February 08, 2005
Pope Watch 1458, part 4: Smoking in the boys' room
The story so far: King Alfonso of Aragon and Sicily is dead. King Alfonso wanted his illegitimate son Ferrante to succeed him. Pope Calixtus III did not care for King Alfonso, and so at his death Pope Calixtus claimed that Sicily was Rome's to dispense with. Then Pope Calixtus died. Oh, the embarrassment.
Thus the Vatican sent out an APB for all cardinals in the area to converge on Rome for a snap papal election. Nineteen showed up, one of whom promptly died. By the rules of the time, a new pope needed a two-thirds majority of votes: twelve cardinals.
The French were looking to install their own ringer in the papacy, for reasons both theological -- the faculty of the University of Paris was getting restless -- and temporal -- Rene of Anjou had his own claim to Sicily. Their man on the spot was one Guillaume d'Estouteville, cardinal of Rouen.
Our narrator is Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini of Siena, soon to become Pope Pius II, who happened to be at a nearby spa at the time of Pope Calixtus's death. For some reason, Pius's posthumous editors decided this section of his memoirs was inappropriate for his readership, and removed it. So imagine the following gently crossed out with black marker:
A large group of cardinals gathered in the latrines. Here, as if in a secret, private meeting place, they worked out a plan to elect Guillaume pope, binding themselves with oaths and written pledges. Guillaume felt he could rely on their support and within no time was promising benefices, offices and positions of power, and dividing provinces among them. A perfect place to elect such a pope: where better to strike a filthy bargain than in the latrines!The cardinals who had definitely decided for Guillaume included the two Greeks, Genoa, San Sisto, Avignon, Colonna, Pavia, and the vice-chancellor.
This is rather an unholy coalition. Alain of Avignon we have already met. The two Greeks are Alain's previous nemesis John Bessarion, and the cardinal of Kiev. (Yes, Kiev.) Pavia has already made his play for the papacy in the accession phase. And the vice-chancellor is Rodrigo Borgia, the late Pope Calixtus III's nephew.
Orsini and the cardinals of Bologna and Sant'Anastasia were wavering and it seemed the slightest pressure would make them accede.
And it gets more complicated. The Colonna family and the Orsini family were two of the leading names in Rome, and they got along about as well as you might expect. Think Montagues and Capulets, or Hatfields and McCoys. Also, the Orsinis did not much like the interloping Catalan Borgia family; after Calixtus died, the Orsinis drove out his other nephew, whom Calixtus had made Captain-General of the Church, from Rome to Civitavecchia, where he died of a fever.
We've already encountered Filippo, cardinal of Bologna. A little unsteady, our friend Filippo.
Already Rouen felt his hopes were practically assured of success. And now, as it seemed they had eleven men confirmed on their side, they were certain they would get a twelfth straight away. For when it gets to this point in the process, someone is always ready to jump up and say "And I make you pope," to win the favor those words always bring. So they thought the matter settled, and were just waiting for dawn so the vote could be taken.
Next: part 5, a late night encounter.
Posted by coyu at February 8, 2005 01:33 AM