Pope election 1243

| In the papal election of 1243 (May 16 - June 25) Cardinal Sinibaldo Fieschi from Genoa was elected to succeed Celestine IV . The conclave began after the Holy See had been free for 18 months and six days, around 16 May 1243. Nine cardinals were present, so six votes were required for a valid election with a two-thirds majority . It took the cardinals about five weeks to agree on an acceptable candidate. Fieschi took the name Innocent IV .

Pope election 1241

The election that followed the death of Gregory IX. Held on August 22, 1241, was particularly strenuous. There were military operations both inside and outside Rome, cities and properties were destroyed, Guelphs and Ghibellines against each other, and two of the cardinals had been captured by Emperor Frederick II and were in custody. When the electoral assembly began, only ten of the twelve cardinals attended. The cardinals were detained on the orders of the Senator of Rome, Matteo Rosso Orsini , and one cardinal died during that election. After seven weeks of deadlocked negotiations in the summer heat of Rome, the cardinals finally succeeded on October 25th in obtaining the necessary two-thirds majority for Cardinal Goffredo Castiglione, who chose the name Celestine IV . Pope Celestine IV was never crowned . It is also said that he was never ordained, which is pointless since he was already a bishop, and that he never issued a bull , which is controversial. He was an old and sick man who died 17 days after his election on November 10, 1241.

So a second election would have to take place. But even though Pope Celestine was buried, as usual, the day after his death, some cardinals had already left Rome and were unwilling to endure the September and October situation again. Matthew Paris writes that perhaps six or seven cardinals had left Rome, from which it follows that only one or two remained. This certainly includes Cardinal Raynaldus dei Conti and Cardinal Sinibaldo Fieschi. Matthew also reports that the cardinals who stayed in Rome went into hiding with friends and relatives, and some of them were sick.

No choice 1242

Emperor Friedrich had left the area around Rome in September 1241 while the election was still in progress. In October he was at his palace in Foggia . His third wife Isabella of England , the daughter of Johann Ohneland died on December 1, 1241, his son Heinrich (VII.) (Unsecured) on February 12, 1242. He spent the whole of 1242 in the south, mostly in Foggia, Capua or Naples and did not approach Rome or the cardinals, but was in contact with them. In February 1242 he sent three ambassadors to Rome to the Curia to negotiate a peace. Friedrich wanted the cardinals to come together and elect a pope. He also wrote to them directly, offering the release of Cardinals Giacomo de Pecorara and Oddone de Monferrato if they took part in the election. The emperor wrote a second time, in May, an elaborate rhetorical exercise based on the "topos" of the church as a ship without its helmsman and the danger of shipwreck ( schism ) - this was addressed to the public. Another letter followed in July, more directly accusing the Cardinals of throwing the ship off course: How could they point the right path to those who had deviated from the right path when they themselves were not following the right path?

In the spring of 1243, after a sedis vacancy that had lasted for more than fifteen months, cardinals who had gathered at Anagni during this period wrote a letter to an English prelate: “R [aynaldus] Ostiensis et Velletrensis, J [ohannes] tituli Sanctae Praxedis, S [inibaldus] tituli Sancti Luarentii in Lucina, S [tephanus] tituli Sanctae Mariae trans Tyberim, presbyteri; R [Aynerius] Sanctae Mariae in Cosmedin, E [gidius] Sanctorum Cosmae et Damiani, O [tho] Sancti Nicholai in carcere Tulliano, diaconi; sanctae Ecclesiae Romanae Cardinales. ”Oddone di Monferrato signed the letter, which also happened in Anagni: he was released by the emperor in August 1242. Cardinal Romano Bonaventura did not sign, he died on February 21, 1243. The names of these seven cardinals indicate who had left Rome at the time and that the balance between the imperial party ( Ghibellines ), led by the Colonna , and the opposition, led by the Orsini , changed. The “maybe six, maybe seven” cardinals who stayed in Rome immediately after the death of Celestine IV did not constitute a party, only those who had not yet made up their minds what to do. If one adds Giacomo de Pecorara to these seven named cardinals, who was still held by the emperor, then only one cardinal was not present in Anagni: Ricardus Hannibaldi

