Three consequential conclaves illustrate the power wrangling and coalitions in papal elections. The consecutive sixteenth century conclaves for Julius III, Paul IV, and Pius IV were some of the most contentious. Each pope elected had their own quirks, including an onion-loving pope with a male lover and pet monkey, a pope who hated Spain, and one who was a reformer and sentenced two cardinals to death. These were the last popes in Michelangelo’s lifetime; he continued working on paintings and architectural projects for them during their reigns.
The election of a pope by cardinals always has been an internal power struggle between different factions. Liberal leanings, conservative values, or cultural traditions shape decisions. A conclave today takes place under tight security to ensure outside political powers do not influence the cardinals. That was not always the case. Nowadays cardinals, housekeepers, janitors, office staff, physicians, anyone present during an election, take an oath of “absolute and perpetual secrecy” not to divulge details or behind the scenes knowledge of the process or deliberations. In the sixteenth century there was little secrecy and much external influence from monarchs and noble families.
In 1549 Pope Paul III died. His death set in motion a series of difficult conclaves. After fifteen years as pontiff, his time in power was extraordinary for the sixteenth century. The conclave to elect the next pope proved to be one of the longest in history. A typical conclave might take one to three days. Some key players involved in these conclaves were the Italian Farnese family, King Henry II of France, King Philip II of Spain, and his father the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
Noble Italian families often had more than one son. Typically, the firstborn would inherit the family name, marry, and procreate. A second son would be sent to be a cleric, whether or not he was pious or religious. If he hailed from a prestigious family like the Roman Colonna, Florentine Medici, or Ligurian della Rovere, a cleric son might attend university, study law, and rise to be cardinal. Only cardinals can elect the pope. Becoming pope brought great honor, money, and prestige to their families. Prior to the Council of Trent and enacting reform in the Catholic church, which took decades, cardinals were more like princes. They did not need to be ordained as a priest, most did not live a life of chastity, and definitely did not live humbly.
To understand the complexities of the 1549-50 conclave, it helps to know something about the deceased pope, Paul III. Born Alessandro Farnese, he was a product of the Farnese lineage designed to elevate the family through marriages, business, and clergy. He was schooled in Rome and then in the Medici household under Lorenzo the Magnificent, similar to Michelangelo’s experience in the Medici household. He returned to Rome and became an influential member in Pope Alexander VI’s inner circle. Alexander, the notorious Borgia pope, was hated by the Roman people for his extravagance, violence, and promiscuousness. And he was Spanish, not Italian. Like many popes, Alexander’s main purpose was to enrich his family through the papacy. Alessandro Farnese was made cardinal during the Borgia reign, perhaps because his sister Giulia was Alexander’s mistress and known for her beauty.
The future Pope Paul also had a mistress as a cardinal and fathered four children. His children were made legitimate by subsequent popes. One went on to marry and have four children, including a son, also named Alessandro. The future pope was his grandfather. Alessandro Farnese’s election to pope took three days and soon after Paul III made the teenage grandson Alessandro a cardinal. At this time Michelangelo was working in Rome. Paul would become a great friend to Michelangelo and a gifted patron who understood the artist. Paul left an imprint on the architecture and art of Rome. Under Paul, Michelangelo would paint the Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel and complete his last frescoes in the Pauline Chapel. Paul appointed Michelangelo supreme architect, painter, and sculptor of the Apostolic Palace, where he began work constructing St. Peter’s.
Each pope had their portrait painted by a leading artist. And yes, they all look old with beards! Venetian artist Titian's family portrait of Pope Paul III and his grandsons is one of the most famous. Cardinal Alessandro Farnese is on the left while Ottavio bows awkwardly to the pope. Titian captures a strange family dynamic in the portrait. The seventy-seven-year-old pope looks bent and frail, but the glance and firm look show his steel. The cardinal makes eye contact with the viewer. Is that a look of hope on his face that he would someday be pope? He is youthful and well-groomed, as well as being one of the richest men in Rome.
