Note 1. The term cardinalis may mean principalis, like the leading or principal priest heading the clergy of a church or titulo; and also it may signify a clergyman who was attached to a church other than the one for which he was ordained, mostly for liturgical functions. From the end of the fifth century until the second half of the eleventh century the term cardinalis was used to qualify presbyters permanently attached to the Roman tituli (or parishes), which were also often called tituli cardinales. When those presbyters subscribed the acts of the Roman council, they indicated the title in which they were the head presbyter or cardinalis. Pope Stephen III (IV) ( 769-772) decreed that the neighboring bishops should represent the pontiffs weekly at episcopal functions in the patriarchal Lateran basilica and should aid them with their counsel. They had been assisting the bishop of Rome, as the volume of ecclesiastical and temporal business increased greatly, for a long time. By that time, their service was already an ancient custom. These bishops received the name of episcopi cardinales. From the beginnings of the Church in Rome there were seven deacons with the duty of assisting the pope in liturgical functions and to helping in the administration of the material possessions of the Church. In the third century each deacon was assigned two of the fourteen regions in which the city of Rome was divided. Later, the number of deacons was increased and each region was assigned to one deacon, with subdeacons and notaries. Toward the end of the 7th century and the beginning of the 8th, a new institution appeared in Rome, originally from the East, the monastery deaconries, each one having a church. Each one had a deacon leading it but these deacons did not have anything to do with the deacons of the Roman Church. Towards the end of the 9th century, due to topographical changes in the city of Rome and the decline of the monastery deaconries, they all but disappeared. But not so the churches belonging to those deaconries. The cardinal deacons as we know them today did not begin to exist until the last quarter of the 11th century around the pontificates of Popes Urban II and Paschal II when they started to take part in papal functions with the banners of their deaconries and to subscribe the acts of the synods and council with the name of their deaconries like the priests cardinalis had been doing for centuries. Around 1051, the term cardinalis began to be used as a noun. The presbyters, bishops and deacons cardinalis (an adjective), listed in this site from the beginning until the time in which the term began to be used as a noun, thus describing an office, could be considered as pre-cardinals. A substantial bibliography has been consulted concerning the origin and developemt of the cardinalate during this epoch.

Note 2. Given the antiquity of this century, the date of creation of the cardinals is not exactly known. The date in which the cardinals are here organized indicates when they were mentioned as such by the sources consulted and by the documentation in which they appear, such as councils and synods.

Consecrated pope in March 604. He died on February 22, 606. No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate.

Consecrated pope on February 19, 607. He decreed that the election of a new pope could not take place until three days after his predecessor had been buried. He died on November 10, 607. No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate.

612 (I)
(1) 1. Marino (presbyter cardinalis of the title of S. Sabina). + (?).

614 (II)
(2) 2. Teodoro (presbyter cardinalis of an unknown title). + (?).

Before 619 (I)
(1) 1. Bonifacio (presbyter cardinalis of the title of S. Sisto). (1)

(1) Consecrated Pope Boniface V on December 23, 619. He died on October 23, 625.

Consecrated Pope on December 23, 619. He died on October 23, 625. No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate.

Onorio, a wealthy aristocrat from Campania, was not a presbyter or deacon cardinalis when consecrated pope on October 27, 625. He died on October 12, 638.

631 (I)
(1) 1. Giorgio (presbyter cardinalis of an unknown title). + (?).

636 (II)
(2) 1. Giovanni (deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). (1)

(1) Elected Pope John IV in August 640. He was consecrated on December 24, 640. He died on October 12, 642.

Before 640 (III)
(3) 1. Severino (deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). (1)

(1) Elected Pope Severinus in October 638. Consecrated on May 28, 640. Died on August 2, 640.

Elected pope in October 638. He had to wait for the imperial mandate to be consecrated until May 28, 640. According to the canon law in force at the time, consecration marked the beginning of the pontificate. He died on August 2, 640. No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate.

Before 642 (I)
(1) 1. Theodorus (deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). (1)

(1) Elected Pope Theodore I on October 12, 642; consecrated on November 24, 642. He died on May 14, 649.

Before 649 (I)
(1) 1. Martino (presbyter cardinalis of an unknown title or deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). (1)

(1) Consecrated Pope Martin I on July 5, 649. Exiled to Crimea by Emperor Constans II on June 17, 653, he resigned in favor of Eugenius, presbyter cardinalis of an unknown title, whom the clergy of Rome had given him as successor. He died on September 16, 655. Inscribed as a martyr in the Roman Martyrolgy, his feast is celebrated on November 12.

