1277 Papal Election
elected Nicholas III30 May – 25 November 1277 · Conclave law and the Great Schism · Palazzo dei Papi di Viterbo
The 1277 papal election (May 30 – November 25), convened in Viterbo after the death of Pope John XXI, was the smallest papal election since the expansion of suffrage to cardinal-priests and cardinal-deacons, with only seven cardinal electors (following the deaths of three popes who had not created cardinals).
Elected pope
Nicholas III
Giovanni Orsini
Succeeded
John XXI
Duration
6 months
Cardinal electors
—
pre-conclave election
Key officials
| Dean | Bertrand de Saint-Martin |
| Camerlengo | Guillaume de Bray |
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.