Portrait of Pope Adrian VI

When this man was elected in January 1522, the cardinals had settled on a compromise, and the compromise turned out to be a Dutchman who had never even seen Rome. Adriaan Florensz of Utrecht had tutored the young Charles V and was governing Spain when the news reached him. He arrived to a city gutted by plague and furious at a foreigner who spoke little Italian, lived plainly, and meant to cut the spending and the corruption of the Curia. He got barely 20 months. He died in September 1523, and Rome was so relieved that someone hung garlands on his doctor's door. No pope from outside Italy would follow him for 455 years, until 1978.