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1268–1271 papal election

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File:Papal Palace.jpg
Palazzo dei Papi di Viterbo, the roof of which was removed in an attempt to speed up the election

The papal election from November 1268 to September 1, 1271, following the death of Pope Clement IV, was the longest papal election in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.[1][2] The election of Tebaldo Visconti as Pope Gregory X, the first example of a papal election by "Compromise,"[3] was effected by a Committee of six cardinals agreed to by the other remaining ten, occurred more than a year after the magistrates of Viterbo locked the cardinals in, reduced their rations to bread and water, and legendarily removed the roof of the Palazzo dei Papi di Viterbo.[1][4][5]

As a result of the length of the election, during which three of the twenty cardinal-electors died and one resigned, Gregory X promulgated the apostolic constitution, Ubi periculum, on July 7 (or 16), 1274, during the Second Council of Lyon, establishing the papal conclave, whose rules were based on the tactics employed against the cardinals in Viterbo. The election itself is sometimes viewed as the first conclave.[4]

Cardinal electors

The dynamic of the conclave was divided between the French Angevin cardinals, mostly created by Pope Urban IV, who were amenable to an invasion of Italy by Charles of Anjou, and the non-French mostly Italian cardinals whose numbers were just sufficient to prevent a French pope from being elected.[6] Clement IV's crowning of Charles of Anjou as King of Naples and Sicily, previously a papal fief,[7] had cemented the influence of the French monarchy in the Italian peninsula and created an intense division within the College of Cardinals between those who opposed and supported French influence, and by extension: ultramontanism.[8] Conradin, the last ruler of the House of Hohenstaufen had been beheaded in Naples just a month before the death of Clement IV.[9]

Some sources say there were only nineteen cardinal electors;[7] others eighteen or seventeen.[9] In any event, after August 11, 1270, there were only sixteen remaining cardinal electors.[6]

Elector Nationality Order Title Elevated Elevator Notes
Enrico Bartolomei de Susa (or Segusio) French Cardinal-bishop Bishop of Ostia and Velletri 1262, May 22 Urban IV Dean of the College of Cardinals
Resigned and departed on June 8, 1270
Odo of Châteauroux French Cardinal-bishop O.Cist., bishop of Frascati 1244, May 28 Innocent IV
John of Toledo English Cardinal-bishop O.Cist., bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina 1244, Innocent IV
Stefan "Stephen" Vancza† (or Vancsa, or Vancha) Hungarian Cardinal-bishop Bishop of Palestrina 1251, December Innocent IV Died on July 9, 1270, first Hungarian cardinal[10]
Raoul Grosparmi† (Rodolphe de Chevriêres) French Cardinal-bishop Bishop of Albano 1261, December 17 (or 24) Urban IV Died on August 11, 1270
Simone Paltineri (or Paltinieri) Paduan Cardinal-priest Ss. Silvestro e Martino ai Monti 1261, December 17 (or 24) Urban IV Committee member
Simon Monpitie de Brie French Cardinal-priest S. Cecilia 1261, December 17 (or 24) Urban IV Future Pope Martin IV
Ancher Pantaleon (or Antero) French Cardinal-priest S. Prassede 1262, May 22 Urban IV Cardinal-nephew
Guillaume de Bray French Cardinal-priest S. Marco 1262, May 22 Urban IV
Guy de Bourgogne (or Guido) French Cardinal-priest O.Cist., S. Lorenzo in Lucina 1262, May 22 Urban IV Committee member
Annibale Annibaldeschi de Molaria Roman Cardinal-priest O.P., Ss. XII Apostoli 1262, May 22 Urban IV Treated with Philip III of France
and Charles I of Naples[11]
Riccardo Annibaldeschi di Molaria Roman Cardinal-deacon O.S.B., deacon of S. Angelo in Pescheria 1239 Gregory IX Committee member
Nephew of Pope Alexander IV
Ottaviano Ubaldini Florentine Cardinal-deacon Deacon of S. Maria in Via Lata 1244, May 28 Innocent IV Committee member
Giovanni Gaetano Orsini Roman Cardinal-deacon Deacon of S. Nicola in Carcere 1244, May 28 Innocent IV Committee member
Future Pope Nicholas III
Ottobono Fieschi dei Conti di Lavagna Genoese Cardinal-deacon Deacon of S. Adriano 1251, December Innocent IV Future Pope Adrian V, Cardinal-nephew
Uberto Coconati dei Conti d'Elci Sienese Cardinal-deacon Deacon of S. Eustachio 1261, December 17 (or 24) Urban IV
Giacomo Savelli Roman Cardinal-deacon Deacon of S. Maria in Cosmedin 1261, December 17 (or 24) Urban IV Committee member
Future Pope Honorius IV
Goffredo (Geoffroy) da Alatri Neapolitan Cardinal-deacon Deacon of S. Giorgio in Velabro 1261, December 17 (or 24) Urban IV
Giordano dei Conti Pirunto da Terracina† Roman Cardinal-deacon Deacon of Ss. Cosma e Damiano 1262, May 22 Urban IV Died in October 1269, Vice-chancellor
Matteo Orsini Rosso Roman Cardinal-deacon Deacon of S. Maria in Portico 1262, May 22 Urban IV Nephew of Pope Nicholas III

