The Creation of the Conclave

Abstract

The incredibly long and difficult election of 1268–71 reflected the vast political power of the papacy. Neither party in the College of Cardinals was willing to concede to the other the authority and resources that having a pope on their side would bring, despite the hardship and scandal that their intransigence created. It was, however, the last gasp of the party that favored the Holy Roman emperor, made up mostly of older cardinals; the emperor no longer would be much of a factor in conclave politics. To be sure, later emperors sought to interfere in papal elections, but the threat to the independence of the College for most of the next two centuries came from the French monarchy. The French kings would prove more successful in shaping the papacy to their goals than the most powerful German emperors had ever been.