SEDE VACANTE 1471

July 26, 1471 — August 9, 1471

Cardinal Guillaume d'Estouteville, BIshop of Ostia

It appears that there was no Cardinal Chamberlain S.R.E. in 1471.   Cardinal Ludovico Scarampi Trevisano had died in 1465, and Cardinal Latino Orsini did not become Camerlengo until August of 1471, after the election of Sixtus IV, who appointed him—allegedly out of gratitude for his assistance in his election .

The Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals was Cardinal Bessarion (Nicaeanus), Cardinal Bishop of Sabina. He was born in Trebizond, probably on January 2, 1403 [Vast, p. 2].  He died at Ravenna on November 18, 1472. [C. Eubel Hierarchia catholica II, p. 37, no. 311; p. 38, no. 317, no. 325]. His funeral oration, pronounced by Nicolaus Capranica, stated that he was sixty-nine years, ten months and sixteen days old.

The Magister Sacri Palatii was frater Leonardus Mansuetus, OP, of Perugia (1465-1474).  He had been provincial Praefectus of the Roman Province of his Order.  He was elected Master General of his Order in 1474.  He died on July 26/27, 1480 [Catalano, de magistro sacri palatii , pp. 97-98].

The position of Marshal of the Holy Roman Church and Guardian of the Conclave, which belonged to the family of the Savelli, was vacant at the Conclave of 1471.  The office was confirmed to Pietro Francesco Savelli, eldest son of Pandolfo Savelli, in a bull issued by the new Pope, Sixtus IV, on August 21, 1471.  He held the office until his death in 1482  [G. Moroni, Dizionario storico-ecclesiastica 42, 281-282; G. Bourgin, 216 and n.8].

It was in the year 1471 that Bartolomeo Platina completed his series of lives of the Popes, as far as Paul II.  It was first published in Venice in 1479.  The original manuscript, in Platina's hand, is in the Vatican Library (no. 2044).   It had been presented to Pope Sixtus IV by Platina himself [Pastor IV, pp. 446-451], who was his bibliothecarius by 1475, and praefectus of the Library down to his death in 1481 [Zanelli, La Bibliotheca Vaticana, p. 15-16; Carini, La Biblioteca Vaticana, p. 48-49].  Platina had been arrested in February, 1468, along with other members of the Roman Academy, led by Pomponius Laetus, on charges of conspiracy to murder Pope Paul II (Barbo), and charges of heresy, relating to their use of pagan personal names rather than Christian ones, of engaging in rituals in celebration of ancient Roman holidays (they were particularly devoted to the Genius of Rome).  It is also clear that they made fun of the Pope and his predecessors, and criticized papal policy. The charges of murder were dropped immediately, being without grounds. Paul II, however, deemed the misconduct of the Roman Academy to be serious, and he referred them to the Inquisition.  Platina was sent to the Castel S. Angelo, where he was tortured on the orders of the Vicar of Christ and kept in confinement for more than a year [Creighton, The History of the Popes III (London 1887), pp. 41-47].

On February 2, 1468,  Pope Paul II managed to achieve a general peace in Italy, including  Ferdinando I of Naples, the Signoria of Venice, Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan, the city of Florence, and the Marchese of Mantua [Niccola della Tuccia, Cronaca di Viterbo p. 272 ed. Ciampi].  This agreement certainly ended Sigismondo Malatesta's threat in northern Italy, and it apparently cleared the way for the resumption of the crusade against the Ottoman Turks.

Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Lord of Rimini [ right ], died on October 7, 1468, at the age of fifty-one [Muratori, Annali d' Italia second edition 13  (Milan  1753) 223; Yriarte, pp. 275-299].   Paul II had been following up on some initiatives of Pius II.  Sigismondo had not been included in the Peace of Lodi (1454), and he was therefore legitimate prey of the Venetians, the Papal government, and the Neapolitans. On December 25, 1460, a trial took place in Rome, arraigning Sigismondo and convicting him of heresy (involving charges of incest, sodomy and other crimes).  A concerted military operation, involving the Pope, the King of Naples, Duke Francesco Sforza of Milan, and the Duke of Urbino, Federico da Montefeltro, attacked Sigismondo, but he was able to defeat the papal forces at Castelleone di Suasa on July 21, 1462. He himself was severely defeated, however, at a battle near Senigallia on August 12, 1462.  In 1463 the Malatesta lost Fano.   Sigismondo left Italy entirely for a time, and joined the crusade against the Ottoman Turks in the Morea.  His son, Roberto, took service with Francesco Sforza, and then with the Papacy, fighting on the southern border of the Papal States [Yriarte, pp.339-355].   When Paul II came to the throne, he attempted to get the Malatesta out of Rimini by means of an exchange of territories (Spoleto and Camerino)— which was unsatisfactory.  When Sigismondo returned from crusade in 1466, he named his son Sallustio as his heir (and his wife Isotta as Regent) rather than Roberto. In return, in 1468, Sigismondo planned to attack and murder the Pope.  He failed in holding to his plan, and was forced to enter into a peace with Paul II. The peace was negotiated by Cardinal Marco Barbo, the Pope's nephew, and Angelo Fasolo, the Bishop of Feltre, and signed on June 23, 1468 [Yriarte, p. 298].  Sigismondo died less than four months later.  Roberto Malatesta was sent by Paul II to recover Rimini from his half-brother, and he was briefly successful, during which time he deserted Paul II to his own advantage; he even defeated the papal army which had been sent to oust him.  He also married Elisabetta da Montefeltro, daughter of Duke Frederick of Urbino (who now backed Roberto),  and Roberto poisoned his stepmother and half-brother.  Paul II, on his death, left behind an extremely unstable and dangerous situation in the Marches, where the Church's authority and prestige was greatly diminished.