During Paul’s reign, troubles were brewing, and had been for decades. Some thirty years before his election, Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Thesis criticizing and questioning the authority of the pope, among other practices in the church. Protestant rebellions, violence, and hostility between different faith groups and their political leaders was by now commonplace in northern Europe. Previous popes had ignored or tried in vain to sanction the Protestants. Yet the movement grew. English King Henry VIII had already separated from the Roman Catholic church in order to obtain a divorce. Conflicts between Protestants and Catholics were increasing in France, while the French monarchy held steadfast to the Roman Catholic Church.
Spain, ruled by German Habsburgs Charles V, and then his son Philip, had a zero-tolerance policy towards heretics. Protestant open-mindedness was impossible in their view. French King Henry II hated Charles V. Henry II had arranged a marriage between his illegitimate daughter and a Farnese noble to cement his relations with Italy. Henry II also had his eye on controlling a northern Italian area so he could attack Milan, held by the Habsburgs (Charles V and Philip II). Northern Italy was contentiously fought over by France and the Habsburgs. Henry II thought it logical to elect a pope that would serve his strategic purposes.
When Pope Paul III died, factions aligned to support a pope united with their worldviews and beneficial to their country, and most importantly, to support their hold on power. The French had their preferences and the Habsburgs had theirs. The Italians aligned usually with the French. Cardinals gathered not in the Sistine Chapel, but in the Pauline Chapel, named so after the deceased Farnese pope. There were a few undecided cardinals in early phases of the conclave, and the rest were divided evenly between the candidate supported by the French and that of the Habsburgs.
During the thirteenth century a process to determine the supreme pontiff was decided. A conclave, from the Latin cum clave or “with a key” meant the cardinals would be under lock and key until they made their decision. Two conclavists would monitor the locked room, cut off from the outside world. If deliberations took too long, less and less food and water would be given to the cardinals. By the sixteenth century the process, albeit with adequate food, was essentially the same. In the sixteenth century, political envoys communicated regularly with the cardinals in conclave, in spite of rules against it.
Roman bookmakers held bets on who would become the next pope. Ambassadors from foreign countries kept tabs on who was most likely to succeed. Catholic monarchs embraced the election as a political event, and rightly so, as the pope ruled Rome, the church, and the Central Italian territory of the Papal States. Cardinals were beholden to their kings or queens rather than faith. English Cardinal Reginald Pole was in exile after Henry VIII split from the church. He was close to being elected pope, but the French envoys pressed for a less polarizing candidate. The French could not tolerate an Englishman as pope, with the English as their historic enemy. Pole even ordered papal vestments made, as he was only two votes short. Italians were not keen on an outsider as pope. The French king advised his cardinals to vote instead for a neutral candidate. In the end, Pole’s belief in justification by faith alone cost him the papacy. His humanist education coupled with a more lenient view on Catholicism became out of step with reformist leanings and hard-core Catholicism.
With no candidate earning two-thirds majority, the conclave dragged on. Book makers changed their strategy from betting on individual cardinals to the month an election would be conclusive. Rome was dangerous enough without enduring months without a leader. During a Papal See vacancy, government was essentially shut down. Called a sede vacante (vacant seat), political instability created chaos and fraught relations with foreign governments. Romans tended to release their repressed feelings by defacing statues and looting during a sede vacante. Rome was rife with ransacking, violence, and terror during the interim.
Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte was finally elected pope after nearly three months. French King Henry II prevailed in his policy desire to avoid an English pope. Despite the political maneuverings, coalition building also took place. Peace was desired by most rulers. He took the name Julius III.
He hailed from the small charming Tuscan hill town of Monte San Savino, near Arezzo. Julius III, a moody but sociable man, strove to maintain neutrality for the Papal States and sought not to provoke unfriendly rulers such as Charles V Holy Roman Emperor of the Habsburg clan. French King Henry II felt deceived by Julius’ policy. Henry II wanted the pope to antagonize the Habsburgs. Julius III was said to be of generous spirit, although unremarkable in his appearance. Described as “a rough, coarse peasant,” with sharp piercing eyes, he stood tall with angular features. Of note is his love for onions, “the vegetable to which he preferred to all others” and ate in great quantities (Pastor, 13:49).
