The September 1503 papal conclave elected
Pope Pius III
Pope Pius III ( it, Pio III; 9 May 1439 – 18 October 1503), born Francesco Todeschini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 September 1503 to his death. At just twenty-six days, he had one of the shortest ...
to succeed
Pope Alexander VI. Due to the
Italian Wars
The Italian Wars, also known as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts covering the period 1494 to 1559, fought mostly in the Italian peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and the Mediterranean Sea. The pr ...
, the
College of Cardinals
The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. its current membership is , of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinals are app ...
was surrounded by three potentially hostile armies, loyal to
Louis XII of France,
Ferdinand II of Aragon, and
Cesare Borgia (the
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'". ...
and illegitimate son of Alexander VI).
The participation of thirty-nine cardinals, made possible by the delay of the funeral of Alexander VI, made the conclave the largest in history, up to that time, in terms of the number of electors. There were 21 Italian cardinals, 11 Spanish, and 7 French. A convergence of factors undid years of planning by Louis XII and his predecessor
Charles VIII of France to promote the candidacy of
Georges d'Amboise
Georges d'Amboise (1460 – May 25, 1510) was a French Roman Catholic cardinal and minister of state. He belonged to the house of Amboise, a noble family possessed of considerable influence: of his nine brothers, four were bishops. His father, ...
. After receiving far fewer votes than expected on the first ballot due to the independent candidacy of
Giuliano della Rovere
Pope Julius II ( la, Iulius II; it, Giulio II; born Giuliano della Rovere; 5 December 144321 February 1513) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 to his death in February 1513. Nicknamed the Warrior Pope or the ...
and the loss of control of the Spanish cardinals by Cesare Borgia, d'Amboise threw his support to Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini, who was elected ''Pius III'' on the second ballot despite receiving only four on the first.
Background
The conclave was the first in two centuries held under the pall of an "outsider army".
[Baumgartner, 2003, p. 87.] The
Italian Wars
The Italian Wars, also known as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts covering the period 1494 to 1559, fought mostly in the Italian peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and the Mediterranean Sea. The pr ...
had been under way since
Charles VIII of France decided to enforce the
Angevin
Angevin or House of Anjou may refer to:
*County of Anjou or Duchy of Anjou, a historical county, and later Duchy, in France
**Angevin (language), the traditional langue d'oïl spoken in Anjou
**Counts and Dukes of Anjou
* House of Ingelger, a Frank ...
claim to the
Kingdom of Naples, ousting
Ferrante of Aragon
Ferdinando Trastámara d'Aragona, of the Naples branch, universally known as Ferrante and also called by his contemporaries Don Ferrando and Don Ferrante (2 June 1424, in Valencia – 25 January 1494, in Naples), was the only son, illegitimate, of ...
, who in turn was aided by his relative
Ferdinand II of Aragon.
[Baumgartner, 2003, p. 86.]
Alexander VI had initially sided with Ferdinand of Aragon but in 1498 recognized
Louis XII of France, the heir of Charles VIII, as the king of Naples.
Nevertheless, Ferdinand had made serious gains in the war, forcing Louis to send a reinforcement force in 1503 which neared Rome when Alexander VI died in August.
Rather than continue to Naples, Louis XII ordered his force to wait outside Rome for the duration of the conclave.
The Neapolitan army was only forty miles to the South as well.
Cesare Borgia, Alexander VI's former
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'". ...
and
Captain General of the Church also commanded a papal army within the walls of Rome; however, Cesare's influence was weakened by his sudden illness.
The College of Cardinals initially decided to meet in
Castel Sant'Angelo due to the triple threat of armed interference, and the start of the conclave was delayed by the need to prepare the building for this new use and for Cesare acquiesce to removing his troops from the city.
However, on September 3, the College elected to move to a chapel in the
Apostolic Palace
The Apostolic Palace ( la, Palatium Apostolicum; it, Palazzo Apostolico) is the official residence of the pope, the head of the Catholic Church, located in Vatican City. It is also known as the Papal Palace, the Palace of the Vatican and t ...
designed by
Niccolò dell'Arca.
Cardinal-electors
![Georges d'Amboise](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Georges_d%27Amboise.jpg)
There were thirty-nine cardinal electors.
Cardinal
Georges d'Amboise
Georges d'Amboise (1460 – May 25, 1510) was a French Roman Catholic cardinal and minister of state. He belonged to the house of Amboise, a noble family possessed of considerable influence: of his nine brothers, four were bishops. His father, ...
was the favorite of Louis XII, and also expected the support of the faction of Cardinal
Giuliano della Rovere
Pope Julius II ( la, Iulius II; it, Giulio II; born Giuliano della Rovere; 5 December 144321 February 1513) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 to his death in February 1513. Nicknamed the Warrior Pope or the ...
(future Pope Julius II), who had fled to France due to a dispute with Alexander VI.
[Baumgartner, 2003, pp. 86-87.] Furthermore, Charles VII and later Louis XII had been campaigning of d'Amboise's behalf for years and had entered into a secret treaty with Cesare Borgia for the support of the eleven Spanish cardinals (more loyal to Cesare than the Spanish monarch) in exchange for the maintenance of his numerous territorial claims.
[Baumgartner, 2003, p. 88.] Ascanio Sforza
Ascanio Maria Sforza Visconti (3 March 1455 – 28 May 1505) was an Italian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. Generally known as a skilled diplomat who played a major role in the election of Rodrigo Borgia as Pope Alexander VI, Sforza served a ...