† denotes a cardinal elector who died during the election.

Absentee cardinal

Elector Nationality Order Title Elevated Elevator Notes
Bernard Ayglier French Unknown O.S.B., unknown title Clement IV Unknown Clement IV's only cardinal creation
Some scholars doubt whether he was created cardinal

Procedure

The Duomo di Viterbo, where the election began

The cardinals began the election by meeting and voting once a day in the Viterbo Cathedral before returning to their respective residences; tradition dictated that the election should take place in the Cathedral of the city where the previous pope died, if the late pontiff had died outside Rome.[5] After two months, the cardinals nearly elected Philip Benizi, general of the Servite Order, who had come to Viterbo to admonish the cardinals, but fled to prevent his election.[7] Charles of Anjou was in Viterbo for the entirity of the election;[12] Philip III of France visited the city in March 1271.[7]

Saint Philip Benizi, who was nearly elected after two months

In late 1269, after several months of deadlock during which the cardinals had met only intermittently,[13] Ranieri Gatti,[14] the Prefect of Viterbo, and Albertus de Montebono, the Podesta, ordered (some sources say, at the urging of Saint Bonaventure[15]) the cardinals sequestered in the Palazzo dei Papi di Viterbo until a new pope was elected.[5] On June 8, 1270, the cardinals addressed a Diploma to the two magistrates asking that Enrico Bartolomei de Susa, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, be dismissed from the "Palatio discooperto" ("the uncovered Palace") owing to his ill health and his having already renounced his right to vote.[5] Some sources say that a makeshift roof was reassembled after the cardinals threatened to put the entire city of Viterbo under interdict.[7]

Nationality of Cardinal Electors
Country Number of Electors
France† 7
Rome† 6
England, Florence, Genoa, Hungary†, Naples, Padua, Siena 1
† one cardinal died before final scrutiny

According to the account of Onofrio Panvinio, Cardinal John of Toledo suggested that the roof be removed ("Let us uncover the Room, else the Holy Ghost will never get at us"—the first recorded reference to the notion that the Holy Spirit should guide cardinal electors[7]), which the two magistrates readily obliged.[5] Other sources say it was Charles of Anjou who orchestrated the reduction of the diet of the cardinals to bread and water and removal the roof of the Papal Palace.[16]

The Committee

Under pressure from Philip III of France and other rulers, on September 1, 1271, the cardinals agreed to cede their authority to a committee of six, drawn equally from the French and Italian cardinals, which chose Tebaldo Visconti, a non-cardinal, who was currently in Acre with the retinue of Edward, Prince of Wales (the eldest-son of Henry III of England) as papal legate to the Ninth Crusade.[6] Having been informed of his election, Visconti departed on November 19, 1271 and reached Viterbo on February 12, 1272, where he took the name Gregory X, entered Rome on March 13, 1272 and was crowned on March 27, 1272.[6] During the final leg of his journey, from Brindisi on January 11, 1272, Visconti was accompanied by Charles of Anjou.[5]

