January 1276 papal conclave

A conclave was held from 21 to 22 January 1276 to elect the successor of Pope Gregory X, who succumbed to illness on the return from the Second Ecumenical Council of Lyon. During the two day conclave, the Dominican friar and cardinal Peter of Tarentaise, bishop of Ostia, was elected pope and took the name Innocent V.

It was the first conclave held under the rules of constitution Ubi periculum, issued by Pope Gregory X in 1274, which established papal conclaves. According to Ubi periculum cardinals were to be secluded in a closed area; they were not even accorded separate rooms. No cardinal was allowed to be attended by more than one servant unless ill. Food was to be supplied through a window; after three days of the meeting, the cardinals were to receive only one dish a day; after five days, they were to receive just bread and water. During the conclave, no cardinal was to receive any ecclesiastical revenue. These provisions were regularly disregarded, at the discretion of the cardinals, particularly the requirement of being incommunicado.

Although several times before papal elections were held in the circumstances similar to those described by Ubi periculum, for the first time such situation was formally required by a papal Constitution. For this reason, the conclave of January 1276 can be considered the first conclave in history in the strictly legal sense of this word.