The 1061 papal election was held on 30 September 1061 in San Pietro in Vincoli ("Saint Peter in Chains") in Rome, following the death of Pope Nicholas II.

In accordance with Nicholas II's bull, In Nomine Domini, the cardinal bishops were the sole electors of the pope for the first time in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.

[3] Anselmo had the support of his friend Cardinal Hildebrand, a driving force behind the promulgation of In Nomine Domini and the future Pope Gregory VII, Godfrey III, Duke of Lower Lorraine,[3] and the Norman forces of Robert Guiscard, present at the election in fulfilment of a security guarantee Guiscard had made to Nicholas II when appointed Duke of Apulia and Calabria.

[3] Displeased with the new process, a group of Roman nobles and Lombard bishops, let by Guibert, the royal chancellor of Italy, beseeched Agnes de Poitou, empress-regent of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, to nominate Bishop Pietro Cadalo to succeed Nicholas II.

As regent, Anno convened the Council of Augsburg (October 1062) and sent Burchard II, Bishop of Halberstadt as an envoy to Rome.