Adriano de Florensz was born
of working class parents on March 2, 1459, in Utrecht, The
Netherlands. His father died when Adriano was a boy, and his widowed
mother was determined that Adriano have a good education, first by
home-schooling, then by attending Zwolle with the Brothers of the Common Life,
and finally, with the help of a benefactor, by attending the University of
Louvain in Belgium where Adriano eventually became a professor of
theology.
On August 18, 1516, Adriano
became Bishop of Tortosa in Spain, where he became Grand Inquisitor of the
Spanish peninsula, then elevated to cardinal on July 1, 1517, became Regent of
Spain, and then teacher to Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian I's six-year-old
grandson, Charles V, before being elected pope on August 9, 1522, and
installed as pope on August 31, 1522.
Pope Hadrian VI expended much effort trying to stop Luthernism in Germany and
generated papal resentment because of his moral conservatism and commitment to
eradicating corruption.
Pope Hadrian VI died suddenly on September 14, 1523.
