1623 conclave

Election of Catholic Pope Urban VIII July–August 1623 19 July – 6 August 1623 Apostolic Palace, Papal States Maffeo Barberini Urban VIII Urban VIII (cropped).jpg 1621 1621 conclave 1644 1644 conclave The 1623 papal conclave was convened on the death of Pope Gregory XV and ended with the election of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini as Pope Urban VIII. It was the first conclave to take place after the reforms that Gregory XV issued in his 1621 bull Aeterni Patris Filius. Background After his election, Gregory XV had reformed the papal conclave system with his bull Aeterni Patris Filius of 1621, which was intended to streamline the conclave process, and this was the first papal election to follow these reforms.Baumgartner 2003 147 Following the 1605 conclaves, papal elections had become standardized despite not being hereditary. The typical pope during the 200 years following Paul V's election that year was around seventy and had been a cardinal for a decade after a career as a canon lawyer. Popes typically came from the second-tier nobility of Rome or the Papal States.Baumgartner 2003 149 Conclave Fifty-four cardinals participated in the conclave which took place from 19 July to 6 August,Walsh 2003 127 following the death of Gregory XV. Among them were four Spanish cardinals and three German cardinals, but none from France.Baumgartner 2003 147 The cardinals were primarily split in factions between those created by popes before Pope Paul V was elected in 1605, who numbered thirteen, those created by Paul, who numbered thirty-two, and those created by Gregory XV, who numbered nine. The two cardinals who had the most influence over the conclave were Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Paul V, and Ludovico Ludovisi, the nephew of Gregory XV. Ludovisi attempted to increase his influence over the conclave by becoming allies with the cardinals who originated from regions controlled by the Habsburgs.Baumgartner 2003 147 Borghese had supported Pietro Campori in the previous conclave, which had elected Gregory XV, and Campori was his preferred candidate during this conclave as well. It was anticipated that Campori's age of 66 would be a benefit, because a Spanish memorandum had revealed that they viewed older cardinals as less likely to develop an independent foreign policy as pope.Baumgartner 2003 147 Because the French influence in this election was not expected to be much, Borghese anticipated that electing Campori pope would be easier, since French opposition had been the main thing preventing it in the previous conclave.Baumgartner 2003 147 The first scrutiny of the conclave was significant because it revealed that Gregory XV's reform intended to discourage cardinals from voting for their friends in the first round had not been successful. The second scrutiny revealed to Borghese that Giovanni Garzia Mellini was the candidate from the Borghese party that had the most support among electors. Ludovisi was opposed to Mellini, and he spread rumours amongst the cardinals that Borghese would rather die than see anyone outside of his faction becoming pope. These rumours caused other cardinals to lose good will towards Borghese, coupled with the alleged fact that the summer heat had begun to exhaust them.Baumgartner 2003 147 Election of Urban VIII thumb| Coronation of Pope Urban VIII in 1623 After candidates from both major factions had been rejected by the electors, Borghese began to look for neutral candidates including Maffeo Barberini.Baumgartner 2003 147 Barberini began openly campaigning for his own election, which had not been seen in previous conclaves.Baumgartner 2003 147–148 Barberini had been friends with Maurice of Savoy, who served as the spokesman for the cardinals supporting France during the conclave.Walsh 2003 127 He also received the support of Ludovisi, which caused Borghese to oppose him. Borghese had contracted an illness during the conclave, and in order to leave he agreed to the election of Barberini and instructed his cardinals to vote for Barberini's election.Baumgartner 2003 148 In the next scrutiny, Barberini received enough votes for election, but there was one ballot missing. The cardinals disputed what to do for two hours, and eventually Barberini requested a second scrutiny, which he won with fifty out of the fifty-four cardinals present.Baumgartner 2003 148 The relative speed of Urban's election has been attributed to the summer heat that the cardinals were forced to endure during the process.Walsh 2003 127 Upon his election, Barberini took the name of Urban VIII. Barberini had previously served as the papal nuncio to France under Paul V, and had been created a cardinal because of his service there, and his election pleased King Louis XIII.Baumgartner 2003 148 During Paul V's papacy Urban was noted in a series of biographies on potential cardinal electors for being a writer and poet.Rietbergen 2006 95 The symbol of his family was the bee, and his election was afterwards said by Romans to have been foretold by a swarm of bees entering the conclave.Rietbergen 2006 116Hunt 2016 237 Following the election, eight cardinals died within two weeks, but the new pope survived despite catching malaria during the conclave.Baumgartner 2003 148 Notes 30em References Baumgartner Frederic J. Behind Locked Doors 2003 Palgrave Macmillan 0-312-29463-8 https://archive.org/details/behindlockeddoor00fred Walsh Michael J. The Conclave: A Sometimes Secret and Occasionally Bloody History of Papal Elections 2003 Rowman & Littlefield 978-1-58051-135-3 https://books.google.com/books?id=yWeexR0b8zgC Power And Religion in Baroque Rome: Barberini Cultural Policies Rietbergen P. J. A. N. 2006 BRILL 9789004148932 https://books.google.com/books?id=z8p1ec3tIZkC 2016 https://books.google.com/books?id=dbq9CwAAQBAJ The Vacant See in Early Modern Rome: A Social History of the Papal Interregnum Hunt John M. BRILL 978-9-004-31378-1 External links John Paul Adams, CSUN, Sede Vacante 1623; retrieved: 27 November 2018. collapsed Catholicism Christianity Vatican City y Biblical Studies/Christianity/Roman Catholicism/History y Category:Papal conclave y Category:Roman Catholic Church y Category:Popes y Category:Popes y Category:Christian History y Pope y Category:1620s in the Papal States Category:17th-century elections in Europe Category:1623 in politics 1623 Category:17th century in Catholicism Category:1623 in Europe Category:Pope Urban VIII