Honorius III had been elected, no doubt, by cardinals who were eager to continue the policies of Innocent III and to consolidate the gains which he had made in terms of international influence, papal finance, and the codification of Canon Law. Cencius Savelli had been the leading assistant of Innocent throughout his reign as papal chamberlain and author of the Liber Censuum. He had also served as tutor of the young Frederick II. He was also a committed supporter of the crusading movement and the realization of the program of reform promulgated by the IV Lateran Council. His temperament, moreover, was much less confrontational than Innocent's had been, and might be expected to produce more harmonious working among the monarchs of Europe in pursuing the Church's goals.
In the pursuit of these goals, he negotiated a peace between France and Aragon, intervened between the child-King Henry III of England and the opportunistic Philip Augustus of France. He was able to launch the Fifth Crusade, as the Lateran Council had demanded, but Cardinal Pelagius Galvani was not a success as Papal Legate or as supreme commander, a post which he claimed in his arrogance (and the absence of a European monarch to take command), despite his complete incompetence. Frederick II, who had obtained the Imperial Coronation from Honorius (November 22, 1220), was extremely reluctant to cooperate with the crusade, however, preferring to campaign in southern Italy and Sicily to consolidate his inheritance. The more successful he was at this, the more threatening his power became to the Papacy, his immediate neighbor to the north. The Pope had to fear Frederick's designs to reconquer imperial territories in central and northern Italy, which could well turn the Papacy into a client of the Emperor, rather than the opposite (as Innocent had envisioned). Honorius sent Cardinal Ugo dei Conti to Lombardy as his legate (1221), and he had considerable success in arranging truces between Guelfs and Ghibellines.
Honorius, always anxious for peace, had allowed Frederick to get away with his repeated postponements in fulfilling his commitment to take the cross, though he did get Frederick to sign the treaty of S. Germano, in which Frederick acknowledged that he faced excommunication if he did not leave on Crusade by the Summer of 1227. The removal of Frederick and his army from the Italian scene for a time, perhaps years, would ease the threat to the papal territories and the independence of the Holy See. A new pope with a firm hand and determination was needed to make Frederick fulfil his commitments. Here was the beginning of a quarter-century of disasters for the Church.
During the winter of 1126-1127, the Fucine Lake froze over, and people were able to walk across it along with their animals and supplies. In January, 1227, there was a severe famine in Rome. Honorius sent his agents to Sicily to find supplies for himself and the Roman Curia. He appointed Henricus de Morra, the Magister Iustitiarius, to carry out this assignment.
Honorius III (Cencio Savelli) died at the age of 79, on March 18, 1127, according to Pope Gregory IX (Ugo dei Conti di Segni) in his electoral manifesto [MGH Epistolae I, no. 343; Potthast 7864] at the Lateran Palace. There is no indication as to the cause of his death. He was interred in the Basilica Liberiana (S. Maria Maggiore), near the relics of the Holy Manger of Bethlehem (Adinolfi, Roma nell' età di mezzo I, p. 209). He had been Archpriest of that Basilica before his election to the Papacy. The Holy See was vacant for only two days.
Panvinio (Epitome, pp. 154-155) counts 17 cardinals "qui electioni PP. Gregorii IX. interfuerunt," five cardinal-bishops, six cardinal-priests, and six cardinal-deacons. Ciaconius-Olduin (II, columns 65-67) lists 19 cardinals "vivi quando Gregorius Papa IX. creatus est." Bartholomaeus S. Pudentianae is allowed, though he was not yet a Cardinal. Gregorius Theodolus is allowed, though he was probably dead. Oliver Saxo is omitted, though he was certainly alive. He died in 1227 [Ughelli I, 169]. No contemporary source states the number of cardinals, the number who were present at the election, or the names of those present at the election.
F. Ughelli prints (Ciaconius-Olduin II, 62-63) a text (written between 1219 and 1221) which indicates a blood relationship among three of the cardinals; it reads as follows:
Miseratione Divina Petrus Sabinensis Episcopus (1216-1221), Nicolaus Tusculanus Episcopus (1219-1227) de Claramonte nuncupatus, et Stephanus [de Ceccano] tituli Basilicae duodecim Apostolorum (1213-1227) Sacrosanctae Romana Ecclesiae Cardinales, universis christifidelibus tam praesentibus quam futuris praesentes nostras literas inspecturis, salutem in Domino sempiternam. Notum facimus, et testamur, quod potentissimus et magnificus Princeps et Dominus D. Federicus de Claramonte consanguinis noster, miles creatus nuper a sanctissimo in Christo Patre et Domino nostro D. Honorio divina providentia Papa Tertio, etc.
