Sede Vacante 1523

Francesco Armellino de' Medici (July 13, 1470- 1527) was born at Perugia (or in Fossato in the Diocese of Nocera) in 1469 or 1470, the son parents who were "peu honorables" His paternal name may have been Pantalassi, and Armellino his mother's. His father enriched himself by.borrowing large sums from his creditors and then fleeing them. The son moved to Rome and became a solicitor. Julius II made him his secretary, as well as secretary of the College of Cardinals. Because of the son's cleverness along the same lines as his father, Francesco became useful to Leo X, who was perpetually in need of new ways to raise funds. Leo adopted him into his family, and made him a cardinal on July 1, 1517. He was appointed Legate to Umbria and to the Marches, and was made superintendant of finances He was authorized by the Pope to buy the office of Camerlengo from Cardinal Innocenzo Cibò, Pope Innocent VIII's nephew, which he succeded in doing on September 13, 1521 (Pastor History of the Popes Volume 8, p. 98). Under Adrian VI he was attacked in consistory by Cardinal Pompeo Colonna for his avarice and his huge fortune, but was protected by Cardinal Giuliano de' Medici. When Medici became Pope Clement VII in 1523, his career prospered; he was preferred to the see of Taranto in 1525 and in 1526 was named pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church. He lost everything in the Sack of Rome in May of 1527, sought refuge with Clement VII in the Castel Sant' Angelo, and died there. Since he left no will, the pope inherited all of his remaining property.

The Dean of the College of Cardinals in 1523 was Cardinal Bernardino López de Carvajal (1455-December 16, 1523), the nemesis of Martin Luther.

Pope Adrian VI (Adrian Florenczoon Dedel von Utrecht) had been ill, with symptoms of a fever, suffering from kidney disease (Moroni I, 106); a private letter quoted by the Venetian Senator Marino Sanuto (p. 439) likewise attributes the pope's death to kidney disease. He died on September 14, 1523, at the age of 66 (Sanuto, 410). In a letter of the 16th of September, the Venetian ambassador, Marco Foscari, notes that those cardinals in Rome met at the Minerva, and appointed three cardinals to govern Rome during the vacancy: Santa Croce (Carvajal, the Dean of the Sacred College), Grassis, and Cornero. They named Archbishop Francesco de Pesaro to be Governor of Rome. There was also a discussion about releasing Cardinal Soderini (Volterra) from the Castel Sant' Angelo. (Sanuto, 430). Looking forward to the conclave, the popular voice favored Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, but there was also talk about Flisco (Fieschi), Farnese, Giacobazzi, Valle and Grassis.

In a letter of the 19th, the Venetian ambassador sends news that, despite the deceased pope's determination to leave the fate of Cardinal Soderini to a general council, the cardinals had voted to release him; this was also the position of Medici in consistory (Sanuto, 438). On the 21st, he reports that the novendiales will begin on the next day, and that the Orsini and Colonna factions are in arms in the city; he expects that 36 cardinals will participate, or 40, if the French arrive. (Sanuto, 452). On the 24th Foscari wrote that Cardinal de' Medici appeared to have 18 solid votes, but that 24 would be needed to elect. And Medici had active opponents (Sanuto, 462). At the end of September he wrote that eighteen cardinals had entered into a compact to elect nobody else than one of themselves; Medici was not one of the eighteen (Sanuto, 55).

The Conclave opened on October 1, 1523, with thirty-five cardinals in attendance, out of a total of forty-five. Security at the conclave was placed in the hands of the Grand Master of the Knights of St. John (Knights of Malta), Philippe de Villiers; he was in Rome treating with Adrian VI because the Knights had been driven out of Rhodes in December of 1522 by the Turks. The Cardinal of Volterra, Soderini, sang the Mass of the Holy Spirit (Sanuto, 66—a letter from the secretary of the Ambassador in Rome). Sanuto (cols,. 61-62) provides a list of the cardinals who entered conclave on the first of October: Santa Croce (Carvajal), Volterra (Soderini), Fieschi, Farnese, del Monte, Ancona; De Grassis, Pucci, Medici, Piccolomini, Trani, Della Valle, Cavaillon (Pallavicini), Como (Trivulzi), Colonna, Giacobazzi, Campeggio, Ponzetto, Silvio da Cortona, Armellino. Egidio Canisio, Aracoeli (Numai), Vich, Enckevoirt; Cornaro, Gonzaga, Cibo, Orsini, De Cesis, Caesarino, Salviati, Ridolfi, Rangoni, Trivulzi, and Pisani. Absent, but arriving eventually, were: Auch (Castelnau), Ivrea of Savoy (Bonifacio Ferrero), Lorraine, and Vendôme. Absent were: Crucense (Gurcense: Lang of Salzburg, Archbishop of Gurk), Eboracense (Wolsey), Minerva da Caieta (Cajetan), Magonza (Mainz: Albrecht of Brandenburg), Legre (Liège: Eberhard von der Mark), and Alfonso de Portugal. Again, the Venetian Orator, writing on the 5th, notes that information had reached the Conclave that the three French cardinals (Auch. Vendome and Lorraine) had reached Piombino, and soon a second letter arrived announcing that they were at Civitavecchia and that Cardinal Ivrea was travelling by land and was between Florence and Siena (Sanuto, 66). On the 6th the French arrived and entered conclave (Sanuto, 77). Another list is given by Sanuto at cols. 213-216. Yet another, at columns 223-224, gives the names of the voting cardinals and their affiliations (French, Imperial, Medici, Neutral).