Also in 1468,  the Emperor Frederick III decided to pay (an unofficial) visit to Rome.  On November 3 and 9, he wrote from Graz that he intended a visit, and Paul II replied on December 9 that he would be overjoyed to receive the Emperor.  He sent Cardinal Legates north to meet and accompany the Emperor to the City.   Cardinal d'Estouteville and Cardinal Todeschini-Piccolomini met the Emperor in Tuscany at Narnia in December of 1468 [Ammannati Epistolae 310 (December 22, 1468), to Cardinal Alain Coëtivy].  They arrived in Rome on the evening of Christmas eve [Agostino Patrizi, Descriptio adventus Friderici III. Imperatoris, p. 206]. The visit was a great diplomatic and social success, the Pope treating the Emperor as an equal.  But Frederick had hoped to persuade the Pope to summon a General Council at Constanz, to deal with heresy throughout Germany. The Pope, however, was strongly inclined against any General Council whatever.   At the conclusion of the Emperor Fredrick III's visit to Rome (December 25,1468—January 9, 1469), Cardinal Borgia and Cardinal Capranica accompanied the Emperor on his return north as far as Viterbo [Agostino Patrizi, Descriptio adventus Friderici III. Imperatoris, p. 216]. During this journey he took great pains to win friends, by passing out titles and privileges in great profusion. He was in Ferrara on February 1, 1469, and had conversations with Guglielmo of Montferrat.

In Venice,  Doge Cristoforo Moro was old and sick and struck by the loss of the last Venetian outpost in the East, Negroponte, on July 12, 1470 [Angelo de Tummulillis, Notabilia temporum pp. 161-171 Corvisieri].  The Doge died on November 9, 1471, placing the entire matter of a crusade into Limbo once again.

The fall of Negroponte, however, had a galvanizing effect on the Empire.  Paul summoned a meeting in Rome, but only managed to obtain a defensive alliance on the part of the powers, which still left Hungary and the rest of the Balkans in grave danger.  The Emperor Frederick III was thoroughly terrified at the weakness of his own resources in the face of the Ottoman threat.  He therefore moved to summon a Diet of the Empire, with the purpose of enlisting the active and material support of the German princes in yet another attempt at a crusade.  The Diet was scheduled to meet at Ratisbon, beginning on April 24, 1471.  Pope Paul II sent Cardinal Francesco Todeschini-Piccolomini of Siena to represent him.  He arrived at Ratisbon on May 1, accompanied by Giovanni Antonio Campani,  who provided a continual narrative of the conferences in his letters to Cardinal Ammannati-Piccolomini and others. The business of the Diet was complicated by the death of George Podebrady, King of Bohemia since February 27, 1458, on March 22, 1471.  He had been excommunicated and deposed by Pope Paul II on December 23, 1466 as an unregenerate Hussite heretic. This set off the Bohemian War of 1468-1478, pitting the papalist Frederick III and King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary against the successor of King George,  Vladislav II, the son of the King of Poland.   Paul II treated the war as though it were a holy crusade.  The nobles of the Empire, however, were far more interested in the sectarian Hussite struggle over Bohemia than the struggle against the Turks in the Balkans.

Death of Pope Paul II (Barbo)

Paul II died on Friday, July 26, 1471, around the second hour of the night. [Leti, Histoire des conclaves (p. 52) makes the date July 18th, and he is followed by Trollope, The Papal Conclaves, p. 156;  Panvinio, "Vita Sixti IV", p. 346, however, makes it  viii.kal.augusti, July 25;  Petruccelli (I, 290) makes it the 28th—all four are wrong].  According to Sixtus IV, in his electoral manifesto [Baronius-Theiner 29, sub anno 1471, no.70, pp. 518-519], it was septimo kal. Augusti (July 26).  The Florentine chronicler Matteo Palmieri [Liber de temporibus  ed. Scaramella (Città di Castello 1906), p. 191] also provides the correct date, as does Angelo de Tummulullis (quoted below).  

On the next day, July 27, the Pope's body was carried to S. Peter's Basilica, where he was buried next to the tomb of his uncle, Eugenius IV [Cannesius, Vita Pauli II. Veneti (Roma 1740), with Cardinal Quirini's Vindiciae, p. 103]  The Funeral Oration was preached by Francesco, the Ambassador of the King of Aragon [Cannesius, p. 103; Novaes, Introduzione, p. 254].  Panvinio (p. 331) says the Pope died of apoplexy.  He had previously suffered two strokes, according to Michael Cannesius, before he even became pope ["Vita Pauli II", p. 102]:

In peragendis negotiis ante Pontificatum bis apoplexia laboravit; sed Nicolai V. Pontificatu gravius ipse Autumni tempore aegrotavit, prima noctis quiete oppressus, a qua tandem Laurentii Ronciglionensis opera et medicamentis sublevatus est. In ipso Pontificatu rursus in eandem incidit valetudinem mense Februario, dum Garzias Hispanus cubicularius ei legeret Computorum librum, qui ei ex Avenione a Quaestore adlatus fuerat.

