February 21, 1513—March 11, 1513
Platina is the kneeling figure,
Raffaele Riario is in blue, the future Julius II in the center.
and Pope Sixtus IV seated at the right.
No coins or medals were issued.
Raffaele Sansoni Galeotti Riario (May 3, 1461—July 9, 1521) was born at Savona, the son of Antonio Sansoni and of Pope Sixtus IV's sister Violentina. On December 10, 1477, while engaged in the study of law at the University of Pisa, he was created Cardinal Deacon of San Giorgio in Velabro by his uncle Pope Sixtus (1471-1484). He was 17. He was suspected of having had some connection with the Pazzi conspiracy, April 1478, through his uncle Count Girolamo Riario and Francesco Salviati, Archbishop of Pisa. Although he was arrested and imprisoned, his uncle the Pope had him freed and brought to Rome, where he was officially rehabilitated in consistory. He was named Vice-Chancellor of the Church, and in 1483 he became Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, a post he held until his death in 1521. He was loaded with benefices by Sixtus IV and Innocent VIII (1484-1492), including the administration and income of sixteen rich bishoprics (including eventually Imola, Tréguier in France, Salamanca, Osima, Cuença [1479], Viterbo [1498], and Taranto); he was also Abbot of Monte Cassino and of Cava.
Under Alexander VI, however, he was in disfavor. The greed for power and property on the part of the Borgia family made the Riarios a major target. Alexander's son Cesare coveted the holdings of the Riario family, and seized the city of Forlì and also Imola. Riario fled to France and took up his bishopric of Tréguier. On his return in September of 1503 he was appointed Bishop of Albano (in November, 1503) and was consecrated bishop on April 9, 1504 by Pope Julius II personally (another nephew of Sixtus IV). In 1507 he was promoted to the bishopric of Sabina, and on July 7, 1508, became Apostolic Administrator of Arezzo. Julius II made him Cardinal Bishop of Ostia, Porto, and Velletri on September 22, 1508. . He participated in five conclaves, including the conclaves of 1484, 1492, 1503 that elected Pius III and the one that elected Julius II, and that of 1513.
In 1517, he was involved in the conspiracy of Cardinal Alfonso Petrucci against the life of Pope Leo X (also involving Cardinals Soderini and Sauli) and was arrested (May 29) and incarcerated in the Castel S. Angelo (De Grassis, p. 48). Trials were held. The ambassadors of England, France and Spain interceded. The College of Cardinals intervened on his behalf when it appeared that he might be stripped of all of his benefices, degraded from the cardinalate, and condemned to death. On July 24, he was released from confinement and brought to the Vatican; after he swore an oath, he was admitted to the presence of the Pope (De Grassis, p. 57). After he confessed to the Pope in a lengthy speech and begged pardon, which the Pope was pleased to grant, with a huge fine, whose value changed repeatedly, and the confiscation of his palace at S. Lorenzo in Damaso (the Cancelleria). He was restored to the bishopric of Ostia at Christmas, 1518, and his fine was cancelled. He died in 'retirement' in Naples.
Paris de Grassis, Papal Master of Ceremonies, records his death (p. 86):
Die nona julii mortuus est cardinalis Sancti Georgii, Raphael Riarius Savonensis, decanus colegii et episcopus ostiensis, qui cum esset aetatis suae anno decimonono creatus est a Sixto cardinalis, demum in vicesimo secundo camerarius in quo mansit annos viginti novem, et sic anno sexagesimoprimo vel circa obiit Neapoli. . . .
Cardinal Riario was also Dean of the College of Cardinals at the conclave of 1513, his fourth conclave.
Pope Julius II (Della Rovere) died of a fever on February 21, 1513 (Pastor, Volume 6, pp. 433-436).
According to the Diary kept by Paris de Grassis, the Papal Master of Ceremonies,
Mortuo Julio II de Ruvere, convenientibus cardinalibus vigintiquinque in palatio Vaticano, post dies septem, scilicet die Veneris, undecima Martii, electus est Cardinalis Joannes Mediceus, natione Etruscus et patria Florentinus, prior diaconum cardinalium, qui nomen assumpsit Leonis decimi. In die Sancti Joseph, cuius festivitas incidit die Sabbati decima noni Martii in Basilica Vaticana a Cardinali Farnesio coronatus fuit. Die Lunae undecima Aprilis in Festo S. Leonis die anniversariae eius capturae apud Ravennam, facta solemni equitatione ad Lateranum porrexit sacrae possessionis causa.
