K. Hampe, "Ein ungedruckter Bericht über das Konklave von 1241," Sitzungsberichte. Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil. hist. Klasse 4 (1913), 26-31:

 

Proxima tercia feria uniformes litteras vestras per nuncios vestros recepimus, ita quod singuli nostrum habuerunt singulas in hunc modum:

"Noveritis, quod dominus papa [Celestine IV] die dominico preterito in sero diem clausit extremum et die sequenti traditus extitit sepulture.  Unde cum extrema neccessitas interpellet vos ecclesie providere, rogamus, supplicamus et per aspersionem sanguinis Jesu Christi vos obnixius obsecramus, peremptorie vos citantes, quatinus proxima VIa feria veniatis ad Urbem, ut extunc communiter pertractantes providere vobiscum de pastore possimus. Nec vos lateat, quod venerabilis frater J[ohannes de Columna] requisitus a nobis respondit se in carcerfe positum velle ac nolle liberum non habere nec potuit inclinari, quod suum vellet nobis consilium aperire.  Dat. die lune post festum beati Martini. [Monday, November 18, 1241] "

Nos autem talibus perlectis litteris obstupuimus vehementer et ultra quam credi posset plurimum admirati cepimus huiusmodi declinare sermonem.  Cumque inter nos retexere cepissemus passiones multiplices, fetores, calores continuos et prolixos, arti carceris miserias, opprobria, improperia, fames, inedias et dolores, quibus supra modum et supra virtutem aggravati fuimus,  ita ut vivere nos tederet, ac insuper, quod est gravius quodammodo, duobus ex nostro collegio nuper extinctis propter angustias carceris, residui in febrium extrema deducti vix mortis imperium evaserunt, propter febrium reliquias miltis ipsorum in palloribus preparatis, responsum mortis in se ipsis habentes, canones non invenimus, que vos trahant, ut nos propter eleccionis negocium ad illum locum hoc tempore citaretis, ubi G antiquior frater noster tanta nobilitate et potencia preditus ad eleccionem summi pontificis veniens sub securitate senatus, in carcere tam viliter detinetur in opprobrium ecclesie, spectaculum factus mundo, angelis et hominibus, et in ipso tota Romana ecclesia vinculatur, et ubi coram infinita multitudine propter hanc causam et alias excommunicationis vinculo innodati ecclesiastica sacramenta prophanant, nec est, qui contra hoc mutire audeat, vell garrire, [quod] nostra presentia tuta erit vel electio libera, salutifera vel secura.

Numquid semivivos, qui adhuc portant stingmata tormentorum, ad mortem reducere satagitis recidivam, ut fratri et patri noviter tunc peremptis in sepultura faciant societatem paratam et festinam et suppleamus, si hactenus penarum quid fefuit, et in peremptoriam reponamus?

Numquid obliti sumus, quam viliter tractati fuimus per manus et pedes ad carcerem et pulsati turpiter sicut fures? Nonne veneranda canicies [ — ] fratris nostri contumeliose fuit de sacro vertice detractata, qui proiectus in terram, humero, capite et toto corpore deorsum prostratis, tam diu per pedes tractus velud latro ad suspendium et de ipsa gratia, dorso currente interdum per acutos lapides, est aqbstractus et delatus tandem per vias publicas in tapeto, unde incurrerit incurabilem corporis lesionem?  An racio [Annon: Hampe] super testitudines nostris capitibus imminentes a custodibus decubantibus in eisdem urina saepius fundebatur, que per rimas et crepidines super unius fratris nostri cubiculum, velud olens locium, et de altera, ubi sua purgamenta sternebant, mixta imbribus super alterum noctibus defluebat, propter quod super stratum ad tantam arcendam iniuriam aptavit unus quorium, alter quasi tentorium, quasi exceptorium foditatis?  Nonne venerabilis alter frater [Robert Somercote?] delatus violenter est in secreto mortuorum, super quem spuebant et lamentationum funebrium infausta carmina derisorie decantabant et percuciebant durius sub grabato cum arcubus balistarum?  Qui etiam postmodum nec ad pocionem sumendam, quam plurimum indigebat, seorsum angulum carceris, ne purgare in publico tecto rustice coram pluribus cogeretur, nec ad confitendum sacerdoti locum secretum sine publica custodia potuit obtinere.  Nonne fratres debiles crudeliter in antro conclusi vomere crudas et pudendas putredines noctibus et diebus coram suis fratribus et interdum coram extraneis urgebantur, et edulia informorum interdicebantur, medicorum accessus, et coram fratribus cencies quidam deponere fetida pondera est compulsus, infirmis etiam plerumque aqua calida negabatur et familie a custodibus, immo tortoribus eorum, ingressu iugi extorsione redempto, nonne visitandi fratres nostros infirmos frequencius petita licencia negabatur, nec prosequi licuit funus fratris, sed intorquebaqntur imprecationes in vivos, ut extincti protinus socium ad sepulchra sequerentur?

Nec est aliquatenus obmittendum, quod senator [Matteo Rosso Orsini] nos concuciebat terroribus et tonitruis et choruscationibus fulgurabat, nisi obmisso illo, in [quem] fratres vota direxerant, protinus mitratum papam de carcere monstraremus, alioquin effossum pape cadaver in medio nostrum poneret, ut intollerabilis corruptela fetoris et confusionis et doloris immensitas absque mora fratres extingueret semivivos.  Nec silendum est, quod gravis comminatio portandi cruces per Urbem et effundendi multum sanguinis facta fuit, si eligeretur extraneus, de quo suspicio haberetur.