The ravages of the earlier strokes can be seen in the drooping of his left eye and in the rictus on the left side of his lips in his portrait bust.

He had also been ill in July of 1468, as a letter to him from Cardinal Ammannati indicates [Epistolae 259 (Pienza, July 9, 1468)]: intellexi Beatitudinem vestram proximis diebus languisse, et nunc recreatum esse beneficio Dei. Altero dolui, altero laetatus sum, quantum filio de patre dolendum fuit, atque laetandum.

His death, at the age of 53, was quite unexpected. The day before, he had held a Consistory, which lasted from 12:00 to 18:00 hours, and he was seen to be in good health. He lunched around 22:00 hours, but around the first hour of the night he told one of his chamberlains that he did not feel well, and no audiences were given that evening.   He was found dead by one of his chamberlains in the morning.

The Milanese ambassador, Nicodemus de Pontremoli, wrote to Duke Galeazzo Sforza on August 2, 1471:

Per altre mie havera inteso V. Cels. che la morte del papa fo in un subito in questo modo che essendo lui stato la matina in consistorio cioè el venerdi a vintisei del passato da le dodece hore fino a le deceocto de la megliore voglia del mondo, cenò a le vintidoe hore, mangiò tre poponi non molto grandi cossi alcune altre cose di trista substantia come si era assuefacto mangiare da alcuni mesi in qua. Poi ad una hora de nocte disse ad un M. Petro Franzoso suo cubiculario chel se sentiva tutto grave. Essao M. Petro gli recordò non deese audientia per quella sera, ma andasse un poco a posare. Giettosse in suso un letuzo dove gli pigliò grande ambascie e tale che essendo uscito esso M. Petro de la camera per licentiare la brigata et lassarlo dormire un poco, senti passate de poco le doe hore busare Iusso de la camera dove el papa se era a pena possuto condure et aprendo lusso trovò el papa presso de morto cum molta bava a la bocca et atacandossegli el papa al colo hebero a cadere ambe doi in modo se abandonò. Essendo li presso una cadrega M. Petro cum molta difficulta ce l' assectò suso et tornò al usso a domandare M. Doymo suo compagno. Quando tornarono dentro el papa havia posate le mane in suso li pomeli de nanti de la cadrega et appozato el capo al muro et vedendolo cum molta bava ala bocca volendolo aiutare el trovarono morto passate de poco le doe hore, adeo che dal principio del dolorse et morire no fo una hora.

The notary Angelo de Tummulillis wrote (Notabilia temporum, pp.175-176):

M.CCCC.LXXI. mense iulii die veneris .XXVI. eiusdem mensis .IIII. indictionis improvvise fama surressit quod celebris memorie dominus noster papa Paulus Secundus, dum ipso die hora .XXII. celebrasset concistorium in suo palatio Sancti Petri saluber et gaudens et superveniente sero cenasset et aliquantulum deambularet post cenam suum viridarium et lavaret manus in fonte viridarii, demum cepit in suis tibiis debilitari et tremari, adeo quod non sibi videbatur posse rectus existere, et cum iret in cameram ad repausandum se reclusit ab intus et hora quarta noctis superveniente gucta de lecto exiliit cadens in terram, et sic oppressus expiravit.  cuius anima requiescat in pace.

Set quidam refereunt quod occubuit veneno dudum sumpto et tali hora terminato, quia de sero hora .IIII. noctis ingressus fuit suam aulam cum aliqua sui corporis disturbatione, et non extimans dictam paxionem procedere ad peiora, se solum in camera reclusit et in lecto cubavit; unde superveniente articulo mortis de suo stratu exiliit et cadens in terram cum flusu sanguinis naris et oris expiravit; et sic post pusillum fuit repertus mortuus sui cruoris sanguine intricatus.

A more sinister report is given by the contemporary, Paolo di Benedetto di Cola dello Mastro dello rione di Ponte [Archivio della r. società Romana di storia patria 16 (1893), p. 104; and see G. Marini, Degli archiatri pontifici  I (Roma 1784), p. 170]:

Recordo io Paulo che nelli 1471 a dii 26 de iuglio morì papa Paolo, e morì de una trista morte, la quale morte si fu che a tre hore de notte fu trovato morto, e molti dissero che fu strangolato da certi diavoli che teneva rinchiusi.

Papabili

The "friends of the Prince", Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, were:  Capranica, Calandrini, Gonzaga, Francesco della Rovere, and Guillaume d'Estouteville  [Ammannati, Epistolae 395; cf. Petruccelli I, 292].  Cardinal Ammannati offered his support to d'Estouteville, Calandrini, and Capranica; and he was even willing to support Gonzaga if requested.  In fact, on the last scrutiny, he voted for Bessarion, Calandrini, and d'Estouteville [Pastor IV, p. 506]. It appears that d'Estouteville was very eager to court the support of Galeazzo Maria for his own candidacy;  his capitain, Paulus Gazzurus de Novara, wrote to the Duke, indicating that he would be made a king and his brother, Ascanio, would be made a cardinal—if d'Estouteville were to become pope [Pastor IV, p. 200 n., quoting an unpublished letter in the State Archives in Milan, dated from Rome on July 29, 1471]    If this communication were in fact authorized by d'Estouteville, it could well be seen as something akin to simony.  

