1303 papal conclave


The 1303 papal conclave elected Pope Benedict XI to succeed Pope Boniface VIII.

Proceedings

Pope Boniface VIII was buried at St. Peter's Basilica on 12 October 1303, in a tomb which he had prepared for himself. The manhandling of Boniface VIII by the forces of France and the Colonna family before his death gave the cardinals second thoughts about electing anyone hostile to the interests of Philip IV of France.
The Conclave took place at the Vatican Palace next to St. Peter's, where Pope Boniface VIII had died on 11 October 1303. The Conclave began with the Mass of the Holy Spirit on 21 October, and voting began the next morning. A Dominican, and the Order's former Master General, Niccolò Boccasini was unanimously elected Pope Benedict XI on the first scrutiny. Niccolò Boccasini and Pedro Rodriguez were the only cardinals, of the seventeen or eighteen, who had stayed with Boniface VIII at Anagni when the papal residence was invaded by the French and the Colonna, and the Pope seized and imprisoned. Benedict's choice of numbering indicates that Antipope Benedict X was considered a legitimate pope at that time. Benedict XI was crowned at the Vatican Basilica on Sunday, 27 October 1303 by Cardinal Matteo Rosso Orsini, the prior Diaconorum.
The new pope, Niccolò Boccasini of Treviso, was Italian but not Roman, and thus considered neutral in the disputes between the Roman clans, and the international struggle between Charles II and Philip IV. Benedict XI refused to excommunicate Philip IV or the Colonna, but also refused to restore to the Colonna their properties that had been seized by Boniface VIII.
Pope Benedict left a detailed account of the conclave that elected him, describing how it closely adhered to the procedures mandated in the papal bull Ubi periculum.

Cardinal electors

ElectorNationalityCardinalatial order and titleElevatedElevatorOther ecclesiestical titlesNotes
Giovanni BoccamazzaRomeCardinal-bishop of Frascati1285, December 22Honorius IVDean of the College of Cardinalsnephew of Pope Honorius IV
Nicola BoccasiniTrevisoCardinal-Priest of Santa Sabina1298, December 4Boniface VIII
Teodorico RanieriOrvietoCardinal-bishop of Palestrina1298, December 4Boniface VIIICamerlengo
Leonardo PatrassoGuarcinoCardinal-bishop of Albano1300, March 2Boniface VIIINephew of Boniface VIII
Pedro RodríguezSpanishCardinal-bishop of Sabina1302, December 15Boniface VIIILegate in Sabina
Giovanni Minio da Morrovalle, O.F.M.MarcheCardinal-bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina1302, December 15Boniface VIIIFormer minister general of the Order of Franciscans
Niccolò Alberti, O.P.PratoCardinal-bishop of Ostia e Velletri1303, December 18Benedict XI
Robert de Pontigny, O.Cist.FrenchCardinal-priest of S. Pudenziana1294, September 18Celestine VProtopriest;
Camerlengo of the College of Cardinals		Former Superior General of the Cistercian Order
Gentile Partino, O.F.M.GuarcinoCardinal-priest of Ss. Silvestro e Martino ai Monti1300, March 2Boniface VIIIGrand penitentiaryNephew of Boniface VIII
Walter Winterburn, O.P.EnglishCardinal-priest of S. Sabina1304, February 19Benedict XI
Napoleone Orsini FrangipaniRomeCardinal-deacon of S. Adriano1288, May 16Nicholas IVArchpriest of the Liberian BasilicaNephew of Pope Nicholas III
Landolfo BrancaccioNeapolitanCardinal-deacon of S. Angelo in Pescheria1294, September 18Celestine V
Guglielmo de LonghiBergamoCardinal-deacon of S. Nicola in Carcere Tulliano1294, September 18Celestine VFormer Chancellor to Charles II of Naples
Francesco Napoleone OrsiniRomeCardinal-deacon of S. Lucia in Orthea 1295, December 17Boniface VIII
Francesco CaetaniAnagniCardinal-deacon of S. Maria in Cosmedin1295, December 17Boniface VIIICardinal-nephew
Luc FieschiGenoeseCardinal-deacon of S. Maria in Via Lata1300, March 2Boniface VIIINephew of Adrian V and grand-nephew of Innocent IV

Two other cardinals, Giacomo and Pietro Colonna, had been deposed by Pope Boniface VIII and were thus ineligible to participate in the election.