At the time of Julius II's death there were thirty-one cardinals (or thirty-two, according to Moroni, Volume 38, p. 36). Pastor (Volume 7, 15-16) lists them: of the Italians, Pietro Accolti (Bishop of Ancona), Adriano Castellesi, Marco Cornaro, Alessandro Farnese, Niccolò Fieschi, Sigismondo Gonzaga (son of the Marquis of Mantua), Achille de Grassis (Bologna), Domenico Grimani, Luigi d' Aragona, Giovanni Medici, Antonio Ciocci del Monte Sansovino (Archbishop of Liponto), Alfonso Petrucci (Siena), Raffaele Riario (nephew of Sixtus IV), Leonardo Grosso della Rovere (nephew of Sixtus IV), Bandinello Sauli (Genoa), Francesco Soderini, and Marco Vigerio (grand-nephew of Sixtus IV, bishop of Senigaglia); there were two Spaniards, Francesco Remolino and Jacopo Serra; the Frenchman Robert Challand (bishop of Rennes); the German-Swiss Matthias Schinner (Bishop of Sitten); the Hungarian Primate Tommaso Bakócz (who was also Latin Patriarch of Constantinople); and the English Cardinal Christopher Bainbridge (York). The cardinals who had been deposed by Pope Julius were excluded, Bernardino Carvajal, Guillaume Briçonnet, Francesco Borgia, René de Priè (Bishop of Bayonne), and Federigo di Sanseverino. The conclave took place in the Vatican Palace.
The Mass of the Holy Spirit was celebrated by Cardinal Bakócz on March 4. On March 6, Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici finally arrived from Florence; he was seriously ill with a fistula, and was about to be operated on. There was (as often in the past) an electoral agreement, signed by all the cardinals on March 9. It addressed such matters as a Turkish war, cardinalatial income, reformation of the Roman Curia, and a regulation that a two-thirds vote of the cardinals was necessary to expel a member or to admit new cardinals, or for the appointment of Legates a latere or certain other high officials Only when they had made an agreement that could not be honored and would certainly be voided by the new pope, but which gave everyone a clearer view of where candidates stood on various issues, the cardinals were prepared to begin voting. The bull of Julius II against simony (de simoniaca electione of January 14, 1505) was read on March 10. It had recently been reenacted by the pope, on February 16, 1513, after having received the approval of the Fifth Session of the Lateran Council.
In stark contrast with the Conclave of 1503, and in obedience to Pope Julius II's bull against the practice (translated by Berthelet, 38-45), there was no simony at the Conclave of 1513. Indeed, the general feeling was that the richest cardinals, who had the most largesse to dispense in exchange for votes, had the least chance of succeeding. The Venetian candidate was Cardinal Grimani, but he was opposed by the representatives of both the Emperor Maximilian and King Ferdinand of Spain. Spain preferred Cardinal Riario, while the Imperial interest backed Cardinal Castellesi.
A story of the Conclave is told by Paulus Jovius in his Life of Pope Leo X:
Caeterum ubi in conclave statim est receptus, in partes suas sibi iampridem conciliatos iuniores cardinales pertraxit. Erant ii regis ac illustribus maxime familiis nati, aetate opibusque florentes et imprimis Ludovicus Aragonius, Sigismundus Gonzaga, Marcus Cornelius et Alfonsus Petrucius, quibus accesserant Bendinellus Saulius et Matthaeus Sedunensis; multi etiam ex senioribus ea lege suffragia promittebant, ut et ipsi quum exirent candidati, paribus suffragiis iuvarentur. Erat tum senatus princeps Raphael Riarius, qui aetatis honore, sacerdotiis atque opibus caeteros omnes anteibat, quanquam ei deerant literae atque eae virtutes, quae multo luculentius quam ipsae divitiae honestum sacerdotem ad Christianam laudem exornant. Is in magnam spem adipiscendi pontificatus ab aura populari et tot circunfusis adulatoribus facile pervenerat. Sed eum ambientem et singulos prehensantem, cum ipsi iuniores eludebant, qui Ioanni candidato paratis firmisque suffragiis praesto aderant, tum etiam ei seniores plerunque fidem fallebant, quum quisque spes suas aleret et privatis rationibus compositis ad summi fastigii fortunam enitendum arbitraretur. Petebant enim ferme omnes, uti quisque erat aut studio principum, aut urbana gratia, aut opibus et doctrina maxime conspicuus. Ita dum quisque senior ante omnia sibi uni praecipue studet, et propterea cunctatius aliis suffragatur, Ioannem iuniores pontificem efficiunt, qui rei Christianae imperium dare potius quam accipere una perpetua consensione decreverant.