Cardinal Latino Orsini was, of course, the candidate of Naples, supported by King Ferdinand I (Ferrante).  Since Orsini's niece was married to Lorenzo de' Medici it is not unlikely that he was being supported by Florence, but without a cardinal in the Sacred College, the value of that support would have been minimal.  Since there was only one other Roman in the College (Capranica, who was aligned with Bessarion and d'Estouteville), there was no support for Orsini in that quarter.   Reports of ambassadors of Mantua indicated, however, that if his candidacy failed (which it did), he would switch his support to Fortiguerra ("Theatinus") and Eroli ("Spoletanus") [Pastor, p. 200 n.].  In fact he did vote for Fortiguerra, though not for Eroli;  he also voted for Roverella of Ravenna (whose cardinalate had come at the request of Ferdinand I, and who had been Legate in Naples) and for Francesco della Rovere.   So much for the reliability of ambassadors' reports.  It may also be noted that he did not vote for the Neapolitan Carafa, and Carafa did not vote for him.  So much for the importance of political attachment.

The Venetians were actively supporting Cardinal Bessarion, according to a report of August 2, 1471, from Gerardo Colli, the Milanese ambassador in Venice, to the Duke of Milan: et ano scripto ad Roma a tutj li lor cardinali amici vogliano far capo et ellegere Niceno grecho  [Motta, Archivio 11 (1888), p. 254]. This was hardly a surprise, since Bessarion had been Legate of Nicholas V in 1449 to attempt to arrange a peace between Milan and Venice; he was also Legate of Pius II in Venice in 1463 for the purpose of preaching the crusade. He was a great benefactor of the Library of S. Marco, and in 1468 he had willed his library to Venice [Ciaconius-Olduin II, 907; Vast, Chapter IV, pp. 364-378; Rocholl, 185-193].  Francesco Filelfo in Milan was also supporting Bessarion [Franciscus Filelfus, Epistolarum familiarum Libri XXXVII, Liber 33, p. 232 (August 1, 1471)]

In no sense, however, could it be said that Orsini and Bessarion were friends.  Petruccelli [I, 293] quotes reports that he had read in the Archives of Milan, about a quarrel they had shortly after the death of Pope Paul II (July 29?).  Cardinal d'Estouteville's chaplain had written (in Petruccelli's translation):

Je demandai à Sa Seigneurie Révérendissime de Rohan si le cardinal Orsini faisait des pratiques pour lui ou bien pour un autre.  Il répondit qu' Orsini traitait pour lui et que ce Mgr Orsini et Mgr Greco s' étaient mordus entre eux de paroles presque injurieuses. Mgr Greco lui dit, entre autres choses, que, si le collége des cardinaux eût agi à sa façon, en peu de temps, Rome serait restée déserte et que, quant à lui, il avait décidé qu on entrât en conclave et qu' on donnât sa voix, chacun selon la volonté de Dieu, et de ne plus souffrir que l' on fit l' élection cum les moyens que l' on pratiqua avec Paul II. A quoi Orsini répondit qu' on aurait fait ce qu' il aurait voulu, lui Orsini, de gré ou de force.

Rome

    For once Rome was in a calm state.  Ferdinand I of Naples had warned the Romans that they should not cause trouble, and his troops were present to ensure that his orders were obeyed.  The Carafa family, including the Cardinal's brother, Carlo, Conte di Airola, were in evidence.  Nonetheless, representatives of the City of Rome appeared before the Cardinals, demanding that benefices of the city of Rome should be given to Romans; that the taxes levied for the support of the University of Rome should be used for that purpose and not diverted by the popes to other purposes.  Only after the Cardinals agreed, and a public announcement to the effect was made, did the Romans agree to lay down their arms.  However, they would not actually do so until the Cardinals released from prison in the Castel S. Angelo some forty prisoners held on charges of debt and petty crimes, as well as two citizens of Ascoli who had been locked up there on orders of Paul II, and a baron who was accused of wanting to revive the heresy of the fraticelli. 

Also they insisted that the regular Canons (Congregatio Sancti Salvatoris Ordinis Sancti Augustini) who had been re-installed at the Lateran by Paul II should be ejected in favor of the traditional occupants, the secular Lateran canons   [cf. Cannesius "Vita Pauli II," pp. 45-47;  Petruccelli I, p. 291, from a dispatch by the Milanese ambassador; Pastor IV, p. 198, citing a dispatch by Johannes Blanchus de Cremona, of July 29, 1471. See also  Caesar Rasponus, De Basilica et Patriarchio Lateranensi Libri Quattuor (Romae 1652) pp. 93-94; and G. Rouhault de Fleury, Le Latran au Moyen-age (Paris 1877), p. 251].

The Cardinals

On the death of Pope Paul II, there were twenty-five living cardinals. A list of the eighteen Cardinals in attendance at the Conclave of 1471 is given by Conradus Eubel, Hierarchia catholica editio altera (Monasterii 1923), p. 15 n.9.  A list of the seventeen cardinals who entered the Conclave at the opening on Tuesday, August 6, 1471, is given in the Acta Cameralia [Bourgin, 299]. One cardinal, Giacomo Ammannati-Piccolomini, who was ill, entered the next morning, Wednesday, August 7, at 11:00 hours [Acta Consistorialia, in Eubel II, p. 16 n.].  Stefano Infessura, Diaria rerum Romanorum [p. 74 ed. Tommasini] says: Die sexta Augusti, finito lo exequio, li cardinali si missero in conclave in Santo Pietro in loco usato, et forono deciotto....  He then gives the eighteen names, in no particular order.   Another list of the eighteen participants can be derived from the tally sheet of the scrutiny [Pastor History of the Popes IV, Appendix, no. 43, pp. 505-506].