Legacy

Main article: Papal conclave

The techniques employed against the dilatory cardinals in Viterbo formed the basis for the canonical laws of papal conclaves as laid out in the apostolic constitution, Ubi periculum, of Pope Gregory X, promulgated during the Second Council of Lyon on July 7 (or 16), 1274.[16] Popular accounts of the conclave, as early as those of French historian Georges Goyau, neglect to mention the political intrigue of Charles of Anjou or his nephew, Philip III of France, as the masterminds of the hardships employed by the "citizens of Viterbo."[16]

Designed both to accelerate future elections and reduce outside interference, the rules of Ubi periculum provide for the cardinal electors to be secluded for the entirety of the conclave, including having their meals passed through a small opening, and for their rations to be reduced to a single meal at the end of three days, or bread and water (with a little wine) after eight days.[16] Cardinals also do not collect from the Apostolic Camera any payments they might otherwise receive during the conclave.[13]

The stringent rules of Ubi periculum were used in the conclaves that elected Pope Innocent V (January 1276) and Pope Adrian V (July 1276), lasting one and nine days respectively.[6] However, at the urgings of the College, the newly-elected Adrian V suspected the constitution on July 12, 1276—indicating that he wished to revise it—and died on August 18, without having promulgated a revised version.[6]

Therefore, the election of Pope John XXI (August-September 1276) did not follow Ubi periculum, and—once elected—John XXI promulgated a bull, Licet felicis recordationis, formally revoking Ubi periculum.[6] The next five papal elections—1277 (Pope Nicholas III), 1280—1281 (Pope Martin IV), 1285 (Pope Honorius IV), 1287—1288 (Pope Nicholas IV), and 1292—1294 (Pope Celestine V)—occurred sans conclave, often at great length. Celestine V, whose election took two years and three months, reinstated the conclave with a series of three decrees, and his successor, Pope Boniface VIII restored the conclave into the Code of Canon Law.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b Wright, David. 2005, April 18. "Inside Longest Papal Conclave in History." ABC News.
  2. ^ McWhirter, Norris. 1983. Guinness Book of World Records. Bantam Books. p. 464.
  3. ^ Trollope, Thomas Adolphus. 1876. The Papal Conclaves, as They Were and as They are. Chapman and Hall. p. 54.
  4. ^ a b Levillain, Philippe, The Papacy: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. ISBN 0415922283. p. 392.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Bower, Archibald. 1766. The History of the Popes: From the Foundation of the See of Rome to the Present Time. p. 283-284.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Miranda, Salvator. 1998. "Papal elections and conclaves of the XIII Century (1216-1294)."
  7. ^ a b c d e f Baumgartner, Frederic J. 2003. Behind Locked Doors: A History of the Papal Elections. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0312294638. p. 41.
  8. ^ Trollope, 1876, p. 59.
  9. ^ a b Trollope, 1876, p. 60.
  10. ^ Levillain, 2002, p. 451.
  11. ^ "Annibale d'Annibaldi" in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia.
  12. ^ The Quarterly Review. 1896. p. 511-512.
  13. ^ a b Bellitto, Christopher M. 2002. The General Councils: A History of the Twenty-one Church Councils from Nicaea to Vatican II. Paulist Press. ISBN 0809140195. p. 61.
  14. ^ Trollope, 1876, p. 61.
  15. ^ Bidwell, Walter Hilliard, and Agnew, John Holmes. Eds. 1876. Eclectic Magazine. p. 476.
  16. ^ a b c d Sladen, Douglas Brooke Wheelton, and Bourne, Francis. 1907. The Secrets of the Vatican. Hurst and Blackett Limited. p. 48-50.
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