Election
conclave
The 1559 papal conclave (5 September – 25 December) was convened on the death of Pope Paul IV and elected Pope Pius IV as his successor. Due to interference from secular rulers and the cardinals' disregard for their supposed isolation from the outside world, it was the longest conclave of the 16th century.
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Text from the Wikipedia article “1559 papal conclave”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The 1559 papal conclave (5 September – 25 December) was convened on the death of Pope Paul IV and elected Pope Pius IV as his successor. Due to interference from secular rulers and the cardinals' disregard for their supposed isolation from the outside world, it was the longest conclave of the 16th century.
Pope Paul IV died on 18 August 1559, aged 83. His church reforms had mainly been based on repressive measures such as the Inquisition and the Index of Forbidden Books – he had no confidence in the Council of Trent, dissolving it in 1552 and not reviving it.
Even cardinals were accused of heresy – at the time of Paul IV's death, Cardinal Morone was a prisoner of the Inquisition in the castel Sant' Angelo. Paul IV, fearing that Morone might become his successor, issued the papal bull Cum ex officio Apostolatus, which stipulated that a heretic could not be validly elected pope – however, this was in vain since the College of Cardinals released Morone after Paul's death and allowed him to take part in the conclave. The bull also covered Cardinal d'Este, who Paul complained was trying to become pope by simony.
Paul IV's reforms did not abolish nepotism, however – 3 of the cardinals at the conclave were Paul's nephews, the most influential being Carlo Carafa and the other two being Diomede Carafa and Alfonso Carafa. On the model of pope Alexander VI (one of the Borgia popes, who had died on the same date as Paul 56 years earlier), Paul had tried to build up his family's power in Italy, mainly at the expense of the Colonna family, whose many lands (including the imperial Palia fiefdom) were seized and handed over to the Carafa family. Paul's nephews ruled even more brutally than he and abused their power so much that at one point Paul was forced to step in, stripping Carlo of power early in 1559. Carlo never regained his uncle's favour and after Paul's death he and Paul's other two cardinal-nephews had good reason to fear their enemies would now take revenge.
Paul IV was rigidly orthodox, intolerant, and authoritarian in manner. Spontaneous riots broke out in Rome after his death, with crowds toppling his statue and attacking the Inquisition's headquarters. Thus 3700 troops were brought in to keep order, including 300 cavalry.
At the time of the conclave there were 55 cardinals, 47 of whom participated in it. Of those 47, one died during the conclave (Capodiferro) and two had to leave early due to illness:
Of these 47 cardinals, 37 were Italians, 7 French, 2 Spanish and 1 German. 13 had been appointed by Pope Paul IV, 11 by Pope Julius III, 20 Pope Paul III, 2 by Pope Clement VII and 1 by Pope Leo X.
8 cardinals (5 French, 1 Spanish, 1 Portuguese and 1 Italian) did not come to the conclave. 2 of these 8 died during its sitting:
The College of Cardinals was divided into three factions: a Spanish one (17 Cardinals headed by cardinals Sforza and Madruzzo), a French one (16 cardinals headed by Ippolito d'Este and de Guise) and an "Italian" one (14 cardinals headed by Carlo Carafa and Alessandro Farnese). A few cardinals remained neutral. The Spanish ambassador, Don Francisco de Vargas Mejía, regularly slipped into the conclave to counsel the Spanish group.
The French candidates for pope were d'Este, Gonzaga and Tournon. The King of France favoured Cardinal Carpi. Philip II of Spain preferred cardinals Carpi, Morone, Puteo, Medici and D'Oler – in short, any candidate other than d'Este or a Frenchman. Cosimo I, Duke of Florence, favored, although no relation, Cardinal Giovanni Angelo de' Medici, younger brother of Gian Giacomo Medici, an Imperial general in Germany and Siena. In total there were over 20 candidates.
For Carlo Carafa, choosing the new pope was literally a matter of life and death and so he mainly used the conclave to obtain guarantees that he and his relatives would not be punished for their abuses. He had one serious advantage – the Italian cardinals nominated by his uncle Paul remained loyal to him. He favoured Carpi and Gonzaga for pope. Although his uncle was an enemy of the Spanish, and encouraged France, Carlo decided to ally himself with the Spanish party.
The papacy was under criticism for failing to address abuses, and the college of cardinals was split between moderates and conservatives, as well as along national lines.
The conclave began on 5 September 1559, with 40 cardinals present. Exploiting the fact that the French cardinals had not yet arrived in Rome, the Spanish faction tried to get Carpi elected by acclamation, but this attempt failed because Sforza (one of the factions leaders) opposed Carpi's election and secretly agreed with d'Este that he should lose.
In this situation, the normal procedures were implemented. On 8 September electors signed the electoral capitulation, requiring the pope who was elected to continue reform of the church and the curia and to resume the deliberations of the council of Trent and promote peace between Christian princes. By the end of September seven more cardinals had arrived in Rome.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1559 conclave”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.