Onuphrio Panvinio, Epitome, pp. 132-133, states that there were twenty-eight cardinals, of whom eighteen attended the Conclave of 1471.  He includes (as absent) Stephanus Varada, who was dead; Jacobus [Cardona] of Urgel, who had died in 1466; and an unnamed Bishop of Salzburg, who was Burcardus Weisbriach, who died in 1466.   Ciaconius-Olduin (Vitae et res gestae pontificum III [1677], 2-3) provide a list of twenty-six cardinals who were alive at the time of the election of Sixtus IV [They list Stephanus Varada, who was certainly dead], and they mark with a star those eight who were absent, including the one who was deceased..

Of these eighteen participants all but three (Bessarion, Borgia, and d'Estouteville) were Italian [Pastor IV, p. 199], but only two of the fifteen were Romans.  Six of the seven who did not attend were non-Italian, their distance from Rome and the schedule of the Sede Vacante being a major factor.

Conclave: Electoral Capitulations

The observation of the Novendiales began on  July 28, 1471 and concluded on Monday, August 5, 1471.  The Conclave opened the next day, Tuesday, August 6, with the Mass of the Holy Spirit, sung by Cardinal Bessarion [Ciaconius-Olduin III (Romae 1687), p. 1],  and the preaching of the oration, de pontifice eligendo.  Seventeen cardinals entered conclave in the Vatican Palace on August 6, and they were joined the next day, Wednesday, August 7, by Cardinal Ammannati, who had been ill on the previous day [Eubel II, p. 15 n. 9].

There appear to have been Electoral Capitulations, though we have only hints of their existence [Pastor IV, p. 204 and n.; Gregorovius VII. 1, p. 247].  Cardinal Ammannati, for example, says, in a letter of October 20, 1473, about Cardinal Bessarion:  adiutor etiam fuit, ut iuramenta violarentur, et vota die electionis suae [Sixti IV] Deo oblata.  Ut crearentur quoque indigni Cardinales magna bonorum maestitia, et gravi omnium de nobis querela. "He helped Sixtus so that the oaths were violated, and offered him his votes on the day of his election; and also that he create unworthy cardinals with great sadness on the part of good men, and with a solemn protest on the part of all of us."   Vespasiano da Bisticci also alludes to Electoral Capitulations in his "Cardinale Niceno":  The nephews of Paul II (Barbo and Zeno) were arguing, in the presence of Sixtus IV and Cardinal Bessarion, over the treasures Paul had amassed in the Castel S. Angelo. Intervenne uno di che andando il papa in Castello a vedere le gioie di papa Pagolo, dua cardinali viniziani, nipoti di papa Pagolo, ch' erano intervenuti a eleggerlo papa con certe condizioni, inginocchiaronsi a' piedi del papa, a domandargli la dota per certe loro fiocce, ch' era istata loro promessa.  Sixtus IV had been elected under certain conditions.  Vespasiano also says, in his "Cardinale di Ravenna" (p. 150 Bartoli), that Bartolomeo Roverella, the Cardinal of Ravenna, refused to make any promises with regard to Electoral Capitulations, which doomed his chances for the papacy:

Ravenna ebbe più voci che altri cardinali che vi fussino e poichi gli arebbono potuto torre il pontificato; ma alcuni cardinali gli feciono dire, s' egli prometteva fare certe cose che domandavano.  Ma il cardinale, come uomo che non voleva se non le cose giuste e oneste, e che promettendo cosa alcuna per venire a quella degnità era espressa simonia, la sua risposta fu, che non piacesse a Dio ch' egli volesse promettere cosa alcuna per venire a quella degnità; e s' egli fusse che gli paresse di farlo, lo farebbe; e se non gli paresse, non lo farebbe.  Veduto questi del Collegio ch' egli istava fermo a non volere promettere nulla, distolsono le voci loro.

The specific evidence, then, seems to suggest that (some) capitulations revolve around the status of cardinals:  how many of his relatives a pope could create; suitability of candidates; consent of existing cardinals for the creation of new cardinals.  Giuliano della Rovere was only seventeen, and Piero Riario, OFM, was a notorious twenty-six year old sybarite.  Both were objected to by a majority (or all, according to Cardinal Ammannati) of the Cardinals.  But these were matters that had been included in Electoral Capitulations for more than a century.  The Cardinals very likely spent Wednesday, August 7, in dusting off and renegotiating their capitulations, basing their work, no doubt, on the capitulations from the previous Conclave, only seven years in the past, which had been worked on by no less than ten of the cardinals present.  There had, after all, been a major scandal immediately after the election of Paul II, when he rewrote the Capitulations to suit himself and forced the cardinals to sign his text without reading it. Cardinal Bessarion had been particularly hardly used by Paul II. 

