Pico della Mirandola, introduced to the Hebrew Kabbala, becomes the first Christian scholar to use Kabbalistic doctrine in support of Christian theology.

In 1486, planning to defend nine hundred theses he had drawn from diverse Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and Latin writers, he invites scholars from all of Europe to Rome for a public disputation.

For the occasion, he composes his celebrated Oratio.

A papal commission, however, denounces thirteen of the theses as heretical, and Pope Innocent VIII prohibits the assembly.