[2] Pope Gelasius II was in exile from Rome, which was in the hands of the Emperor Henry V and his antipope Maurice Burdinus, and had fled to France.

[5] Immediately upon recognising the severity of his condition, he summoned Cardinal Kuno von Urach, the Bishop of Palestrina, and, according to Falco of Benevento, offered him the papacy.

[7] Gelasius was near death when his party reached Cluny, only 24 km (15 mi) from Mâcon, but he was able to have a farewell meeting with the cardinals who had accompanied him, and to receive the sacraments before he died on 29 July 1119.

[8] The "Historia Compostelana" states that, before Pope Gelasius died, the archbishop of Vienne (Guy de Bourgogne) arrived, while the cardinals and the Bishops of Ostia and Porto were discussing possible candidates for the papacy with several Romans.

[9] Pope Gelasius (adhuc vivens, still alive) named the archbishop of Vienne and Abbot Pontius of Cluny to the Roman clergy and people as possible successors.

A major consideration was the schism in which the emperor supported his own anti-pope, "Antipope Gregory VIII" (Maurice Burdinus), which could profit from the absence of a legitimate pope.

[12] The election, following canon law, would not have begun until three days after the pope's death, 1 February, and, according to the rules established by Nicholas II, the two cardinal-bishops, Lambertus and Kono, had the exclusive right of nomination.

[32] Two accounts in particular—those of Bernard of Carrion[33] in the "Historia Compostelana",[34] and Gaufrid of Vigois—detail the election of Guy, emphasizing the importance of his known confrontational stance towards Henry V (having previously excommunicated him) and his powerful family, the Salian dynasty.

[32] According to the Historia Compostelana, immediately following his election as Callixtus II, Guy de Bourgogne was being invested with the papal red mantle, as was the ceremonial custom.