Pope Nicholas II had reserved the right to elect the pope to the cardinal bishops, priests, and deacons of Rome in 1059.[2] The cardinal bishops were the highest rank, being the bishops of the ancient suburbicarian dioceses. Cardinal priests ranked next, serving as the titular head of historically important churches in Rome. Last ranked the cardinal deacons, who were nominally assigned one of the ancient diaconia where traditionally deacons had administered the material possessions of the Church of Rome. Cardinals were required to have been ordained at least to the rank of their order within the College of Cardinals, but could also be ordained to a higher order.[3]
In 1586, Pope Sixtus V had mandated that the maximum number of cardinals be seventy.[4] Of these, the College of Cardinals had sixty-nine total members at the time of Clement VIII's death.[5][6] Following Leo's election, Girolamo Agucchi had also died on 27 April, the same day as Leo, reducing the total number of cardinals in the College by two.[7] The electors present had been created by six different popes: Pius IV, Gregory XIII, Sixtus V, Gregory XIV, Innocent IX, and Clement VIII. Clement's creations were the most numerous, as he had created thirty-nine of the cardinal electors. Innocent IX had created one of the conclave's electors, Gregory XIV had created five, Sixtus V had created eleven, Gregory XIII had created three, and Pius IV had created one.[8][i]
Cardinal electors
Fifty-nine total cardinals entered the conclave, and Paolo Emilio Zacchia and Carlo Gaudenzio Madruzzo participated in the conclave, assenting to the final vote, but did not enter the proceedings because they were sick.[9][10]
Domenico Toschi was one of the leading candidates in the May 1605 conclave, but ultimately failed to win election after Caesar Baronius objected to his use of vulgar language.[11]
^Pastor attributes Bernerio and Pinelli as creations of Gregory XIII. Eubel counts them as being created by Sixtus V, and gives specific dates for their creations as cardinals. These numbers use Eubel and Gauchet's figures, and note where Pastor disagrees. See table for specific creations and sourcing.
^Refers to rank within the College of Cardinals, and is not reflective of whether or not the individual had been ordained or consecrated to other Holy Orders
^ abPastor lists as a creation of Gregory XIII, but Eubel lists as created by Sixtus V.
^Not Pope Innocent IX, who was born with the same name and died in 1591
Freiherr von Pastor, Ludwig (1952) [1899]. Graf, Ernest (ed.). The History of the Popes. Vol. XXV. London: B. Herder Book Co. OCLC221543126.
Eubel, Konrad; van Gulik, Wilhelm (1913). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi [The Catholic Hierarchy of the Middle and Recent Ages] (in Latin). Vol. 3. Monasterii Sumptibus et typis librariae Regensbergianae. OCLC55180223.
Giannini, Massimo Carlo (2015). "Piatti, Flaminio". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani [The Italian Biographical Dictionary] (in Italian). 83.
Gauchat, Patrick (1960). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi [The Catholic Hierarchy of the Middle and Recent Ages] (in Latin). Vol. 4. Monasterii Sumptibus et typis librariae Regensbergianae. OCLC55180223.
Pattenden, Miles (2017). Electing the Pope in early modern Italy, 1450–1700. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-879744-9. OCLC980220999.
Squarzina, Silvia Danesi (1997). "The Collections of Cardinal Benedetto Giustiniani. Part I". The Burlington Magazine. 139 (1136): 766–791. JSTOR887781.