Scrutinies

It would seem (though there is no positive evidence) that August 7 was spent in working on Electoral Capitulations. In mid-morning Cardinal Ammannati joined the Conclave.

It appears that there was more than one scrutiny.  Vespasiano da Bisticci says, in his "Cardinale di Ravenna" (p. 150 Bartoli): Venendo papa Pagolo a morte, vennono alla elezione; ed era venuto Ravenna in tanta riputazione, che innanzi che s' entrasse in conclave, ognuno gli dava il pontificato.  Entrato in concave, e venendo al primo isquittino.... 

Ciaconius-Olduin [Vitae et Res Gestae Pontificum Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalium  III (Romae 1687), p. 1] speaks of a scrutiny held on August 8.  The report is obviously based on a conclave narrative, but how well the narrative was understood is a question.  Ciaconius-Olduin reports only four lines earlier that Cardinal Ammannati arrived late at the Conclave,  die Mercurii 4 Idus Augusti—which would have been August 10, the day after the Conclave ended (The 4th was a Sunday, Tuesday was the 6th, Ammannati entered on the 7th).

Sexto Idus Augusti primo scrutinio, nemo Papa fuit; hisce Comitiis in Conclavi inter reliquos Patres praecipue candidati erant Bessario Graecus, Rothomagensis [d'Estouteville], Ursinus, et Papiensis [Ammannati].

Tribus porro posterioribus a Vicecancellario [Borgia] et Mantuano Cardinalibus, aliisque qui in colloquio magnae auctoritatis erant, Patribus exclusis, res ad Bessarionem tum Senatus Principem, senem, doctrina et vitae integritate clarissimum spectare videbatur, quem Ursinus, obtinendi Pontificatus spe deposita, Mantuanus et Cancellarius convenientes, certis sub conditionibus, pontificatum ei daturos polliciti sunt: cumque ille se ea ratione pontificem creari velle, pernegasset, ut scilicet pacto aliquo interveniente Papatum obtineret, illi intempestivam eius severitatem stomachari, ad Cardinalem S. Petri ad Vincila, Magistrum Franciscum Savonensem, sunt conversi, vita, doctrinaque praestantissimum a quo quum omnia quae postularunt obtinuissent, cum cubiculario ipsius fratre Petro Riario maxime ne Cardinalium rogatis obsisteret, incitante: ipsi Pontificatum demandare promittunt.

In the scrutiny no one obtained the twelve votes needed to elect. The recipients of votes were Bessarion, d'Estouteville, Orsini and Ammannati, but Bessarion was far ahead of the other three.  This version seems somewhat inconsistent with what happened on the next day, especially as far as the strength of Roverella and Calandrini is concerned—who had seven votes each. 

According to the notary Angelo de Tummulillis (Notabilia temporum, p.177), however, Cardinal Bessarion was extremely disconcerted at his competition [Ravenna (Roverella), Bologna (Calandrini) and S. Francisci (Rovere)], and began to complain against them:

set quia dominus cardinalis Grecus egreferens cepit murmurare contra illos habentes plures voces; cui fuit per alios sibi improperatum et obiectum quod taceret et nollet interrumpere propositum et electionem aliorum, quod adhuc dubitabatur si ipse tamquam grecus esset verus et cactholicus christicola.  quibus verbis erubescens obmutuit patienter, set hii tres qui videbantur equales voces a ceteris, dixcutientes intra seipsos de sinceritate spiritus et integritate vite ipsorum, sponte et pariter voces suas reflexerunt in dictum dominum cardinalem Sancti Francisci vocatum primo nomine Franciscum et de ordine minorum fratrum sancti Francisci....

His imprudent remarks about the qualifications of his competitors apparently brought renewed reflections on his own qualifications, including the old suspicions as to his orthodoxy, since he was a Greek.

But since Bessarion was out in front of the other three papabili (the Conclave narrative used by Ciaconius-Olduin goes on),  it seemed evident to Borgia and Gonzaga that things looked good for Bessarion, who was Dean of the College and an old man of theological soundness and integrity of lifestyle. And so, Orsini (who abandoned his own candidacy), Gonzaga and Borgia got together privately, patribus exclusis, and agreed that they would offer the papacy to Bessarion,  on certain conditions.  However, when Bessarion became aware that he could be made pope on those terms and with the (unnamed) conditions, he refused.  They then approached Cardinal della Rovere, with the same conditions, and he agreed. So he was elected the next day.  Why these men?  A different conclavist (quoted in the original Latin by Creighton, History of the Papacy III [1887], p. 58 n.) states:  Inter alios Cardinales fuerunt hi tres praelati maximae quidem auctoritatis, Latinus Ursinus, Rodericus Borgia Vice Cancellarius, Franciscus Gonzaga Mantuanus, qui tres capita fuerunt ejusdem electionis, in se quisquam provinciam assumens difficultates si quae essent rejiciendo. Propterea Pontifex factus, ne ingrtus ullo modo appareret, Latino Ursino est elargitus Cameriatum Ecc., Roderico Vice Cancel dedit Abbatiam de Subiaco, et Card(ina)li alii Mantuano Monasterium Divi Gregorii.

