Renaissance
Rome was politically powerful, because Rome had the Pope, the person in control of the Roman Catholic Church. Because of his very great importance as a spiritual leader, most people and most cities did not want to argue with any pope. After a pope died, a new pope was elected. Everyone who was rich and powerful hoped a member of their family would be chosen. It was always a good idea to have several young men in the family trained as priests, just in case. It also helped to be good friends with other rich families. One way to do this was to have lots of daughters and get them to marry rich powerful men from different cities. This was the way that politics worked.