Papal election, 1287–1288

The papal election from April 4, 1287 to February 22, 1288 was the deadliest papal election in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, with six (or five) of the sixteen (or fifteen) cardinal electors perishing during the deliberations. Eventually, the cardinals elected Girolamo Masci, O.Min. as Pope Nicholas IV, almost a year after the death of Pope Honorius IV, who died on April 3, 1287. Nicholas IV was the first Franciscan pope. [Miranda, Salvador. 1998. " [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/conclave-xiii.htm#1288 Papal elections and conclaves of the XIII Century (1216-1294)] ."]

The cardinals' deaths are usually attributed to malaria.Smith, 1892, p. 93.] [Darras et al. (1898: 413) instead attribute them to the Black Death, though in fact this was not to reach Europe for another 60 years.] After the deaths of the six cardinals, the remaining electors—with the exception of Masci—left Rome and reassembled on February 15.ws|"" in the 1913 "Catholic Encyclopedia"] Upon finding that Masci had remained at Santa Sabina in Rome the reassembled cardinals immediately elected him, but he refused until he was re-elected on February 22.Brooke, 2006, p. 440.] It was thought at the time that Masci had survived by keeping a fire burning in his room to "purify" the pestilential vapors, or "mal aria" thought to cause the disease.

The election was held near Santa Sabina on Aventine Hill in the Savelli palace, "Corte Savella", which Honorius IV had built and used as the "de facto" papal residence.Bagliani and Peterson, 2000, p. 176.] [Walsh, 2003, p. 88.] According to Smith, Nicholas IV was, like his predecessor, "an undisguised partisan of the French interest" and "another example of the dishonest use of spiritual authority for political ends, by releasing Charles II of Naples from an inconvenient oath to Alfonso III of Aragon".

Cardinal electors

Notes

References

*Bagliani, Agostino Paravincini, and Peterson, David S. 2000. "The Pope's Body". University of Chicago Press. ISBN:0226034372.
*Brooke, Rosalind B. 2006. "The Image of St Francis: Responses to Sainthood in the Thirteenth Century". Cambridge University Press. ISBN:0521782910.
*Darras, J. E., Spalding, M. J., and White, Charles Ignatius. 1898. " [http://books.google.com/books?id=oeoQAAAAIAAJ&q=A+General+History+of+the+Catholic+Church&dq=A+General+History+of+the+Catholic+Church&pgis=1 A General History of the Catholic Church] ". P. J. Kennedy.
*Smith, Philip. 1892. " [http://books.google.com/books?id=yG8PAAAAIAAJ&q=The+History+of+the+Christian+Church&dq=The+History+of+the+Christian+Church&pgis=1 The History of the Christian Church] ". Harper & Bros.
*Walsh, Michael J. 2003. "The Conclave: A Sometimes Secret and Occasionally Bloody History of Papal Elections". Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN:158051135X.