Born in Rome in 1571, PIETRO CARDINAL ALDOBRANDINI, the son of Pietro Aldobrandini and of Flaminia Ferracci, was nephew of Pope Clement VIII (1592-1605). He obtained a doctorate in Civil and Canon Law, and was named Protonotary Apostolic. He was created a cardinal deacon in 1593, and along with his cousin Cardinal Cincio took over the affairs of the papal government. On December 20, 1599 he was appointed Cardinal Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church for life. He acted as Legate for the Pope to Henri IV of France, first to regularize his situation with the Church, and then to finalize the marriage of the king with Catherine de' Medici (1600-1601). He became Archbishop of Ravenna in 1604, and in 1620 was promoted Bishop of the Suburbicarian See of Sabina. He died on the day after the conclusion of the Conclave of 1621.
The Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals was Antonio Maria Cardinal Sauli, Bishop of Ostia and Velletri.
The Governor of the Conclave was Msgr. Varese.
Death of Pope Paul V
Pope Paul V (Borghese) died on January 28, 1621 at the age of 69, after an illness of more than three months, and after suffering a series of strokes. Paul V had been very actively involved in negotiating with Spain over the issue of the Valtelline and the position of Savoy, and his death caused great frustration in Madrid. Their need, and that of the Emperor, was for a pope who would successfully conclude these negotiations and bring about the weakening of Venice and the exclusion of France from Italy. The conclave began late on February 8, there having been some trouble in getting the French Ambassador, François-Annibale d'Estrées. to leave. The College of Cardinals was at its prescribed full strength of seventy members, but only fifty-one participated in the Conclave. (Montor, 239).
Factions
The pre-conclave posturing and politicking was especially intense. The cardinals were divided into several factions: the "Elders" (5) , led by Alessandro Cardinal Peretti de Montalto (Bishop of Albano), had among their number Cardinals Benedetto Giustiniani (Bishop of Porto), Monti, Peretti, and Sauli. Another faction (10), led by Cardinal Aldobrandini, counted Cardinals Bandini, Bellarmino, Bevilaqua, Cenesio, Cesi, Delfino, Detti, Ginnasio, and Pio in their number; unfortunately Cardinal Aldobrandini himself fell ill just before the conclave began. The faction of Cardinal Cardinal Borghese, the dead pope's nephew (29), included Cardinals Aquino, Aracoeli [Francesco Bourbon del Monte Santa Maria, Bishop of Palestrina], Ascoli, Barberini, Brioli, Campori, Cappone, Caraffa, Crescenzio, Filonardi, Gerardi, Lanti, Leni, Ludovisi, Mellini, Muti, Orsini, Pignatelli, Rivarolo, Giulio Roma, Santa-Susanna (Scipione Cobelluzzi), Savelli, Scaglia, Serra, Tonti, Ubaldini, Valerio and Varallo. This group were in considerable disaccord, however, on a number of matters. There were three Spaniards: Gaspar Borgia, Carlo Madruzzo (Bishop of Trent), and Antonio Zapata. The French faction included Cardinals Jean de Bonsi, Alessandro d'Este, Odoardo Farnese (who did not attend), and Francesco Sforza (Bishop of Frascati). The Florentines followed Cardinal Carlo de' Medici.
Eighteen cardinals could impose an exclusion by withholding their votes; such a grouping was in place as the conclave began: Aldobrandini and his faction (10), the 3 Spanish votes, Orsini, Ubaldini, Bonsi, and Sforza, joined later by Priuli. (Petruccelli, 21). The favorites seemed to be Ludovisi and Aracoeli (Bourbon).
Attempts to extend the exclusiva
Guicciardini, the Ambassador of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, reported (on January 28, the day the Pope died) that the Spanish Ambassador had dared to demand of Cardinals d'Este, Farnese, Sauli and Orsini, that they give no exclusions to any other party except his own king. No one wanted to permit this, and those favoring the French interest were outraged (Petruccelli, 6) On February 4, Cardinal de' Medici wrote that Cardinal Savelli had told him to be on guard against Bandini, who was saying (inter alia) that Cardinal Giannisi [Domenico Ginnasi] was excluded by Spain (Petruccelli, 7). This was not, of course, a formal veto, which could only be presented in conclave. Later in the letter Medici comments that Cardinal Aquino was excluded by the Duke of Savoy—who did not enjoy the formal right of the exclusiva. The cardinal's language, therefore, is to be taken in a casual rather than in the technical sense. Likewise in a letter to Medici, the Florentine Secretary of State Pichena notes that "Savoy excludes Monti," Austria appears to have favored Cardinal Millini, the Vicar-General of Rome, who had been a special ambassador to the Hapsburgs in Vienna. (Petruccelli, 9) According to Giuliano de' Medici (writing from Spain on February 18), the Spanish Court favored the election of Cardinal Campori or Cardinal Cobelluzzi.
Count Orso d'Elci, a representative of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, was of the opinion that Cardinal Scipione Borghese favored Cardinal Pietro Campori in the first instance, and then Ladislao d'Aquino or Alessandro Ludovisi. Campori's chances, which seemed close to a certainty, collapsed, however, as accusations circulated about his dissolute youth and a homicide he may have committed (Novaes, 162; Moroni, 32, 309). Borghese attempted to put together a group of cardinals large enough to stimulate the whole college to elect Campori by "adoration" as soon as the Conclave had been closed. But Cardinal Bellarmino remarked that the middle of the night was a time for sleep, not electing popes, and so the scheme misfired (Wahrmund, 123).
Balloting
In the first ballot, on the morning of the 9th, the largest number of votes went to the Jesuit Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino. Cardinal Campori did not have a single vote (Petruccelli, 30). Bellarmine, however, was insistant in his refusal of the papal honor. He expressed his preference for François Cardinal de la Rochefoucault—who was not in attendance . A Milanese writer, Filippo Argelati (Biblioteca degli scrittori milanesi), alleges that the Cardinals offered the tiara to Cardinal Federigo Borromeo, the cousin of the sainted Charles Borromeo, but that he too refused—another conclave myth . That evening after dinner an attempt was made to elect Cardinal Campori by adoration, but he refused and the maneuver failed. At 11:45, in a movement organized by Cardinals Ubaldini and Orsini, Cardinal Ludovisi was escorted to the chapel, and a vote took place. He was elected unanimously. His own vote went to Cardinal Sauli (Novaes, 162; Petruccelli, 33).
Cardinal Ludovisi took the name Gregory XV, and was crowned in the Vatican Basilica on February 14, by Cardinal Andrea Baroni Peretti Montalto. He took possession of his cathedral, the Lateran Basilica, on May 9.
