1367.

ancient republican forms. The people soon awoke from their dreams of the past to find themselves in still worse confusion. The States of the Church groaned under the despotism of petty nobles. For a time the papal ascendency was restored through the efforts of Cardinal Albornoz, who was a soldier as well as an ecclesiastic Moved by the condition of his temporal domains, Urban V. left Avignon amid the cries of his grief-stricken cardinals: "Oh, wicked pope! oh, impious father! whither does he drag his sons?" He did not long remain in Rome. After taking part in the empty pageant of an imperial coronation, the dangers which surrounded him and the entreaties of his prelates persuaded him to return to the quiet of Avignon. But the tyranny of the legates soon caused a general revolt of the papal cities. It seemed that their allegiance would be gone completely unless the pope should come back to Rome. Gregory XI. no longer heeded the outcries of his cardinals, but listened to the exhortations of St. Catherine, a Dominican devotee, whose asceticism and devotion gave her such authority that she could offer her counsels to a pontiff. In 1377 he returned to Rome, where he died a year later, with the enemies of the papacy still unsubdued. Thus ended the Babylonian captivity.

1870-1378.

Of the twenty-three cardinals who at that time constituted the sacred college, sixteen were at Rome when Gregory XI. died. Their movements were closely watched, lest they should escape of the great to Avignon and elect another pope subservient to French

Beginning

schism.

interests. Both the Italians and the two factions of the French-the Limousins and the Gallicans who hated each other bitterly, were frightened into unanimity by the rising tumults, and chose Prignano, Archbishop of Bari. The Limousins, in proposing one who, although an Italian, owed his ecclesiastical preferment to the Cardinal of Limoges, thought to find in him a servant, but soon realized that they had set over themselves a rude and selfwilled master. Urban VI., the new pope, as a monk rigid and upright, showed himself not in the least cautious or politic, and he soon alienated the French cardinals by personal affronts and crude attempts at reform. Their feelings were still more embittered when they learned that he had no intention to return to Avignon. They retired to Anagni, where, having declared the election of Urban invalid, on the Clement VII. ground that it was procured by violence, they chose Robert of Geneva (Clement VIL, 1378-1394), a man who possessed those qualities of leaders which Urban so griev

ously lacked. The two Italian members of the college gave in their adhesion to Clement. Urban, deserted by all, proceeded to create twenty-eight new cardinals. There were now two sacred colleges, and therefore the death of either pope could not put an end to the strife. Political enmities determined the position of each European nation with regard to the rival claimants of the triple crown. Italy sided with her countryman; France supported Clement, with the hope of regaining her former ascendency over the papacy, and, therefore, England gave her obedience to Urban. Scotland hated England, and Flanders hated France; hence the former revered Clement, the latter, Urban. In like manner, political motives brought Naples, Castile, and Aragon to the side of the French pope, and Germany, Hungary, and the northern kingdoms to the side of the Italian. Thus was Europe divided, and the great schism begun.

The cause of Urban seemed to be that of Italy, and it was an Italian band, led by Alberigo da Barbiano, which conquered Clement's Breton mercenaries and forced him to retire to Naples, whence he soon sailed away to Avignon. Urban proceeded to depose the Neapolitan queen, Joanna, who adhered to his rival, and declared the kingdom forfeited to Charles of Durazzo, an heir of Charles the Lame by a collateral branch. In opposition to him, Joanna adopted, with the sanction of Clement, Louis of Anjou, who was descended from the daughter of the same king. Urban blindly sought to win the fairest cities which belonged to the Neapolitan kingdom for his worthless nephew, Francesco Prignano, and when the now victorious Charles resisted his demands, the pope determined upon the ruin of the king, that he might set Francesco on the throne. This shameless nepotism prevented him from recognizing Ladislas as the successor of Charles, and therefore opened the way for the reassertion of the Angevin claims. The aggrandizement of his family, not the cause of Italy or the true interests of the papacy, absorbed his attention. His cruelty to his cardinals made him hated and distrusted of all, and yet men adhered to his cause for the reason that he stood between them and a pope subservient to France.

1386.

Boniface IX., Urban's successor, had none of his learning and little of his piety; but he was affable, sagacious, and what was esBoniface IX. pecially needful, he possessed the instincts of a statesman. He immediately recognized Ladislas as King of Naples; he brought the States of the Church together by appointing as vicars of the pope the nobles who had power in

(1389-1404)

and Clement VII.

their cities; and in Rome he laid the foundations of papal sovereignty. But as a pope, Boniface had one vice which could not be atoned for, even by the purity of his private life. Not satisfied with the vast sums which he gained by the jubilees of 1390 and 1400, he resorted to shameless simony. The members of his court defended the practice on the ground that the pope could commit no sin.

But the schism had already entered upon a new phase. Earnest men in France and England began to inquire where lay the cause of the evil, and what could be done to put an end to the disorders it had wrought. The spectacle of rival popes-Clement resting in inglorious ease at Avignon, Urban heading a partisan war fare in Italy—each imprecating curses on the other, stirred up Wyclif to declare that the very papal office was poisonous to the Church. The English nation was so united in their resistance to ecclesiastical encroachments that this champion of civil and kingly authority against papal claims could utter such words without fear. When, a few years later, Boniface tried to carry his schemes of extortion into England, his attempt was met by still more stringent statutes.

