If there’s anything that the 14th and 15th centuries have taught us, it is that three popes are two too many. That’s right: this week in history, I’m writing about the Great Papal Schism, which lasted from 1378 to Nov. 11, 1417, when cardinals assembled and elected Pope Martin V as the one pope to rule them all.
The Schism first began when the papacy moved from its traditional seat in Rome to Avignon, France, in 1309. The newly elected French Pope Clement V moved the seat to Avignon because of the tumultuous political environment in Rome, with additional pressure from King Philip IV of France, according to an article by historyextra.com.
The result of this move placed significant political power in the hands of the French, with the following six popes after Clement V also being French. The real problem, however, began when Pope Gregory XI moved the papal seat back to Rome, raising tensions among the French cardinals. When Gregory XI died, a portion of the cardinals still continued their residence in Avignon despite the change. As a result, Italian cardinals worried about the election of a new French pope and the return to France. They reached a compromise and elected Pope Urban VI, an Italian who had served in Avignon in 1378.
This turned out to be a rather bad move; Urban VI was violent and abusive toward the cardinals, causing them to fear for their lives and question his sanity, according to the article, “1378 The Great Papal Schism.” Questioning the validity of the papal election, cardinals repudiated his election and, in his place, elected Clement VII. However, they could not secure the residency in Rome, leading Clement VII to attempt to move the papacy back to Avignon and create two opposing papacies.
Different countries backed each pope, and neither was willing to give up power, creating serious problems for the Catholic Church and widespread confusion. Over time, there continued to be two popes, one elected at Rome and the other at Avignon.
Things truly came to a nasty head when the church attempted to solve the two-pope problem in 1409 by adding in yet another pope to the mix, Alexander V. For a few years, there were three people who each had legitimate claims to the papacy, adding even more confusion to the mix. The issue was finally resolved in 1417 after the Council of Constance, which decided to essentially start from scratch and elected Pope Martin V, returning the papal seat to Rome.
Another interesting facet about the Great Papal Schism is its role in music. Much of what we know of Western classical harmony today originated, in part, from the back-and-forth papacy between Avignon and Rome.
France, in general, was very fond of incorporating polyphony or harmony into their plainchant, with two primary composers, Leonin and Perotin, contributing heavily to its rise. Italy, on the other hand not so much; they preferred monophony. However, as the papacy shifted from France to Italy, music followed, bringing polyphony to Italy and significantly shaping musical development into the Renaissance.
Today, the role of the pope holds less influence than in the medieval era. But It’s important to realize how considerable the Great Western Schism was to the political landscape at that time and the resulting destabilization that it caused.