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| Papal conclave 1334 | |
|---|---|
| Dates and location | |
| 1334 Palais des Papes, Avignon | |
| Election | |
| Candidates | Jean-Raymond de Comminges |
| Ballots | ? |
| Elected pope | |
| Jacques Fournier Name taken: Benedict XII | |
 | |
The papal conclave held from 13 to 20 December 1334 elected Jacques Fournier to succeed John XXII as pope. Fournier took the name Benedict XII.
Twenty-four cardinals attended the conclave of December 1334. [1] Their names are listed by Konrad Eubel in Hierarchia catholica. [2]
An early favorite among the papabile was Cardinal Jean-Raymond de Comminges, Bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina, son of Count Bernard VI of Comminges and Laura de Montfort. The French cardinals, led by Elie de Talleyrand-Périgord, did not want to leave their native France for the plague-infested and unfriendly city of Rome. And since the Orsini faction wanted to return to Rome, the Colonna faction chose the opposite and joined the French. [3] A sufficient number of cardinals agreed to support him (2/3, or a minimum of 16 in number). Thus he could have been elected Pope had he been willing to swear to a condition not to return the papacy to Rome. [4] Understandably, he refused his consent to the election on those terms. [5]
The Cistercian cardinal, Jacques Fournier, was elected on the evening of 20 December 1334, after Vespers, on the eighth day of the conclave. [6]
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia :
The cardinals in conclave, most of whom opposed a return to Rome, demanded of Cardinal de Comminges, whose election seemed assured, the promise to remain at Avignon. His refusal precipitated an unexpected canvass for candidates. On the first ballot, 20 December 1334, many electors, intending to sound the mind of the conclave, voted for the unlikely Cardinal Fournier, who, though he was one of the few men of real merit in the college, was but lightly regarded because of his obscure origin and lack of wealth and following. He amazed the conclave by receiving the necessary two-thirds vote. On 8 January 1335, he was enthroned as Benedict XII. [7]
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Raymond de Canillac was a French lawyer, bishop, and cardinal. He was born at Roche de Canilhac, the family castle, in the diocese of Mende in the Gevaudan in central France, the son of Guillaume de Canillac and a sister of Cardinal Bertrand de Déaulx. Both of his uncles, Pons and Guy, were successively abbots of Aniane, as was a nephew of the Cardinal, also called Pons. In 1345 his niece Garine, the daughter of his brother Marquis and of Alixène de Poitiers-Valentinois, married Guillaume Roger, Vicount of Beaufort, the brother of Cardinal Pierre Roger de Beaufort, who became Pope Clement VI. Raymond became a member of the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine (CRSA). He studied law at the University of Montpellier, and obtained the degree of Doctor in utroque iure.
Niccolò Brancaccio was born in the Kingdom of Naples, perhaps in Naples itself. He was Archbishop of Bari and then Archbishop of Cosenza, while serving in the Roman Curia in Avignon. He became a cardinal of the Avignon Obedience in 1378, and was Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria in Trastevere and then Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He participated in the Council of Pisa in 1409, and was one of the electors of Pope Alexander V and of Pope John XXIII.