, who had been taken prisoner by the French in 1500 when they captured
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, was also freed in exchange for his promise to vote for d'Amboise.
D'Amboise was also bankrolled with a large sum of gold and—according to the Venetian ambassador—no attempt at bribe or threat was spared.
The Roman crowds hailed him as the next pope when he triumphantly entered the city on September 10.
A French agent informed the College that the king would regard it as a "major affront" were the conclave to begin before the arrival of d'Amboise and the other French cardinals.
Della Rovere, from Genoa, also sent a courier to demand the College await his arrival as well.
Rather than begin the conclave after the proscribed ten days after the pope's funeral, the College opted to delay Alexander VI's funeral to accommodate these demands, and the conclave was entered on September 21.
d'Amboise and his supporters were able to arrive in time and only two of the eight absent cardinals were French.
The thirty-nine cardinal-electors made the election the largest since the creation of the
papal conclave.
The ''papabile''
The Roman bookmakers, accustomed to
gambling on papal elections, did not regard d'Amboise's election as certainly as the Roman public.
His odds were set at 13 to 100, while della Rovere's were 15 to 100; Cardinal Piccolomini (elected
Pope Pius III
Pope Pius III ( it, Pio III; 9 May 1439 – 18 October 1503), born Francesco Todeschini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 September 1503 to his death. At just twenty-six days, he had one of the shortest ...
) was the favorite at 30 to 100.
Proceedings
The cardinals began by drafting a
conclave capitulation
A conclave capitulation was a compact or unilateral contract drawn up by the College of Cardinals during a papal conclave to constrain the actions of the pope elected by the conclave. The legal term '' capitulation'' more frequently refers to the ...
, unlike all previous capitulations in that it contained no mention of limiting the
size of the College of Cardinals
The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. its current membership is , of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinals are appo ...
to 24.
It did, however, include a payment of 2,400 ducats from the pope annually to any cardinal with income less than 6,000 ducats.
The French cardinals soon discovered the wisdom of the bookmakers, having underestimated della Rovere's ambition and overestimated his loyalty.
He declared that he would only vote for d'Amboise if he was the final vote needed for d'Amboise to be elected.
Furthermore, della Rovere declared he wished to see an Italian pope rather than a "barbarian" (non-Italian) and feared the return of the
Avignon Papacy
The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1376 during which seven successive popes resided in Avignon – at the time within the Kingdom of Arles, part of the Holy Roman Empire; now part of France – rather than in Rome. The situation a ...
, an opinion shared by all twenty-two Italian cardinals.
d'Amboise agreed to move the French army farther north as a sign of good faith before he realized the intentions of della Rovere.
Ascanio Sforza
Ascanio Maria Sforza Visconti (3 March 1455 – 28 May 1505) was an Italian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. Generally known as a skilled diplomat who played a major role in the election of Rodrigo Borgia as Pope Alexander VI, Sforza served a ...
, however, kept to his word to vote for d'Amboise, although he did not attempt to persuade any other Italian cardinal to do so.
Furthermore,
Cesare Borgia proved too ill to exert control over the Spanish cardinals, who instead followed the instructions of the king of Spain to vote against the French.
[Baumgartner, 2003, p. 89.] The Spaniards themselves could not be elected due to the antagonism of the Italian cardinals against Alexander VI.
Scrutinies
![Pius III, Nordisk familjebok](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Pius_III%2C_Nordisk_familjebok.png)
The different accounts of the conclave (written by the
conclavists
A conclavist was a personal aide of a cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal present in a papal conclave. The term is sometimes used to refer to all present with a conclave, including the cardinal-electors, but is more properly applied only to the non-ca ...
for the various cardinals) disagree on the number of votes received by the three ''
papabile''; on the first scrutiny.
Baumgartner regards as the most accurate the account according 15 votes to della Rovere, 13 to d'Amboise, and 4 to Piccolomini.
This was bad news for d'Amboise, who knew that many of his pledged supporters had promised only to vote for him on the first scrutiny.
Therefore, d'Amboise threw his support to Piccolomini.
Piccolomini was elected by
accessus
Accessus is a term applied to the voting in conclave for the election of a pope, by which a cardinal changes his vote and accedes to some other candidate. Accessus voting was first used in the papal conclave, 1455. The procedure was likely adopte ...
on the second scrutiny, taking the name
Pius III after his uncle
Pius II
Pope Pius II ( la, Pius PP. II, it, Pio II), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini ( la, Aeneas Silvius Bartholomeus, links=no; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August ...
.
The sixty-four-year-old Piccolomini was too ill even to attend this scrutiny.
Since he was only a
deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...
, Piccolomini was ordained a bishop by della Rovere, only to die on October 18.
Notes
References
*Baumgartner, Frederic J. 2003. ''Behind Locked Doors: A History of the Papal Elections''. Palgrave Macmillan. .
*Setton, Kenneth Meyer. 1978. ''The Papacy and the Levant (1204-1571)''. Vol. II. Darby, PA: DIANE Publishing. .
*
F. Petruccelli della Gattina, ''Histoire diplomatique des conclaves'' Volume I (Paris 1864) 435-456
ontains translations of the dispatches of the ambassador of Modena. Bertrando Costabili
{{DEFAULTSORT:1503 09 papal conclave
1503 in the Papal States
Papal conclaves
Italian Wars
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1503 in politics
1503 in Europe
16th-century Catholicism