SEDE VACANTE 1455

March 24, 1455 — April 8, 1455

No coins have been identified.

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The Cardinal Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church was Cardinal Ludovico Scarampi Mezzarota Trevisano. He was born in Padua in 1401, of "low and obscure lineage", where he studied medicine and natural science, obtaining a doctorate from the University of Padua in 1425. His early successes in papal service were in the military sphere. It is said that he was one of Pope Eugenius' many physicians [Gaetano Marini, Degli archiatri ponttifici Volume primo (Roma 1784), xxix, 142-143 ]. In 1435 he was appointed Bishop of Trau, and in 1437 he became Archbishop of Florence. He was appointed Patriarch of Aquileia in 1439. In 1440 he was created Cardinal with the titulus of San Lorenzo in Damaso. He was again successful in the military sphere in 1440, aiding the Papacy and Florence against Niccolò Piccinino the captain of the Lombard League. As Legate of the March of Ancona he freed the March of Ancona from the clutches of Francesco Sforza. In the last months of Pope Eugenius' life he was in charge of all of the castelli and fortified places under papal control. He was named admiral of the papal fleet in 1455, and fought the Turks in the eastern Mediterranean (1455-1459), on account of which he did not participate in the Conclave of 1458. He was promoted Cardinal Bishop of Albano in 1465, and died in that year in Rome. He was buried in his titular church. [Cardella III, 95-98; Moroni, Dizionario storico-ecclesiastica 45, 12-14]

The Marshal of the Holy Roman Church and Guardian of the Conclave was Pandolfo Savelli. (G. Moroni, Dizionario storico-ecclesiastica 42, 279-280; G. Bourgin, 216 and n.8). He was the son of Giovanni Battista Savelli, who, in his Will (October 11, 1445), calls himself della Santita di Nostro SIgnore il Papa e della corte di Roma marescalco. Pandolfo died during the Pontificate of Paul II (1464-1471).

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Death of Pope Nicholas V

Pope Nicholas had long suffered from gout. In his last illness, in March of 1455, it became necessary to appoint a committee to carry on the regular functions of papal government. Niccolò della Tuccia (p. 253 Orioli) says,

A 10 di marzo stava il papa infermo, e peggiorò assai.... Il papa tuttavia peggiorava di sua infirmit à, specie di gotta, e venne tanto manco, che perdè tutte le forze naturali. Poi gli useì una postema sotto le orecchie, e fe capo. Onde vedenosi lui in pericolo di morte, fece venire a se tutti li cardinali, e fe loro un bel parlamento.... Et in quel punto elesse 4 cardinali che dovessero governar la sedia apostolica. Il primo fu il cardinal Colonna; 2. il cardinal di S. Marco [Barbo], nepote di papa Eugenio; 3. il cardinal di Fermo [Capranica]; 4 il cardinal di Bologna [Calandrini] fratello del papa; et a loro se assegnare obbedienza da tutti li castellani della chiesa e del Castel S. Angelo. Ancora se capitano di tutte le genti della chiesa il cardinal di S. Lorenzo in Damaso, Patriarca d' Aquileia e Camerlengo del papa [Scarampi], e fello legato della sedia apostolica.

On March 11, 1455, the Peace (agreed upon by Milan and Venice on April 9, 1454, to which Florence acceeded on August 30, and finally King Alfonso on January 26, 1455) among the King of Aragon and Naples, the Florentines, the Venetians , the Duke of Milan (Visconti) and Count Francesco Sforza —called the League of Lodi— was announced in Rome. Cardinal Capranica had been instrumental in getting Alfonso to agree to the treaty. Pope Nicholas V died on March 24, 1455, at hour V of the night (Tuccia; Stefano Infessura, p. 59 Tommasini; Paolo di Benedetto di Cola dello Maestro, p. 101, makes it March 25). He had ruled the Church for eight years and nineteen days. The Holy See was vacant for fourteen days.

