All Vatican elections

1191 Papal Election

elected Celestine III

21 March 1191 · The first papal elections · Rome

The 1191 papal election took place after the death of Pope Clement III. Pope Clement, according to differing and irreconcilable reports, died in March 1191, in the last third of the month, on the 20th, the 25th, the 26th, the 28th, or perhaps 2 April or 4 April, or 10 April.

Elected pope

Celestine III

Giacinto Bobone

Succeeded

Clement III

Duration

1 day

Cardinal electors

pre-conclave election

Key officials

DeanConrad of Wittelsbach
CamerlengoCencio Savelli

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.