Pope election 1280–1281

In the papal election from 1280-81 (September 22nd - February 22nd) Simon de Brion was the successor of Nicholas III. elected; he took the name Martin IV. to

The lengthy election is unique because of the arrest and incarceration of two cardinals - Matteo Rubeo Orsini and Giordano Orsini - by the Viterbo magistrate on charges that they “obstructed” the election. Just a decade earlier, the Viterbo magistrate had intervened in the election of the Pope from 1268 to 1271 by removing the roof tiles from the Palazzo dei Papi di Viterbo to speed up the deadlocked competition. The removal of the Orsini happened just like the subsequent election of Simon de Brion due to the influence of Charles of Anjou

context

The previous meeting of the cardinals, the papal election in 1277 , had dragged on for six months, as the six cardinals present (the lowest number in the history of the Roman Catholic Church) were evenly divided between the two factions, the Roman and the Angevin . The old Giovanni Gaetano Orsini was finally elected Pope (Nicholas III) - to the displeasure of Charles I of Naples, whom the three French cardinals had supported.

Previously, Pope Clement IV had crowned Charles King of Sicily (formally a papal fiefdom), but did not manage to fill the college of cardinals with like-minded people. The papal election after Clemens' death was the longest in church history, when Teobaldo Visconti was finally elected as Gregory X., an outsider who in his pontificate was almost exclusively concerned with advocating a new crusade . Although Gregory X. had written the Papal Bull Ubi periculum in 1274 to speed up contested papal elections, it was not in force in 1280 because Pope Hadrian V suspended it and Pope John XXI. she had revoked.

The Palazzo dei Papi in Viterbo

Procedure

Since the beginning of the conclave, the anti-Angevin faction, which consisted mainly of cardinals, Nicholas III. who controlled many key positions in the college and included three Orsini cardinals, was consolidated as an almost unbreakable electoral bloc. The breakthrough came after Charles I replaced Orso Orsini , the Podestà of Viterbo, with Riccardello Annibaldi , who then intervened in the election by arresting the two Orsini cardinals and removing them from the conclave and thus the pro-Angevin faction and made it possible for Aldobrandino Aldobrandeschi's supporters to elect Simon de Brion, the candidate favored by Charles I.

aftermath

The capture of the two cardinals also led to an interdict in the city of Viterbo. Due to the interdict and the hostility of the city of Rome to a pontiff who supported the Anjous, Martin IV was forced to move the Roman Curia to Orvieto , where he was crowned on March 23, 1281 .

Martin IV remained dependent on Charles throughout his pontificate; shortly after his coronation, on April 29th, he appointed Charles a Roman senator and helped him in his attempts to restore the Latin Empire , also through the excommunication of the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII. Palaeologus Martin IV also supported Charles after the Sicilian Vespers , as he Peter III. excommunicated from Aragón , who had recently been elected King of Sicily, also declared his kingship in Aragón null and void and ordered a crusade against him that led to a 20-year war.

The first seven cardinals appointed by Martin IV were French, but the coincidence that Martin and Charles died in the same year (1285) meant that the French influence on the Curia began to weaken thereafter.

Eligible voters

The following took part in the papal election:

cardinal	origin	Cardinal title	Appointed on	by	Other ecclesiastical titles	Remarks
Ordonho Alvares	Portugal	Cardinal Bishop of Frascati	March 12, 1278	Nicholas III	Cardinal Dean
Latino Malabranca Orsini , OP	Rome	Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and Velletri	March 12, 1278	Nicholas III	Inquisitor General	Cardinal deposit
Bentivenga da Bentivengi , OFM	Acquasparta	Cardinal Bishop of Albano	March 12, 1278	Nicholas III	Major Penalty
Anchero Pantaléone	France	Cardinal Priest of Santa Prassede	May 22, 1262	Urban IV.	Cardinal Protopriest	Cardinal deposit
Simon de Brion	France	Cardinal priest of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere	December 17, 1261	Urban IV.		Pope Martin IV
Guillaume de Bray	France	Cardinal Priest of San Marco	May 22, 1262	Urban IV.
Gerardo Bianchi	Parma	Cardinal priest of Santi XII Apostoli	March 12, 1278	Nicholas III
Girolamo Masci , OFM	Lisciano	Cardinal priest of Santa Pudenziana	March 12, 1278	Nicholas III		later Pope Nicholas IV.
Giacomo Savelli	Rome	Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria in Cosmedin	December 17, 1261	Urban IV.	Cardinal Protodeacon	later Pope Honorius IV.
Goffredo da Alatri	Alatri	Cardinal Deacon of San Giorgio in Velabro	December 17, 1261	Urban IV.
Matteo Rubeo Orsini	Rome	Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria in Portico	May 22, 1262	Urban IV.		Arrested by the Viterbo magistrate
Giordano Orsini	Rome	Cardinal Deacon of Sant'Eustachio	March 12, 1278	Nicholas III		Arrested by the Viterbo magistrate, cardinal depository
Giacomo Colonna	Rome	Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria in Via Lata	March 12, 1278	Nicholas III

Did not take part in the papal election:

cardinal	origin	Cardinal title	Appointed on	by	Other ecclesiastical titles	Remarks
Bernhard Ayglerius , OSB	France	unknown	1265 or 1268	Clement IV	Abbot of Montecassino	“Retired” (also with the conclave of 1268–1271, the three conclaves of 1276 and the conclave of 1277); it is doubted that he was ever made cardinal

literature

• Paul Durrieu Les Archives Angevines de Naples. Étude sur les registres du Roi Charles Ier Volume II, Paris 1887, p. 186
• Richard Sternfeld , The Conclave of 1280 and the Election of Martin IV (1281) . Communications from the Institute for Austrian Historical Research 21 (1910), pp. 1–53.
• Konrad Eubel , Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi , Volume I, 2nd edition, 1913
• Charles Herbermann (Ed.), Pope Martin IV . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1913
• Philippe Levillain (Ed.): The Papacy: An Encyclopedia . Routledge, 2002
• George L. Williams, Papal Genealogy: The Families and Descendants of the Popes , McFarland, of 2004.

Web links

• Salvador Miranda , Papal elections and conclaves of the 13th century (1216-1294) , ( online )
• JP Adams Sede Vacante of 1268-1271 ( online )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Popes Marinus I and Marinus II were earlier due to a mistake than Martin II and Martin III. counted
2. ^ According to previous research, Karl von Anjou was present for the election in Viterbo; however, Paul Durrieu's research in the Anjou archives shows that Charles was not in the region at all during the conclave
3. ↑ The incarceration of the two cardinals meant that the new French Pope was not welcome in Rome and therefore did not appear there during his 45-month pontificate
4. ↑ One of the first acts of Martin IV. Was the Orsini cardinal nepot of his predecessor Nikolaus III. remove them from key posts and replace them with French and pro-French candidates
5. ↑ This act led to the dissolution of the fragile union of the Eastern and Western Churches, which had been negotiated in 1274 at the Council of Lyons