Vix cum hec omnia et plurima alia, que retexere esset longum, non vanos, sed intollerabiles terrores incuciant, qui possunt cadere in constantem virum et alias inperterritum, nec vestrum alique prepetentes in Urbe ac nobiles ausi fuerint ad summi pontificis funus accedere, debiti honoris celebraturi exequias iuxta morem, et quidam ex vobis— et quidem vivente adhuc papa—bonis fuerit mobilibus spoliatus portis excisis securibus, quomodo ad Urbem secure venire ac ibidem tute manere valemus pro tanto negocio exsequendo?

Cum igitur volumus et toto desiderio affectemus una vobiscum eleccioni summi pontificis interesse, rogamus, flagitamus et supplicamus humiliter, instanter obsecrantes per aspersionem sanguinis Jesu Christi, quatinus de communi consensu vestro et nostro eligamus in patrimonio ecclesie locum tutum, ut, convenientibus nobis in unum et bovis, cum securitate et libertate tractentur debita de tanti provisione pastoris, prout illud decretum 'In nomine Domini' patenter declarat.  Alioquin projibemus et interdicimus vobis, ne sine nobis in hoc negocio procedatis, et ne contra projibitionem et interdictum nostrum attemptetur aliquod, quod non credimus, in hoc facto, ad generalem ecclesiam seu generale concilium appellamus.

 

---

---

Codex Remensis 275, in which this text is found, also contains the text of Cardinal Thomas of Capua's Summa Dictaminis, as well as a number of fictitious letters [Hampe, pp. 3-4].

The document purports to come from several cardinals who are in refuge in Anagni after the death of Pope Celestine IV (November 10, 1241).   Ryccardus of S. Germano [MGH  19, 381] indicates that some cardinals had fled Rome even before the funeral of the Pope, which took place on the day after his death:

Mense Novembris Celestinus papa Romae aput Sanctum Petrum obiit; et de cardinalibus quidam, eo insepulto, de Urbe fugerunt, et contulerunt se Anagniam.

The surviving copy of the document, however, provides neither address nor subscription, though it is clear from the text that the recipients were the cardinals in Rome.  The authors are not named.   There is no date, though internal references indicate that it belongs somewhere in the last ten days of November, 1241.  How the document with the embedded letter reached Reims is a matter of conjecture;  one may suggest that the document was drawn up not so much for the cardinals in Rome, who already knew the contents, but for the general public, as an explanation of the rejection of the summons to a Conclave in Rome.  This might account, therefore, for its perfervid tone.

According to the document, each cardinal received his own copy of the quoted letter-of-summons separately. The Cardinal "G" in the paragraph after the quoted letter is identified by Hampe as Cardinal Giovanni Colonna (though Cardinal Colonna had also been identified in the document by the letter J(ohannes).  Hampe even emends the G into a J.  Cardinal "G" might more probably be identified as Cardinal Giacomo da Pecorara, OCist., who did not attend the Conclave of August-October, 1241, at all, because he was being held in prison by the Emperor Fredrick II.

The document repeatedly draws a contrast between imprisonment, on the one hand, and the liberty necessary for cardinals to conduct a canonical election of a pope, on the other hand.  To emphasize the point, the details of an imprisonment or imprisonments are expressed in great detail and even exaggerated.  The ultimate rhetorical purpose is to argue that a return to Rome by the cardinals at Anagni would be the same as entering a prison.  The cardinals in Rome, in fact, introduced the topos by quoting Cardinal Colonna, who said that he would rather be put in prison and not have his freedom, and that he could not bring himself to open discussions with the Roman cardinals. Using this argument the Cardinals at Anagni can circumvent the canonical demand of the cardinals in Rome that they return and participate in the election of a pope.  The Conclave must be held elsewhere than in Rome.

The ultimate fear, of course, in the event that the two groups of cardinals can not come together in Conclave is schism.  If one group should attempt an election, then the other group might refuse to recognize it.  The possibility is raised in the document with the reference at the end to an appeal to a general council.  The threat obviously worked.  The stalemate went on for more than eighteen months, and the cardinals in Rome did not dare to proceed on their own.

Most of the indignities referred to one cardinal or another are stated without reference as to whether the event happened before, during or after the Conclave of 1241, (the exception being the death of the two cardinals in the midst of fever).  The Conclave took place in the midst of factional war in Rome, between Orsini and Colonna, between Guelf and Ghibelline.  Matteo Rosso Orsini, the Senator of Rome, appointed by Gregory IX, may well have been less than delicate in handling some of his enemies, but the complaints may well be exaggerated; and the testimony is not given under oath.

Matthew of Paris (sub anno 1243, p. 253 Luard) quotes a letter signed and sent by seven cardinals during the Sede Vacante of 1241-1243 to the Abbot of Wardon in England: (R[aynaldus] Ostiensis et Velletrensis, J[ohannes] tituli Sanctae Praxedis, S[inibaldus] tituli Sancti Luarentii in Lucina, S[tephanus] tituli Sanctae Mariae trans Tyberim; R[aynerius] Sanctae Mariae in Cosmedin, E[gidius] Sanctorum Cosmae et Damiani, O[tho] Sancti Nicholai in carcere Tulliano) By the time of this letter, Cardinal Oddo had been allowed to rejoin the rest of the Cardinals; that would seem to put the letter in May or June of 1243. Several of these were probably the writers of the present document, if it is authentic.