Papal conclave, May 1605

Coat of arms during the vacancy of the Holy See
Dates and location
8–16 May 1605 Apostolic Palace, Papal States
Elected Pope
Camillo Borghese Name taken: Paul V
← March–April 1605 1621 →

The papal conclave of May 1605 was convened on the death of Pope Leo XI and ended with the election of Camillo Borghese as Pope Paul V. This was the second conclave of 1605, with the one that had elected Leo XI having concluded just 37 days earlier. It is significant for having the only recorded case of an injury at a papal conclave, which was the result of a physical fight amongst the cardinals over who should be elected pope.

Pope Clement VIII died in March 1605. The 60 cardinal electors who met in the conclave to elect his successor were split among various factions roughly equally divided between loyalty to France and to Spain. In addition to the secular politics that influenced these papal elections, during this period they were marked by a strategy among elite families to acquire prestige and power. These strategies often played out over several generations through patronage and the accumulation of wealth, and bestowing favours on family members once an individual's election to the papacy was expected.

Sources from the time of the March 1605 conclave listed up to twenty-one possible candidates considered by the cardinals, but the only ones that were seriously discussed during the conclave were Cesare Baronius and Alessandro Ottaviano de' Medici. That conclave saw Spain veto Cesare Baronius after the first ballot. Medici, the candidate who was finally elected, was also vetoed by the cardinal representing Spain but this occurred after the election of Leo XI, and the cardinals did not view the veto as valid.

The March conclave had also seen the rival Aldobrandini and Montalto factions unable to elect a member of either of their families to the papacy, and both eventually agreed to elect Leo XI, a member of the cadet branch of the Medici.

Leo was 70 at the time of his election and, though in good health previously, fell ill on the day of his coronation. He died on 27 April 1605, 26 days after his election to the papacy. During his illness, Leo had been encouraged to appoint a cardinal nephew, but declined to do so.

In addition to Leo, another cardinal had died, reducing the number of cardinal electors in the May conclave to 59. At the beginning of the conclave Alessandro Peretti di Montalto supported Antonio Sauli. A significant number of the electors loyal to Pietro Aldobrandini, the nephew of Clement VIII, were willing to support Sauli. Aldobrandini, however, opposed Sauli's election due to Sauli's previous opposition to electing Clement, and was able to prevent Sauli from reaching the two-thirds majority required for election.