Papal election, 1241

The papal election from September 21 to October 25, 1241 [Gregorovius gives November 1 for the termination of the election; Kington-Oliphant gives October 16; the difference is due to the election predating the adoption of the Gregorian calendar. See Gregorovius, 1906, p. 218; Kington-Oliphant, 1862, p. 304.] elected Cardinal Goffredo da Castiglione as Pope Celestine IV. The election was the first of many protracted vacancies of the Middle Ages, and like many of them was characterized by disputes between popes and the Holy Roman Emperor. [Miranda, Salvador. 1998. " [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/conclave-xiii.htm Papal elections and conclaves of the XIII Century (1216-1294)] ."] Specifically, the election took place during a lull in the war between Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor against the Lombard League and the deceased pontiff, Pope Gregory IX, with Italy divided between pro-Papal and pro-Imperial factions known as the Guelphs and Ghibellines.

During the "sede vacante", Frederick II surrounded Rome with his armies, blocking the arrival of some cardinal electors known to be hostile to his interests. Unable to reach a consensus, the cardinals were locked in the Septizodium by the Roman civic officials, eventually settling on of their oldest and feeblest members. The conditions within the building are believed to have contributed to the death of one of the "papabile" and even the death of Celestine IV soon after the election. Following Celestine IV's death, the war on the peninsula resumed and the cardinals dispersed for over a year and a half before coming together in Anagni to elect Pope Innocent IV.

The forced sequestration of the cardinals during the election was historically significant, and—along with other papal elections of the thirteenth century—contributed to the development of the papal conclave.

Context

The papacy of Pope Gregory IX (1227-1241) and the kingship of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor took place at a time when centuries-old disputes between the popes and emperors were coming to a head. Frederick II had dedicated troops, but not his own leadership, to the failed Fifth Crusade, to the dismay of the church; following his marriage to Yolande of Jerusalem, he took up the Sixth Crusade but later abandoned it and returned to Italy, for a variety of political, economic, and military reasons. This served as a pretext for his excommunication by Gregory IX, and thinly veiled skirmishes between supporters of the pope and emperor (Guelphs and Ghibellines, respectively) throughout the Italian peninsula, particularly in Lombardy. Before his death, Gregory IX had called for a synod to denounce Frederick II, and the emperor had gone to great lengths to disrupt the gathering, including through the kidnapping of prelates and cardinals.

The conclave took place under the threat of the pall of the surrounding army of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (before he pulled back to Apulia), who had been at odds with Celestine IV, and prevented two cardinals from reaching the election."Christ's Faithful People". " [http://www.cfpeople.org/Books/Pope/POPEp177.htm Celestine IV] .] Frederick II's retreat was meant to show that the Emperor "had made war with Gregory IX, and not with the Church".Gregorovius, 1906, p. 218.]

The election took place in the Septizodium (the "Sette Sole"), where the cardinals were confined by Senator Matteo Rosso Orsini. The conditions of the election were reported to have been stressful, with the urine of Orsini's guards on the rooftop leaking into the election chamber along with the rain. [Abulafia, 1988, p. 350.] The actual forced confinement to the Septizodium took place only for the last two weeks of the conclave. [Bordihn, 2005, p. 376.] It is even alleged that the citizens of Rome, angered by rumors that a , threatened to dig up the corpse of Pope Gregory IX and place it in the Septizodium with the cardinals. A different account states that Orsini himself threatened to have the corpse exhumed and displayed publicly in full papal regalia. [Rotberg, 2001, p. 58.]

Proceedings

The main factions of cardinals were composed of the Gregorians (Rinaldo Conti de Segni, Sinibaldo Fieschi, and Riccardo Annibaldi, who supported the election of Romano Bonaventura), who wished to continue Gregory IX's hostility towards the Holy Roman Emperor, and the "Moderates of the Opposition" (including Giovanni Colonna, Robert Somercotes, and Rainiero Capocci, who supported Castiglione), who advised submission. Frederick II objected to the election of Bonaventura due to his "persecution" of the University of Paris while legate to France, his alleged debauching of Queen Blanche of Castile, and his role in the dispute between Gregory IX and the emperor.

