History
Pope Alexander IV was elected in Naples in December 1254. He inherited his predecessor's opposition to the Hohenstaufen claimants to the Holy Roman Empire. Because of the strength of the Ghibelline faction in Rome, he withdrew to Viterbo in 1257 until his death in 1261. Alexander IV began enlarging the bishop's residence by the cathedral, and the Papal Palace was completed probably in 1266.
Alexander IV's successor, Pope Urban IV, returned to Viterbo from the Crusades and was present there when Alexander IV died. A non-cardinal, Urban IV moved to Perugia upon his election, where he died. Urban IV spent the winter and spring of 1261–1262 in Viterbo. [5]
Urban IV's successor, Pope Clement IV, was elected in Perugia, but established himself in Viterbo, where he remained until his death. Clement IV established permanent residence in Viterbo in 1266. [5] He did not even return to Rome for the crowning of Charles of Anjou as the Holy Roman Emperor by the College of Cardinals.
The election after Clement IV's death, in Viterbo, lasted three years. Pope Gregory X, a non-cardinal away on the Crusades, was finally elected. Gregory X returned to Rome, and died in Arezzo, while returning from the Second Council of Lyon. in France. His successor, Pope Innocent V also resided in Rome.
Pope Adrian V was pope for a little over a month, and accomplished little other than dying in Viterbo before even being ordained a priest. His Portuguese successor, Pope John XXI remained in Viterbo. John XXI expanded the papal palace in Viterbo, and died when a section of the roof collapsed on him. [5]
The next pope, Pope Nicholas III, although from the powerful Roman Orsini family, also died in Viterbo in 1280. During the ensuing election, the magistrates of Viterbo threw two Orsini cardinals into prison. [2] By the time his successor, Pope Martin IV, was elected, Viterbo had been placed under interdict, and because the French pope was resented in Rome, he was crowned in Orvieto. The influence of Viterbo on the papacy declined after Martin IV's death in Perugia in 1285.
Pope Pius II was in Viterbo in 1462 to celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi. [6]
Pope Martin IV, born Simon de Brion, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 February 1281 to his death. He was the last French pope to have held court in Rome; all subsequent French popes held court in Avignon.
Pope Clement IV, born Gui Foucois and also known as Guy le Gros, was bishop of Le Puy (1257–1260), archbishop of Narbonne (1259–1261), cardinal of Sabina (1261–1265), and head of the Catholic Church from 5 February 1265 until his death. His election as pope occurred at a conclave held at Perugia that lasted four months while cardinals argued over whether to call in Charles I of Anjou, the youngest brother of Louis IX of France, to carry on the papal war against the Hohenstaufens. Pope Clement was a patron of Thomas Aquinas and of Roger Bacon, encouraging Bacon in the writing of his Opus Majus, which included important treatises on optics and the scientific method.
Pope Urban IV, born Jacques Pantaléon, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1261 to his death. He was not a cardinal; only a few popes since his time have not been cardinals, including Gregory X, Urban V and Urban VI.
Pope Nicholas III, born Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 November 1277 to his death.
Viterbo is an ancient city and comune in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo.
Orvieto is a city and comune in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are completed by defensive walls built of the same stone, called tufa.
Palazzo dei Papi is a palace in Viterbo, northern Latium, Italy. It is one of the most important monuments in the city, situated alongside the Duomo di Viterbo. The Papal Curia was moved to Viterbo in 1257 by Alexander IV, due to the hostility of the Roman commune and constant urban violence: the former bishop's palace of Viterbo was enlarged to provide the Popes with an adequate residence. The construction, commissioned by the Capitano del popolo Raniero Gatti, provided a great audience hall communicating with a loggia raised on a barrel vault above the city street. It was completed probably around 1266.
The 1268–71 papal election, following the death of Pope Clement IV, was the longest papal election in the history of the Catholic Church. This was due primarily to political infighting between the cardinals. The election of Teobaldo Visconti as Pope Gregory X was the first example of a papal election by "compromise", that is, by the appointment of a committee of six cardinals agreed to by the other remaining ten. The election occurred more than a year after the magistrates of Viterbo locked the cardinals in, reduced their rations to bread and water, and removed the roof of the Palazzo dei Papi di Viterbo where the election took place.
Stephen (I) Báncsa was the first Hungarian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Prior to that, he served as Bishop of Vác from 1240 or 1241 to 1243, then Archbishop of Esztergom from 1242 until his creation as cardinal.
Latino Malabranca Orsini was a Roman noble, an Italian cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, and nephew of Pope Nicholas III.
The 1280–81 papal election elected Simon de Brion, who took the name Pope Martin IV, as the successor to Pope Nicholas III.
Orvieto, Umbria, Italy, was the refuge of five popes during the 13th century: Urban IV (1261–1264), Gregory X (1271–1276), Martin IV (1281–1285), Nicholas IV (1288–1292) and Boniface VIII (1294–1303). During this time, the popes took up residence in the Papal Palace of Orvieto, which was adjacent to the Orvieto Cathedral and expanded onto the bishop's residence. None of these popes died in Orvieto, and thus no papal elections took place in there, nor are there any papal tombs.
Perugia was a long-time papal residence during the 13th century. Five popes were elected here: Pope Honorius III (1216–1227), Pope Clement IV (1265–1268), Pope Honorius IV (1285–1287), Pope Celestine V (1294), and Pope Clement V (1305–1314). These elections took place in the Palazzo delle Canoniche adjoining the Perugia Cathedral.
The 1264–65 papal election was convened after the death of Pope Urban IV and ended by electing his successor Pope Clement IV. It met in Perugia, where Urban IV had taken refuge after being driven out of Orvieto. He had never been in Rome as Pope, but spent his entire reign in exile. It was the second election in a row where a pope was elected in absentia; the phenomenon would be repeated in the Conclave of 1268–1271, and again in the Conclave of 1292–1294. In the last two cases, the person elected was not even a Cardinal.
The 1261 papal election took place after the death of Pope Alexander IV on 25 May and chose Pope Urban IV as his successor. Since Pope Alexander had been resident in Viterbo since the first week of May 1261, the meeting of the cardinals to elect his successor took place in the Episcopal Palace at Viterbo, which was next to the Cathedral of S. Lorenzo. The actual date of the beginning of the Electoral Meeting is unknown. If the canon of Pope Boniface III were still in effect, then the Election could not begin until the third day after the Pope's burial.
Matteo Rosso Orsini, was a Roman aristocrat, politician, diplomat, and Roman Catholic Cardinal. He was the nephew of Pope Nicholas III (1277-1280).
Uberto Coconati, a Roman Catholic Cardinal, was born at Asti in the Piedmont region of Italy, a member of the family of the Counts of Cocconato, who were vassals of the Marchese di Monferrato. Thierry de Vaucouleurs, the author of the Johanneslegende, Uberto was "Lombardus nomine, stirpe potens".
Giordano Pironti dei Conti di Terracina was an Italian aristocrat, papal bureaucrat, and Roman Catholic Cardinal. His family included a brother, Pietro, and three nephews, Pietro, Giovanni and Paolo.
Guillaume de Bray was a French ecclesiastic and Roman Catholic Cardinal, poet, and mathematician.
Simone Paltanieri, son of Pesce Paltanieri, member of a distinguished family, was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal.