 

Preliminaries

The Florentines were already worried. They, of course, placed no trust in a treaty or a league. They feared both the ambitions of the Duke of Milan and the aggressive attitude of King Alfonso of Naples, whose agreement to the Peace was both late and reluctant. On March 14, the Florentine government, which knew of the Pope's condition, was already putting itself in a defensive position (Pastor, Acta Inedita , p. 40 n. 26; Petruccelli, 263-264). Petruccelli quotes a set of instructions which were given to Roberto de Martelli, the Florentine agent who was dispatched to Rome on March 28, four days after the death of Pope Nicholas. He was to speak to all the cardinals, urging them to select a man who would preserve and strengthen the Peace (Petruccelli, 264-265, from a ms. in the archives of the X di Balia).

The Bishop of Novara (Bartolomeo de Vicecomitibus: Eubel I, 372) wrote to Francesco Sforza on April 1, 145 that the greater part of the Sacred College were content with Cardinal Colonna. But the long dying of the Pope gave Cardinal Orsini time to arrange his plans with the government of Venice and with King Alfonso [ portrait at right ], and it was now a question of Cardinal Barbo or Cardinal Scarampi, the Camerlengo. With the support of the King, the Orsini faction had five votes. The problem was to choose between Orsini's two candidates. The wrong choice could do much damage to Sforza (Petruccelli, 265-266) .

 

 

 

 

The Cardinals

The Diarium Camerale (Bourgin 291) provides a list of the fifteen cardinals who participated in the Conclave of 1455. There were twenty-one cardinals in all. A list of the Cardinals, present and absent is given by Onuphrio Panvinio, who lists nineteen cardinals—fifteen present and four absent. He omits Pierre de Foix and Dénes Szécsi (Epitome, 317-318). Another list is provided by one of the participants, in a letter to Francesco Sforza on April 4 (Petruccelli, 267). Cardinal Zbigniew Oleśnicy (aged 65), Cardinal Priest of S. Prisca, Bishop of Kraków, died on April 1, 1455, during the Sede Vacante.   In 1449, Nicholas V had formally ended the schism by admitting the Former Felix V and three of his anti-cardinals into the Sacred College (Eubel II, 11), but Felix and two of the cardinals had died before Nicholas V. Ten votes were needed to elect.

Cardinals attending:

1. Giorgio Fieschi (aged ?), Suburbicarian Bishop of Palestrina (died 1461). Apostolic Administrator of Luni.
2. Isidore of Kiev (aged 75?), Suburbicarian Bishop of Sabina (died 1463). Cardinal of Ss. Marcellino e Pietro in commendam. Apostolic Administrator of Nicosia "Ruthenus" He had been papal Legate in Constantinople at the time of the Fall of the city in May, 1453.
3. [Giovanni] Bessarion (aged 52), Suburbicarian Bishop of Frascati (died 1472). Cardinal of Ss. XII Apostoli in commendam. Apostolic Administrator of Jerusalem, and of Mazaro del Vallo. "Nicaenus"
   
