I’m a historian of the medieval papacy and editor of the forthcoming three volumes of the Cambridge History of the Papacy. So it was kind of mandatory for me to see the brand new movie “Conclave.”
Based on Robert Harris’ 2016 novel, the film shows the politics behind electing a pope to steer the world’s 1.36 billion Catholics. Any researcher who has spent a while on the Vatican will find familiarity within the characters’ speeches and behaviors, that are acted spot-on.
What the movie doesn’t do, though, is explain where the word “conclave” comes from, and the way the mysterious system was created in the primary place. Conclave is formed from the Latin words for “with key,” referring to how cardinals are sequestered to elect a pope – contained in the Vatican, today; but wherever a pope died, within the Middle Ages.
Why sequestered? Because it took centuries for the church to develop an electoral system free from manipulations and violence – which should resonate with contemporary politics.
Chosen by ‘the people’?
Once free from Byzantine and Holy Roman imperial controls, from the top of the eleventh century forward, a medieval pope held powers far superior to those a pope holds today. Not only did he offer spiritual guidance, however the pope was heavily engaged in political affairs, including negotiations between states, and was head of the wealthiest institution around, collecting taxes and revenues from most of Europe.
Chronik des Constanzer Concils
Electing this powerful figure was a cantankerous affair, marred by violence and external interference.
Originally, in early Christianity, the pope had been nominated by the “people of Rome” agreeing by consensus. In reality, that meant the election was within the hands of mobs, aristocrats, kings, emperors or anyone with any type of control over Rome. Consensus was achieved by either negotiation or force. Quite often, powerful people could appoint whomever they selected.
For example, the 686 election of Pope Conon is described in “The Book of Pontiffs,” a medieval collection of short papal biographies, as a chaotic affair that included the military. The writer states that “there was much argument, because the clergy favoured the archpriest Peter while the military were for Theodore, the subsequent in seniority.” After long negotiations the clergy opted for Conon, who had been third in rank under the late pope.
Sacking the Vatican
In addition to “internal” pressures, a pattern emerged of mobs sacking the products of the dead pope – sometimes including the garments on his corpse and his liturgical garments. It is difficult to discover why: greed, actually, and obtaining something that had been touched by holy men. But I’d argue the mob also resented authorities who took the nomination process away from “the people.”
The Council of Chalcedon, a gathering of bishops in 451, forbade clerics from seizing a dead bishop’s belongings, susceptible to losing their rank. Another council just a few years later decreed: “Let nobody, through theft, force, or deceit, conceal, take away, or hide anything” on the death of a bishop.
Yet looting went on for hundreds of years. In a 1050 letter to Catholics within the diocese of Osimo, in present-day Italy, Cardinal Peter Damian stated:
From various reports we’re aware of the perverse and wholly detestable practice of certain people, who on the death of the bishop break in like enemies and rob his house, like thieves make off along with his belongings, set fire to the homes on his estate, and with fierce and savage barbarity cut down his grape vines and orchards.
The movie could also be alluding to this history when a cardinal asks Dean Lawrence, the person presiding over the conclave, if he could have the deceased pope’s chess game.
College of Cardinals
To salvage the electoral system from internal and external chaos, Pope Nicholas II decreed in 1059 that popes ought to be chosen by men of the material – namely, cardinal-bishops. Up to then, cardinals had been involved in liturgical functions in the good basilicas of Rome. They could possibly be priests, deacons or bishops.
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This didn’t work. A century later, Pope Alexander III decreed that every one the cardinals – with equal representation between priests, deacons and bishops – would turn into the pope’s electors, and a nominee needed to secure two-thirds of the votes to win.
Still, intrigues and squabbles continued to mar the method for years. So long as there was a “Vacant See” on the Vatican, the cardinals were the church’s governors, so the motivation was on their side to delay the method.
And the looting expanded, with cardinals’ residences becoming latest targets. Sacking would sometimes happen even before the pope was dead, as rumors of a variety circulated.
Strict secrecy
The continued chaos, in addition to cardinals’ lengthy negotiations and ongoing external influences, pushed Pope Gregory X to act. In 1274, he instituted the decree “Ubi periculum.” The first words of the text were “Ubi periculum maius intenditur”: “Where greater danger lies.” A papal nomination was dangerous business – sometimes to the person, most frequently to his property.
“Ubi periculum” established the fundamentals of the conclave system still used today – most significantly, that cardinals could be completely isolated and confined throughout the process.
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Sequestered cardinals wouldn’t tarry in long discussions, especially after they were away from the comfort of their very own palaces, allowed only a single attendant and sleeping in easy cells. If they took longer than three days to choose, they lost the privilege of several every day meals, all the way down to a single one. The politics of the stomach!
Incidentally, the normal looting now spread to the cells of the conclave.
Two popes
Under the brand new rules, the role of the cardinals was strictly limited to electing the subsequent pope. But this didn’t prevent them from continuing their scheming.
At the death of Gregory XI in 1378, the cardinals elected Pope Urban VI, but soon regretted it. Just a few months later, they deposed him and elected a latest one, under the pretext that the primary election took place under duress: the fear of the mobs. Still, they knew full well that the looting was “customary.”
The chronicler Dietrich of Niem, a witness to the events, made that clear. After Urban had been chosen – unanimously – “he immediately moved his books and other valuables right into a protected place, in order that they’d not be stolen,” Dietrich wrote. He added, “It is a custom of the Romans to go in his palace and rob his books and things of this sort.”
Catholics now had two popes: the one who had been elected in April 1378 – Urban VI, who refused to provide up power – and the one elected in September 1378, Clement VII. Two popes, two courts and two “obediences” divided Europe. The crisis, which lasted from 1378-1417, is known as the Great Western Schism.
Power is tantalizing – and electoral violence and manipulation aren’t latest.