Before 655 (I)
(1) 1. Eugenio (presbyter cardinalis of an unknown title). (1)

(1) Consecrated Pope Eugenius I on August 10, 654. Died on June 2, 657. Inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, his feast is celebrated on June 2.

Before 655 (I)
(1) 1. Vitaliano (deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). (1)

(1) Consecrated Pope Vitalian on July 30, 657. He died on January 1, 672. Inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, his feast is celebrated on January 27.

Consecrated pope in July 30, 657. He died on January 1, 672. No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate.

Adeodato, a Roman monk of the community of S. Erasmo, was not a cardinal when consecrated pope on April 11, 672. He died on June 16, 676.

Before 676 (I)
(1) 1. Dono (deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). (1)

(1) Consecrated Pope Donus on November 2, 676. He died on April 11, 678.

676 (II)
2) 1. Agatone (presbyter cardinalis of an unknown title or deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). (1)

(1) Consecrated Pope Agatho on June 27, 678. He died January 10, 681. Inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, his feast is celebrated on January 10.

Consecrated pope on November 2, 676. He died on April 11, 678. No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate.

680 (I)
(1) 1. Giovenale (bishop cardinalis of Albano). + 682?.
(2) 2. Leone (presbyter cardinalis of an unknown title). (1)
(3) 3. Teodoro (presbyter cardinalis of an unknown title). (2)
(4) 4. Giorgio (presbyter cardinalis of an unknown title). + (?).
(5) 5. Giovanni (deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). (3)

(1) Elected Pope Leo II in January 681, he was consecrated on August 17, 682. He died on July 3, 683. Inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, his feast was celebrated for a long time on June 28 until Pope Benedict XV in 1921 transferred it to July 3.
(2) Elected antipope in 687. He was never consecrated and made his submission to Pope Sergius I. He died ca. 716 (?).
(3) Consecrated Pope John V on July 23, 685. He died on August 2, 686.

681 (II)
(1) 1. Benedetto (presbyter cardinalis of an unknown title). (1)

(1) Consecrated Pope Benedict II on June 26, 684. He died on May 8, 685. Inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, his feast is celebrated on May 8.

683 (I)
(1) 1. Conone (presbyter cardinalis of an unknown title). (1)
(2) 2. Sergio (presbyter cardinalis of the title of S. Susanna ad duas domos). (2)

(1) Consecrated Pope Conon on October 23, 686. He died on September 21, 687.
(2) Consecrated Pope Sergius I on December 15, 687. He died on September 7, 701. Inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, his feast is celebrated on September 8.

Consecrated pope on June 26, 684. He died on May 8, 685. No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate.

Consecrated pope on July 23, 685. He died on August 2, 686. No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate.

Unknown date
(1) 1. Pasquale (deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). + 692.

Elected antipope in 687. He made his submission to Pope Sergius I. Nothing further is known about him. The date of his death is not known. No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate.

Paschal, archdeacon of Rome under Pope Conon, had himself elected antipope in 687. He was never consecrated pope. He was canonically arraigned, deposed from the archidiaconate, and imprisoned in a monastery on the charge of magical practices. He died there five years later stubbornly impenitent. No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate.

700 (I)
(1) 1. Giovanni (deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). (1)

(1) Consecrated Pope John VI on October 30, 701. He died on January 11, 705.

Unknown date (II)
(2) 1. Giovanni (presbyter cardinalis of the title of S. Susanna ad duas domos).

SUMMARY
Sabinianus (604-606) - No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate
Boniface III (607) - No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate
Boniface IV (608-615) - 2 cardinals
Deusdedit (or Adeodatus I) (615-618) - 1 cardinal
Boniface V (619-625) - No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate
Honorius I (625-638) - 3 cardinals
Severinus (640) - No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate
John IV (640-642) - 1 cardinal
Theodore I (642-649) - 1 cardinal
Martin I (649-655) - 1 cardinal
Eugenius I (654-657) - 1 cardinal
Vitalian (657-672) - No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate
Adeodatus II (672-676) - 2 cardinals
Donus (676-678) - No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate
Agatho (678-681) - 6 cardinals
Leo II (682-683) - 2 cardinals
Benedict II (684-685) - No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate
John V (685-686) - No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate
Conon (686-687) - No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate
[Antipope] Theodore (687) - No names of new pseudocardinals are found in his pontificate
[Antipope] Paschal (687) - No names of new pseudocardinals are found in his pontificate
Sergius I (687-701) - 2 cardinals
Total - 22 cardinals

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