Editing Pope Pius II (section)

==Illness and death==

On 26 April 1463, Pius II published his most famous retraction in the bull "In Minoribus Agentes," addressed to the rector and members of the University of Cologne. In it, he withdrew his treatise against [[Pope Eugene IV]] and in favor of the Council of Basel. It contained the famous remark, "reject Aeneas, retain Pius" (''Aeneam rejicite, Pium recipite'').<ref>Carolus Fea (ed.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=l-HjYkc_ZtsC&pg=PR1 ''Pius II. Pont. Max. a calumniis vindicatus ternis retractationibus eius quibus dicta et scripta pro concilio Basileensi contra Eugenium PP. IV. eiuravit.''], pp. 148-164, at p. 152. Gregorovius, [https://books.google.com/books?id=P1MZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA171 ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'']. Volume 7, Part 1, p. 171.</ref>

In spite of suffering from a fever, Pope Pius II left Rome for [[Ancona]] on 18 June 1464, arriving on 18 July.<ref>Pastor III, pp. 214-215.</ref> He hoped to increase the morale of the crusading army. However, the armed forces melted away at Ancona for want of transport and the outbreak of pestilence, and when at last the Venetian fleet arrived, led by Doge [[Cristoforo Moro]], the dying Pope could only view it from a window. He died two days later, on 14 August 1464.

The cardinals at Ancona decided to put the papal galleys in the hands of the doge of Venice, on the understanding that they would be handed over to the next pope. They also sent the 48,000 gold ducats which Pius had on hand for the crusade to [[Matthias Corvinus|Matthias of Hungary]]. The crusade of Pius II was at an end.<ref>{{cite book|last=Creighton | title= A History of the Papacy during the period of the Reformation| date= 21 March 1882|volume= II|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PfdJAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA475}}, p. 475.</ref>

Despite the canonical requirement that the conclave to elect a successor should take place in the place where he died, Pius II's body was taken to Rome and interred at the Vatican, in Old St. Peter's Basilica, in the Chapel of St. Andrew. When his nephew, [[Pope Pius III|Pius III]], died in 1503, he was buried next to Pius II. In 1506, because of the demolition of Old St. Peter's, the tombs were moved to the crypt. In 1612, when the church of [[Sant'Andrea della Valle|St. Andrea della Valle]] was completed, the bodies of both popes, as well as parts of their funeral monuments, were moved there and re-entombed on 1 February 1613.<ref>Onuphrio Panvinio (1568), ''Historia B. Platinae de vitis pontificum Romanorum, a D.N. Jesu Christo usque ad Paulum II. venetum ...'' (Cologne: Maternus Cholinus), p. 327. For the new inscriptions, see Vincenzo Forcella (1876), ''Inscrizioni delle chiese e d'altri edificii di Roma,'' {{in lang|it|la}} Vol. VIII (Roma: Ludovico Cecchini 1876), p. 262, no. 660. Carol Richardson (1998), "The Lost Will and Testament of Cardinal Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini (1439-1503)," ''Papers of the British School at Rome'', Vol. 66 (1998), pp. 193-214, at p. 201, note 43.</ref>