1492 papal conclave
The 1492 papal conclave was convened after the death of Pope Innocent VIII. It was the first papal conclave to be held in the Sistine Chapel.
Cardinal Rodrigo Borja was elected unanimously on the fourth ballot as Pope Alexander VI. The election is notorious for allegations that Borja bought the votes of his electors, promising them lucrative appointments and other material gifts—a practice known as simony. Concerns about this conclave led Pope Julius II to create stronger rules against simony in 1503.
Cardinal electors
Of the 23 cardinals participating in the conclave, fourteen had been elevated by Pope Sixtus IV. The Cardinals of Sixtus IV, known as the "Sistine Cardinals" and led by Giuliano della Rovere, had controlled the conclave of 1484, electing one of their own, Giambattista Cibo as Pope Innocent VIII. Since 1431 the composition of the College of Cardinals had been radically transformed, increasing the number of cardinal-nephews, crown-cardinals, and representatives of powerful Roman noble families. With the exception of three curial officials and one pastor, the cardinals were "secularly-minded princes largely unconcerned with the spiritual life of either the Latin church or its members."At the time of Innocent VIII's death, the names of Cardinals Gherardo and Sanseverino, had not been published, thus making them ineligible to participate in the conclave; however, both were published as an act of the College in sede vacante, Gherardo having been pushed by Giovanni Battista Orsini and Sanseverino by Ascanio Sforza. Gherardo was assigned the title of Santi Nereo e Achilleo, which it was believed Innocent VIII had intended for him; Sanseverino was given the poor and undesirable diaconate of San Teodoro to ensure that the future pontiff would confirm his assignment.
According to the account of bishop ambassador Giovanni Andrea Boccaccio, at least seven cardinals considered themselves papabile, having dismantled the furnishings of their palaces as a precaution against the traditional pillaging of the pope-elect's residence by the Roman populace: da Costa, di Campofregoso, Michiel, Piccolomini, Domenico della Rovere, Savelli, and Zeno.
| Elector | Nationality | Order and title | Elevated | Elevator | Notes |
| Rodrigo Borja | Kingdom of Valencia | Cardinal-Bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina | 20 February 1456 created in pectore; published 17 September 1456 | Callixtus III | Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, Administrator of Valencia elected Pope Alexander VI Cardinal-nephew, House of Borgia |
| Oliviero Carafa | Neapolitan | Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina | 18 September 1467 | Paul II | Vice Dean of the College of Cardinals Crown cardinal of Ferdinand I of Naples |
| Giuliano della Rovere | Savona | Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and Velletri | 16 December 1471 created in pectore; published 22 December 1471 | Sixtus IV | Dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal-nephew, bishop of Bologna, administrator of Avignon Future Pope Julius II |
| Giovanni Battista Zeno | Venetian | Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati | 21 November 1468 | Paul II | Cardinal-nephew |
| Giovanni Michiel | Venetian | Cardinal-Bishop of Palestrina | 21 November 1468 | Paul II | Cardinal-nephew |
| Jorge da Costa | Portuguese | Cardinal-Bishop of Albano | 16 December 1476 | Sixtus IV | Archbishop of Lisbon; Crown cardinal of Afonso V of Portugal |
| Girolamo Basso della Rovere | Savona | Cardinal-Priest of S. Crisogono | 10 December 1477 created in pectore; published 12 December 1477 | Sixtus IV | Cardinal-nephew; bishop of Recanati e Macerata |
| Domenico della Rovere | Piedmont | Cardinal-Priest of S. Clemente | 10 February 1478 | Sixtus IV | Cardinal-nephew; archbishop of Turin |
| Paolo di Campofregoso | Genoese | Cardinal-Priest of S. Sisto | 15 May 1480 | Sixtus IV | Former ruler of Genoa; archbishop of Genoa |
| Giovanni Conti | Roman | Cardinal-Priest of S. Vitale | 15 November 1483 | Sixtus IV | |
