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successful mercenary commanders of the period, Francesco Sforza and Braccio da Montone, pitted against each other. julian Marcus Didius Julianus (c.133–193). Consul under Per- tinax, Julian was proclaimed emperor by the Praetorian Guard after they had murdered Pertinax. He reigned for only sixty-six days before he himself was murdered when Septimius Severus, who had refused to recognize his leadership, arrived in Rome. julius ii Giuliano della Rovere (1443–1513), Cardinal of San Pietro ad Vincula, was made pope in 1503 after the twenty-six- day reign of Pius III, who had been elected after the death of Alexander VI. Julius had for many years been a fierce rival of Alexander and was unlikely to be supportive of his son Cesare Borgia. He rapidly dismantled the Borgia family’s power and set about ending the feud between the dominant Orsini and Colonna families. Having thus secured his authority in Rome, he reasserted papal territorial rights in the Romagna, attacking the Venetians and taking Perugia and Bologna in 1506. This gave the papacy unprecedented temporal power. In 1508 he formed the League of Cambrai together with France, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire to expel the Venetians from Romagna altogether. But after the Venetians were defeated at Agnadello (or Vailà) in 1509, Julius feared French domination and joined forces with Venice to drive Louis XII out of Italy. Julius was hugely influential as a patron of the arts. He had the foundation stone of St Peter’s Basilica laid in 1506 and commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. leo x Giovanni de’ Medici (1475–1521). Made a cardinal at age thirteen, Giovanni, son of Lorenzo de’ Medici, was elected pope in 1513, taking the name of Leo X. His papacy was memorable for the sale of indulgences to pay for building work on St Peter’s Basilica, his determined promotion of his Medici relations and his response to Martin Luther’s ninety-five theses against indulgences. In 1513 he joined forces with the Venetians and various foreign powers to expel the French from Italy, but later allied himself with the French against the Holy Roman Empire. louis xi (1423–83) King of France (1461–83). Louis increased the power of the king in relation to the barons and added