Eight cardinals choose Cosimo de' Migliorati unanimously as pope on October 17, 1404 in place of the deposed Boniface IX.

He takes the name of Innocent VII.

There is a general riot by the Ghibelline party in Rome when news of his election gets out, but peace is maintained by the aid of King Ladislas of Naples, who hastens to Rome with a band of soldiers to assist the Pope in suppressing the insurrection.

For his services the King extorts various concessions from Innocent, among them the promise that he will not reach any accommodation with the rival Pope in Avignon that would compromise Ladislas' claims to Naples, which had been challenged until very recently by Louis II of Anjou.

That suits Innocent, who has no intention of reaching an agreement with Avignon that will compromise his claims to the Papal States, either.

Thus Innocent is laid under embarrassing obligations, from which he will free himself at the earliest possible moment.