Pianta del Conclave fatta in sede vacante di Clemente 8° per l'elettione del nuovo Pontefice cominciando il di 14 di marzo 1605.

Scarce representation of the conclave of March 1605. Numbered key with 69 references below the plan.

"Pope Clement VIII died in March 1605. The 60 cardinal electors who met in the conclave to elect his successor were split among various factions roughly equally divided between loyalty to France and to Spain. In addition to the secular politics that influenced these papal elections, during this period they were marked by a strategy among elite families to acquire prestige and power. These strategies often played out over several generations through patronage and the accumulation of wealth, and bestowing favours on family members once an individual's election to the papacy was expected.

Sources from the time of the March 1605 conclave listed up to twenty-one possible candidates considered by the cardinals, but the only ones that were seriously discussed during the conclave were Cesare Baronius and Alessandro Ottaviano de' Medici. That conclave saw Spain veto Cesare Baronius after the first ballot.[4] Medici, the candidate who was finally elected, was also vetoed by the cardinal representing Spain but this occurred after the election of Leo XI, and the cardinals did not view the veto as valid.

The March conclave had also seen the rival Aldobrandini and Montalto factions unable to elect a member of either of their families to the papacy, and both eventually agreed to elect Leo XI, a member of the cadet branch of the Medici.

Leo was 70 at the time of his election and, though in good health previously, fell ill on the day of his coronation. He died on 27 April 1605, 26 days after his election to the papacy. During his illness, Leo had been encouraged to appoint a cardinal nephew, but declined to do so."