Anagni Cathedral

In February 1243, the Emperor Frederick ordered his army to be set up for April 1st. He met the army in Capua and in May he moved north towards Rome, where he began attacking and destroying castles and causing as much destruction as possible. The two cardinals still living in Rome fled to Anagni, and now that these eight cardinals were gathered, they asked the emperor, who consented to their request to return to his kingdom. Friedrich then released Cardinal Pecorara, whom he had held prisoner since his capture in the sea ​​battle of Giglio in May 1241. However, the emperor expected the cardinals to be cooperative and elect a pope. Yet they refused to start a conclave. Friedrich showed his anger by sending his army against Rome. The Romans now complained that the failure to elect a Pope after so many months was not their fault, but that of the persistent and contentious cardinals who went into hiding. Friedrich then redirected his army to the cardinal and church property.

Cardinals

Nicholas of Calvi , the biographer of Gregory IX. and Innocent IV, writes that it took a year, six months and six days (until May 16, 1243) for the cardinals to finally sit down to vote in the cathedral of Anagni . At that time there were nine cardinals:

cardinal	origin	rank	Title (church)	Appointed on	by	Remarks
Reynaldus de 'Conti	Jenne	Cardinal Bishop	Bishop of Ostia and Velletri	September 18, 1227	Gregory IX.	later Pope Alexander IV (1254–1261)
Giacomo da Pecorara , O.Cist.	Piacenza	Cardinal Bishop	Bishop of Palestrina	September 5, 1231	Gregory IX.	Held captive by Frederick II; he was released in May 1243
Romano Bonaventure	Rome	Cardinal Bishop	Bishop of Porto-Santa Rufina	1216	Innocent III.	Not to be confused with Bonaventure , who lived at the same time ; Cardinal Romano died during the Sedis vacancy on February 21, 1243, before the election began.
Stefano de Normandis dei Conti	Rome	Cardinal priest	Santa Maria in Trastevere	1216	Innocent III.
Giovanni Colonna	Rome	Cardinal priest	Santa Prassede	February 18, 1212	Innocent III.	The first Colonna cardinal
Sinibaldo Fieschi	Lavagna	Cardinal priest	San Lorenzo in Lucina	September 18, 1227	Gregory IX.	later Pope Innocent IV.
Raniero Capocci , O.Cist.	Todi	Cardinal deacon	Santa Maria in Cosmedin	1216	Innocent III.	Cardinal Protodeacon
Gil Torres	Spain	Cardinal deacon	Santi Cosma e Damiano	December 1216	Honorius III.
Oddone di Monferrato	Montferrat	Cardinal deacon	San Nicola in Carcere	September 18, 1227	Gregory IX.
Riccardo Annibaldi	Rome	Cardinal deacon	Sant'Angelo in Pescheria	1237	Gregory IX.	Rector of Campagna e Marittima, nephew of Cardinal Rinaldo Conti de Segni

The vote

Romanus Bonaventura, Cardinal Bishop of Porto (1236-1243) died on February 21, 1243. The number of cardinals had fallen to nine, so six were needed for a two-thirds majority.

The cardinals finally met in the Cathedral of Anagni around May 16, 1243, if Nicholas of Calvi reports correctly. Despite the vicissitudes that have occurred since the death of Gregory IX. and the devastation of Emperor Frederick's army, it took the cardinals five weeks to elect a Pope. Nothing is known about the deliberations during this period, except that they elected Cardinal Sinibaldo Fieschi from Genoa, a relative of the Counts of Lavania, as Pope Innocent IV on June 25, 1243 (Nicholas of Calvi) or on the feast day of John the Baptist ( June 24th) ( Matthäus Paris ) At the time of the election the Emperor Frederick was in Melfi , where, when he heard the news, he ordered the Te Deum to be sung throughout his kingdom.

Pope Innocent IV. Was born on the Sunday after the feast day of John the Baptist, d. H. consecrated and crowned on June 28th . There is no concrete testimony, but the right to ordain the Pope belonged to the Bishop of Ostia, Raynaldus dei Conti, and the right to crown him belonged to the elder cardinal deacon ("Prior diaconum"), the Cistercian Ranerius Capocci.