| Giovanni Giacomo Sclafenati | Milanese | Cardinal-Priest of S. Cecilia | 15 November 1483 | Sixtus IV | Bishop of Parma |
| Lorenzo Cibò di Mari | Genoese | Cardinal-Priest of S. Marco | 9 March 1489 | Innocent VIII | Cardinal-nephew; archbishop of Benevento |
| Ardicino della Porta | Milanese | Cardinal-Priest of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo | 9 March 1489 | Innocent VIII | Bishop of Aleria |
| Antoniotto Pallavicini | Genoese | Cardinal-Priest of S. Prassede | 9 March 1489 | Innocent VIII | Bishop of Orense |
| Maffeo Gherardo, O.S.B.Cam. | Venetian | Cardinal-Priest of Ss. Nereo e Achilleo | 9 March 1489 | Innocent VIII | Not published before death of Innocent VIII; patriarch of Venice |
| Francesco Piccolomini | Neapolitan | Cardinal-Deacon of S. Eustachio | 5 March 1460 | Pius II | Protodeacon, bishop of Siena, future Pope Pius III, Cardinal-nephew |
| Raffaele Riario | Savona | Cardinal-Deacon of S. Lorenzo in Damaso | 12 December 1477 | Sixtus IV | Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, Cardinal-nephew |
| Giovanni Battista Savelli | Roman | Cardinal-Deacon of S. Nicola in Carcere Tulliano | 15 May 1480 | Sixtus IV | Former Governor of Bologna |
| Giovanni Colonna | Roman | Cardinal-Deacon of S. Maria in Aquiro | 15 May 1480 | Sixtus IV | |
| Giambattista Orsini | Roman | Cardinal-Deacon of S. Maria Nuova | 15 November 1483 | Sixtus IV | |
| Ascanio Sforza | Milanese | Cardinal-Deacon of Ss. Vito e Modesto | 6 March 1484 created in pectore; published 17 March 1484 | Sixtus IV | House of Sforza, ruling family member of Milan |
| Giovanni de' Medici | Florentine | Cardinal-Deacon of S. Maria in Domnica | 9 March 1489 | Innocent VIII | Future Pope Leo X, Ruling family member of Florence |
| Federico Sanseverino | Neapolitan | Cardinal-Deacon of S. Teodoro | 9 March 1489 | Innocent VIII | Not published before death of Innocent VIII |
Absent cardinals
There is no evidence that the 4 absent cardinals made an attempt to reach Rome for the conclave.| Elector | Nationality | Order and title | Elevated | Elevator | Notes |
| Luis Juan del Mila y Borja | Catalan | Cardinal-Priest of Ss. IV Coronati | 20 February 1456 created in pectore; published 17 September 1456 | Callixtus III | Archpriest of the Sacred College; bishop of Lérida; de facto retired Cardinal-nephew |
| Pedro González de Mendoza | Castellan | Cardinal-Priest of S. Croce in Gerusalemme | 7 May 1473 | Sixtus IV | Archbishop of Toledo; Had not left Iberian Peninsula since elevation Crown cardinal of the Catholic Monarchs |
| André d'Espinay | French | Cardinal-Priest of Ss. Silvestro e Martino ai Monti | 9 March 1489 | Innocent VIII | Archbishop of Bordeaux, and Lyon; Crown cardinal of Charles VIII of France |
| Pierre d'Aubusson | French | Cardinal-Deacon of S. Adriano | 9 March 1489 | Innocent VIII | Grand Master of Knights Hospitaller Busy defending Rhodes from the Turks |
Procedures
As dictated by the prescriptions Ubi periculum and Ne Romani, the conclave should have begun on 4 August, ten days after the death of Innocent VIII; however, the conclave was delayed to await the slow arrival of the aged Gherardo, bearing a letter from Venice's Council of Ten urging his acceptance into the College. The cardinals had decided as early as their first meeting on 24 July to use the Sistine Chapel for the balloting and assembly of the conclave.Johann Burchard, the German papal master of ceremonies, who presided over the conclave, as well as the previous one in 1484, kept an extensive diary, noting that each cardinal was provided:
The Mass of the Holy Spirit and then a speech by Bernardino Lopez de Carvajal, a Spaniard and the ambassador to Ferdinand and Isabella, on the "evils afflicting the Church" preceded the beginning of the conclave on 6 August 1492. Another Spaniard, Gonzalo Fernandez de Heredia, archbishop of Tarragona, was appointed prefect of the Vatican. Two important offices during sede vacante were filled with compatriots of Cardinal Borja, and it is believed that they both were chosen by Borja in his capacity as Dean to strengthen his position before the conclave.
