Oration “Pone lacrimas” of Pope Pius II (16 October 1461, Rome). Edited and translated by Michael v. Cotta-Schönberg. 4th version.(Orations of Enea Silvio Piccolomini / Pope Pius II; 63)

Published as part of project Edition and Translation of the Orations of Enea Silvio Piccolomini / Pope Pius IIIn 1461, the rule of Queen Charlotte of Cyprus and her husband Louis of Savoy was successfully challenged by the queen’s half-brother Jacques II de Lusignan. The queen fled to the West where she first went to the pope, Pius II, in Rome to beg for help. In his oration to the queen, the pope gave comforting words and promise of aid to her travel to her father-in-law, Duke Louis I of Savoy, and the promise of wine and grain to her besieged troops in Cyprus, but he also used the occasion to denounce the duke’s refusal to contribute to the crusade against the Turk