   
4. Juan de Torquemada, OP (aged 67), Cardinal Priest of S. Maria in Trastevere (died 1468). "Sancti Sixti"
5. Ludovico Scarampi (called Mezzarota) of Treviso [Trevisanus] (aged 54), Cardinal Priest of S. Lorenzo in Damaso (died 1465). Patriarch of Aquileia. "Aquilegensis" Camerlengo S.R.E. [Infessura, 46 Tommasini;  G. Bourgin, Archivio della Societa romanà di storia patria 27 (1904), 214, L. Pastor, Acta Inedita p. 41 no. 27; Ughelli, Italia Sacra V, 119-127]
6. Domenico Capranica, a Roman, Cardinal Priest of S. Croce in Gerusalemme and Cardinal of S. Maria in Via Lata in commendam (died August 14, 1458). Administrator of Fermo. "Firmanus" Secretary of Martin V. Appointed cardinal by Martin V (1423), ratified by Eugenius IV (1434). Major Penitentarius [Vespasiano da Bisticci, "Vita di Domenico Capranica", ch. 2]
7. Pietro Barbo (aged 37), Cardinal Priest of S. Marco [from June 16, 1451: Eubel II, 63] (died 1471). Nephew of Eugenius IV
8. Alfonso Borja (aged 76), Cardinal Priest of SS. Quattro Coronati (died 1458). Bishop of Valencia "Valentinensis" (Elected Pope Callixtus III)
9. Antonio de la Cerda y Lloscos (aged 64), Cardinal Priest of S. Crisogono (died 1459). Bishop of Lérida. "Ilerdensis"
10. Latino Orsini (aged 45?), Cardinal Priest of SS. Giovanni e Paolo (died 1477). Apostolic Administrator of Bari-Canosa. He was assisted at the Conclave by Jacobus de Gottifredi, doctor of medicine [Marini, Degli archiatri pontifici II (Roma 1784), p. 140 (grant of Calixtus III, May 5, 1455), nos volentes te, qui civis Romanus, cum unica et virgine conjugatus existis, quique in Conclavi dilecto filio nostro Latino tituli Sanctorum Iohannis et PauliPresbytero cardinali assisti, etc.].
11. Alain de Coëtivy (aged 47), Breton, Cardinal Priest of S. Prassede (died 1474). Bishop of Avignon. Apostolic Administrator of Nîmes. Brother of the Admiral Prégent de Coëtivy. One of the French representatives at the Council of Ferrara (C. de la Roncière, "La Pragmatique Sanction de 1438 et Alain de Coëtivy," Correspondence historique et archèologique 2 (1895) 45-51.)
12. Filippo Calandrini (aged 51), Cardinal Priest of S. Lorenzo in Lucina (died 1476). Bishop of Bologna. "fratello uterino di Niccolò V" [Cardella III, 115]
13. Guillaume d'Estaing (aged ?), Cardinal Priest of S. Sabina (died October 28, 1455). Bishop of Fréjus. [a former anti-cardinal of Felix V]
    
    
14. Prospero Colonna, Cardinal Deacon of S. of S. Giorgio_in_Velabro [Eubel, II, 6]
15. Juan Carvajal (aged 55), Cardinal Deacon of S. Angelo in Pescheria [Eubel II, 66] (died 1469). Bishop of Plasencia

Cardinals not attending:

