Lentorama 2010: Two Millennia of Pointy Hats

Day 35: Clement X (1670-6)

Prior to becoming pope, Clement had a long career with varied responsibilities, from serving as nuncio to Rome to serving as the Vatican's exchequer to overseeing the works that protected Ravenna from flooding by the Po River. He was made a cardinal late in life by his predecessor, who predicted that Clement would be the next pope.

And that came to pass, though perhaps not in the way expected. The conclave that elected Clement was deadlocked between three candidates, none of whom could get enough votes away from the other two to win. The conclave dragged on for months, and finally the three camps agreed to elect an older cardinal, who would reign for a short period and allow each of the three to prepare for the conclave after that pope's death.

Urban was nearly 80 when elected, and he tried to pass on it, claiming it was too much of a job for someone of his age, but he would eventually give in. Once pope, he made an arrangement that would help both him as pope and help to keep his family name alive (as all but one of the men in his family had entered the church). He arranged a marriage between a man in a family he was close to and the sole heiress to his family's fortune and name. Once done, he made an uncle of the man a cardinal, and assigned to him the duties that Urban could not carry out due to his age, which would expand over the six years of Urban's reign.

It's hard to pin down the one or two most important events during Urban's term in office, as nothing really stands out. He did establish an independent see in Canada to further the success of missionaries there, and he set off a yearlong dispute with various cardinals and ambassadors when he tried to decree a new tax on goods entering Rome, but did not exclude goods being sent to Rome for cardinals or ambassadors.

Urban would die of complications from gout at age 86. And, perhaps fittingly, none of the three cardinals who were deadlocked in the conclave that elected Urban would be chosen to succeed him (or succeed any pope, for that matter).