Unable to reach a two-thirds majority, the cardinals requested that Frederick II release the two cardinals whom he held captive. However, when summoned, Giacomo da Pecorara proceeded to excommunicate the emperor; Oddone di Monferrato was allowed to join the election leaving hostages in his place and promising to return to the emperor's custody unless he himself was elected pope. [Gasquet incorrectly states that Pecorara was so released as well, stating also that Oddone (who had excommunicated the emperor from England and raised funds with which Gregory IX had waged war on the emperor) returned to Frederick II's custody before the conclusion of the election. See Gasquet, 1905, p. 199. Henderson also claims that the two prisoners attended the election and thereafter returned to custody together. See Henderson, 1894, p. 395.] Frederick II himself urged the cardinals to make a quick choice::"Like serpents you cling to the earth instead of raising yourself to the skies. Each of you is aiming at the tiara, and no one of you is willing to leave it to the other. Renounce the spirit of faction and of discord! Let the college of cardinals give by unanimous choice to Christendom a pope who will satisfy us and the empire, and whose election will be fore the universal good"."Henderson, 1894, p. 386.]

The heat and shortage of food are likely to have contributed to the death of Somercotes, although the other members of the pro-Imperial faction alleged that he had been poisoned. Fieschi's health also deteriorated severely, apparently causing the future pope to inch closer to death. The remainder of the cardinals were not allowed to leave the Septizodium for the funeral, nor were physicians or servants allowed to enter the building (where a sizable amount of excrement had begun to build up). Bonaventura would also die soon after the election.

Castiglione's advanced age and deteriorating health are likely to have contributed both to his initiative status as "papabile" and his ultimate election, making him an ideal compromise candidate, "stop-gap",Kington-Oliphant, 1862, p. 304.] or "provisional Pope". More critical sources describe Celestine IV as a "feeble, ignorant, old fanatic" who was "destitute of any other qualification"."History of Popery", 1838, p. 138.] One commentator suggested that the cardinals "escaped by electing a dying man". [Ambrosini and Willis, 1969, p. 267.] Still others refer to him as "Orsini's candidate".Bordihn, 2005, p. 376.]

Aftermath

Legacy

By virtue of the cardinals being locked in, the election is sometimes referred to as the "first conclave" (even the "first formal papal Conclave"), although the formal procedures of the conclave would not be developed until the papal election, 1268–1271, and were first implemented in the papal conclave, January 1276. [Duffy, 2006, p. 153.] [Pham, 2006, pp. 62-63.] [Kühner, 1958, p. 89.] In fact, the practice of forced seclusion of the cardinal electors can perhaps even be traced back to the papal election, 1216, where the people of Perugia locked in the cardinals after the death of Pope Innocent III. [A. Bo. 1910. "Encyclopædia Britannica". p. 828.]

Both the 1216 and 1241 elections were important milestones in the development of the tradition of the conclave, but to refer to them as "conclaves" "per se" is a touch anachronistic, as they were not referred to as such contemporaneously. [Levillain, 2002, p. 392.] However, as Baumgartner notes, "although the procedure of voting in a locked room did not become standard for papal elections for three more decades, it was the first conclave, since the word comes from the phrase "cum clave", 'with a key'."

Notes

References

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*Ambrosini, Maria Luisa, and Willis, Mary. 1969. "The Secret Archives of the Vatican". Little, Brown.
*Baumgartner, Frederic J. 2003. "Behind Locked Doors: A History of the Papal Elections". Macmillan. ISBN:0312294638.
*Bordihn, Maria R. 2005. "The Falcon of Palermo". Atlantic Monthly Press. ISBN:0871138808.
*Butler, William Francis Thomas. 1906. " [http://books.google.com/books/pdf/The_Lombard_Communes.pdf?id=w_sjtGzTs2cC&output=pdf&sig=ACfU3U03oDtTT4tc5DNvkudwsY4kqDl5KA&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 The Lombard Communes: A History of the Republics of North Italy] ". C. Scribner's Sons.
*Duffy, Eamon. 2006. "Saints and Sinners: a history of the popes". Yale University Press. ISBN:0300115970.
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