Election of the Pope 1118

Gelasius II

The 1118 papal election took place in Rome on January 24th . She made Gelasius II Pope. The ballot was shaped by the conditions of the investiture dispute .

prehistory

On January 21, 1118 Pope Paschal II died at the height of the investiture dispute with Emperor Heinrich V. The Emperor had already been excommunicated since 1112 , Paschalis had only returned to Rome shortly before his death, from where he had to flee from imperial troops have to. Various power groups in the German and Italian parts of the empire were involved in this conflict in a variety of ways in frequently changing alliances.

The vote

The ballot was under the impression of the threat from Henry V, who had been traveling to Italy with military power since 1116. For this reason, the College of Cardinals met on January 24, 1118 (some sources also state that the ballot lasted from January 21 to January 24 ) secretly in the small church of San Sebastiano al Palatino . The cardinals hoped to be safe there from attacks by imperial partisans. In this context, Johannes von Gaeta , cardinal deacon of Santa Maria in Cosmedin , was unanimously chosen as the new Pope. The driving force behind this voting decision is Pietro III. Senex, the Cardinal Bishop of Porto († 1133/34). John, who had been a monk in Montecassino , had served his predecessors as head of the papal chancellery for about thirty years and had shared Paschal's captivity in 1111.

From 1088 on, Johannes had been the first to hold the office of chancellor in the papal chancellery . His choice is therefore often interpreted as a decision to continue Paschal II's course of confrontation with the emperor. The choice of name with reference to Gelasius I can be explained against this background: In the 5th century, Gelasius I had formulated the right to a division of power between the church and secular rulers against Emperor Anastasius I and the Germanic rulers ( two-sword theory ) and at the same time defends the papal possessions against worldly claims.

Immediately after or during the ballot, members of the imperial-friendly noble family of the Frangipani under Cencio II Frangipane broke open the church doors and took the cardinals and the new pope prisoner. In March 1118 the Frangipani had to release Gelasius II for the Pope because of the violent actions of the Roman population and other city nobles.

A few days later it was announced in Rome that Henry V was approaching the city with his army and would reach it by Easter. At this news and despite the arrival of messengers with whom Heinrich offered negotiations, Gelasius II fled to his hometown Gaeta. Heinrich meanwhile had Maurice Bourdin, Archbishop of Braga , elected Pope as Gregory VIII in Rome on May 8th . Gelasius II received the papal ordinations and oaths of allegiance from several Apulian princes in Gaeta on May 9 and 10 .

Cardinals

The composition of the electoral college can no longer be precisely defined today. A list drawn up more than a decade later by Cardinal Pandulf Masca of Pisa names 49 cardinals as participants, but only lists 35 of them by name. However, this list is probably not accurate either, as it contains cardinals who were only appointed by later popes. Pandulf's list is probably based, at least in part, on political considerations of his time, which was shaped by the dispute with antipope Anaklet II .

In Alfonso Chacón's work on the papal elections of 1601, Vitae et res gestae summorum Pontificum a Christo domino usque ad Clemente VIII nec non SRE Cardinalium cum eorumdem insignibus , it is the first papal election for which a cardinals list is listed. Accordingly, the electoral college consisted of the following 51 cardinals, but this list also contains numerous entries that contradict other information about the terms of office of the respective cardinals:

cardinal	nationality	Cardinal title	Appointed	Pope	Other titles	Remarks
Crescentius	Italy	Cardinal Bishop of Sabina	1100	Paschal II.
Pietro III Senex	Italy	Cardinal Bishop of Porto	1102	Paschal II.
Vital I.	Italy	Cardinal Bishop of Albano	1116	Paschal II.
Lamberto Scannabecchi	Italy	Cardinal Bishop of Ostia	1114	Paschal II.	the later Pope Honorius II.
Boniface	Italy	Cardinal Priest of San Marco	1100	Paschal II.
Benedict	Italy	Cardinal priest of San Pietro in Vincoli	1102	Paschal II.
Anastasio	Italy	Cardinal Priest of San Clemente	1112	Paschal II.
Divitius	Italy	Cardinal Bishop of Santi Silvestro e Martino ai Monti	1102	Paschal II.	according to other sources, however, it was not until 1121 that Cardinal Bishop became
Giovanni	Italy	Cardinal priest of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere	1107	Paschal II.
Theobaldus	Italy	Cardinal priest of Santi Giovanni e Paolo	1117	Paschal II.
Rainier	Italy	Cardinal priest of Santi Marcellino e Pietro	1099	Urban II.
Conrad of Suburra	Italy	Cardinal priest of Santa Pudenziana	1113	Paschal II.	the later Pope Anastasius IV.
Gregorius	Italy	Cardinal priest of Santa Prisca	1107	Paschal II.
Desiderius	Italy	Cardinal Priest of Santa Prassede	1115	Paschal II.
Deusdedit	Italy	Cardinal Priest of San Lorenzo in Damaso	1116	Paschal II.
Gregor from Sienna	Italy	Cardinal priest of San Lorenzo in Lucina	1116	Paschal II.
Johannes, OSBCas	Italy	Cardinal priest of Sant'Eusebio	1114	Paschal II.
Guido, OSB	Italy	Cardinal priest of Santa Balbina	1116	Paschal II.
Giovanni da Crema	Italy	Cardinal Priest of San Crisogono	1117	Paschal II.	later papal legate in England
Sasso de Anagni	Italy	Cardinal Priest of Santo Stefano Rotondo	1117	Paschal II.
Petrus Pisanus	Italy	Cardinal Priest of Santa Susanna	1112	Paschal II.
Amicus OSBCas	Italy	Cardinal Priest of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme	1099	Urban II.	according to other sources only from 1020 to cardinal priest of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
Ugo Visconti	Italy	Cardinal priest of Santi XII Apostoli	1112	Paschal II.
Sigizo	Italy	Cardinal Priest of San Sitsto	1117	Paschal II.
John of Gaeta OSBCas	Italy	Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria in Cosmedin	1089	Urban II.	The Pope Gelasius II, elected on this occasion .
Gregor OSB	Italy	Cardinal Deacon of Sant'Eustachio	1108	Paschal II.
Romulado guarana	Italy	Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria in Via Lata	1112	Paschal II.
Gregorio Caetani	Italy	Cardinal Deacon of Santa Lucia in Septisolio			According to recent research, he was not the holder of the office at this time
Aldo da Ferentino	Italy	Cardinal Deacon of Santi Sergio e Bacco	1099	Urban II.
Teobaldo Boccapecora	Italy	Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria Nuova	unknown	probably Paschal II.	The later Pope Elect Celestine II.
Roscemanno Sanseverino OSBCas	Italy	Cardinal Deacon of San Giorgio in Velabro	1106	Paschal II.
Petrus Pierleoni OSBCluny	Italy	Cardinal Deacon of Santi Cosma e Damiano	1109	Paschal II.	the later Pope Anaclet II.
Oderisio di Sangro OSBCas	Italy	Cardinal Deacon of Sant'Agata dei Goti	1112	Paschal II.
Comes	Italy	Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria in Aquiro	1112	Paschal II.
Gregorio Papareschi di Guidoni	Italy	Cardinal Deacon of Sant'Angelo in Pescheria	1116	Paschal II.
Giovanni	Italy	Cardinal Deacon of San Callisto			Probably Cacón wrongly stated, since San Callisto only became titular church in the 15th century.

literature

Stephan Freud: Gelasio II, Enciclopedia dei Papi

Individual evidence

1. ↑ S. Miranda Election of 1119 ; Stroll, 2004, pp. 58-59 and 61-62.