Oration " Multa hic hodie / Placuit audivisse " of Pope Pius II (21 November 1459, Mantua). Ed. and translated by Michael von Cotta-Schönberg : (Orations of Enea Silvio Piccolomini / Pope Pius II; 40)

The Congress of Mantua, to which Pope Pius II had summoned the European princes and peoples, had begun its negotiations concerning a crusade against the Turks in September 1459, in the absence of a delegation from France. The French embassy arrived in Mantua on 16 November, and on 21 November it was received by the pope in a public consistory. It was generally expected that the French would cause a major crisis at the congress by publicly criticizing and attacking the pope for his dispositions with regard to the Kingdom of Sicily: he had recognized Ferrante, of the Spanish House of Aragon, as king instead of King René of Anjou who claimed the kingdom as his right. To the surprise of everybody and the relief of the pope, the Bishop of Paris gave an oration which was quite pleasant and without reference to the Sicilian matter which the French ambassadors had requested to be discussed later. The bishop ended his oration with a declaration of obedience on behalf of his king to which the pope replied with the oration Multa hic hodie