to Benedict Xl 1261-1305 4 Urban Iv

Thus Boniface IX., as a secular prince, occupies an important position; but as pope his activity must be unfavourably judged. Even if Dietrich of Niem frequently painted him too black, there is no question that the means which Boniface employed to fill the papal treasury seriously impaired the prestige of the highest spiritual office and the reverence due to it. His nepotism, again, casts a dark shadow over his memory : but most regrettable of all was his indifference towards the ending of the schism.

Crisis in Papal History.

On the death of Boniface (Oct. I, 1404), the Roman cardinals once more elected a Neapolitan, Cosimo dei Migliorati, who, at the age of 65, assumed the name of Innocent VII. (1404-1406). Innocent, who was animated by a great love for the sciences and all the arts of peace, enjoyed only a brief pontificate, but his reign is not without importance, if only as an example of the generous patronage which the papacy— even in its darkest days—has lavished on literature and science. Significant also is the foothold gained at this time in the Curia itself by the humanists—Poggio, Bruni and others.

The crisis came to a head in the pontificate of Gregory XII. (1406-1415). This pope, so distinguished in many respects, owed his election mainly to the circumstance that he was considered a zealous champion of the restoration of unity within the Church: and he displayed, in fact, during the earlier portion of his reign, an exalted enthusiasm for this great task. Later his attitude changed ; and the protracted negotiations for a conference with Benedict XIII. remained fruitless. The result of this change in the attitude of Gregory was the formation of a strong malcontent party in the college of cardinals; to counteract whose influence, the pope—faithless to the conditions attached to his election— resorted to the plan of creating new members.

At the same period, the relations of Benedict XIII. (anti pope 1394) with France suffered a significant modification. It became more and more manifest that Benedict had no genuine desire to heal the schism in the Church, in spite of the ardent zeal for union which he had displayed immediately before and after his election. In May 1408 France withdrew from his obedience; and it was not long before French policy succeeded in effecting a reconciliation and understanding between the cardinals of Bene dict XIII. and those who had seceded from Gregory XII. Pre cisely as if the Holy See were vacant, the cardinals began to act as the actual rulers of the Church, and issued formal invitations to a council to be opened at Pisa on the Feast of the Annuncia tion (March 25) 1409. Both popes attempted to foil the dis affected cardinals by convening councils of their own; but their efforts were doomed to failure.

On the other hand, the council of the cardinals—though, by the strict rules of canonical law, its convocation was abso lutely illegal—attained the utmost importance. But these rules, and, in fact, the whole Catholic doctrine of the primacy were almost entirely obscured by the schism. Scholars like Langenstein, Gerson and Zabarella, evolved a new theory as to oecumenical councils, which from the point of view of Roman Catholic prin ciples must be described as revolutionary. At the synod of the dissident cardinals assembled at Pisa, views of this type were in the ascendant ; and, although protests were not lacking, the neces sities of the time served as a pretext for ignoring all objections.

The Triple Schism.

That the council was merely a tool in the hands of the ambitious and adroit Baldassare Cossa, was a fact unsuspected by its members, who were animated by a fiery enthusiasm for the re-establishment of ecclesiastical unity ; nor did they pause to reflect that an action against both popes could not possibly be lawful. Since whole universities and numerous scholars had pronounced in favour of the new theories, the Pisan synod dismissed all canonical scruples, and unhesitatingly laid claim to authority over both popes, one of whom was necessarily the legitimate pope. It was in vain that Carlo di Malatesta, a staunch adherent of Gregory, sought at the eleventh hour to negotiate a compromise between Gregory and the synod. It was in vain that this cultured prince, imbued with the principles of humanism, represented to the cardinals that this new path would lead quickly to the goal, but that this goal could not be unity but a triple schism. The council declared that it was canonically con vened, oecumenical, and representative of the whole Catholic Church ; then proceeded immediately to the trial and deposition of Benedict XIII. and Gregory XII. The synod grounded its procedure against the rival popes on a fact, ostensibly patent to all, but actually believed by none—that they were both sup porters of the schism, and not merely this, but heretics in the truest and fullest sense of the word, since their attitude had impugned and subverted the article of faith concerning the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. On the ground of this extremely dubious declaration, designed to compensate for the absence of any authentic and firm foundation in ecclesiastical law, the Pisan assembly on June 5 announced the deposition of Gregory XII. and Benedict XIII., as manifest heretics and partisans of the schism. The next step was to elect a new pope ; and on June 26, 1409, the choice fell on the venerable cardinal archbishop of Milan, the Greek Petros Filargis, who assumed the title of Alexander V. (1409-141o).