Fabio Chigi was born into one of Siena’s most powerful families in 1599. They were bankers by trade, and Fabio himself was the great-nephew of Pope Paul V. His mother was his primary formator, considering he was a sickly child, but Fabio soon was taught by tutors, and eventually received doctorates in philosophy, law, and theology from the University of Siena. Immediately afterward, he began his career in the Church, being made a bishop in 1632, nuncio of Cologne (Germany) in 1639, papal Secretary of State in 1651, and finally a cardinal in 1652. Though surely a fine-looking young man, sources are unclear whether the young Fabio had long, luscious, flowing hair.

Pope Alexander VII became pope following one of the longer conclaves of the past couple of centuries (80 days). He was elected with the intention that he would both shirk nepotism and serve energetically and with great diplomatic skill. Too bad neither of those ended up coming true. Granted, Alexander was a man of solid morals and piety, but the temptation of having a weakened papal court without relatives caused him to call his brother and nephews for help. This act led to Alexander delegating nearly every administrative task to his relatives, who were out for little more than a quick buck.

Alexander continued the fight against Jansenism, like his two predecessors, and also helped Venice fight the invading Turkish army. He was close with Queen Christina of Sweden, who had abdicated the throne and moved to Rome after a conversion to Catholicism. Alexander was a patron of the arts, specifically the work of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, at whose hands many great monuments in Rome still stand today. Bernini sculpted Alexander VII’s tomb in St. Peter’s Basilica following the pope’s death on May 22, 1667, where it remains one of the church’s most beautiful monuments.

The papacy of Alexander VII was marked by a twofold annoyance: King Louis XIV of France and his advisor, Cardinal Mazarin. The king was young and the powerful cardinal was interested in little more than France’s advancement, which explains the latter’s hostility toward Alexander in conclave and his prevention of the king sending an embassy of obedience to the new pope. It made for rather terse exchanges between France and the Vatican. In the ensuing years, Alexander temporarily lost Avignon for the papacy and was forced to sign a treaty in order to forge peace between the two sides.

Fun Fact: Just last year around this time (November 15), the famous Elephant and Obelisk statue, commissioned by Pope Alexander VII and sculpted by Bernini, was vandalized in Rome. The statue, which was placed in the square in front of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva Basilica in 1667, had the left tusk broken off of it, but thankfully the piece was found at the sculpture’s base.

In 1666, Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity (May 3), split sunlight into the color spectrum for the first time using a prism, and began developing the subject of differential calculus. Big year for Isaac.