Papal_election,_1287–88

1287–1288 papal election

1287–1288 papal election

Election of Pope Nicholas IV

The 1287–88 papal election (April 4 – February 22) was the deadliest papal election in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, with six (or five) of the sixteen (or fifteen) cardinal electors perishing during the deliberations. Eventually, the cardinals elected Girolamo Masci, O.Min. as Pope Nicholas IV, almost a year after the death of Pope Honorius IV, who died on April 3, 1287. Nicholas IV was the first Franciscan pope.[1]

Building of the Corte Savella
Quick Facts Papal election 1287–88, Dates and location ...

The cardinals' deaths are usually attributed to malaria.[2][3][4] After the deaths of the six cardinals, the remaining electors—with the exception of Masci—left Rome and reassembled on 15 February 1288.[5] When the Cardinals reassembled in February, 1288, there were seven electors left: Latino Malabranca, Bentivenga de Bentivengis, Girolamo Masci, Bernard de Languissel, Matteo Rosso Orsini, Giacomo Colonna, and Benedetto Caetani. Upon finding that Masci had remained at Santa Sabina in Rome the reassembled cardinals immediately elected him, but he refused until he was re-elected on February 22.[6] It was thought at the time that Masci had survived by keeping a fire burning in his room to "purify" the pestilential vapors,[3] or mal aria thought to cause the disease.

The election was held near Santa Sabina on Aventine Hill in the Savelli palace, Corte Savella, which Honorius IV had built and used as the de facto papal residence.[2][3][7] According to Smith, Nicholas IV was, like his predecessor, "an undisguised partisan of the French interest" and "another example of the dishonest use of spiritual authority for political ends, by releasing Charles II of Naples from an inconvenient oath to Alfonso III of Aragon".[2]

Cardinal electors

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Notes

  1. [1]
    Miranda, Salvador. 1998. "Papal elections and conclaves of the 13th Century (1216-1294)."
  2. [2]
    Smith, 1892, p. 93.
  3. [3]
    Bagliani and Peterson, 2000, p. 176.
  4. [4]
    Darras et al. (1898: 413) instead attribute them to the Black Death, though in fact this was not to reach Europe for another 60 years.
  5. [5]
    Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope Nicholas IV" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  6. [6]
    Brooke, 2006, p. 440.
  7. [7]
    Walsh, 2003, p. 88.
  8. [8]
    According to Dizionario biografico dei Parmigiani Archived 2008-09-06 at the Wayback Machine he served as papal legate in the Kingdom of Sicily from 1282 until 1289 and did not participate in the papal elections in 1285 and 1287-88. S. Miranda in biographical entry of Gerardo Bianchi says that he participated in this election but gives this information with a question mark.
  9. [9]
    Exact date of his death is unknown. S. Miranda in the biographical entry of this cardinal says that he died before the death of Honorius IV on April 3, 1287 but in the notes to the papal election of 1287-88 includes him among cardinals who died during sede vacante

References

  • Bagliani, Agostino Paravincini, and Peterson, David S. 2000. The Pope's Body. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226034372.
  • Brooke, Rosalind B. 2006. The Image of St Francis: Responses to Sainthood in the Thirteenth Century. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521782910.
  • Darras, J. E., Spalding, M. J., and White, Charles Ignatius. 1898. A General History of the Catholic Church. P. J. Kennedy.
  • Smith, Philip. 1892. The History of the Christian Church. Harper & Bros.
  • Walsh, Michael J. 2003. The Conclave: A Sometimes Secret and Occasionally Bloody History of Papal Elections. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 158051135X.
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