Council of Constance

11 November 1417, in a warehouse on the water

On 11 November 1417 a special electoral body at Constance elected the Roman cardinal Oddone Colonna pope. He took the name Martin V because the election fell on the feast of Martin of Tours.

The electors had entered the waterfront Kaufhaus on 8 November, occupying the upper floors while merchants' goods stayed below. Fifty-three of them lived in 56 temporary cells — three built for men who never arrived.

Not a conclave of cardinals

The election used an exceptional body of 23 cardinals plus 30 representatives, six from each of the council's five nations, rather than the College of Cardinals alone. The council wanted a result that could command support across the former obediences.

An initial scrutiny on 10 November produced no winner. Accessions of votes the next day gave Colonna the required majorities and ultimately made the choice unanimous — unanimous by the medieval procedure of accessio, not on a first ballot.

By Colonna's own later statement, the final election came at about ten in the morning.

Deacon, priest, bishop

Colonna was only a subdeacon when chosen. He was ordained deacon on 12 November, priest on 13 November and consecrated bishop on 14 November; his coronation followed on 21 November.

The election won recognition across the former obediences and institutionally restored one broadly accepted head to the Latin Church.

The previous claimants were gone only in the sense that the council no longer recognised them: John XXIII and Benedict XIII were both still alive, and Benedict still asserted his claim.