How to NOT elect a pope [8:00]

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--> YouTube-Generated Transcript <--
· Introduction
0:10 · For seven and a half centuries, popes have been elected by the conclave – a closed meeting of
0:16 · the College of Cardinals. The conclave was introduced after an election dragged on for
0:22 · almost three years and was only ended by cutting off the cardinals' food supply.
0:27 · This, remarkably, was far from the most dysfunctional papal election.
· Election of 366
0:33 · Through the early Middle Ages, popes were chosen by the priests and deacons of Rome.
0:38 · There were often disputes about the most suitable candidate, which sometimes escalated to the point
0:44 · of rival factions electing dueling popes. This happened in the year 366, when an archdeacon
0:52 · named Damasus and the deacon Ursinus were simultaneously declared pope by their supporters.
0:59 · Crowds led by armed squads of catacomb-diggers took to the
1:03 · streets. As Ursinus was being consecrated, a mob of Damasians broke down the doors of the
1:10 · church and sent the would-be pope scurrying for safety. When the Ursinians tried again,
1:16 · a pitched battle broke out in Santa Maria Maggiore that left more than a hundred dead.
1:22 · In the midst of the turmoil, the prefect of Rome was chased from the city. It was only after the
1:28 · emperor got involved, and Ursinus was banished to the German frontier, that order was restored.
1:35 · The riots had an exciting sequel a few years later, when allies of the exiled
1:40 · Ursinus accused Damasus of adultery in the imperial court. But the pope defended
1:46 · himself, was exonerated by the emperor, and vigorously excommunicated everyone involved.
· Election of 1292-4
1:54 · There were plenty of protracted, contested, or otherwise irregular elections during the Middle
1:59 · Ages. But not even the conclave of 1415-17, which had to depose three rival popes before choosing
2:07 · a new one, was quite as dysfunctional as the election that followed the death of Nicholas
2:12 · IV – who had himself only been chosen after half the college of Cardinals perished of fever.
2:19 · The recently-invented conclave system had been suspended,
2:22 · removing all constraints on the cardinals' voting. This was unfortunate,
2:27 · since the ten cardinals who then made up the college were in no mood for compromise.
2:33 · When an initial fortnight of balloting proved fruitless, the cardinals adjourned.
2:38 · They reconvened in the middle of a plague, which promptly claimed one of them. Dispersing again,
2:44 · they reunited for a few months of desultory voting, parted once more, reconvened,
2:51 · bickered, and parted a fourth time. The King of Naples tried to intervene, and was ignored.
2:58 · As the election entered its third year, the cardinals were on the
3:01 · point of disbanding yet again when they received a letter from a local hermit,
3:06 · urging them to choose a pope quickly. In a flash of inspiration, they decided to make the hermit
3:13 · pope. They descended upon the hermit's cave, where they found the new leader of the Roman church
3:19 · wearing a hair shirt belted with chains. After a great deal of persuasion, the hermit became pope.
3:27 · To the surprise of no one besides the cardinals who had elected him, Celestine V - as the hermit
3:33 · named himself - was a disastrous pope. After a reign of only five months, he issued a decree
3:40 · proclaiming that popes could retire, immediately retired, and tried to return to his cave.
· Election of 1549-50
3:48 · Since Renaissance popes were implicated in the labyrinthine politics of their era,
3:53 · their elections produced enough intrigue to fill any TV drama. An especially
3:59 · egregious example was the conclave that followed the death of Paul III in 1549.
4:06 · The cardinals were divided between factions supporting the Holy Roman Emperor, the King
4:10 · of France, and the Farnese family. From the start, their deliberations were bedeviled
4:16 · by political interference. Every major power in Europe had agents in the conclave. Holes
4:23 · were bored through walls to facilitate the passing of notes, and a servant of
4:27 · the French king used a system of rooftop ladders and catwalks to consult secretly with cardinals.
4:35 · The imperial and Farnese factions tried to choose a pope before the
4:39 · French cardinals could arrive. Catching wind of this, the French king threatened
4:44 · to take his entire nation into schism if the conclave refused to wait.
4:49 · Once the French arrived, flush with bribe money, the party got started. For weeks,
4:55 · the conclave was hopelessly deadlocked. Roman bookies took bets on the outcome; for a while,
5:02 · the leader was the English Cardinal Pole, who was given odds of 1 in 4. Some speculated that
5:09 · the cardinals would suffocate on torch smoke from being stuck in the Sistine
5:13 · Chapel so long. They needn't have worried; the cardinals had made themselves very comfortable,
5:19 · expanding their cloth booths into suites and smuggling in rich foods for dinner parties.
5:26 · Two months into the conclave, a cardinal died, apparently from poison. After another cardinal,
5:33 · who happened to be a cousin of the French queen, failed to capture the papacy,
5:37 · the French king authorized his contingent to vote for a neutral candidate;
5:42 · and on the 61st scrutiny, ten weeks after the conclave began, Pope Julius III was elected.
5:51 · Julius III, incidentally, proved to be a suboptimal pontiff. Though reasonably
5:56 · conscientious about his religious duties, he was fond of all-night dinner parties,
6:02 · at which he consumed appalling quantities of onions. He did not improve his image
6:08 · by elevating his debauched teenage monkey-keeper to the rank of cardinal.
6:14 · Over the centuries since Julius, politics have often complicated the papal elections.
· Other complications
6:21 · So have wars – most memorably when Pius VII, elected after Napoleon kidnapped
6:28 · his predecessor VI, had to be crowned with a papier-mâché tiara. (Pius VII,
6:34 · incidentally, was then himself kidnapped by Napoleon.) But the conclaves have continued,
6:41 · as the papacy and the Church have also continued, outlasting all the best and worst of the faithful.
· A Closing Ad
6:50 · The Toldinstone faithful can join me in Greece this October. Click the link
6:54 · in the description if you'd like to learn more about that trip. Or make a pilgrimage,
7:00 · if you're so inclined, to the Toldinstone Patreon for additional content. My other channels,
7:07 · Toldinstone Footnotes and Scenic Routes to the Past, await your devotion. Thanks for watching.