1. Pierre de Foix, OFM (aged ca. 70) (1385-1464), Suburbicarian Bishop of Albano. [Eubel, I, 33 (18); II, 5 (20); Cardella, 27-28]. He was the fourth son of Archambaud de Grailly, captal de Buch, comte de Benauges, and Isabelle de Foix. By the terms of their marriage contract, the children assumed the name Foix. He was born in Bordeaux [F. de Grailly, Memoires...Vaucluse 16 (1897) 327-328, 338]. Legate in Avignon and the Venaissan.
2. Petrus von Schaumberg (aged 67), Cardinal Priest of Ss. Vitale (died 1469). Bishop of Augsburg.
3. Dénes Szécsi (aged 55), Cardinal Priest of S. Ciriaco alle Terme Diocleziane (died 1465). Archbishop of Strigonia (Esztergom).
4. Guillaume d'Estouteville (aged 43), [Norman French], son of Jean II d'Estouteville, who was made prisoner at Agincourt in 1415, and held for some 20 years; he had two brothers, Louis and Robert, and two sons [Gallia christiana XI, 91].  He was consanguineus in the third grade of the King Charles VI of France.   Cardinal Priest of SS. Silvestro e Martino (1437-1459).  He was not a monk and was not Prior of S. Martini in Campis in Paris (only Administrator); the first person to mention such things is Ciaconius [H. Denifle, Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis IV (Paris 1898) xx-xxiv].  Protonotarius Apostolicus as early as 1433.   In 1451 he was sent as Legatus a latere to France [Eubel II, p. 31;  Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis IV, no. 2675 (August 27, 1451); Baronius-Theiner 28, sub anno 1451, no. 7, pp. 556-557 (August 15, 1451)].   In 1452, he was engaged in the review of the case of Jeanne d'Arc.  In the same year, he reformed the University of Paris [Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis IV, no. 2690 (June 1, 1452)].  He returned to Rome on January 3, 1453 [Eubel II, p. 31 no. 154].  Suburicarian Bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina, Archbishop of Rouen. Archpriest of the Liberian Basilica [Archivio della Società romana di storia patria 30 (1907) 161-163].    He left Rome for France on May 16, 1454, and returned on September 12, 1455 [Eubel II, p. 31, nos. 159 and 166].
5. Jean Rolin (aged 47), Cardinal Priest of S. Stefano al Monte Celio (died 1483). Bishop of Autun.
6. Nikolaus von Cusa (aged 55) [of Bernkastel-Kues am Moselle, diocese of Trier], Cardinal Priest of S. Pietro in Vincoli (1448-1464; died August 12, 1464). Bishop of Brixen. Apostolic Legate in Germany, in 1451 [See Grube, HJ 1, 393-412]. He was resident in his diocese in the Spring of 1455. On May 2, 1455, he attended the Diet of Regensburg. On September 20, 1455, the new Pope, Calixtus III, appointed him Apostolic Legate to preach the Crusade in England [Baronius-Thenier 29, sub anno 1455, no. 27, p. 35].

Conclave

The Conclave opened on Friday, April 4, 1455, which was Good Friday. It was the eleventh day after the death of Nicholas V. The anonymous Conclavist who is the source of Gregorio Leti in Conclavi de' pontefici romani (1667), p. 40, states that the Cardinal Dean celebrated the usual Mass of the Holy Spirit before the cardinals entered in procession into Conclave, a usual phrase found in all conclave narrations. But this is not possible. It was Good Friday, and on that day there is no Mass celebrated anywhere.  Is Leti himself making the material up?   The Diarium Camerale (cited below) seems more accurate in stating that the Adoration of the Cross took place before the entry of the cardinals, which is completely appropriate to the day. A Mass of the Holy Spirit was celebrated on Holy Thursday, according to the Bishop of Novara (Petruccellii, 267), and another was celebrated on Saturday.

The diarium camerale provides important information (Bourgin, 291; Eubel II, 11 n.9):

Anno ut supra [1455], die vero quarta pr(a)edicti mensis [aprilis], hora decima octava vel circa, que fuit dies veneris, sexta feria majoris ebdomad(a)e, osculato ligno crucis, que fuit .xj. a die obitus fe(licis) re(cordationis) Nicolai pap(a)e quinti, cujus exequi(a)e precedenti die proximo fuerant complet(a)e, R(everendissi)mi in Christo patres domini domini cardinales infrascripti intraverunt conclave in palatio apostolico apud S(anc)tum Petrum pro futuro pontific(a)e eligendo, videlicet: Flisco, Ruthenus, Nicaenus, S. Sixti, Aquilegiensis, Firmanus, Valentinensis, Ilerdensis, Ursinus, Avinionensis, Bononeiensis, Metensis, S(anc)ti Marci, Columna, S(anc)ti Angeli.

