Three Popes of the Great Schism

It all started with the Babylonian Captivity which began in 1309. The Archbishop of Bordeaux had recently become Pope and he noticed that Italy of the day displayed the sort of political stability today associated with Sierra Leone. So he moved the Papacy to the fortress town of Avignon in Provence, France. It was secure, it was fief of a vassal of Rome (so technically was Roman, not French) and it was in Provence. The time the Papacy was in Avignon is referred to as the Babylonian Captivity by later critics who saw a parallel with the forced exodus of the Israelites to Babylon from ancient times.

But what was Rome without the Pope in the 14th Century? Not a lot decided the people and cardinals alike. In 1328-1330 they tried declaring Nicholas V the true Pope - but it turned out he was an Anti-Pope because he was the first to back down when the Popes faced off. Avignon remained the seat of the Papacy until March 1378 when the real, actual and un-anti Pope Gregory XI died whilst in Rome.

Fearing the wrath of the Roman crowd, the cardinals elected Urban VI - who was Italian, but thought to be sympathetic to Avignon's claim on the Pope's HQ. As it turned out Urban was sympathetic to absolutely no one. Within months he had ticked off all and sundry - and his election was declared null and void by a bunch of Avignon-loving cardinals who packed their bags and elected Robert of Geneva to be the new Pope (Clement VII) when they got back home to Provence.

Urban VI might have become another in a long line of Anti-Popes with reigns of less than a few months - but for the support he had from the Italian public, some Rome-loving cardinals, England and Flanders. He decided to stay Pope and sit back in Rome until his death in 1389. His successor was Boniface IX (1389-1404) who even got Portugal supporting him, strengthening the claim for Rome as the Papal Seat.

Meanwhile in Avignon, the other Pope garnered the support of France, Scotland, Aragon, Castille and lots of little German states. Clem 7 wasn't backing down and as far as he was concerned Urban VI should be called 'the other Pope' by amateur historians writing for h2g2.com and not him. When Clem 7 died in 1394, Avignon elected a Spaniard the new Pope: Benedict XIII. 13 was not their lucky number. Benedict was such a mongrel that even France (who started the whole Captivity) declared there was no Pope (not two, not one, but none!) from 1398 to 1403 and after patching things up, again from 1408 to 1409.

Rome was running smoother - with Innocent VII dying after two years and Gregory XII replacing him. But the general Catholic theological community decided having two, one and no Popes all at the same time was looking a bit strange. In 1409 they met at Pisa and decided it would best for all concerned if they declared Greg XII and Ben XIIIboth null and void and elect a new Pope - let's call him Alexander V.

France decided there was a Pope after all - Alexander V (the Council of Pisa had been their idea after all). Ben XIII and Greg XII decided the Council was stupid and that when all was said and done - they were both the one, true pontiff (along with the third Pope). When Alexander V died in 1410 the two Pope situation briefly emerged - except a successor to Alex V was elected - this being Pope John XXIII So, back to Three Popes.

John XXIII lacked the support of several major nations which he'd need to get Ben and Greg to stand down. Then there was John's personality. Within five years he'd lost most of his support. With all the nations of Europe calling for a solution, John convened the Council of Constance. The Council promptly deposed both Benedict XIII andJohn XXIII. The third Pope - Gregory XII of Rome - declared 'you cant fire me, 'coz I quit' or Latin words to those effect. This was good fortune for him - because there was a strong Catholic tenet of the time which held that 'no power could depose the true pope.'

Martin V was elected in 1415 as the Pope. That's all. Just Pope Martin. Of course Benedict XIII refused to believe the comedy was over and even after he was carted off to a Spanish castle to live in exile for the rest of his days he kept sending out ex-communications against people he didn't like, signed Pope Benedict XIII.