All Vatican elections

1730 Conclave

elected Clement XII

5 March – 12 July 1730 · The early modern conclaves · Apostolic Palace, Papal States

Pope Benedict XIII died on February 21, 1730, at the age of eighty-one. The conclave which followed is considered to be the longest and most corrupt of the 18th century.

Elected pope

Clement XII

Lorenzo Corsini

Succeeded

Duration

4 months

Cardinal electors

locked in under conclave rules

Key officials

DeanFrancesco Pignatelli
CamerlengoAnnibale Albani

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.