 

The author of Conclavi de' pontefici romani (p. 41) indicates that there were several parties among the Cardinals (which is not surprising), that ambassadors and agents from various princes and powers were negotiating with the Cardinals (which is not surprising), and that several Cardinals had hopes of becoming pope (which is not surprising)—spinning a narrative in the absence of facts. There were two inconclusive scrutinies ( Saturday April 5 and Sunday April 6?). Bessarion had some support (he says, deriving his information from Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini). The Bolognese Roberto Sanseverino wrote to the Duke of Milan on April 17 that the Bolognese ambassador had informed him that Cardinal Bessarion [ portrait at left ] had eight votes, and that it seemed on Sunday and Monday that he would be pope (Petruccelli, 269). Cardinal Alain de Coëtivy, the Cardinal of Avignon, however, is said to have put an end to it with a speech (at the scrutiny on Monday April 7?),

Concederemo noi dunque alla Chiesa santa Latina un' huomo Greco? e porremo nell' eccelso loco del Ponteficato un' huomo Neofito? e chi vi fa certi che la conversione sua sia verra? Sarrà nostro Pastore quello, che poco tempo fà oppugnava la fede Cattholica? E possibile, che la Chiesa nostra Latina sia posta in tale necessità, che in essa non si trovi un' huomo degno, et atto per reggere, e governare la Gregge di Dio? Illustrissimi Signori svegliatevi, e non permettete un tanto scandalo nella Chiesa di Christo, per che tale elettione io non approvo, come anco tutti li altre che alle parole mie prestarrano fede, mai non consentiranno che tale persona sia eletta in Vicario di Christo, et habbia à governare la Grege sua con tanto sospetto, e pericolo di tutto il Christianismo.

This inflammatory rhetoric may have been intended (or so the Conclavist claims) to advance Coëtivy's own chances, but it had the opposite effect. It seems unlikely, however, that Coëtivy could really have considered himself 'papabile', especially when compared with Colonna, Capranica, Carvajal and Torquemada. The suggestion that he might have been clearing the way for another, however, may have merit. Jean Nicolas Jager (Histoire de l' Eglise Catholique en France Tome 13 [1866], 497) suggests that he was working in the interest of a fellow Frenchman, Cardinal d'Estouteville [This was true in the next Conclave, the one of 1458]. But, though this makes Coëtivy seem very patriotic in the French cause, it does not ring true. While one can see some cardinals exercising a prejudice against the Greeks, it does not follow that they would then vote for a Frenchman, and an absent one at that.

In the night between Monday and Tuesday, Cardinal Scarampi and Cardinal de Coëtivy engaged in active politicking (Sanseverino wrote to the Duke of Milan: Petruccelli, 269). Bessarion's support withered (see Vast, 219-221). But Scarampi, at least, was certainly working in the interests of King Alfonso. Alfonso wished to pursue his war with Genoa, and he wanted a pope who would not interfere. That Cardinal Borgia was seventy-six years old was not an impediment in the minds of many who were looking to the (not too distant) future. That, however, may be a modern and cynical observation. The feeling at the moment of Calixtus' election was one of great elation, because Calixtus was avid to launch a new Crusade against the Turks [Baronius-Theiner 29, sub anno 1455, nos. 18-19, p. 27]

Election of Calixtus III

Cardinal Alfonso Borja was elected on Tuesday, April 8, 1455 (Diarium camerale: Bourgin 291):

Anno pr(a)edicto, die vero martis octava dicti mensis, circa horam quintadecimam, R(everendissi)mus in Christo pater et dominus, dominus Alfonsus t(ituli) S(anc)torum quatuor Coronatorum, pr(a)efatus cardinalis Valentinus, assumptus fuit ad summi apicem apostolatus, et vocatus Calixtus tertius et associatus de conclave, quod factum fuit in cappella parva palatii, usque ad altare S(anc)ti Petri et reductus in palatium cum omnibus cardinalibus.

On April 14, Robert Sanseverino wrote from Bologna to the Duke of Milan that it was through the activities of the King of Aragon that Calixtus III had been elected (Petruccelli, 268).

Coronation

On Sunday, April 20, 1455 (xii Kal. Maij), the Solemn Mass was celebrated in the Vatican Basilica by the Pope himself. The Epistle was sung by Cardinal Barbo and the Gospel by Cardinal Prospero Colonna. Calixtus III (Borja) was crowned after a solemn Mass on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica , by Cardinal Prospero Colonna, the Cardinal Protodeacon [Niccolò della Tuccia (p. 257] .

