WI A French Pope in 1503??

On the death of Pope Alexander VI Cardinal d'Amboises trusted advisor and Prime Minister of King Louis XII of France aspired the papacy. He had French troops at the gates of Rome, by means of which he could easily have frightened the conclave and induced them to elect him... but he was persuaded to trust to his influence; the troops were dismissed, and an Italian was elected as Pius III and again, on the death of Pius within the month, another Italian, Julius II, was chosen.
Cardinal d'Amboises received as compensation the title of papal legate for life in France and in the Comtat Venaissin.
WI he didnt dismissed his troops and a frightened Conclave had him elected Pope? How is this altering History? Any thoughts?
 
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On the death of Pope Alexander VI Cardinal d'Amboises trusted advisor and Prime Minister of King Louis XII of France aspired the papacy. He had French troops at the gates of Rome, by means of which he could easily have frightened the conclave and induced them to elect him... but he was persuaded to trust to his influence; the troops were dismissed, and an Italian was elected as Pius III and again, on the death of Pius within the month, another Italian, Julius II, was chosen.
Cardinal d'Amboises received as compensation the title of papal legate for life in France and in the Comtat Venaissin.
WI he didnt dismissed his troops and a frightened Conclave had him elected Pope? How is this altering History? Any thoughts?

If he does this he is going to have to contend with Cesar Borgia, who was at that time in unquestioned control of the Roman Curia. Borgia was, I believe, quite sick at this time, which was why he allowed Julius II to be elected (Julius was a longtime enemy of the Borgia and ruined Cesar).

If he is elected, then Julius II would not be a month later, and the history of Italy could be much changed. Cesar Borgia may stay in control of the territory he conquered under his father, which will definitely affect later Italian history.

If d'Amboises is elected, would he return the Papacy to Avignon? Or attempt to use it to further secure French control of Milan?

I think he would stay in Rome myself, and perhaps with the Papacy firmly on the French side the French are able to secure their claims to both Milan and Naples?
 
D'Amboises was created Cardinal by Pope Alexander VI so he would be in debt to Cesare Borgia... Cesare would have held his lands and the French King would have secured Naples and Milan i think...
But i am afraid that rival Cardinals might contest his election because the Conclave was intimidated by the French troops (there was a precedent in the 1378 Conclave which elected Pope Urban VI)
A new Schism perhaps?
 

Susano

Banned
Wether due to the illness or not, without his father protection Caesare proved unable to get anything right. He already had at this point manage to aliante both the Spanish and the French King, which was quite a negative feat. Despite what machiavelli might have said about him, I dont think he would on his own be much of an iopposition, and it is possible that in his badly execuetd intrigues he could have supported that Frenchman.
 
Wether due to the illness or not, without his father protection Caesare proved unable to get anything right. He already had at this point manage to aliante both the Spanish and the French King, which was quite a negative feat. Despite what machiavelli might have said about him, I dont think he would on his own be much of an iopposition, and it is possible that in his badly execuetd intrigues he could have supported that Frenchman.

As i said above D'Amboises was in debt to Cesare's father for creating him Cardinal... Cesare could have supported in exchange for Papal protection... Maybe send him to serve the French King... But my worst fear would be a new Schism in Church if the other Cardinals contested his election and have an Antipope elected when they free themselves from French troops...
 

Susano

Banned
There was considerably resistance against electing non-French popes at the time anyways. People feared that would lead to a new Avignon Exile. So, what you describe is certainly a possibility...
 
There was considerably resistance against electing non-French popes at the time anyways. People feared that would lead to a new Avignon Exile. So, what you describe is certainly a possibility...

Indeed... But even if D'Amboises stayed at Rome the other Cardinals could contest his election following the precedent of 1378 election...
 
There was considerably resistance against electing non-French popes at the time anyways. People feared that would lead to a new Avignon Exile. So, what you describe is certainly a possibility...

Well fear of a foreign Pope didnt stopped them in 1492 from electing Spanish Cardinal Borja as Pope...
I believe that if Cardinal D'Amboises terrorised the Conclave with his French army and forced them to elect him there would be a split in the College of Cardinals... When the Cardinals would be free from french threats they could proclaim the election invalid and elect an Antipope... France would be isolated and possibly attacked... Maybe there would be chaos enough for Henry VII of England to press his French claims upon Louis XII... And Spain being a loyal ally of England would have attacked him too...
 
Could not the French Pope, maybe with the king's money, just bribe the Cardinals in order to avoid such confusion?
 
Well the key figure here Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere (OTL Pope Julius II) he was loyal to the King of France but very ambitious towards the Papacy...
In his capacity as Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals he influenced many of the Princes of the Church...
If the urge of obtaining the Tiara is bigger than his loyalty to Louis XII then we might have a new schism... D' Amboises had either buy him (which i highly doubt it) or have him assassinated...
Cardinal della Rovere had 10-11 secure votes inside the Sacred College (The number would increase if we add few others dissatisfied Cardinals) not enough to block the election of D'Amboises but they were sufficient to elect an Antipope once the Cardinals fled to a safe place...
 
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