September 16, 1503, thirty-eight cardinals entered the conclave which was held in the Vatican. They first drew up an agreement which was to be submitted to any power that would guarantee their rights; they also promised to reform the abuses which were wellnigh universal in ecclesiastical affairs, and agreed to summon a council for that purpose within two years; they also promised to prosecute the war against the Turks. The urgency of the situation in which they were placed cut short the discussion. The Italians and the Spaniards united against Amboise and agreed to elect a Pope who could not long survive, and, September 22nd, on the second scrutiny they selected Francesco Piccolomini, Cardinal of Siena, to be the supreme head of the Church. He adopted the name Pius III. Piccolomini had been Cardinal-Deacon forty-three years; he was a man of probity, advanced in years, and a sufferer from the gout, with not long to live. Giuliano della Rovere, seeing that his own election was impossible, had secured the elevation of Piccolomini. French politics had failed signally, and Pius III. promptly compelled the Marquis of Mantua to withdraw his troops from the Romagna. The college had been divided into three nearly equal factions--the French, the Spanish, and the Italian, whose respective candidates were Georges d’Amboise, Bernardino Carvajal, and Giuliano della Rovere. Caesar for obvious reasons had supported the French candidate, and had succeeded in frustrating Della Rovere’s plans; the latter, however, had immediately discerned the true situation, and with the aid of Oliviero Caraffa, Cardinal of Naples, and Girolamo Basso della Rovere, Cardinal of Recanati, succeeded in placing his Eminence of Siena in the papal chair, thereby giving himself time to perfect his own plans for securing the great prize on the demise of Pius III., which was sure to take place soon. Pius III. was born in Siena in 1439, consequently at the time of his elevation to the Papacy he was sixty-four years of age. The cardinals who had procured his election in the hope that he would not survive long were not disappointed, for he died twenty-seven days after assuming the tiara--so promptly that the usual rumour of poison immediately spread. At first it was whispered that Pandolfo Petrucci, tyrant of Siena, was guilty of the crime, and later the enemies of Julius II. fancied they discovered the hand of the Cardinal of San Pietro ad Vincola in the sudden death. Although Pandolfo had committed many atrocities, it is extremely unlikely that any crime in this instance had been committed. As to Della Rovere, he knew that the new Pope could not live long, and therefore had no need to shorten his days; in fact, he had procured his election for the express purpose of gaining time to perfect his own plans to secure the throne of St. Peter.