All Vatican elections

December 1187 Papal Election

elected Clement III

19 December 1187 · The first papal elections · Pisa

Alberto di Morra, as papal chancellor, had followed Pope Lucius III in his flight from the Roman campagna, to seek aid from the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in Verona. Negotiations between the two quickly broke down, and the pope and his court found themselves trapped in Verona by a hostile emperor.

Elected pope

Clement III

Paolo Scolari

Succeeded

Duration

1 day

Cardinal electors

pre-conclave election

Key officials

DeanKonrad von Wittelsbach
CamerlengoMelior le Maitre

Ballot-by-ballot tallies are destroyed by design — the paper is burned in the stove whose smoke announces the result — so this entry records what the Church documents: the dates, the electors, the number of ballots where known, and the man who walked out onto the balcony.