The logic of the behavior of Borgia, Gonzaga, and Orsini, as seen by the Ciaconius-Olduin conclavist, is quite suspect. Each cardinal was far more cunning that the conclave narrative allows, and Bessarion's character was already well-known.  He had been a cardinal for thirty-three years, had a distinguished career as a humanist and a diplomat, and he had nearly been elected pope in the Conclave of 1464; of course he had a good deal of support.  The stylized presentation by the conclavist, as though it were merely a desire to get someone elected who would be under an obligation to the conspirators, so that they could obtain rewards, does not sound authentic.  Also, it takes no account of the blow-up between Bessarion and Orsini just before the Conclave began.  Why would Orsini be willing to support a man who despised him?  And why would Orsini expect anything else than very limited support?  He was, after all, a supporter of, and supported by, the King of Naples,  which gave him very limited appeal in the Sacred College, whatever his other gifts.  And he had only been a cardinal for four years (a charge which was apparently also levelled against Francesco della Rovere); that was thought to be a disadvantage to any candidate.

In addition, one may ask what the specific conditions (certis condicionibus) were to which Bessarion was asked to agree?  The Cardinals had just negotiated Electoral Capitulations, which, if the Capitulations of earlier conclaves are any guide, were quite extensive.   The inference could easily be drawn that Bessarion looked upon these specific and private conditions as a quid pro quo, perhaps coming too close to the definition of simony.  Bessarion had already warned Orsini that he did not intend to stand for the sort of manipulations that had taken place in the Conclave of 1464 (in the words of d'Estouteville's chaplain, translated by Petruccelli): il avait décidé qu on entrât en conclave et qu' on donnât sa voix, chacun selon la volonté de Dieu, et de ne plus souffrir que l' on fit l' élection cum les moyens que l' on pratiqua avec Paul II.  How could Orsini possibly have approached Bessarion with such a deal?

The second scrutiny took place on Friday, August 9, around 15:00 hours.   On the scrutiny, the votes were:

On the scrutiny, Cardinal della Rovere had received the votes of:  S. Lutia [Michiel of Venice], Monferrato [Teodoro Paleologo], S. Maria in port. [Zeno of Venice], Ravenna [Roverella], Thiano [Niccolò Fortiguerra], Aquilla [Amico Agnifilus], Niceno [Bessarion], Bologna [Filippo Calandrini], et Orsino [Latino Orsini of Naples].

At the accessio,  Francesco della Rovere's ten votes were joined by three more  (Borgia, d'Estouteville, and Barbo), giving him thirteen votes—more than a 2/3 majority.   It is said by Stefano Infessura [ p. 74 Tommasini] that della Rovere could not have become pope without those three votes (he names Borgia, Orsini, and Gonzaga), and that it was della Rovere's nephew and his conclavist, Pietro Riario, OFM,  who was instrumental in obtaining those votes:

Die nona augusti 1471 fo creato dalli predetti cardinali papa Sisto Quarto, cardinale de Santo Pietro in Vincula, alias mastro Francesco da Saona, generale dell' ordine di Santo Francesco.  lo cardinale Orsino fo fatto camarlengo, lo vicecancelliere s' habbe l' abbadia di Subiaco, lo cardinale di Mantoa s' habbe l' abbadia di Santo Gregorio, et questo perchè diero la voce loro allo ditto cardinale, perchè altramente non poteva essere papa, et questo fo per operatione di frate Pietro.

   Almost immediately after the election and ceremonies of adoration, Cardinal Latino Orsini was made Camerarius (Camerlengo), Cardinal Borgia was granted the Abbey of Subiaco, Cardinal Gonzaga was granted the Monastery of S. Gregorio [Cardinal Ammannati Piccolomini, Epistolae 395; Stefano Infessura, Diaria rerum Romanarum, sub anno 1471, p. 74 ed. Tommasini; Panvinio, in "Vita Sixti IV", p. 346; an anonymous conclavist quoted by Creighton, History of the Papacy III [1887], p. 58 n.].  The notion that Gonzaga was responsible for Sixtus' election is also found in a letter of August 11, 1471,  of Joannes Petrus Arrivabene, the Mantuan ambassador in Rome (and a friend and correspondent of Cardinal Ammannati), to his mother [Pastor (IV, p. 203 and n.), who says it is "ample proof"].  

   In the voting schedule published by Pastor [The History of the Popes IV, Appendix, no. 43, pp. 505-507], however, the trio of the accessio given by the list is: Borgia, d'Estouteville, and Barbo.  not Borgia, d'Estouteville and Gonzaga. These appointments seem to confirm the statements that these three Cardinals were instrumental in the election of Cardinal della Rovere.  Gonzaga's name in the list, however, is a surprise and a particular problem. According to the voting lists obtained by the Milanese ambassador,  Gonzaga had not voted for della Rovere, not even in the accessio;  his votes went to d'Estouteville and Borgia.  That fact seems to be in contradiction to the view that he was a supporter of della Rovere and helped to get him elected.   If one inquires as to Gonzaga's influence inside the College, one indication might be the cardinals who would vote for him in the election.  Gonzaga got only two votes,  one from d'Estouteville (who offered his vote to three other candidates), and the other from Teodoro Paleologo (who offered his vote to five other candidates). Such an inference, however, would be hazardous.

