The majesty and ritual of a papal Conclavium, the concentration of cardinals in their red costumes, the crowd waiting for St. Peter’s Square to see the white smoke preceding the proclamation by the balcony: “Habemus Papam!“(” We have a Pope! “), It is an organized and familiar drama for the modern world.

But class and solemnity have not always existed. For centuries, the process has been unnecessary and violent.

Road riots, bloody clashes, beheadings, bribes and a pope convicted of forced labor works are included in conflict of power in the early years Catholic Church.

A pope died the corpse of his predecessor and tried it.

Another Pope was elected by a bird.

For the first 1,000 years of the Church, the Pope’s election was an anarchic process, with the participation of all who considered themselves faithful. In the year 236, the election was delayed, and the voters had gathered days, discussing and pressing.

A humble and pious farmer came to join, and when a dove landed on his shoulder, he was considered a sign.

“Then all the present, as if they were moving from a divine spirit, with enthusiasm and unanimity shouted that he was worthy, and without delayed him to the bishopric throne,” wrote Saint Eusebius, the first ecclesiastical historian, for his election.

The next elections were accompanied by pressures and bloody conflicts. Imperial forces influenced decisions.

The first papal assassination, poisoning and beating of Pope John II in 882, sank the Church in dark times.

“His murder marked what most historians agree to be the worst time in the history of Papism,” wrote Frederick J. Baumgartner in his book Behind Locked Doors: A History of the Papal Elections.

Almost twelve pops were murdered – most were strangled or poisoned – during the next 300 years. From that troubled era, the legend was born that one of them was Pope Joanna, a woman who allegedly ruled a man disguised for 25 months. Despite the centuries of tradition and Hollywood film in 2009, most historians reject it as a myth.

After a millennium of chaos and bloodshed, the Church finally reformed the Pope’s election process.

Restriction of papal power – 1059

Pope Nikolaos II reformed the election process in 1059, giving the cardinals the exclusive right to vote, consolidating the Church’s independence from the aristocracy. He allowed, however, the possibility of transporting the election outside of Rome, predicting that “corruption of corrupt and disrespectful people may dominate so much that a pure, genuine and free election in Rome cannot be possible” – implying that the Cardinals may need to leave it to office or privilege.

This, however, had a few results.

When Pope Callist II died in 1124, two of Rome’s richest families, Pierleoni and Franzipani fought with each other for the control of the church.

After the Pierleoni candidate was proclaimed Pope Kelestin III, the Franzipani invaded the church, demanding that their cardinal should be elected.

In 1241, the controversy of Pope Gregory II with the Roman Emperor continued even after his death. The remaining cardinals were closed at Septizodium Palace with the pope’s body until they decided. It was hot August. One cardinal died, while another complained that every time he was trying to sleep, one soldier pinched him with his spear, as Michael J. Wells in The Conclave’s book.

The three -year election – 1268

The Cardinals took their time after the death of Pope Clement II in 1268, coming for months and then for years between their homes and the cathedral in Viterbo, where the election was held.

Kings and princes from all over Europe begged them to make a decision. Two years later, it is said that the locals leaned the roof of Viterbo’s palace when someone made a joke that if they took it out, perhaps the Holy Spirit would have better access.

After the placement of a rough roof and the deaths of two cardinals, Gregory II was eventually declared a new Pope.

One of his first measures was to change the Pope’s election process. In 1274, he introduced the papal conceine with strict rules: the cardinals would sleep in a large, locked room, with their beds separated with curtains. Everyone would have the right to a servant, but without any communication with the outside world. The meals would pass through a rotary door and would consist of only one plate of food and a bowl of soup. Chickens were forbidden because they may have conveyed hidden messages. If it was not elected a pope within five days, the portions would be limited to bread, water and a little wine, Baumgartner wrote.

When Gregory died two years later, a humble Franciscan was elected in one hour, with only one round of voting.

The exhausted Pope – 1292

The consultations of 1292 were doomed from the outset, since King James I of Aragon provided gold for bribery. Baumgartner says it never turned out that gold was distributed, but the vote did not go well and lasted ten days. The cardinals moved, but were hit by an epidemic that claimed the life of one of them. The votes continued for three consecutive summer periods, but no candidate received the required two -thirds majority.

As they were preparing to dissolve after the third summer without a Pope, a hermit known to the Cardinals as a “miraculous saint”, Pietro Di Morone sent them a letter, according to Baumgartner.

God, he wrote, told him that the Cardinals would be “strictly punished” if they do not elect soon.

So they suggested him. He is believed to have been about 86 years old, was surprised by the news but accepted and climbed a donkey to move to the nearest cathedral to be enthroned. The Franciscan Radicals were thrilled with the choice, called him “Angelic Pope” and believed that he would reform and revitalize the Church.

However, Pope Kelestin II was soon paid by the duties and eventually resigned.

The two popes of 1378

It was the French -Italian controversy that marked the concede after the death of Pope Gregory IA.

The seat of Papism was transferred to France in 1309 and remained in Avignon for decades, until Gregory IA returned to Rome. When the Cardinals gathered in Rome for the Conclave after his death, at least 20,000 Italians flooded the streets, after the bells that were calling for uprising across the city.

“Give us a Roman Pope or your heads will be as red as your hats!”

Terrified, the cardinals thought of dressing up an elderly monk like a Pope and taking him into the window to calm the crowd and escape, continuing the conceinence elsewhere.

Eventually they agreed to the election of a humble and effective Italian bureaucrat from Bari, who was discreetly served as a vice -garden for two decades, believing that he would accept to resign as soon as the crowd calmed down. No such luck.

“Having risen to power beyond his dreams, he was not willing to let her escape,” Baumgartner wrote. The Pope Urvanos VI proved to be violent and mentally disturbed. The cardinals admitted that they had no intention of electing him and proceeded to election of Pope Clement Z, but Urban VI did not resign, and the church was found with two popes.

The bribes of 1492

In the darkness of an August night, shortly before the Conclave began, four silver -loaded mules arrived at a cardinal’s house. It was a bribery allegedly sent by Cardinal Rodrigo Vorgias, a member of one of Italy’s richest families, to secure his vote.

King Charles VII of France allegedly transported more than 200,000 ducats to Roman banks to finance the election of a French Pope.

The first conclave held in the Sistina hats was flooded with bribery money. Despite rumors of offspring and mistresses, Borgias was elected Pope Alexander VI.

Cardinals caught in the hands – 1605

It was the second conception of 1605, after the death of Pope Leo IA just a month after his enthronement. The Cardinals were exhausted and entered the second round deeply divided between two favorites for succession: former military Domenico Tusco and ecclesiastical historian Caesar Baroness.

When it appeared that Tusco was about to prevail, a cardinal began to shout that it was “inappropriate and that the style of its speech and appearance would cause a great scandal”, and then the push and voices began. The conflict was heard outside the conception.

Cardinal Alfonso Visconti suffered multiple fractures, according to Baumgartner. Eventually, Camilo Borgueze, who became Pope Paul III, was elected as a compromise as a compromise.

Papal tiara of paper – 1800

The conception that followed the death of Pope Pius VI was held in Venice after Napoleon’s army had invaded Italy. When the French occupied the papal treasure, they discovered the papal tiaras. They melted three of them and removed a 400 -carat emerald from another, sending the precious gem to Paris, according to the Basilica of the National Sanctuary of Amomos Arrest in Washington, where one of the Tiares is kept.

Thus, when the displaced concussion elected Pope Pius Z, he was crowned papal papier-mâché, decorated with gemstones donated by families of Venice.