1216 papal election

Papal election of July 18, 1216 – papal election convoked after the death of Pope Innocent III in Perugia (July 16, 1216), elected Cardinal Cencio Camerario,^[1] who took the name of Honorius III.

List of participants

There were 25 cardinals in the College of Cardinals in July 1216, including 23 curial cardinals and two "external cardinals", who did not reside in the papal curia^[2] It is known that 17 of them participated in the election:^[3]

Elector	Cardinalatial title	Elevated	Elevator	Other ecclesiastical titles	Notes
Nicola de Romanis	Bishop of Frascati	December 18, 1204	Innocent III	Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals
Ugolino di Segni	Bishop of Ostia e Velletri	December 19, 1198	Innocent III		Committee member; cardinal-nephew; future Pope Gregory IX
Guido Papareschi	Bishop of Palestrina	September 22, 1190	Clement III		Committee member
Pelagio Galvani	Bishop of Albano	ca. 1206/1207	Innocent III
Cinzio Cenci	Priest of S. Lorenzo in Lucina	September 22, 1190	Clement III	Protopriest
Cencio	Priest of SS. Giovanni e Paolo	February 20, 1193	Celestine III	Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals	Elected Pope Honorius III; possibly of Savelli family
Giovanni Colonna di Carbognano	Deacon of SS. Cosma e Damiano	May 27, 1206	Innocent III
Gregorio Gualgano	Priest of S. Anastasia	May 27, 1206	Innocent III
Robert Curson	Priest of S. Stefano al Monte Celio	May 19, 1212	Innocent III
Peter of Benevento	Priest of S. Lorenzo in Damaso	May 19, 1212	Innocent III		His name is often erroneously listed as Pierre Duacensis^[4]
Stefano di Ceccano, O.Cist.	Priest of SS. XII Apostoli	April 13, 1213	Innocent III	Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church
Tommaso da Capua	Priest of S. Sabina	March 5, 1216	Innocent III	Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church
Guido Pierleone	Deacon of S. Nicola in Carcere Tulliano	December 18, 1204	Innocent III	Protodeacon; Archpriest of the patriarchal Vatican Basilica
Ottaviano dei conti di Segni	Deacon of SS. Sergio e Bacco	May 27, 1206	Innocent III		Cardinal-nephew
Gregorio Crescenzi	Deacon of S. Teodoro	March 5, 1216	Innocent III
Romano Bonaventura	Deacon of S. Maria in Portico	March 5, 1216	Innocent III
Stefano de Normandis dei Conti	Deacon of S. Adriano	March 5, 1216	Innocent III		Cardinal-nephew

Absentee cardinals

Eight cardinals, including six curial and two "external cardinals", were absent:

Elector	Cardinalatial title	Elevated	Elevator	Notes
Benedetto	Bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina	June 3, 1200	Innocent III
Ruggiero di San Severino	Cardinal Priest of S. Eusebio	ca. 1178/80	Alexander III	Archbishop of Benevento 1179-1221 ("external" cardinal)
Leone Brancaleone, C.R.S.F.	Priest of S. Croce in Gerusalemme	June 3, 1200	Innocent III	Papal legate in Lombardy
Guala Bicchieri	Priest of SS. Silvestro e Martino ai Monti	December 18, 1204	Innocent III	Papal legate in England
Stephen Langton	S.R.E. cardinalis	May 27, 1206	Innocent III	Archbishop of Canterbury 1207-1228; resigned this titulus S,. Crisogono after episcopal consecration in 1207; "external" cardinal
Pietro Sasso	Priest of S. Pudenziana	May 27, 1206	Innocent III	Archpriest of the patriarchal Liberian Basilica; papal legate in Germany
Bertrannus	Deacon of S. Giorgio in Velabro	May 19, 1212	Innocent III
Rainiero Capocci, O.Cist.	Deacon of S. Maria in Cosmedin	March 5, 1216	Innocent III	Papal legate in Lombardy

Election of Pope Honorius III

The cardinals assembled in Perugia two days after the death of Innocent III. They deliberated in the enclousure,^[5] though it is not certain whether volunatarily or under pressure of the local authorities.^[6] They decided to elect the new Pope by compromissum, it means, not by the whole Sacred College, but by the committee of few of them, empowered by the rest to appoint the new Pontiff. This time the committee included only two cardinal-bishops: Ugolino of Ostia and Guido of Palestrina.^[7] On that same day, they elected Cardinal Cencio, called Camerario, aged 68, who accepted his election and took the name of Honorius III.

Notes

^ The older sources refer him as member of Savelli family but modern scholars reject it [1]
^ The reconstruction of the Sacred College in July 1216 is based on W. Maleczek, Papst und Kardinalskolleg von 1191 bis 1216, Wien 1984. Maleczek has rectified the earlier reconstructions made by Alphonso Ciacconio in his Vitae et res gestae Pontificum Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalium (1677) and Conrad Eubel in his Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi (1913), which are the main sources for the lists in both electronic accounts listed below.
^ W. Maleczek, op.cit., p. 357
^ Pierre Duacensis and Peter of Benevento were actually different persons; Duacensis was never promoted to the cardinalate. See an article by John Wei, TWO LETTERS OF HONORIUS III TO CATALONIA, p. 84-85 note 6
^ For this reason, an account on Vatican History considers this election the "first papal conclave"
^ Ambrogio Piazzoni, Historia wyboru papieży, Wyd. M, Kraków 2003, p. 181-182
^ Vatican history

Sources

Werner Maleczek, Papst und Kardinalskolleg von 1191 bis 1216, Wien 1984

Konrad Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, volumen I, 1913

F. Bourkle-Young: notes to the papal election of 1216

Vatican history

[1] The older sources refer him as member of Savelli family but modern scholars reject it [1]

[2] The reconstruction of the Sacred College in July 1216 is based on W. Maleczek, Papst und Kardinalskolleg von 1191 bis 1216, Wien 1984. Maleczek has rectified the earlier reconstructions made by Alphonso Ciacconio in his Vitae et res gestae Pontificum Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalium (1677) and Conrad Eubel in his Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi (1913), which are the main sources for the lists in both electronic accounts listed below.

[3] W. Maleczek, op.cit., p. 357

[4] Pierre Duacensis and Peter of Benevento were actually different persons; Duacensis was never promoted to the cardinalate. See an article by John Wei, TWO LETTERS OF HONORIUS III TO CATALONIA, p. 84-85 note 6

[5] For this reason, an account on Vatican History considers this election the "first papal conclave"

[6] Ambrogio Piazzoni, Historia wyboru papieży, Wyd. M, Kraków 2003, p. 181-182

[7] Vatican history

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Governing documents (selected)	Ubi periculum (1274) Aeterni Patris Filius (1621) Cum proxime (1922) Ingravescentem aetatem (1970) Romano Pontifici eligendo (1975) Universi Dominici gregis (1996) De aliquis mutationibus in normis de electione Romani Pontificis (2007) Normas nonnullas (2013)
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