SEDE VACANTE 1431

February 20, 1431 — March 3, 1431

No coins have been identified.

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The Marshal of the Holy Roman Church and Guardian of the Conclave was Giovanni Battista Savelli.

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Pope Martin V (Colonna) died on the night of 19/20 February, 1431, at the age of 63, of apoplexy. He had reigned as Pope for thirteen years, three months, and nine days (Platina, 294).

Preliminaries

The Venetian ambassador, Francesco Tornabuoni, wrote to the Signoria that the Cardinals were disposed to get on with the novendiales and have a quick election. That being the case, the Venetians decided not to interfere with the proceedings, though their favorite was of course the Venetian Antonio Correr, the Cardinal Bishop of Porto. The Florentine government, however, wrote to Cardinal Orsini that they offered him all their support and hoped to see him elected . But they also made the same representations to Cardinal Condulmaro (Bishop of Siena), to Cardinal Albergati (Bishop of Bologna), and to Cardinal Casini (Petruccelli, 240). The Romans favored Cardinal Colonna, a nephew of the deceased pope. The generations-long feuds between the Orsini and Colonna, however, cancelled out each other's chances.

Conclave

The Conclave was enclosed on March 1, 1431, according to the Diary of the papal Master of Ceremonies, Paolo Benedetto Nicolai (Cancellieri, 12-13):

Anno 1431 à 13 Febr. morto Papa Martino V, quale visse nel Papato 14 anni, et tenne un quieto e tranquillo stato, che s' andava con l'auro in mano, attorno Roma, ducento miglia di notte, e di giorno securo, e fece grandissimo bene alla Città di Roma. 1 di Marco li Cardinali si misero in Conclave nella Minerva à 24 hore, e fu sbarrata la sua Piazza, guardata da Romani.

The Dominican convent, next to the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, was chosen for the conclave for the sake of security. Business began on March 2, 1431. There were approximately nineteen or twenty cardinals in total. One cardinal, Domenico Capranica, was not allowed to participate in the Conclave. He had been named cardinal by Martin V in secret consistory on July 23, 1423, and was confirmed in another secret consistory on May 26, 1426, but his appointment was not published until November 8, 1430. In the parlance of the subject, his mouth had been closed, but not yet opened; he was entitled to the status and prerogatives of a cardinal, but he had not served his novitiate and was entitled neither to speak in consistory nor to vote in a papal election. Capranica applied, nonetheless, for admission to the Conclave, and was refused by the Cardinals.

The Cardinals

Thirteen cardinals of a total of 19 (or twenty) were in attendance.

1. Antonio Correr, from Venice, nephew of Pope Gregory XII, Cardinal (1408) bishop (1409) of Porto and Sta. Rufina. [He did not become Dean of the Sacred College or Bishop of Ostia and Velletri until after the election of Eugenius IV]
2. Giordano Orsini, a Roman, bishop of Sabina, Grand Penitentiary.
3. Alfonso Carrillo de Albornoz, a Spaniard, Cardinal (1423-1434) Priest of SS. IV Coronati (pseudocardinal Deacon [1408] of S. Eusebio of Antipope Benedict XIII). (Novaes, 67) Died 1434 at Basel.
4. Gabriele Condulmaro, from Venice, Cardinal Priest (1408) of S. Maria in Trastevere; nephew of Pope Gregory XII, Bishop of Siena He was a partisan of the Orsini, and disliked by Martin V. (Christophe, 95).
5. Antonio Panciera (or Pancierini) de Portu, from Friuli, Cardinal priest of the title of S. Susanna, 1414 (a cardinal of the antipope John XXIII). He became Bishop of Frascati under Eugenius IV in 1431. Died in Rome on July 3, 1431.
6. Branda Castiglione, of Milan, Placentinus, Cardinal Priest of the title of S. Clemente, 1414 (a cardinal of the antipope John XXIII). Became Bishop of Porto in 1431 under Eugenius IV.
7. Lucido de' Conti, a Roman, relative of the Dukes of Poli, Cardinal Deacon of S. Maria in Cosmedin (a cardinal of the antipope John XXIII).
8. Jean de la Roche Taillée or Taisle, of Lyons, Rothomagensis, Cardinal (May 24, 1426-1437) Priest, title of S. Lorenzo in Lucina. Died 1437.
9. Antonio Casini, of Siena, Senensis, son of the Physician of Pope Urban VI; Cardinal (1426-1439) Priest, title of S. Marcello. Died in Florence in 1439.
10. Niccolò Albergati, O.Carth., a nobleman from Bologna; Cardinal Priest (1426-1443), title of S. Croce in Gerusalemme, administrator of Bologna. Made Camerlengo and Grand Penetentiary by Eugenius IV.   Died in Siena, May 10, 1443.
11. Ardicino (or Arduino) della Porta, of Novara, a legist; Cardinal (1426-1434) deacon of Ss. Cosma e Damiano. Died in Rome in 1434.
12. Prospero Colonna, Roman nobleman, nephew of Pope Martin V. Cardinal (1426-1463) deacon of S. Giorgio in Velabro. Deprived of his benefices by Eugenius IV on October 9, 1433, and outlawed along with his Colonna relatives, the Savelli and the Gaetani. He was absolved by Nicholas V, whom he crowned.  Died in Rome on May 24, 1463.
13. Giuliano Cesarini, Roman nobleman, Professor of Law at Padua; Legate in Bohemia, Nuncio in France and then in England; Cardinal (1426-1444) deacon of S. Angelo in Pescheria. Died November 10, 1444, while on a mission to Poland and Hungary.