The Election took place at the Septemsolia (Septasolium. The "septem" creeps into the name due to the name of the street, "Septem Viae"), the Deaconry of S. Lucia in Septasolio, at the eastern base of the Palatine hill, across the street from the Monastery of S. Andrew and S. Gregory, which had been founded by Pope Gregory I on his family property. The Monastery of S. Andrew and S. Gregory owned the surviving part of the Septizodium, from which the area and buildings took their name, and had been given property adjacent to it in A.D. 975. At the time of the Election of 1227, there was no Cardinal Deacon of S. Lucia. It was in this same place that Pope Innocent III was elected in 1198, on the day of the funeral of Celestine III, in an equally short Sede Vacante.
Gregory IX (Ugo dei Conti di Segni) was elected on Saturday, March 19, the second day after the death of Pope Honorius III (in the account of the 'Cardinal of Aragon'), or (in another account, that of Bernardus Guidonis) on March 20, the ninth day after the Feast of S. Gregory (which was on March 12), which was the day before the Feast of St. Benedict, which is on March 21. The difference is apparently in the meaning of "second day"; the Romans count inclusively, others exclusively. At Rome "second day after " meant "day after" (e.g. ii kal. aprilis = March 31). In the "Vita Gregorii Papae IX, ex Cardinali Aragonio " [Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores III, p. 575] we find:
Qui tandem defuncto piae recordationis Honorio III. sexta Feria, hebdomada vero majoris Quadragesimae quinta, de communi et impraemeditate Fratrum concordia, non minus electione canonica quam inspiratione Divina, lacrymabili et clamosa contradictione recusans, inter votivas eligentium manus pia vestium laceratione quassatus, in domo Beati Gregorii Gregorius ejus imitator assumitur apud Setpemsolia Summi Pontificis solium , Fratrum instantia devictus, ascends. Demum vero Romanis exultantibus Populis, ac Clero jubilante pare gaudio, irruentibus etiam cathervatim utriusque sexus hominibus, Pontificali decoratus infula, in Lateranensi Palatio magnifice cathedratur.
The phraseology of the testimonium could well suggest that Cardinal dei Conti was elected per viam inspirationis rather than by voting or by compromise. In addition, Pope Gregory himself, in his Electoral Manifesto, says: post aliquantulum tractatum de substitucione pontificis omnes pariter ad imbecillitatem nostram quasi divinitus inspirati oculos direxerunt. There was the traditional Mass of the Holy Spirit. Discussions began and went on for a little while, when everyone at the same time as though divinely inspired directed their eyes toward his imbecillity. It is perhaps too much weight to put on two little words, pariter and quasi, to suggest that Gregory himself thought his election was due to divine intervention by the Holy Spirit. It is too similar to the usual papal rhetoric suitable to such occasions, however the election was accomplished.
There is another story, retailed in a monastic life of Cardinal Conrad von Urach, O.Cist., once Abbot of Villers, which the writer claims he heard what Cardinal Conrad himself had said (or does he mean that he had heard that Conrad had said?):
Eo tempore mortuo domno papa, cardinales consentire non valentes in electionem, compromiserunt in duos cardinales, et in hunc reverendum patrem; ipse electus ab hiis duobus, "absit," inquit, "quod dicatur quod ego elegerim me in papam", et sic alius electus est. Cum autem morti appropinquaret hic homo Dei, audi(i) quid dixerit.
The Cardinals were not able to agree on an election. They therefore entered into a compomise, granting the power to elect to two cardinals and Cardinal Conrad von Urach. He was elected by the other two, but he refused the election. And so someone else was elected. The monk-author tells another story he heard from Abbot William of Villers that Cardinal von Urach was able to light candles by pointing at them. This is hagiography, not biography. The story of Conrad von Urach's election to the Papacy, and his Great Refusal, is obviously incompatible with what is known from official sources, and must be rejected. It has a number of parallels, however, with other monkish tales of thirteenth-century phantom popes from the religious orders, which must also be rejected—Saint Bonaventura, General of the Franciscans; St. Philip Benizi, the General of the Servites; Cardinal Vicedomino de' Vicedomini, a Franciscan tertiary; and Fra Giovanni da Vercelli, the sixth Master General of the Order of Preachers. Cardinal von Urach had been Abbot General of the Cistercians.