Remarks

1. ^ Ferdinand Gregorovius , History of Rome in the Middle Ages , revised 2nd edition, (London: George Bell, 1906) Book 9, Chapters 5–6, pp. 205–233
2. ^ August Potthast , Regesta pontificum Romanorum I (Berlin 1874), p. 940 a.
3. ^ Henry Richards Luard (ed.), Matthaei Parisiensis, Monachi Sancti Albani, Chronica Majora Volume IV. AD 1240 to AD 1247 (London: Longman 1880), on the year 1241, p. 194.
4. ↑ which he calls Ricardus Hanibal, Episcopus Ostiensis (and thus increases the confusion). Ricardus Annibale was Cardinal Deacon of Sant 'Angelo in Pescheria. Raynaldus and Riccardo are two different cardinals.
5. ↑ Alphonse Huillard-Bréholles (ed.), Historia diplomatica Friderici Secundi Volume 6, Part 2 (Paris, Plon 1861); Volume 6, part 2 (Paris: Plon 1860), pp. 947-950.
6. ^ Henry Richards Luard (ed.), Matthaei Parisiensis, Monachi Sancti Albani, Chronica Majora Volume IV. (London 1880), on the year 1242, pp. 239-240.
7. ↑ Alphonse Huillard-Bréholles, (Ed.), Historia diplomatica Friderici Secundi Volume 6t, Part 1 “a mense Septembri 1241 ad mensem Julium 1247” (Paris: Plon 1860), pp. 35–36: Cum ad unanimam et salubrem provisionem Ecclesiae generalis tanquam Romanus Cesar et princeps catholicus intendamus, ut omnis omnino defectus et materia scandali in substitutione novi pontificis auferantur, venerabilem Penestrinum episcopum et Ottonem Sancti Nicholai in carcere Tulliano diaconum cardinalem, qui de mandato nosor offer paratosor nosor Capue intersint electioni predicte in loco tuto et ydoneo, ne ipsis absentibus et intra provinciam commorantibus nec vocatis, defectus possit aliquis in electione notari ... .
8. ↑ Alphonse Huillard-Bréholles (ed.), Historia diplomatica Friderici Secundi , p. 36: Quales semitas ostenditis errantibus, qui a directionis gressibus deviatis?
9. ^ Henry Richards Luard (ed.), Matthaei Parisiensis, Monachi Sancti Albani, Chronica Majora Volume 4 (London 1880), on the year 1243, p. 250.
10. ↑ Ryccardus de S. Germano , Chronica , in Georg Heinrich Pertz (ed.), Monumenta Germaniae Historica : Scriptorum Volume 19 (Hannover 1866), pp. 383–384: Mense Madii [1243] imperator ipse de Capua movens, et per Sanctum Germanum transitum habens et per Aquinum, aput Flagellam se contulit; ubi faciens aliquandiu moram, inde per Campaniam, facto ponte super flumen Ceperani, transitum habens, super Urbem vadit, ubi turres nonnullas funditus fecit everti, faciens in aliis etiam quam potuit vastitatem; et tunc ad preces cardinalium from Urbe discedens, est reversus in regnum. Item mense Madii Praenestinus episcopus imperatore mandante liberatus est, et aput Anagniam ad cardinales cum honore remissus .
11. ↑ Lodovico Antonio Muratori , Rerum Italicarum Scriptores Volume 3 (Milan 1723), Chapter 7, p. 592a
12. ↑ Agostino Paravicini Bagliani, Cardinali di Curia e 'familiae' cardializie dal 1227 al 1254 , Volume 1, (Padua, 1972), pp. 41-53.
13. ↑ Ryccardus de S. Germano, Chronica in Georg Heinrich Pertz (ed.), Monumenta Germaniae Historica Volume 19, pp. 383-384.
14. ^ "Necrologio di S. Maria in Trastevere," in Pietro Egidi, Necrologi e libri affini della Provincia Romana (Rome 1908), p. 91.
15. ↑ Matthäus Paris (Luard edition), Volume 4, p. 256; But Matthew also states (p. 249) that the meeting took place in Rome
16. ↑ Ryccardus de S. Germano, p. 384.