The remainder of 6 August was consumed by the drafting and subscription to the conclave capitulation, which—although not extant—is known to have restricted the number of new cardinals which could be created by the new pope.
Vote count
The first ballot, held on 8 August was said to have resulted in nine votes for Carafa, seven for Borja, Costa, and Michiel, and five for Giuliano della Rovere, with Sforza notably receiving zero votes.The second ballot produced nine for Carafa, eight for Borja, seven for Michiel, and five for Giuliano della Rovere.
According to the Florentine Ambassador, one of the guards of the conclave, as of 10 August there had been three unsuccessful ballots, favoring Costa and Carafa, but in no way indicating Borja might be chosen. According to Sigismondo de' Conti, papal secretary and chronicler, the vote was unanimous on the fourth ballot, taken early in the morning on 11 August although Borja had only 15 votes prior to the accessus; other accounts say Borja received all the votes except for his own, which he gave to Carafa.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the election of Rodrigo Borja was "almost entirely due to" Giambattisti Orsini.
Allegations of simony
According to Pastor, 'the corruption during the reign of Pope Innocent VIII had increased to such an extent that it became possible by bribery to procure the election of such a successor as Pope Alexander VIThe Venetian envoy to Milan informed his confrère in Ferrara: "that by simony and a thousand villanies and indecencies the papacy has been sold, which is a disgraceful and detestable business", adding that he expected Spain and France to withhold their support from the new pontiff. After the conclave, a ubiquitous epigram within Rome was: "Alexander sells the Keys, the Altar, Christ Himself—he has a right to for he bought them."
On 10 August after the third ballot, Ascanio Sforza allegedly came to believe his own ambitions of being elected pope were impossible and became susceptible to Borja's offer: the office of Vice-Chancellor and the associated Palazzo Borgia, the Castle of Nepi, the bishopric of Erlau and other benefices. Sforza was also reputed to have received four mule-loads of silver, which Borja ordered to be delivered immediately after the deal was struck. The price of the other Cardinals was as follows: Orsini, the fortified towns of Monticelli and Soriano, the legation of the Marches, and the bishopric of Cartagena ; Colonna, the abbey of Subiaco and its environs ; Savelli, Civita Castellana and the bishopric of Majorca; Pallavicini, the bishopric of Pampeluna ; Michiel, the suburbicarian see of Porto; Riario, Spanish benefices with annual income of 4,000 ducats and the return of a house in the Piazza Navona to the children of Count Girolamo. Sanseverino's compensation included Rodrigo Borgia's house in Milan. Cardinals Sclafenati and Domenico della Rovere were to receive abbacies and/or benefices. Cardinals Andicino della Porta and Conti followed Sforza, whom they had originally supported.
The aforementioned Cardinals plus Borja's own vote numbered 14, one short of the required two-third majority. However, Cardinals Carafa, Costa, Piccolomini, Cibò, and Zeno, followed by Medici, were unwilling to be bribed. Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, followed by Basso, was intractably opposed to Borja's election. Thus, the eighty-six-year-old Gherardo, the Cardinal Patriarch of Venice, who was paid only 5,000 ducats, constituted the deciding vote.
According to Professor Picotti, who extensively researched the conclave and came to the conclusion that simony had occurred, no accounts of papal income and expenditure exist in the registers of Introitus et Exitus for August 1492, and debts from the Apostolic Camera to Cardinals Campofregoso, Domenico della Rovere, Sanseverino, and Orsini appeared soon afterwards. The Spannocchi bank, which housed much of Borja's wealth, was said to have nearly crashed after the conclave due to the velocity of transactions.
Some sources say that Charles VIII of France had bankrolled 200,000 ducats for the election of Giuliano della Rovere, although several otherwise bribable cardinals were hostile to French interference.
Other historians regard politics as a stronger factor within the conclave than pure simony, with the personal rivalry between Giuliano della Rovere and Ascanio Sforza substituting for the ancient struggle between Naples and Milan, with the intractability between the two parties making Borja a viable candidate.