesco della Rovere, a Franciscan friar who took him under special charge, Giuliano studied sciences at the university in Perugia before being appointed Bishop of Carpentras in 1471. His rise was rapid and controversial; within months of his uncle Pope Sixtus IV's election, Giuliano was elevated to the cardinalate on the 16th of December 1471, holding no fewer than eight bishoprics simultaneously, including Lausanne, Coutances, and Catania, in an act of serial simony and pluralism that scandalized the Church. He was not a man of quiet piety but a figure of military ambition, modeling himself after heroes like Frederic Colonna rather than theologians, and his early years were marked by a violent temper and a willingness to engage in the brutal power struggles of Renaissance Italy. By 1483, he had an illegitimate daughter, Felice, born to Lucrezia Normanni, a secret that would haunt his legacy and fuel the rumors of his moral failings that would follow him to the papacy.
The Cardinal's Calculated Rise
Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere's ascent to the highest office of the Church was a masterclass in political maneuvering and ruthless diplomacy, forged in the fires of the Italian Wars and the treacherous court of Pope Alexander VI. After the death of Innocent VIII in 1492, he was a key player in the conclave that elected Rodrigo Borgia as Pope Alexander VI, a man he would come to hate with a passion that would define the next decade of his life. Della Rovere's rivalry with the Borgia family was intense; he was accused of plotting against them, and in 1494, he fled Rome to seek refuge in Avignon, where he allied with King Charles VIII of France to overthrow the Borgias. His journey was fraught with danger, as he traveled from Genoa to Avignon, raising troops and negotiating alliances that would eventually lead to the French invasion of Italy. Despite the risks, he managed to survive the purges of the Borgia regime, even as his brother Giovanni was stripped of his titles and his own benefices were temporarily revoked. By 1503, after the death of Pope Pius III, Giuliano della Rovere emerged as the most powerful cardinal, having secured the support of Cesare Borgia through promises of money and continued backing for Borgia policies in the Romagna. His election on the 1st of November 1503 was swift, taking only a few hours, and he took the name Julius II, choosing it not in honor of Pope Julius I but in emulation of Julius Caesar, signaling his intent to rule as a warrior-pope.