On different lines, Ferdinand Gregorovius [History of Rome in the Middle Ages V. 1, p. 143] believed that the Cardinals had elected Cardinal Hugo dei Conti precisely because he was the temperamental opposite of his predecessor, in other words that there was rational calculation involved. He bases this on the "Life of Gregory IX", where the remark occurs: Gregorius IX. papa velut fulgur meridianus egreditur. The context of the remark, however, does not justify Gregorovius' interpretation as it is applied to the Election. It was only a general introductory statement in the biography of Pope Gregory, remarking on the difference between Gregory and the other popes of his time.
Gregory IX was invested with the pallium on Quadragesima Sunday, March 21 1227, the day after the Feast of St. Benedict:
Sequenti vero Dominica die, scilicet Sanctissimi Benedicti Benedictus Pater Praelatorum comitatus obsequiis, assistente innumerabili multitudine Romanorum, in Principis Apostolorum Basilica venerandus Princeps magnifico susceptus tripudio, ex Apostolicae Sedis more suscepit pallium, plenae potestatis insigne. Sicque Missarum peractis solemniis Summus Pontifex gemmis corcumrectus et auro ad Palatium Lateranense procedit.
On Easter Sunday, April 11, he wore the tripudium at S. Maria Maggiore:
Die vero Resurrectionis Dominicae subsequentis Missarum mysteriis in Virginis Gloriosae Basilica solemniter celebratis, revertitur cum tripudio coronatus.
On Easter Tuesday, there was a Solemn Mass at St. Peter's, after which, wearing the double tiara, the Pope and his Court made a procession through the City of Rome:
feria quidem secunda in Albis in praedicta Petri Basilica Divinis Missarum Officiis reverenter expeltis, duplici diademate coronatus, sub fulgoris specie in Cherubim transfiguratus aspectum, inter purpuratam venerabilium Cardinalium, Clericorum et praelatorum comitivam innumeram, insignibus Papalibus praecedentibus equo in phaleris pretiosis evectus per almae Urbis miranda moenia pater Urbis et Orbis deducitur admirandus.
In June the new Pope left Rome and went to Anagni. From there he sent nuntii to the Emperor with a request that food be sent to him by men of the Kingdom of Sicily. He assigned Henricus de Morra, the Magister Justitiarius, to carry this out. The Emperor summoned all of the justiciars of his kingdom to come to Sicily so that they could give him an accounting of all of their income. In the meantime, in preparation for his sailing for the Holy Land, he imposed a general tax on the Kingdom.
Nicolaus de Curbio, OFM, "Vita Innocentii Papae IV," Ludovico Antonio Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores Tomus Tertius (Mediolani 1723) p. 592-592e. Stephanus Baluzius, Miscellanea Tomus VII (Paris 1715), pp. 353-405 [Nicholas was Bishop of Assisi, 1250–ca. 1274; he was also Innocent IV's chaplain and confessor]
Historia Monasterii Villariensis in Brabantia, Ordinis Cisterciensis, in E. Martene and U. Durand, Thesaurus novus anecdotorum Tomus III (Lutetiae Parisiorum 1717), columns 1267-1374
Henry Richards Luard (editor), Matthaei Parisiensis, Monachi Sancti Albani, Chronica Majora Vol. IV. A.D. 1248 to A. D. 1258 (London: Longman 1880)
Cronaca di Fra Salimbene Parmigiano (tr. Carlo Cantarelli) Volume 1 (Parma: Luigi Battei 1882). Monumenta historica ad provincias Parmensem et Placentinam pertinentia. Chronica Fr. Salimbene Parmensis, Ordinis Minorum (Parmae: Petrus Fiaccadori 1857) [editio princeps, from a single Vatican ms., containing only part of chronicle 1212-1287]. Emil Michael, SJ, Salimbene und seine Chronik (Innsbruck 1889).
Joannes Benedictus Mittarelli, Annales Camaldalenses ordinis Sancti Benedicti Tomus I (Venetiis 1755), Tomus IV (Venetiis 1759). Alberto Gibelli, O.Camald., Memorie storiche dell' antichissima chiesa abbaziale dei SS. Andrea e Gregorio al Clivo di Scauro sul Monte Celio (Roma 1888). Lawrence Richardson, A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press 1992).
Pietro Egidi (editor), Necrologi e libri affini della Provincia Romana Volume I (Roma 1908).
