The Conclave: A Sometimes Secret and Occasionally Bloody History of Papal Elections by Michael Walsh Read Free Book Online Page B

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    The controversy dragged on through the pontificates of Vitalian, Adeodatus II, and Donus. It improved under Agatho, who was an Eastern monk from Sicily. By his skills in negotiation he achieved the abandonment of the heretical position adopted by successive emperors in Constantinople, and, perhaps as a tribute, the Romans elected another Greek-speaking Sicilian, Leo II, to succeed him. One unmistakable sign of Agatho’s skill was the agreement of the emperor that the payment of 3000 solidi to the imperial court (cf. above, p. 27) would be waived – though in return the emperor demanded back the right, briefly transferred to his exarch, to confirm papal elections. The delay between election and confirma- tion (and therefore consecration) once again grew longer – eighteen months in the case of Leo II, a year for Leo’s successor Benedict II. Benedict, however, got the procedure transferred back to Ravenna, so John V, after a trouble-free election, took up residence in the Lateran to await confirmation by the exarch, which arrived in a matter of weeks.
    What mattered to the electors in the papal elections of these years in the middle of the seventh century was the suitability of a candidate to deal with the emperor in Constantinople. The emperor was still – though by this time only just – their ruler, albeit a ruler far too prone to heresy, which was troubling. But the alter- native to governance from Constantinople was the domination of a Lombard king who was not only a barbarian and a heretic, but rather too close for comfort. So elections ran, it seems, relatively smoothly, and imperial confirmation was sought either from the emperor directly, which took time, or from the emperor’s repre- sentative, the exarch in Ravenna.
    There was a blip in this more or less tranquil series. In August 686, at the death of John V, there was a disputed election. John had been unanimously elected – the Liber Pontificalis makes a point of saying so. But at his death the army took a hand. It was the first recorded instance of troops in the city of Rome playing a part in the process, but they came from the same families who in times past
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    had been counted as the nobility. Now, with the withdrawal of the imperial army from the city, the large landowners emerged as the new military o ffi cer-class. They took charge of not only the local militia, but the civil administration as well.
    To succeed John the clergy of the city chose as their candidate Peter, the archpriest of the city; the military, who, as we have seen, headed the civil administration, wanted Theodore, also a priest but lower than Peter in rank. The sources do not indicate why each faction favored their particular candidate, but clearly the election was fraught. Soldiers closed the Lateran basilica to the clergy, so they could not use the traditional venue for the election. The army gathered in the basilica of St. Stephen nearby and proceeded to the election of Theodore. There were therefore two candidates, neither yet pope because imperial ratification had not been given. Leaders on both sides looked for a compromise. They found it in Conon, an ino ff ensive Roman cleric who happened to be the son of a soldier. The military were mollified and the clergy slipped into the Lateran palace and elected Conon.
    But the new pope was elderly, and it was clear he would not survive long; in fact his pontificate lasted only a year. The Archdeacon of Rome, one Paschal, realizing that Conon would not live long, started to plan his own succession. Crucial to any appointment was the approval of the exarch. Paschal now wrote to him, o ff ering a substantial bribe which the exarch was only too pleased to accept. But at Conon’s death in September 687 it became clear that Theodore still had the support of the army, while Paschal was backed, naturally, by the exarch in Ravenna and the civil authorities in Rome. The two groups occupied di ff erent sec- tions of the