Elias' election had been irregular, and Gregory IX, not unnaturally, took personal care to see that the requirements of the Rule were not waived a second time. He summoned the Ministers and Custodians to attend him in a cell apart and made each in turn declare his vote orally before allowing any of them to be written down. Thus supervised they chose as their General brother Albert of Pisa, then Provincial of England. He had, however, but little opportunity to justify their hopes of him, as he died only a few months after his election. Little space has consequently been allotted to Albert in histories of the Order, both medieval and modern; and yet something of general importance may be gained from a study of him. Simply by electing him, the leading spirits of the Order have provided us with a positive clue to their aspirations. Although no subsequent General was permitted to exercise such uncontrolled authority as Elias had enjoyed, his competence coming to be defined and curtailed by Chapter, he was by no means reduced to a mere figurehead, and certainly not at this juncture. Flushed with their victory, the Ministers and Custodians were called upon to make an immediate election, before any constitutional safeguards had been passed. At that moment they could have had no assurance that their victory was likely to be permanent, and they can hardly have failed to believe that the ultimate success or failure of their ideals might well depend upon their present choice. Albert's appointment is therefore of great interest.