Bartolomeo Platina, Historia B. Platinae de vitis pontificum Romanorum ... Onuphrii Panvinii ... cui etiam nunc accessit supplementum ... per Antonium Cicarellam (Coloniae Agrippinae: sumptibus Petri Cholini, 1626), pp. 208-212. Bartolomeo Platina, Storia delle vite de' Pontefici edizione novissima Tomo terzo (Venezia: Domenico Ferrarin, 1763), 82-97. Onuphrio Panvinio, Epitome Pontificum Romanorum a S. Petro usque ad Paulum IIII. Gestorum (videlicet) electionisque singulorum & Conclavium compendiaria narratio (Venice: Jacob Strada 1557). Lorenzo Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa Tomo primo Parte secondo (Roma: Pagliarini 1792).
Augustinus Theiner (Editor), Caesaris S. R. E. Cardinalis Baronii, Od. Raynaldi et Jac. Laderchii Annales Ecclesiastici Tomus Vigesimus 1198-1228 (Barri-Ducis: Ludovicus Guerin 1870) [Baronius-Theiner].
MGH: G. H. Pertz (editor), Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptorum Tomus XVIIII (Hannover 1866). [Ryccardus de S. Germano, Chronica]
Ludovico Antonio Muratori, Annali d' Italia Volume 18 (Firenze: Leonardo Marchini 1827).
W. H. Bliss, Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Papal Letters Vol. I, A.D. 1198-1304 (London 1893).
Aloysius Tomassetti (editor), Bullarum, Diplomatum, et Privilegiorum sanctorum Romanorum Pontificum Taurinensis Editio III (Turin 1858), pp. 593 ff. [Bullarium Romanum]
Guido Levi, Registri dei Cardinali Ugolino d' Ostia e Ottaviano degli Ubaldini (Roma 1890).
F. Gregorovius, History of Rome in the Middle Ages, Volume V.1 second edition, revised (London: George Bell, 1906) Book IX, Chapter 3-4, pp. 139-150. J. B. Sägmüller, Thätigkeit und Stellung der Kardinale bis Papst Bonifaz VIII. (Freiburg i.Br.: Herder 1896). Karl Wenck, review of Sägmüller, Thätigkeit, in Göttingsche gelehrte Anzeiger 163 (1900) 139-175.
Gioanni Lampugnani, Sulla vita di Guala Bicchieri, patrizio vercellese (Vercelli 1842). A. Parravicini Bagliani, Cardinali di curia e "familiae" cardinaliste, dal 1227 al 1254 Volume II (Padua 1972)
W. H. Bliss (editor), Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland. Papal Letters. Volume I (London 1893). W.W. Shirley (editor), Royal and Other Historical Letters illustrative of the Reign of Henry III Volume II. 1236-1272 (London: Longmans 1866). Abbot Francis Aidan Gasquet, Henry the Third and the Chruch (London 1905). C. R. Cheney and M. G. Cheney, The Letters of Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) concerning England and Wales: a Calendar with an appendix of texts (Oxford:Clarendon 1967).
On the Annibaldi: Fedele Savio, SJ, "Gli Annibaldi di Roma nel secolo XIII," Studi e documenti di storia e diritto 17 (1896) 353-363. Francis Roth, OESA, "Il Cardinale Riccardo Annibaldi, Primo Prottetore dell' Ordine Agostiniano," Augustiniana 2 (1952) 26-60. M. Dikmans, "D' Innocent III à Boniface VIII. Histoire des Conti et des Annibaldi," Bulletin de l' Institut historique belge de Rome 45 (1975) 19-211.
On Cardinal Konrad von Urach: R. von Schreckenstein, "Konrad von Urach, Bischof von Porto und S. Rufina als Cardinallegat in Deutschland 1224-1226," Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte 7. 1 (Gottingen 1867), 321-393. Falko Neininger, Konrad von Urach (Paderborn: Schöningh 1994) [Quellen und Forschungen aus dem Gebiet der Geschichte, 17]
Conradus Eubel, OFM Conv., Hierarchia Catholici Medii Aevi...ab anno 1198 usque ad annum 1431 perducta editio altera (Monasterii 1193) 7-8.
Christian Huelsen, Das Septizonium des Septimius Severus (Berlin:Georg Reimer 1886). Rodolfo Lanciani, Storia degli scavi di Roma Volume Quattro (Roma: Ermanno Loescher 1909)..Th. Dombart, Das palatinische Septizonium zu Rom (München: Beck 1922).
Joseph Felten, Papst Gregor IX. (Freiburg i.B. 1886).
© 2009 John Paul Adams, CSUN