The May 1605 papal conclave was convened on the death of
Pope Leo XI
Pope Leo XI ( it, Leone XI; 2 June 153527 April 1605), born Alessandro Ottaviano de' Medici, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 April 1605 to his death in April 1605. His pontificate is one of the briefest in his ...
and ended with the election of Cardinal Camillo Borghese as
Pope Paul V
Pope Paul V ( la, Paulus V; it, Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death in January 1621. In 1611, he honored ...
. This was the second conclave of 1605, with the one that had
elected Leo XI having concluded just 37 days earlier. It is significant for having the only recorded case of an injury at a papal conclave, which was the result of a physical fight amongst the cardinals over who should be elected pope.
Background
Pope Clement VIII
Pope Clement VIII ( la, Clemens VIII; it, Clemente VIII; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1592 to his death in March 1605.
Born ...
died in March 1605. The 60 cardinal electors who met in the conclave to elect his successor were split among various factions roughly equally divided between loyalty to France and to Spain. In addition to the secular politics that influenced these papal elections, during this period they were marked by a strategy among elite families to acquire prestige and power. These strategies often played out over several generations through patronage and the accumulation of wealth, and bestowing favours on family members once an individual's election to the papacy was expected.
Sources from the time of the
March 1605 conclave listed up to twenty-one possible candidates considered by the cardinals, but the only ones that were seriously discussed during the conclave were
Cesare Baronius and Alessandro Ottaviano de' Medici. That conclave saw Spain
veto
A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...
Cesare Baronius after the first ballot. Medici, the candidate who was finally elected, was also vetoed by the cardinal representing Spain but this occurred after the election of Leo XI, and the cardinals did not view the veto as valid.
The March conclave had also seen the rival Aldobrandini and Montalto factions unable to elect a member of either of their families to the papacy, and both eventually agreed to elect Leo XI, a member of the cadet branch of the
Medici
The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mu ...
.
Leo was 70 at the time of his election and, though in good health previously, fell ill on the day of his coronation. He died on 27 April 1605, 26 days after his election to the papacy. During his illness, Leo had been encouraged to appoint a
cardinal nephew
A cardinal-nephew ( la, cardinalis nepos; it, cardinale nipote; es, valido de su tío; pt, cardeal-sobrinho; french: prince de fortune)Signorotto and Visceglia, 2002, p. 114. Modern French scholarly literature uses the term "cardinal-neveu'". ...
, but declined to do so.
Conclave
In addition to Leo, another cardinal had died, reducing the number of cardinal electors in the May conclave to 59. At the beginning of the conclave
Alessandro Peretti di Montalto
Alessandro Damasceni Peretti di Montalto (1571 – 2 June 1623) was an Italian Catholic Cardinal Bishop. He received the title by his uncle Felice Peretti after the latter was elected Pope Sixtus V on 24 April 1585, in the consistory on 13 May ...
supported
Antonio Sauli. A significant number of the electors loyal to
Pietro Aldobrandini
Pietro Aldobrandini (31 March 1571 – 10 February 1621) was an Italian cardinal and patron of the arts.
Biography
He was made a cardinal in 1593 by his uncle, Pope Clement VIII. He took over the duchy of Ferrara in 1598 when it fell to the P ...
, the nephew of Clement VIII, were willing to support Sauli. Aldobrandini, however, opposed Sauli's election due to Sauli's previous opposition to electing Clement, and was able to prevent Sauli from reaching the two-thirds majority required for election.
Aldobrandini moved to support
Robert Bellarmine
Robert Bellarmine, SJ ( it, Roberto Francesco Romolo Bellarmino; 4 October 1542 – 17 September 1621) was an Italian Jesuit and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was canonized a saint in 1930 and named Doctor of the Church, one of only 37. ...
for the papacy, but Bellarmine said he would "not lift a straw" to advance his own election. Anselmo Marzato opposed Bellarmine, and was able to undermine his candidacy because he had taken a very public position on the
De Auxilliis controversy. Bellarmine was eventually
vetoed
A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto pow ...
by Spain, which put an end to his candidacy. Aldobrandini also moved for the election of
Domenico Toschi
Domenico Toschi (June 11, 1535 – March 26, 1620) was an Italian soldier, jurist, and cardinal of the Catholic Church.
He was born in Castellarano in Reggio Emilia to a poor family. After having originally served as a soldier, Toschi trained in R ...
, going so far as to get 38 electors to bring him to the
Pauline Chapel to be acclaimed pope.
Caesar Baronius
Cesare Baronio (as an author also known as Caesar Baronius; 30 August 1538 – 30 June 1607) was an Italian cardinal and historian of the Catholic Church. His best-known works are his ''Annales Ecclesiastici'' ("Ecclesiastical Annals"), wh ...
, however, was opposed to Toschi's election and spoke against it, causing his friends to urge for Baronius's election as pope.
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5/15 April 1588 – 4/14 December 1679) was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book ''Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influ ...
later reported that Baronius's opposition to Toschi was based on Toschi's frequent usage of the word ''cazzo'', Lombard slang for ''penis'', and that he urged the cardinals not to elect Toschi because of this. This led to a physical altercation between the two sides that could be heard on the streets outside the conclave. The fight resulted in the only known instance of serious injury being suffered in a conclave with
Alfonso Visconti having several broken bones.
Election of Paul V
Following the disruption, a vote no was taken and it became clear that Toschi lacked the support needed for election by two votes. The leaders of the competing factions met to select a compromise candidate and Camillo Borghese was unanimously elected pope the same day. Borghese had been among the ''
papabili
''Papabile'' (, also , ; ; or "able to be pope") is an unofficial Italian term first coined by Vaticanologists and now used internationally in many languages to describe a Catholic man, in practice always a cardinal, who is thought a likel ...
'' at the conclave that had elected Leo XI, but was considered too young at the time to become pope. At the May conclave, it became clear to the electors that he would be the only candidate acceptable to all the factions, and he was elected as a compromise candidate, taking the name Paul V.
As a cardinal, Paul had previously maintained neutrality between the great powers of Spain and France that had dominated the previous conclave and were present in the current one as well. While he had been the papal envoy to Spain and was receiving a pension from them, he was largely low profile as a cardinal and perceived as neutral. At 54, Paul was young at the time of his election, and was anticipated to have a lengthy papacy, not requiring a third conclave soon.
See also
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Cardinal electors for the papal conclave, May 1605
The papal conclave of May 1605 was convened on the death of Pope Leo XI and ended with the election of Camillo Borghese as Pope Paul V on 16 May 1605. It was the second of two papal conclaves in 1605, with Leo dying on 27 April 1605, twenty-six ...
Notes
References
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1605 in the Papal States
17th-century elections in Europe
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17th-century Catholicism