A seventeenth-century copy of the Urban VI conclave opens at the Vatican

At the top of the first leaf, a large handwritten heading reads Conclave Urbani Pape .VI. A red-brown initial P opens the page, followed by a long list of cardinals and other names. The page belongs to Barb.lat.2633, a seventeenth-century copy of documents related to the conclave that elected Pope Urban VI.

The Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana has just opened the manuscript in DigiVatLib. The item-level Vatican manuscript record dates the online addition to 31 August 2026, and the weekly tracker places it in Week 35 of 2026. 12

The Vatican catalog gives the manuscript the title Copia documenti relativi il conclave di papa Urbano VI, or "Copy of documents related to the conclave of Pope Urban VI." The catalog dates the volume to the seventeenth century. Its opening words identify the subject through the death of Gregory XI and the presence of sixteen cardinals in the Roman Curia. 3

The first leaf makes the book's purpose visible before a reader has decoded every line. The heading names Urban VI. The text below begins to enumerate the cardinals connected with the election. Folio 1v continues in the same hand, with further names and notes arranged across the page.

Urban VI's election in 1378 began one of the most divisive episodes in late medieval church history. The papal residence had recently returned to Rome after almost seventy years in Avignon. Roman crowds demanded a Roman or Italian pope, and the archbishop of Bari was elected as Urban VI. 5

A group of cardinals later declared the election invalid because it had taken place under fear. Those cardinals elected Robert of Geneva as Clement VII, who established a rival papal court at Avignon. The competing lines of popes continued until the Council of Constance cleared the way for Martin V's election in 1417. 5

Barb.lat.2633 is a later copy of documents about the opening crisis, rather than a fourteenth-century eyewitness manuscript. That distance gives the volume a different kind of interest: it records how a later reader or institution gathered and preserved the paperwork of a disputed election. The page is also a reminder that a political rupture survives through lists, copies, headings, and names as much as through famous narratives.

The complete digitized manuscript is free to browse in the DigiVatLib viewer. The catalog record supplies the bibliographic entry and the link to the edition browser. Start with folio 1r to see the large initial and the heading, then turn to folio 1v and follow the names that fill the opening pages.