On the first fourteen days, there were only eight scrutinies (Sanuto, 118—a private letter seen by Sanuto) A scrutiny is reported in which Cardinal del Monte managed sixteen votes, plus three at the accessio, and his own for a total of twenty. Medici had apparently promised del Monte three votes plus his own, which would have elected him; but Medici did not deliver. This is confirmed in a report by Ambassador Foscari (Sanuto, 119). Medici had sixteen firm votes, and it was being said that, if he could not get himself elected, he would promote Valle, Ancona, Egidio and Campeggio. In an earlier scrutiny Fieschi and Santa Croce (Carvajal) had each obtained a maximum of 12 votes. On the 19th of October, Medici still has his sixteen votes, but the other side is trying one candidate after another. Four cardinals (Del Monte, Auch, Colonna and Cornaro) went around to each of the cardinals and begged them not to be so obstinate; a letter from Marin de Poso (secretary of Cardinal Pisani), in Rome, to a Venetian relative, indicates that this was a negotiating committee, sent to negotiate with Cardinal de' Medici (Sanuto, 135: 19 October). Medici, after all, with his sixteen votes, had a practical exclusiva against anyone. The Conservatori of Rome appeared at the entrance to the Conclave and grieved publicly that it was taking so long to make a pope and that it was damaging the Church. (Sanuto, 134-135). On the 25th the Ambassador wrote that the cardinals were taking votes only pro forma; no one's position had changed. Cardinal Aracoeli (Numai), a Franciscan, received 22 votes, and could become pope if only the Imperial party approved; but he had been in France—he held a doctorate from the Sorbonne—and was a personal friend and confessor of the Queen-mother, Louise of Savoy. The same information was repeated in a private letter of Marin de Poso; the votes ran: Farnese 15-16, Medici 10, Grassis 9, Valle 7 and others 4 or fewer (Sanuto, 148-150).

On November 6 Foscari wrote, "I cardinali non hanno fatto nulla. Fano scrutinii, ma non pasano ire voti." Marin da Poso wrote that the "group of 22" proposed to Medici five candidates: Farnese, Aracoeli, Giacobazzi, del Monte, and Santa Croce. Medici's people were proposing: della Valle, Ancona, Santi Quattro, Egidio and Cortona. (Sanuto, 186). On the 12th the gentlemen of Rome came to the doors of the conclave and spoke with the Dean, Cardinal Carvajal, exhorting the cardinals to observe the canons and elect a pope. In the night of the 18th, the deadlock finally broke. Medici's sixteen votes were joined by Giacobazzi and Pompeo Colonna, and then others, including Armellini, up to the number of 23 votes. Giulio de' Medici had won. (Sanuto, 225-226—the letter of Marco Foscari of the 20th of November). Guicciardini finds the event astonishing, noting that Colonna was an 'inimico acerbissimo del Cardinal dei Medici', and suggesting that there may have been the promise of the office of Vice-Chancellor as well as the gift of Medici's sumptuous palace in Rome, which had been built by the Cardinal of S. Giorgio (Raffaele Riario). Cardinal de Grassis died on the 19th (Sanuto, 235).

Cardinal Giulio de' Medici was crowned Pope Clement VII on November 26 in St. Peter's Basilica by Cardinal Marco Coronaro, the Protodeacon. (Sanuto, 241-243) He never took formal possession of the Lateran Basilica..

Marino Sanuto, I diarii di Marino Sanuto Volume XXXIV (Venezia 1892), col. 410; 430; 438-439; 452; 461-462; and XXXV (Venezia 1892), col. 35; 55; 59-62; 66-67; 77; 88; 118-120; 134-135; 148-150; 186; 198-200; 206-208; 234-235; 241-243. Francesco Guicciardini, Storia d' Italia Book XV, chapter 3. Giuseppe de Leva, Storia documentata di Carlo V in correlazione all' Italia II (Venezia 1863), 192-202. Gaetano Novaes, Elementi della storia de' Sommi Pontefici Volume VI (Roma 1822) 221-223; 225-226. Ferdinand Gregorovius, The History of Rome in the Middle Ages (translated from the fourth German edition by A. Hamilton) Volume 8 part 2 [Book XIV, Chapter 5] (London 1902) 449-450; 453-458. F. A. Artaud de Montor Histoire des souverains Pontifes Romains Volume IV (Paris 1851) 91-92. Herbert Vaughan, The Medici Popes (Leo X and Clement VII) (New York: Putnam 1908) 287-289

On Cardinal Armellino: Charles Berton, Dictionnaiare des cardinaux (Paris 1857) 264 (using Panvinio, Paolo Giovio). G. Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica Volume 3 (Venezia 1840) 36-37. On Cardinal Carvajal: Moroni, Volume 10 (Venezia 1841) 134-135. Pastor, Volume 7, p. 202 with notes.