All Vatican elections

1592 Conclave

elected Clement VIII

10–30 January 1592 · The early modern conclaves · Apostolic Palace, Papal States

Pope Innocent IX died on December 30, 1591, only two months into his pontificate. This created the fourth sede vacante in the year and a half since the death of Pope Sixtus V, who had died on August 27, 1590.

Elected pope

Clement VIII

Ippolito Aldobrandini

Succeeded

Sixtus V

Duration

21 days

20 ballots

Cardinal electors

locked in under conclave rules

Key officials

DeanAlfonso Gesualdo
CamerlengoEnrico Caetani

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.