This right seems to have been claimed during the 17th century. It does not seem to be related to a right exercised by Byzantine emperors and Holy Roman Emperors to confirm the election of a pope, which was last exercised in the Early Middle Ages. Spain, which ruled much of Italy at the time, raised the claim in 1605. In 1644, in the conclave which elected Cardinal Giovanni Battista Pamphili (who became Pope Innocent X), Jus Exclusivæ was first exercised, by Spain, to exclude Cardinal Sacchetti. Cardinal Jules Mazarin of France arrived too late at that conclave to present the veto of France against Cardinal Pamphili, who had already been elected. Around this period, treatises arise in defence of this right.