Wild Medieval Papal Conclaves

Three times in the 13th and 14th century when papal elections lasted more than two years and shaped the process of papal elections

May 07, 2025

In the spirit of the conclave beginning today in Rome, I wanted to revisit three medieval papal elections that lasted more than two years. Obviously, a lengthy interregnum had a lot of issues in medieval Europe as the Holy See was a massive landowner and wielder of political power.

The Papal Election of 1268-1271

This is one of the better known elections because it was such a disaster and ultimately gave the church the concept of the Conclave. It began in November 1268 in Viterbo just to the north of Rome and home to one of the many papal residences.

There were twenty cardinals at Pope Urban’s death. One elector never came (he was on crusade with Louis XII and died there), but the other 19 gathered to began the process of electing a new pope. The cardinals were split into two factions, the French (I am using French loosely here, think Francophone) who supported Charles I of Anjou and his plans to invade Italy. He was backed by his powerful uncle, Philip III, King of France. On the other side were the Italians who naturally did not want to be occupied. However, the Italians didn’t have enough of a majority to elect their candidate.

The election drug on and on. So long that two of the cardinals died during the process. Finally, under external pressure, magistrates in Viterbo started making the cardinals life a bit more difficult. The cardinals were locked in the Palazzo dei Papi in Viterbo. This is where conclave comes from—cum clave (with a key). When that didn’t work, the cardinals suffered reductions to their food, finally limited to bread and water. In an extraordinary move, the roof was removed, in hopes that the brutal Italian sun would force the matter. Under threat of interdict on the city of Viterbo, they were provided some sort of temporary covering.

Still at gridlock, a council of six cardinals were given the authority to select a pope. On September 1, 1271, they settled on a non-cardinal, Teobaldo Visconti, to end the gridlock. Unfortunately, he was in Acre with the future Edward I, serving as the papal legate on the crusade. Word reached him in November and he made his way back to Viterbo in February 1272. First things first, Teobaldo was ordained in Rome at St. Peter’s and then crowned as Gregory X on March 27, 1272, more than three years after his predecessor, Clement IV, died.

Establishing Conclave? Sort of…

During the Second Council of Lyon in July 1274, Gregory X enacted Ubi Periculum in order to speed up the process of papal elections. The document established the conclave as well as reductions in food if the process drew out too long. Ubi Periculumwas observed in the next two elections with both conclaves electing popes with a week, but it wouldn’t last.

1276 was the year of four popes, not because of schism, but rapid death. Gregory X died January 10th and Innocent V was rapidly elected on January 21. However, he only served five months before dying in June. His successor, Adrian V was elected July 11. He revoked Ubi Periculum in July, supposedly with the intent of amending the document, but died August 18 without having published any revisions.

It wasn’t a problem in the next election with John XXI elected on September 8, just three weeks after the death of Adrian. He formally revoked Ubi Periculum and the next five elections were held sans conclave.

The two popes who followed John XXI, Nicholas III and Martin IV, both took about six months to elect. The next election was much quicker with Honorius IV being elected within a week. On his death in 1287, the cardinals took nearly a year to elect Nicholas IV. He served for about two years, before dying in April 1292.

Papal Election of 1292-1294

Once again, the cardinals were split between two factors under the Orsini and the Colonna families of Rome. The dispute over Sicilian rule was at stake and attracted major backers. King James II of Aragon supported (and paid for) the Colonna side, with the Orsini backed by Charles II of Naples.

Matters were made worse by an outbreak of disease in Rome in summer 1292, forcing the cardinals to disperse. Then in April 1293, two senators, one Orsini and one Colonna, died in Rome. Anarchy broke out and the cardinals had to get out of Rome. They opted for the safety of Umbria and agreed to meet in October 1293. By spring, they were still at an impasse and Charles II of Naples visited them personally to try to force a decision. To no avail.

Only twelve electors were present and one died during the lengthy proceedings. By summer 1294, electors had begin to leave. Six remained when they received a letter from the much revered Sicilian hermit, Pietro da Morrone, admonishing the cardinals for their delay. One of the cardinals suggested Morrone as pope and it was rapidly agreed. Once again an outsider was the answer to the gridlock.

Crowned Celestine V, Morrone’s papacy began July 5, 1294, over two years after Nicholas IV’s death. Morrone was into his eighties and ill-equipped for papal life. He relied heavily on Charles II of Naples and eventually abdicated in December of that year—the first and only to do so until Benedict XVI in 2013. Before his abdication, he reinstated Ubi Periculum. His predecessor, Boniface VIII, was elected in a week and a half. He also reconfirmed the practice of conclave. Morrone died in prison in May 1296. Suspicions of murder swirled with most of the blame landing at Pope Boniface’s feet, but nothing was established. When Clement V was elected in 1303, Philip IV of France pressed for Morrone’s canonization.

The Papal Conclave of 1314-1316

Under Clement V’s tenure, the papacy was moved from Italy to Avignon. When he died in April 1314, the conclave convened in Carpentras in southern France with twenty-three cardinals (one missing, Luca Fieschi, was in Italy). The group was split into three factions, the French, the Gascon, and the Italians. Many of the Gascons were related to the late Clement the V and opposed moving the papacy back to Italy. At this time, Gascony was a part of England and naturally leery of the French faction, too. The Gascons hired mercenaries to attack the home of the Italian cardinals driving them from the city. Fearing for their lives, the cardinals fled.

Philip IV of France began to regroup the cardinals under his protection, but he died November 1314. His son Louis X took over the situation. First, he subdued the Gascon backed mercenaries before announcing a new conclave to take place in March 1316 at Lyon. Louis X appointed his younger brother, Philip of Poitiers to preside over the election and to keep the peace in the town. The conclave restarted with the same clear factions as before. Three cardinals were continually put forward without any winning a majority.

Things came to a head when Louis X died unexpectantly in June 1316 after a tennis match. He left behind a pregnant wife, and a little girl, Joan. His daughter’s legitimacy was dubious at best. Her mother, Marguerite of Burgundy had an affair with a knight that was uncovered in April 1314 and she had been imprisoned in Chateau Gaillard. Clement V had not dissolved their marriage and he had to wait for his first wife to die from her miserable environment or possibly be murdered.

Louis X had remarried Clémence of Hungary shortly after Marguerite’s death in 1315. At the time of his death, she was a few months pregnant. If she had a son, he would be king. If not, the crown would either pass to little Joan or to Louis’s brother, Philip of Poitiers. The late Philip IV’s brother, Charles of Valois, was very influential at court. Philip, fearing a power struggle with his uncle, needed to reach Paris to establish his position as regent during Clémence’s pregnancy and the baby’s minority.

The cardinals had been lured back to Lyon with the promise of more leniency during the conclave. However, a frustrated Philip locked the cardinals in on June 28 and hastily rode to Paris to shore up his own affairs. The extra pressure clearly worked and the cardinals found a compromise candidate in the more moderate Gascon cardinal, Jacques Duèze, was elected August 7, 1316. Under the new Pope John XXII, the papacy remained in Avignon for most of the 14th century.

There would not be another lengthy interregnum until July 1415. However, it wasn’t that there wasn’t a pope, there were too many. Due to schisms and disagreements, three different men were all popes at once. The cardinals called for everyone to resign in order to elect a new, singular pope. After the anti-popes were set aside, no interregnum lasted longer than six months. In the last century, popes have all been chosen fairly quickly, within a week or two. We should have a new pope before May is out. Fingers crossed!