Accessit ad eum ante alios Franciscus Soderinus, qui uti erat inimicus admodum capitalis propter Petrum fratrem Florentia pulsum, ab initio eum omnibus adhibitis machinis oppugnarat, moxque perspecta iuniorum constantia, uti cautissimus senex in gratiam opportune redierat. Accessit et ipse Raphael et caeteri demum omnes, adeo sedatis propensisque animis, ut nequaquam simulanter effuse laetarentur, quod eum pontificem legitimis et longe simplicissimis comitiis creassent, qui nobilitate familiae, morum gravitate, exquisitisque literis et singulari naturae lenitate, non cardinales modo, sed cunctos fere mortales anteiret. Fuere qui existimarent vel ob id seniores ad ferenda suffragia facilius accessisse, quod pridie disrupto eo abscessu qui sedem occuparat, tanto fetore ex profluente sanie totum comitium implevisset ut tanquam a mortifera tabe infectus, non diu supervicturus esse vel medicorum testimonio crederetur.
On March 10, a scrutiny was held. Cardinal Serra received 14 votes, Cardinal della Rovere 8, Cardinal Accolti 7, Bakócz 7, Fieschi 6, Finale 6, Grimani 2, and Medici 1 (the votes are both those of the scrutiny and the accessio).
The first day's voting appeared to be a series of compliments and a few fishing expeditions. But there were actually two groups among the cardinals, the seniors, creations of Sixtus IV and of Innocent VIII, led by and supporting Cardnal Riario, however dubious his gifts; and the junior group, who, it was soon discovered, supported Cardinal de' Medici. Next day, March 11, Cardinal Giovanni Medici was elected. He was thirty-seven years of age. On the 15th he was ordained priest; on the 17th he was consecrated bishop; on the 19th of March, 1513, he was crowned in the Basilica of St. Peter. On the thirtieth day after his election, April 11, Leo X took possession of the Lateran Basilica.
Paris de Grassis, Il diario di Leone X (ed. Pio Delicati and Mariano Armellini) (Roma 1884) p. 1. Marino Sanuto, I diarii di Marino Sanuto Volume 16 (edited by F. Stefani, G. Berchet and N. Barozzi) (Venezia 1886), cols. 6-42; 48-52. Paulus Jovius (Paolo Giovio), Vita de Leonis X Book III, chapters 4-9. Angelo Favronius, Leonis X Pontificis Maximi Vita (Pisa 1797) pp. 59-62; and pp. 270-274 [using de Grassis, Guicciardini, Bembo, Jovius, et al.]. Ludwig Pastor, The History of the Popes (edited R. K. Kerr) Volume 7 (London: Kegan Paul 1908) 15-28. Ferdinand Gregorovius, The History of Rome in the Middle Ages (translated from the fourth German edition by A. Hamilton) Volume 8 part 1 [Book XIV, Chapter 3] (London 1902) 175-178. On Julius II's bull, see J. B. Saegmüller, Die Papstwahlen und die Staadten vom 1447 bis 1555 (Tübingen 1890), 7-10; and for the conclave, pp. 137-141.
For the schismatic Cardinals: Gaetano Moroni Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica 10 (Venezia 1841) 19; and Pastor, The History of the Popes (edited R. K. Kerr) Volume 6, pp. 329-335,
On Cardinal Riario: Angelo Poliziano, "La congiura de' Pazzi," Prose volgari inedite et poesie latine e greche edite e inedite (edited by Isidoro del Lungo) (Firenze 1867), p. 94. Niccolò Machiavelli, History of Florence Book VIII, chapter 1. Moroni, Dizionario 57 (Venezia 1852). Charles Berton, Dictionnaire des cardinaux (1857) p. 1445. Erich Frantz, Sixtus IV und die Republik Florenz (Regensburg 1880) 197-230, especially 207. William Roscoe, The Life and Pontificate of Leo X (revised by Thomas Roscoe) Volume II (London 1900) pp. 69-77. Gregorovius (ibid.), pp. 226-232. On the papal bull and the Lateran Council, M.-A.-J. Dumesnil Histoire de Jules II (Paris 1873) 249-251, and Pastor, Volume 6, p. 440. Giovanni Berthelet, La elezione del papa: storia e documenti (Roma 1891).