   Or is it the case instead that these appointments were taken as proof of the assistance of these cardinals, and actually generated the story?  post hoc, ergo propter hoc?   Were these three names an inference, rather than an established fact?   It seems more than likely that these sources are retailing the gossip of the moment, from outside the Conclave, based on the immediate news of the first papal appointments.  It is well known that Cardinals always approach the new pope as early as possible to ask for favors for themselves and their retainers.  They even carried prepared rotuli.   These appointments are nothing more than that.  And if so, they carry no weight against the testimony of the voting lists from the Conclave, published by Pastor, that Barbo was the third supporter at the accessio,  not Gonzaga.  And Borgia was already, after all, Abbot Commendatory of Clairvaux, of S. Angelo in Massa, and of Fossanova [Pastor II, pp. 555-556];  the additional grant of Subiaco was nothing extraordinary.  Indeed the grant of titles, deaconries and abbacies in commendam had become a standard part of the  system of financing the Roman Curia. Pope Paul II, in fact, had named himself Abbot Commendatory of Montecassino after the death of Cardinal Scarampi in 1465 [Tosti, Storia della Badia di Monte cassino I, 174-177]. Gonzaga had never received such a benefaction before, though he had been a cardinal for nine years.

   It may also be noted that Cardinal Borgia's greater reward came on August 30, when the promotion of Cardinal Filippo Calandrini to the See of Porto allowed for his promotion to the See of Albano.  But, as the senior Cardinal Deacon, with nearly fifteen years of service, Borgia had a certain claim to the promotion.  And no observation or accusation is made of Cardinal Calandrini's "reward" of the grant of the See of Porto, which had been vacant since the death of Cardinal Richard de Longueil on August 19, 1470 [Eubel II, p. 37 no. 307].  At the same Consistory of August 30, 1471, the first of the reign of Sixtus IV, the son of King Ferdinand of Naples, Giovanni d' Aragona,  who was only fifteen years of age, and who was already a Protonotary Apostolic and Abbot Commendatory of the Monastery of SS. Trinita de Cava, was granted the Abbey of Montecassino in commendam.  Cardinal Gonzaga's alleged reward for his services in the Election of 1471, the Monstery of S. Gregorio, seems almost small in comparison.

And what of the third accessio vote—that of Cardinal d'Estouteville?  What reward did it bring him?

The appointment of Cardinal Latino Orsini to the office of Camerlengo placed the uncle of Lorenzo de' Medici's wife in an ideal porition to provide the nephew with an entrée into the inner working of the papal finance office.

Coronation and  possessio

Sixtus IV (Rovere) was consecrated Bishop of Rome, August 25, 1471, by Cardinal Guillaume d'Estouteville, bishop of Ostia e Velletri. He was crowned on August 25, 1471, on a platform built on the steps of the Vatican Basilica, by Cardinal Rodrigo Borja, senior Cardinal Deacon [Müntz, Arts, p. 268].

On the same day, August 25 (or at least dated on the same day), Sixtus IV signed a letter, addressed to the leaders and citizens of Interamna and, no doubt, many others), announcing his accession [Baronius-Theiner 29, sub anno 1471, no.70, pp. 518-519].

During the procession from the Vatican to S. Giovanni Laterano for the possessio ceremony, the Pope was attacked ["Vita Sixti IV", by an anonymous author, from a Vatican ms.:  Muratori Rerum Italicarium Scriptores III. 2, column 1056]:

At vero dum, ut fit, coronam Pontificiam apud Lateranum in magna celebritate ac hominum multitudine suscipit, tantus repente tumultus ortus est, dum pedites ab equitibus in angulo premuntur, ut paulum abfuerit, quin lapidatione obruerentur; ausi enim sunt temerarii quidam in eum quoque lapides conjucere.  Sedato autem tumultu celebrataque coronatione, ad rem Ecclesiasticam, Christianamque componendam animum adjicit....

Stefano Infessura is somewhat more precise, though he does not vouch for the statement that the Pope was lapidated [p. 75 Tommasini]:

A 25 dì dicti mensis, cioè lo dì di santo Bartolomeo, fo coronato papa Sixto in nelle scale di Santo Pietro, et po se ne gi ad Santo Ioanni ad pigliare la possessione, et in nella piazza di Santo Ioanni fo fatta una rixa perchè la gente d' arme si mischiò con Romani, et fonci fatto a sassi molto bene.

Onuphrio Panvinio, in his continuation of the Historia B. Platini de vitis pontificum Romanorum (Coloniae 1568), in the "Life of Sixtus IV" [p. 346], adds the interesting tidbit, that the riot was put down through the efforts of Cardinal Latino Orsini, who had great influence in the city of Rome [cf. Cannesius, "Vita Pauli II," 83-84, 87, for Latino Orsini's influence in restraining Orso Orsini, Duke of Ascoli:

At vero Viij. Kal. Septembris in coronationis suae sollennibus, dum in magna populi frequentia lectica portaretur apud Basilicam Lateranensem tantus repente tumuoltus exortus est, dum Romani quidam cives in via ab equitibus pontificiis premerentur, ut maximum vitae periculum adierit, saxis enim seu casu, seu ex composito appetitus, a lecticariis certe destitutus fuisset, nisi Latini cardinalis auctoritas, a quo seditio sedata est, intercessisset,  coronatione celebrata....

cf. Cannesius "Vita Pauli II," pp. 45-47 on the Orsini

Sixtus IV became one of the greatest nepotists in the history of the papacy [Pastor IV, 231-245], rivalled only by Clement VI.  His partiality to Pietro Riario was particularly shameless and destructive.