1324-1384.

1390-1393.

Vain efforts to heal the schism.

In France, as early as 1380, the University of Paris began its efforts to heal the schism. It abandoned the project of summoning a general council as impracticable, and advocated the plan of abdication. But almost insuperable difficulties hindered the success of any scheme that could be devised. There were two popes, each believing himself to be the true successor of St. Peter, and therefore the fountain of all spiritual power, from whom prelates and councils derived their authority. Gathered about them were two sacred colleges, the members of which defended respectively the pontiff whom they had elected, because, in case he was no pope, they were no cardinals. Each party had its adherents among the nations of Europe, and the nations were then in a state of chronic warfare. To persuade or to compel the rival popes to abdicate was almost impossible, because even if they were willing to lay down their offices, each would fear lest, after he had resigned, the other would refuse to copy his example. Nor could the nations, separated as they were by mutual distrust, join in any consistent policy or method of dealing with the pontiffs whom they severally supported. And yet, notwithstanding these obstacles, the Paris theologians urged upon the French court the necessity of inviting or forcing Clement to resign, hoping that the nations attached to Boniface would pursue

Benedict

1424.

the same method in relation to him. These efforts, seconded by the French cardinals, hastened Clement's death; but before the king had time to interpose, the same cardinals, that they might have a chief who would in any event defend their interest, hastened to choose Benedict XIII., who promised to resign XIII., 1394- whenever the welfare of the Church should seem to a majority of them to call for such a step. It soon became evident that so stanch a believer in papal supremacy and one so well versed in the canon law as Benedict was, had in mind no way of healing the schism except by the universal recognition of himself as the true vicar of Christ. He would not yield, even when, through the influence of the more violent party of the university, the French court, and along with it Sicily, Castile, and Navarre, withdrew from the obedience of Benedict, and Marshal Boucicaut besieged the papal palace at Avignon. The moderate men, Peter D'Ailly and Nicholas de Clémangis, had been skilfully detached, the former by preferment to the Bishopric of Cambrai, the latter to the office of papal secretary.

In the meantime, Boniface IX. had contented himself with making pious professions in order to stave off an analogous procedure against himself, and had been steadily pursuing his own political aims. The madness of the French king and the strife between the Dukes of Burgundy and Orleans made the policy of France waver, and soon, a reaction having set in, the nation returned to Benedict's obedience. On the death of Boniface and of his successor, Innocent VII., no progress toward an agreement having been made, all parties became weary of the strife and determined to bring it speedily to an end. To accomplish this object was the sole duty which the Roman cardinals most solemnly enjoined upon the venerable and pious man, Gregory XII., whom, in 1406, they elected pope. France, spurred on again by the persist

1404.

Benedict
XIII. and

ent demands of the university, was gradually cutting off the power of Benedict over the French Church. There Gregory XII. was no time to be lost. It was arranged that the popes should meet at Savona, there to heal the disorders that afflicted the Church. But now Ladislas began to tremble for the safety of his crown, which would be put in jeopardy if by chance the French pope should be victorious. He sought to throw obstacles in the way of the conference. The nephew of Gregory whispered suspicions of treachery. Europe beheld these two old men, each claiming to be the vicar of Christ, each afraid that the other was fomenting some plot for his destruction, advancing toward one another

slowly, and with great trepidation. The place of meeting was repeatedly changed. Gregory would go no farther than Lucca, while Benedict was at Spezzia on the coast. "One, like a land animal, refused to approach the shore; the other, like a fish, would not leave the sea." Suddenly Gregory publicly disclaimed any intention to abdicate, and created four new cardinals. His old cardinals fled to Pisa, and appealed to a general council.

In France the Paris University again raised its voice. The king, influenced by its arguments, threatened to take up a neutral The cardinals position. This step Benedict met by excommunicating call a council. those who should withdraw from his obedience. The bearers of his bull were imprisoned for high treason, the document itself publicly torn in pieces, and the proclamation of neutrality was sent forth. Benedict fled to Perpignan, in the territories of Aragon. The cardinals of both popes then united in summoning a general council, to be held in Pisa the following year.

CHAPTER II.

THE REFORMING COUNCILS: THE CHURCH AND THE PAPACY TO THE ACCESSION OF PIUS II. (1409-1458).

Theory of the Gallican reformers.

A council had been summoned, but men long accustomed to papal absolutism were in doubt as to what authority such a body would possess. Many of the more conservative theologians sought to find a warrant for its action in provisions of the canon law. The Gallicans, under the lead of Gerson and D'Ailly, went beyond them, holding up the principle of the supremacy of the Church and of its councils, and endeavoring to set proper limits to the power of the pope. Gerson, like Occam, maintained that the Church has its real unity in Christ, who is its head. In the Church, the mystical body established by him, is vested the power and right, which neither the provisions of the canon law nor the decrees of the pope can invalidate, to take the measures necessary to bring schism to an end. If the vicar who symbolizes its outward unity is dead, or has forfeited the allegiance of the faithful, the Church may, not only on the authority of the cardinals, but also on that of a prince or of any other Christian, call a general council, to procure a true and sole vicar. Nor is this all that may be done. Should the public peace and safety require it, the vicar may be resisted, and even deposed and deprived of all