Papal Cardinal System

Type Object Region Rome Time c. 1049–1059

In the mid-11th century the Roman Curia expanded the college of cardinals and regulated their electoral role, with the 1059 decree In nomine Domini e…

Timeline

c. 1049–1054Rome · RomeAfter the German pope Leo IX took office, he appointed bishops from Reims, Hildesheim, and elsewhere as cardinals, breaking the tradition of confining the College to the city of Rome, making the papal advisory tier more international and serving the Gregorian reform program.
c. 1059Rome · RomeNicholas II promulgated In nomine Domini at the Lateran council, providing that the pope be elected by the cardinals led by the cardinal bishops and restricting direct intervention by the Roman secular nobility and the emperor; this was the written institutional starting point of cardinal electoral rights.
c. 1060–1200Rome · RomeThe 1059 framework was gradually put into practice in subsequent papal elections, with the number and ranks of cardinals (bishops, priests, deacons) stabilizing; although imperial and local powers still intervened at times, the electoral procedure centered on the cardinals, laying the foundation for later papal political structures.

Sources

The Papal Monarchy: The Western Church from 1050 to 1250 — Colin Morris (1989)
A History of the Church in the Middle Ages — F. Donald Logan (2002)