[Panvinio (297) lists Albergati and Cesarini as absent, but he lists Ludovicus Alamanus, Arelatensis Cardinal Priest of Sta Caecilia, Juan Cervantes, Cardinal Priest of S. Pietro in vinculis, and Hughes of Cyprus, Cardinal Deacon of S. Adriano, as present–a total of fourteen cardinals out of nineteen. Bartolommeo Platina states (295) that there were eighteen cardinals in the Conclave.]

The Electoral Compact

Facilities had been prepared for the cardinals in the Convent of the Dominicans, attached to the Basilica of S. Maria sopra Minerva. There is an inscription in the Sacristy of the church which reads: MEMORIAE • CREATIONIS • HIC • HABITAE | SVMM • PONTIF • EVGENII • IIII • ET • NOCOLAI • V. The cardinals immediately entered into an electoral compact, to which Cardinal Condulmaro was a signatory (Gregorovius, 26, citing Reynaldi's text; quoted by Gieseler, Compendium, 312-313 n.3.). Among its provisions were articles about the creation of cardinals, requiring their majority consent to any new creations:

Item, quod non creabit cardinales, nisi juxta formam et ordinationem factam in Concilio Constantiniensi, quam servare tenebitur, nisi de consensu et consilio majoris partis Domm. Cardd. aliud fiendum videretur.

Election of Eugenius IV

On March 2, 1431, the forty-eight year old Gabriele Condulmaro was elected unanimously as pope. Nicolai noted (Cancellieri, 13):

Alli tre, alle 21 hora, fu creato Papa Eugenio IV, e fu di Sabbato, lo quale si chiama Monsignore di Siena, et abitava in Trastevere, e fu Venetiano.

He took the name Eugenius IV. On March 11 he was crowned, on the steps of the Vatican Basilica by Cardinal Albornoz, the Cardinal di Santi Quattro (Panvinio, 298). The Diaria rerum Romanarum of Stefano Infessura states (26; cf. Platina, 295):

Die 11 martii fu coronato lo Eugenio secondo, lo stile di Santo Ioanne Laterano, et po' alla sua coronazione tornò a palazzo, e fece consistorio generale, et fonce de molte gente nella sala granne, in nella quale per la ditta pressura si ruppe lo arrizatore, e credendo la gente che cadesse la sala grande, ogni homo con festinanza si diè a fuggire , et per la detta pressura ce affocò le vescovo de Senegallia, fratello di Pietro Mellino, et hoc fuit in modo praedicto die 16 martii.

The new Pope immediately set out to revise and clarify the rules for making cardinals. Since he had been elected with the support of the Orsini, he immediately launched what amounted to a war against his predecessor, Martin V Colonna, and all the Colonna interests. Cardinal Capranica applied for recognition as a cardinal, but this was refused by Pope Eugenius, perhaps because Capranica was associated with the Colonna. Capranica took his grievance to the Council of Basel.