April 1555 papal conclave
The April 1555 papal conclave (April 5–9) was convoked after the death of Pope Julius III. Cardinals at the conclave generally grouped themselves into three major factions, according to their alignment with the French House of Valois, the Hapsburgs, or Italian states that remained independent of both major Catholic powers. After preparing a conclave capitulation that compelled whichever cardinal was elected pope to maintain neutrality in European wars, cardinals from the Holy Roman Empire joined in supporting the French faction's candidate, Cardinal Marcello Cervini. Cervini was elected Julius's successor, and chose to maintain his  baptismal (birth) name as his papal name, becoming consecrated as Marcellus II. List of participants. Pope Julius III died on March 23, 1555. Thirty-seven out of fifty-seven cardinals participated in the election of his successor: Fifteen electors were created by Julius III, twenty by Pope Paul III, one by Pope Clement VII and one by Leo X. Absentee cardinals. Twenty cardinals were absent: Thirteen were created by Paul III, four by Clement VII, two by Julius III and one by Leo X. Divisions in the Sacred College. College of Cardinals was divided into three parties: The election of  Pope Marcellus II. The Cardinals present in Rome entered the conclave on April 5. Initially, they prepared and subscribed the conclave capitulation, which obliged elect to maintain neutrality in the European conflicts and forbade him conducting wars against Christian princes. In spite of the existed divisions, cardinals quickly achieved consensus. On April 9 at 11 p.m. they elected by acclamation Cardinal Marcello Cervini. He was proposed by French faction, but obtained also the support of the Imperial cardinals (e.g. Madruzzo) despite the expressed wishes of Charles V against Cervini's election. On April 10 in the morning a formal scrutiny  took place to confirm the election. Cervini received all votes except of his own, which he gave to Gian Pietro Carafa. He retained his baptismal name, adding to it only an ordinal number (Marcellus II). On that same day, he was consecrated bishop of Rome by Cardinal Gian Pietro Carafa, bishop of Ostia e Velletri and Dean of the College of Cardinals, and crowned by Cardinal Francesco Pisani, Protodeacon of S. Marco.