Oration “Cum bellum hodie” of Pope Pius II (26 September 1459, Mantua). Ed. and translated by Michael von Cotta-Schönberg. 2nd ed. : (Orations of Enea Silvio Piccolomini / Pope Pius II; 38)

Soon after his election as pope, in August 1458, Pius II announced that one of his highest priorities would be the war against the Turks for which he had been working tirelessly since the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. His first initiative in this regard was to summon the Christian princes and peoples to a Congress in Mantua to discuss and organize a crusade against the Turks. Formally, the Congress opened on 1 June 1459, but at that time very few delegates had arrived in Mantua. Over the summer, however, more and more arrived, and on 26 September the first full session of the Congress was held. After a mass in the cathedral, the pope delivered the oration, Cum bellum hodie, one of his most passionate and famous orations which later circulated widely in Europe. In the oration, the pope spoke on the justice, the feasibility, and the rewards of a war against the Turks. The audience was enthralled by his passionate eloquence, but remained skeptical concerning the military capacity of the Europeans vis-a-vis the Turks. After the oration and a further oration by Cardinal Bessarion, the delegates formally agreed to the pope’s proposal for a crusade against the Turks, but in reality very few believed in the venture and later developments showed that they would not actually support it