Papal conclave, 1352

Coat of arms during the vacancy of the Holy See
Dates and location
16–18 December 1352 Palais des Papes, Avignon
Key officials
Dean	Pierre Desprès
Camerlengo	Stefano Aldebrandi Cambaruti
Protodeacon	Gaillard de la Mothe
Elected Pope
Étienne Aubert Name taken: Innocent VI
← 1342 1362 →

Papal conclave 1352 (December 16–18, 1352) convened after the death of Pope Clement VI, elected as his successor cardinal Etienne Aubert, who became the fifth Pope of the period of Avignon Papacy under the name Innocent VI. This conclave is remarkable because during its celebration Cardinals for the first time in history subscribed the electoral capitulation, which limited the power of elect.

Pope Clement VI died on December 6, 1342 at Avignon. During his pontificate he constantly refused to return to Rome and purchased the sovereignty of Avignon (where resided papal court) from Queen Joan I of Naples. At the time of his death, there were 26 living cardinals. 25 of them participated in the conclave:

Nineteen electors were created by Pope Clement VI, and eight of them were his relatives. Of the remaining six three were creatures of John XXII and three of Benedict XII.

The post of Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, the most important during sede vacante, was occupied by Stefano Aldebrandi Cambaruti,archbishop of Toulouse (not a Cardinal).

One cardinal created by Clement VI did not participate in this conclave, because he served as legate in France, where he unsuccessfully tried to establish peace between the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of England in the Hundred Years' War:

On December 16 twenty five Cardinals entered the conclave in the Palais des Papes in Avignon. Initially, all the electors subscribed the first conclave capitulation in the history, although several of them (including Cardinal Aubert) made this with reservation, insofar as it was not contrary to church law”. The terms of capitulation were following: