Papal conclave, 1447

Coat of arms during the vacancy of the Holy See
Dates and location
4–6 March 1447 Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Papal States
Key officials
Dean	Giovanni Berardi
Sub-Dean	Francesco Condulmer
Camerlengo	Ludovico Trevisan
Protopriest	Henry Beaufort
Protodeacon	Prospero Colonna
Election
Candidates	Prospero Colonna
Elected Pope
Tommaso Parentucelli (Name taken: Nicholas V)
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The papal conclave of March 4–6, 1447, meeting in the Roman basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, elected Pope Nicholas V (Parentucelli) to succeed Pope Eugene IV (Condulmer).

Eugene IV had died on February 23, 1447. The cardinals entered conclave at the time of Vespers (sunset) on March 4, after waiting the full nine days proscribed by Ubi periculum. Of the twenty-four cardinals living, only eighteen were present in Rome for the conclave. The conclave, like its predecessor which had elected Eugene IV, was held in the Sacristy of the Dominican monks of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, even though many members of the College of Cardinals would have preferred to relocate to the Vatican.

Several Roman barons, most prominent among them Gio Baptista Savelli, insisted for a time on being able to vote in the conclave (although perhaps they only wished to remain present); the Savelli family had been granted the right to guard the conclave by Pope Gregory X, but Gio Baptista wished for the first time to carry out this duty from inside the conclave; the barons were eventually expelled.

Prospero Colonna, the nephew of Pope Martin V and Protodeacon of the Sacred College, was regarded as the leading papabile at the start of the conclave. Colonna received 10 votes (two short of the requisite two-thirds majority) in the first scrutiny, on Sunday, March 5; 8 votes went to Domenico Capranica, and there were five for Parentucelli (Bononiensis). The next day the adherents of Colonna continued to vote for him, while the other eight attempted to peel away votes (unsuccessfully) by switching their choice to others, including the non-cardinal archbishops of Benevento and Florence. Colonna had the support of the French cardinals and those who were impressed with the influence he enjoyed in various Italian city-states, but he did not have the support of the Roman public due to Colonna's use of extrajudicial violence during his uncle's papacy. The people (that is to say, the leaders in Roman politics) preferred Niccolo d'Acciapaccio). Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, who was one of the Custodians of the Conclave, and is a principal source for the event, says merely that on Monday morning, September 6, there was some talk about the Archbishops, and then the scrutiny took place. There seems to be no evidence that they actually received votes.