A nun looking up at Santa Maria Maggiore.
EPA

Welcome to this week's GGG Digest topic, a day early. I saw this last night and decided to take a day off. :^)

That was an interesting segment.
I had [mildly] wondered how popes were selected prior to the conclave system.

Now I know...sometimes very messily.

:^) I agree, and it merely scratches the surface. The Medici brothers were still in their late teens when the Pope okayed the contract to kill them. That was a mere 547 years ago.

Pope Uncle Leo?

Hello!!!

He would have been at the conclave, but his guys got cut out of the whole deal with the gold bullion at that bank behind German lines.

A caveman pope?

“Your world frightens and confuses me!”

That was a mere 547 years ago.

In the history of Christianity, that’s a pretty long time ago, almost as long ago as the Reformation and the birth of Protestantism. If one has to go that far back to find an instance of a Pope putting out a contract on someone, I’d say the papacy has done pretty good in this area.

A gathering of cardinals whose job is to select a new pope could be called a popepourri.

I learn something new every day. I thought Potpourri resulted from a washtub bass player and the Pope on the fiddle.

--> YouTube-Generated Transcript <--
	·	Introduction
0:10	·	For seven and a half centuries, popes have been elected by the conclave – a closed meeting of
0:16	·	the College of Cardinals. The conclave was introduced after an election dragged on for
0:22	·	almost three years and was only ended by cutting off the cardinals' food supply.
0:27	·	This, remarkably, was far from the most dysfunctional papal election.
	·	Election of 366
0:33	·	Through the early Middle Ages, popes were chosen by the priests and deacons of Rome.
0:38	·	There were often disputes about the most suitable candidate, which sometimes escalated to the point
0:44	·	of rival factions electing dueling popes. This happened in the year 366, when an archdeacon
0:52	·	named Damasus and the deacon Ursinus were simultaneously declared pope by their supporters.
0:59	·	Crowds led by armed squads of catacomb-diggers took to the
1:03	·	streets. As Ursinus was being consecrated, a mob of Damasians broke down the doors of the
1:10	·	church and sent the would-be pope scurrying for safety. When the Ursinians tried again,
1:16	·	a pitched battle broke out in Santa Maria Maggiore that left more than a hundred dead.
1:22	·	In the midst of the turmoil, the prefect of Rome was chased from the city. It was only after the
1:28	·	emperor got involved, and Ursinus was banished to the German frontier, that order was restored.
1:35	·	The riots had an exciting sequel a few years later, when allies of the exiled
1:40	·	Ursinus accused Damasus of adultery in the imperial court. But the pope defended
1:46	·	himself, was exonerated by the emperor, and vigorously excommunicated everyone involved.
	·	Election of 1292-4
1:54	·	There were plenty of protracted, contested, or otherwise irregular elections during the Middle
1:59	·	Ages. But not even the conclave of 1415-17, which had to depose three rival popes before choosing
2:07	·	a new one, was quite as dysfunctional as the election that followed the death of Nicholas
2:12	·	IV – who had himself only been chosen after half the college of Cardinals perished of fever.
2:19	·	The recently-invented conclave system had been suspended,
2:22	·	removing all constraints on the cardinals' voting. This was unfortunate,
2:27	·	since the ten cardinals who then made up the college were in no mood for compromise.
2:33	·	When an initial fortnight of balloting proved fruitless, the cardinals adjourned.
2:38	·	They reconvened in the middle of a plague, which promptly claimed one of them. Dispersing again,
2:44	·	they reunited for a few months of desultory voting, parted once more, reconvened,
2:51	·	bickered, and parted a fourth time. The King of Naples tried to intervene, and was ignored.
