Editing Pope Pius III (section)

===Illness and death===
On the morning of 26 September, the newly elected pope underwent an operation on his ulcerous left leg, enduring the pain of cutting in two places.<ref>{{cite book|author=Johann Burchard|editor=Louis Thuasne|title=Capelle pontificie sacrorum rituum magistri diarium: sive Rerum urbanarum commentarii (1483-1506).|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3C8WAQAAMAAJ|volume=Tome III|year=1885|publisher=E. Leroux|location=Paris|language=la, fr|page=279, with note 1}} The papal secretary and client of the della Rovere family, Sigismondo de' Conti, blamed the surgeon, Ludovico Minatensis, and his bad work on the Pope's leg, for Pius' death: "e vita migravit ex ulcere tibiae sinistrae, quod Ludovicus Minatensis imperitus chirugus, sincera etiam parte secata, laethale effecit." {{cite book|author=Sigismondo dei Conti|title=Le storie de' suoi tempi dal 1475 al 1510|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ww-AQAAMAAJ|volume=Tomo II|year=1883|publisher=G. Barbera|location=Roma|language=la, it|page=292}}</ref> The next day, he announced that he would not carry out the ceremony of the possession of his cathedral on the day of the coronation, as the custom was, because of his lameness.<ref>This was the ceremony called the ''Possessio''. Burchard, p. 280.</ref>

Piccolomini was never ordained a priest, remaining in diaconal orders, until 30 September 1503, when he finally received [[ordination]]. Cardinal [[Pope Julius II|Giuliano della Rovere]] ordained him in one of the halls of the papal palace. Della Rovere and two other bishops consecrated him a bishop on 1 October 1503, in the same hall.<ref>Burchard, pp. 280–281.</ref>

A Venetian agent in Rome reported the pope's ill health on 3 October, and politicking for the next conclave began.<ref>{{cite book|author=Marino Sanudo|title=I diarii di Marino Sanuto: (MCCCCXCVI-MDXXXIII)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Im1KAAAAYAAJ|volume=Tomo V|year=1881|publisher=F. Visentini|location=Venezia|language=it|page=148}} " Il papa si à tajà la gamba; à la febre e stà malissimo; si judicha habi a viver pocho e non-zonzerà a la incoronatione, qual si farà a dì 12 di questo; e zà si comenza a far pratiche dil papato.</ref>

The coronation took place on 8 October 1503. Cardinal [[Raffaello Riario]], the [[Protodeacon]], performed the coronation. Several of the features of the ritual had to be omitted due to Pius' troublesome leg. [[Johann Burchard]], the papal master of ceremonies, noted that the pope said Mass sitting.<ref>Pastor VI, p. 203. Giovanni Burchard, the papal Master of Ceremonies, noted in his ''Diary'' (p. 280 Thuasne): "die veneris, 29 septembris, ordinavi sedem pro Papa. in qua sedens cruribus extensis ordinaretur ac celebraret, mensam longam pro altare. ut pedes subtus extendi possent."</ref>

On Thursday, 12 October, as Beltrando Costabili reported to the [[Ercole I d'Este]], Duke of Ferrara, Pope Pius had a long audience and did not eat during the day, having been taking medicine the previous day, on which the fever struck and never left him.<ref>Pastor VI, p. 621.</ref>

[[File:Tomb of pope Pius III.jpg|thumb|right|Former tomb of Pius III]]
After a brief pontificate of 26 days he died on 18 October 1503, of a septic [[Ulcer (dermatology)|ulcer]] in his leg.<ref>Pastor VI, pp. 203–206.</ref> Some have alleged that Pope Pius died of [[poison]] administered at the instigation of [[Pandolfo Petrucci]], the ruler of Siena.<ref name="Novaes1804">The poisoning is mentioned by Onuphrio Panvinio as a suspicion, {{cite book|author1=Bartolomeo Platina|author2=Onuphrio Panvinio|title=Historia B. Platinae de vitis pontificum Romanorum|year=1568|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_eFaAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA364|page=364}}: "Pius interim senectae vitiis et mortifero cruris ulcere vehementer affectus, intra sextum et vigesimum pontificatus diem, XV Kalo. Novembris, non-sine veneni suspicione Pandulfi Petrucii Senensis tyranni consilio vulneri illiti in palatio Vaticano magno bonorum omnium dolore interiit, anno salutis MDIII, aedtatis lxiiij, mense quinto, die decimo...." The 16th century Sienese historian Malavolti is more discreet, but still labels the story an opinion: "Fù oppenione di piu persone, che per gelosia havuta da chi governava la Città di Siena, essendo egli di fattion contraria, la morte gli fusse, con danno publoicio, sollecitamente procurata." {{cite book|author=Orlando (di M. Bernardo) Malavolti|title=Dell'Historia Di Siena |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x3hgAAAAcAAJ|volume=Terza parte|year=1599|publisher=Per Salvestro Marchetti|location=Siena|pages=112, verso|chapter=Libro settimo}} Also, {{cite book|author=Giuseppe de Novaes|title=Elementi della storia de' sommi pontefici da S. Pietro sino al felicemente regnante Pio Papa VII ...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E3IXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA130|edition=seconda|volume=VI|year=1804|publisher=Rossi|location=Siena|language=it|pages=130, note (a)}}</ref>

He was buried in the chapel of San Andrea in [[Saint Peter's Basilica]], next to his uncle Pius II, his brothers Giacomo and Andrea serving as his executors. He had already chosen his burial place when he wrote his will in 1493.<ref>Richardson (1998), p. 201: "praesentium extendimus. Et insuper ob devotionem memoriam fel. nec. Pii PP II praedecessoris nostri et tui secundum carnem capella S. Andreae in basilica Principis Apostolorum sita quam idem praedecessor admodum et sumptuoso opere ornari procuravit sepulcrum nobilissimum tuo aere construi fecisti ut in dicta capella sepulturam eligere et ad ipsius sepulcri pedes libere et licite valeas tibi eisdem auctoritate et tenore de speciali gratia concedimus et indulgemus."</ref> When the basilica was being rebuilt, the monument was transferred below to the grottoes and the remains of Pius III and his uncle to the church of San Andrea della Valle in Rome put in a mausoleum created by Cardinal [[Alessandro Peretti di Montalto]] in 1614.<ref>{{Cite web|author=Salvador Miranda|url=http://webdept.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1460.htm#Todeschini|title=Todeschini-Piccolomini, Francesco (1439-1503)|publisher=Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church|access-date=21 February 2015}}</ref>
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