Pope Alexander VIII

Yohannes acts harshly towards Europeans due to the violent religious controversy that Catholic missionaries had caused in Ethiopia under the reign of his grandfather Susenyos.

He convokes a church council in 1669 in Gondar, directing Gerazmach Mikael to expel all of the Catholics still living in Ethiopia; those who do not embrace the beliefs of the Ethiopian Church are exiled to Sennar.

His reign sees the execution of six Franciscans sent by Pope Alexander VII to succeed in converting Ethiopia to Catholicism where the Jesuits had failed thirty years before.

Yohannes favors Armenian visitors, whose beliefs also embrace Miaphysitism, and are in harmony with the Ethiopian Church.

These include one Murad, who undertakes a number of diplomatic missions for the Emperor.

Arcangelo Corelli had served as first violinist in the San Luigi dei Francesi orchestra, a position he held until 1685, the year in which his 12 Chamber Trio Sonatas for Two Violins, Violone and Violoncello or Harpsichord, Opus 2, were published.

Corelli has served from September 1687 as musical director at the Palazzo Pamphili, where he both performs in and conducts important musical events.

In 1689 he directs the performance of the oratorio Santa Beatrice d'Este by Giovanni Lulier, called del violino, also with a large number of players (thirty-nine violins, ten violas, seventeen cellos, and additional instruments to make a total of more than eighty musicians).

Corelli's Twelve Church Trio Sonatas for Two Violins and Archlute, with Organ Basso Continuo, Opus 3, dedicated to Francesco II, duke of Modena, are published in 1689, the same year he enters the service of Venetian-born Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, in which he is to spend spent the rest of his life.

The seventy-nine-year-old Ottoboni, made cardinal in 1652 and bishop of Brescia in 1654, is elected pope on October 6, 1689, as Alexander VIII.

Corelli, who is particularly skilled as a conductor and may be considered one of the pioneers of modern orchestral direction, is frequently called upon to organize and conduct special musical performances.

Perhaps the most outstanding of these is the one sponsored by Queen Christina of Sweden, who has a residence in Rome, for the British ambassador, who had been sent to Rome by King James II of England to attend the coronation of the new pope.

For this entertainment, Corelli conducts an orchestra of one hundred and fifty strings.

Alexander XIII has initiated measures that lead eventually to a solution of the disputes between the papacy and Louis XIV of France.

Alexander maintains the condemnation of the Gallican Articles of 1682, which restrict papal authority, and opposes Jansenism.

Known also for his blatant nepotism and worldly outlook, he had died on February 1, 1691.

Antonio Pignatelli, who had been made cardinal in 1681 by Pope Innocent XI, emulates his patron’s pontificate after being elected pope on July 12 as Innocent XII.