Popes have their scandals and Julius III was no exception. He met a teenage boy living on the street and made him the keeper of his pet monkey, and by all accounts became infatuated with the boy. Adopted by Julius III’s brother in a strange dysfunctional family agreement, Julius now became his uncle. Soon after his elevation to the papacy, Julius quickly made the boy a cardinal at age seventeen. In Rome it was openly known the two shared a bed, and the boy, known now as Cardinal Innocent, had no inclination for religious life. He received benefices, money, and became the shame of Rome. Cardinal Innocent flaunted his elevated status and lived luxuriously. The Romans would not forgive nor forget Julius, his lover, and their pet monkey.
Julius died five years later. The next pope only lived two weeks, so another conclave was called. This time they elected a strict reformer. Julius’ pet monkey, live-in cardinal boyfriend, and draining the coffers for personal benefit turned the cardinals to a conservative alternative. Cardinals wishing for reform and strict adherence to Roman Catholic mores elected Giampietro Carafa from Naples.
He chose the name Paul IV and ruled for four tumultuous years. He hated Spain and incited war with Spain. The war caused economic uncertainty and panic with most Romans fleeing the city as the Spanish troops edged closer. Michelangelo, afraid for his life, left the city to shelter in a monastery. Paul IV was hated by the Roman people for nepotism, especially appointing two Carafa relatives to cardinal, one of which had previously been convicted of murder. His nephew Carlo Carafa became cardinal two weeks after the election. Carlo had previously worked as a mercenary soldier and was known for his violent temper. He encouraged Paul IV to engage Spain in warfare resulting in a disastrous loss for the Papal States. Rome erupted in violence when Paul died.
To prepare for the next conclave, nearly four thousand soldiers guarded the city. Once again, dukes, kings, princes, political influencers, and their envoys from France, Italy, Hapsburg territories, and Spain played a part in advocating for a particular candidate, or campaigning against a cardinal who would be pope.
The conclave dragged on for three and a half months with money running out to pay the troops. Like pawns on a chessboard, insiders changed sides when they saw their candidate’s chances ebb. Piety took second – or third – place to power. The day after Christmas Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Medici was declared pope. Hailing from Milan, this branch of the family was not directly related to the Medici of Florence, however, they were close allies. Giovanni Angelo Medici took the name Pius IV, as he wished to embody the spirit of piety. Already the father of three children, true reform would take decades. He would be the last pope Michelangelo would work for during his lifetime. During the tenures of these popes Michelangelo continued to work on St. Peter’s, particularly the dome, unfinished projects in Florence, redesigning Rome’s Capitoline Hill, and other architectural projects.
Pius convened the Council of Trent for the third time, appointing his nephew Charles Borromeo as papal secretariat. An experienced statesman, Pius understood the complexities of the French and Spanish kingdoms, as well as the Protestant and Lutheran issues in France and Northern Europe. Cardinals were able to reach agreement on issues of reform.
However, Pius could dole out punishment. The Carafa family was still hated in Rome. The two Carafa cardinals were brought to trial as examples of corruption and to curb nepotism. Convicted, they were sentenced to death by strangulation. A private strangulation while imprisoned in Castel Sant’Angelo instead of a public execution was reserved for higher ranked individuals. Pius IV sent a message to the curia and wider church that their behavior and dishonesty would not be tolerated.
Sources
Baumgartner, Frederic J. “Henry II and the Papal Conclave of 1549.” The Sixteenth Century Journal 16, no. 3 (1985): 301–14.
Baumgartner, Frederic J. “‘I Will Observe Absolute and Perpetual Secrecy:’ The Historical Background of the Rigid Secrecy Found in Papal Elections.” The Catholic Historical Review 89, no. 2 (2003): vi–181.
Colomer, Josep M., and Iain McLean. “Electing Popes: Approval Balloting and Qualified-Majority Rule.” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History 29, no. 1 (1998): 1–22.
Pastor, Ludwig, Freiherr von, The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages. London, 1899.
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