Papal election 1216
Dates and location
18 July 1216 Perugia
Key officials
Dean	Nicola de Romanis
Camerlengo	Stefano di Ceccano
Protopriest	Cinzio Cenci
Protodeacon	Guido Pierleone
Elected pope
Cencio Savelli Name taken:Honorius III
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The1216 papal election was convoked inPerugia on 18 July 1216 following the death ofPope Innocent III two days earlier.^[1] The troubled social and political climate in Italy, including the threat ofschism and foreign invasions, led the assembled cardinals to adopt the procedure ofcompromissum, delegating the election to a committee of cardinal-bishops.^[2][3]

The committee, which included Ugolino di Segni (laterPope Gregory IX) and Guido Papareschi, elected Cencio Savelli, aged 68, who took the name Honorius III.^[1][2][4] Honorius III was both a Roman native and renowned for his diplomatic skills, which would prove essential for navigating the papacy through contemporary challenges such as theFifth Crusade and ongoing disputes with secular powers.^[5][6]

Seventeen cardinals participated in the election, while eight were absent, including several notable legates active in European affairs.^[1] The swift and nearly unanimous outcome of the election was achieved amid uncertainty regarding external pressures and the need for unity during a critical period of Church history.^[3]

There were 25 cardinals in the College of Cardinals in July 1216, including 23 curial cardinals and two "external cardinals", who did not reside in the papal curia^[7] It is known that 17 of them participated in the election:^[8]

Eight cardinals, including six curial and two "external cardinals", were absent:

The cardinals assembled inPerugia two days after the death of Innocent III. They deliberated in the enclosure,^[10] though it is not certain whether voluntarily or under pressure of the local authorities.^[11] They decided to elect the new Pope bycompromissum, it means, not by the whole Sacred College, but by the committee of few of them, empowered by the rest to appoint the new Pontiff. This time the committee included only two cardinal-bishops:Ugolino of Ostia andGuido of Palestrina.^[12] On that same day, they elected CardinalCencio, calledCamerario, aged 68, who accepted his election and took the name ofHonorius III.

• Werner Maleczek,Papst und Kardinalskolleg von 1191 bis 1216, Wien 1984
• Konrad Eubel,Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, volumen I, 1913
• F. Bourkle-Young: notes to the papal election of 1216
• Vatican history

• Papal elections
• 13th-century elections
• 1216
• 13th-century Catholicism
• 1216 in Europe

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