rode out to meet him, accompanied by the magistrates and people of the city, and his son, who had travelled up from Naples. The King spent several days there, and was entertained by the Cardinals. He gave a harangue to the cardinals, entreating them to proceed to an election of a pope, and he was answered in gentle terms (placido diffudit verba lepore) in a speech given by Cardinal Latino Malabranca. Ptolemy of Lucca, however, says that King Charles also had some hard talk with Cardinal Benedetto Caetani. King Charles and his son then proceed on their way to Naples. On May 28, 1294, three of the cardinals who were at Perugia wrote a letter to the Council and Citizens of Viterbo, warning them not to attack the citizens of Orvieto in a dispute over a castle and property belonging to the Roman Church in the neighborhood of the Lake of Bolsena, under penalty of excommunication, interdict, and fine. The cardinals were Gerardo Bianchi, Cardinal Bishop of Sabina; Giovanni Boccamati, Bishop of Tusculum (Frascati); and Matteo d'Acquasparta, OFM, Bishop of Porto. It is curious that the letter is signed by the Cardinal Bishops, but that Cardinal Latino Malabranca, who was the senior Cardinal Bishop, does not sign. After the departure of the King, and after the Feast of S. John the Baptist (June 24), according to Ptolemy of Lucca, Cardinal Latino Malabranca directed the attention of the Cardinals toward a certain hermit of the Benedictine Order, who was greatly attached to King Charles. Celestine V On Monday, July 5, 1294, the College of Cardinals elected Pietro da Morrone as pope. The official declaration, issued on the same day, is signed by all eleven cardinals who were present, headed by Cardinal Latinus, Bishop of Ostia and Velletri. It relates the story of the election, which is different from Ptolemy's version in some important details. According to the Cardinals themselves, they were conducting discussions as usual, though in the absence of Cardinal Pietro Peregrosso, of Milan, Cardinal Priest of S. Marco, who was ill in hospitio suo ('in his own house'). At some point, without plan and unexpectedly, remarks were made about the Benedictine Brother Pietro da Morrone, and the attention of everyone, as though divinely inspired, was directed to a consideration of him. And they reached a unanimous decision, not without tears in their eyes. Cardinal Giovanni Boccamati, Bishop of Tusculum, Cardinal Hugues de Billon, OP, Cardinal Priest of Santa Sabina, and Cardinal Giacopo Colonna, Cardinal Deacon of S. Maria in Via Lata, were sent to Cardinal Pietro, and secured his consent to the election. Cardinal Latino Malabranca, Bishop of Ostia, then proclaimed Brother Peter's election, and all the Cardinals signified their assent. The notice of Brother Peter's election, bearing the date of July 11, 1294, was carried to him by the Archbishop of Lyons (Beraldus de Got), the bishops of Orvieto (Francesco Monaldeschi) and Portuensis (Oporto? Julianus Mendez?), and two Apostolic notaries, who were accompanied by Cardinal Pietro Colonna, entirely on his own initiative. The official Nuntii had a good deal of trouble locating Peter in his mountain hermitage, for when he heard of their approach and their purpose, he is said to have fled farther into the wilderness. With a great deal of coaxing, from Charles Martel, son of King Charles, among many others, he was persuaded to come down as far as L'Aquila (which was part of King Charles' domains). The actual date of his acceptance of the Papal office is not recorded, though on August 17, he signed a document at Aquila with the note suscepti a