2:58	·	As the election entered its third year, the cardinals were on the
3:01	·	point of disbanding yet again when they received a letter from a local hermit,
3:06	·	urging them to choose a pope quickly. In a flash of inspiration, they decided to make the hermit
3:13	·	pope. They descended upon the hermit's cave, where they found the new leader of the Roman church
3:19	·	wearing a hair shirt belted with chains. After a great deal of persuasion, the hermit became pope.
3:27	·	To the surprise of no one besides the cardinals who had elected him, Celestine V - as the hermit
3:33	·	named himself - was a disastrous pope. After a reign of only five months, he issued a decree
3:40	·	proclaiming that popes could retire, immediately retired, and tried to return to his cave.
	·	Election of 1549-50
3:48	·	Since Renaissance popes were implicated in the labyrinthine politics of their era,
3:53	·	their elections produced enough intrigue to fill any TV drama. An especially
3:59	·	egregious example was the conclave that followed the death of Paul III in 1549.
4:06	·	The cardinals were divided between factions supporting the Holy Roman Emperor, the King
4:10	·	of France, and the Farnese family. From the start, their deliberations were bedeviled
4:16	·	by political interference. Every major power in Europe had agents in the conclave. Holes
4:23	·	were bored through walls to facilitate the passing of notes, and a servant of
4:27	·	the French king used a system of rooftop ladders and catwalks to consult secretly with cardinals.
4:35	·	The imperial and Farnese factions tried to choose a pope before the
4:39	·	French cardinals could arrive. Catching wind of this, the French king threatened
4:44	·	to take his entire nation into schism if the conclave refused to wait.
4:49	·	Once the French arrived, flush with bribe money, the party got started. For weeks,
4:55	·	the conclave was hopelessly deadlocked. Roman bookies took bets on the outcome; for a while,
5:02	·	the leader was the English Cardinal Pole, who was given odds of 1 in 4. Some speculated that
5:09	·	the cardinals would suffocate on torch smoke from being stuck in the Sistine
5:13	·	Chapel so long. They needn't have worried; the cardinals had made themselves very comfortable,
5:19	·	expanding their cloth booths into suites and smuggling in rich foods for dinner parties.
5:26	·	Two months into the conclave, a cardinal died, apparently from poison. After another cardinal,
5:33	·	who happened to be a cousin of the French queen, failed to capture the papacy,
5:37	·	the French king authorized his contingent to vote for a neutral candidate;
5:42	·	and on the 61st scrutiny, ten weeks after the conclave began, Pope Julius III was elected.
5:51	·	Julius III, incidentally, proved to be a suboptimal pontiff. Though reasonably
5:56	·	conscientious about his religious duties, he was fond of all-night dinner parties,
6:02	·	at which he consumed appalling quantities of onions. He did not improve his image
6:08	·	by elevating his debauched teenage monkey-keeper to the rank of cardinal.
6:14	·	Over the centuries since Julius, politics have often complicated the papal elections.
	·	Other complications
6:21	·	So have wars – most memorably when Pius VII, elected after Napoleon kidnapped
6:28	·	his predecessor VI, had to be crowned with a papier-mâché tiara. (Pius VII,
6:34	·	incidentally, was then himself kidnapped by Napoleon.) But the conclaves have continued,
6:41	·	as the papacy and the Church have also continued, outlasting all the best and worst of the faithful.
	·	A Closing Ad
6:50	·	The Toldinstone faithful can join me in Greece this October. Click the link
6:54	·	in the description if you'd like to learn more about that trip. Or make a pilgrimage,
7:00	·	if you're so inclined, to the Toldinstone Patreon for additional content. My other channels,
7:07	·	Toldinstone Footnotes and Scenic Routes to the Past, await your devotion. Thanks for watching.