Finita la messa, venne il papa fuori di s. Pietro, ove in capo delle scale era fatto un palco di tavole, et eravi una sedia in mezzo: et il papa con tutti li cardinali vestito di bianco, salirno su detto palco, et in detta sedia si pose il papa a sedere con una mitra in testa. Poi si fe' innanzi il cardinal Colonna, e levolli di testa detta mitra, e poseli il regno con tre corone come si usa, e cantorno certe orationi. Poi discesero tutti da detto palco, e montorno a cavallo....

A procession, with the Pope on a white horse, accompanied by fourteen cardinals and more than eighty bishops, all vested in white, immediately proceeded to the Lateran Basilica. They were accompanied by the Conservatori of Rome, thirteen confaloni [bandarenses], and the caporioni. Along the way, the Pope came upon the Jewish comminity of Rome, who presented him a copy of the Torah [Niccolò della Tuccia, p. 257] :

Essendo gionto il papa presso a Montegiordano sotto un bel solicchio se li ferno innanzi li giudei, e posero in mano del papa le loro leggi. Il papa lesse un poco, e poi disse ch'erano bone, e loro l'intendevano male, e gettole via.

As the cavalcade reached the Lateran, a fight suddenly broke out between the followers of Count Averso of Tagliacozzo (an Orsini through his mother) and a retainer of Napoleone Orsini, the brother of Cardinal Orsini [Niccolò della Tuccia, p. 258]:

poi cavalcò et andossene a s. Giovanni, e nel smontare hebbe di novo gran stretta, e corse gran pericolo, e fulli tolto il solicchio e la cavalcatura. Li cardinali pigliorno il papa e lo misero in s. Giovanni, Fu in quel viaggio fatta una questione, che un huomo d'arme del conte Averso uccise un huomo di'arme di Napolione Orsino; e quelli di Napolione uccisero quelle del conte Averso. Per lo che le genti di Napolione titti s'armorno coll'Orsini, et andorno a casa del conte Averso, e miserla a saccomanno, e tolserli 7 cavalli che ci trovorno. Detto conte stava a s. Giovanni col patriarca, e dui suoi figlioli e suoi famigli, e mai non si mosse. Il cardinale Orsino fratello di Napolione, il conte di Tagliacozzo, e il prefetto, cioe Francesco Orsino, e tutti l' altri signori Orsini s' adoprorno a pacificare detto rumore.

Bartholomeo Sacho gives a somewhat different version, in his "Calisti Papae III vita" [Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores III. 2, 963; Gregorovius VII. 1, pp. 150-151, presents a somewhat different story, but without references]:

At vero dum Pontifex ipse de more in Basilica Lateranensi coronaretur, duo milites, quorum alter sub comite Averso, alter sub Neapolione Ursino diversarum partium ducibus militabat, de adolescente armigero contendentes, ita se mutuis vulneribus confecere, ut uterque statim perierit. Hanc ob rem Neapolio factionem Ursinam ad arma convocans, aedes ubi Comes Aversus divertere consueverat diripuit, aberat tum Comes. Ad Lateranum itaque iturus Neapolio, ut Comitem adoriretur, aegre a Latino fratre, et a Camerario Pontificis retentus est. Non poterat certe sine magna urbis calamitate eo proficisci Neapolio, cum tota Columnensium factio, quae Comiti favebat, jam in armis esset. Miserat et ad utrunque Pontifex Iohannem Baruncellum et Lelium Valle Advocatos Concistoriales, qui pacem inter eos componerent, atque hoc modo auctoritate Pontificis sedata sunt omnia, non tamen vetus simultas inter eos sublata est.

The Pope was finally enthroned (Diarium Camerale: Bourgin 291). He stayed the night at S. Giovanni, rather than return, as was the custom, to the Vatican [Niccolò della Tuccia, p. 258].