The cardinal of Bordeaux came at this time to Paris, partly for the union of the church; and then also returned thither master Peter Paoul, and the patriarch of Alexandria, named master Symon Cramant, who had been sent by the king of France and the university of Paris, as ambassadors to the two rival popes. The assembled prelates were very anxious for their arrival, that they might be better acquainted with the business they had to manage, and on what grounds they should proceed. Master Peter Paoul frequently rode through the streets of Paris in his doctor's dress, accompanied by the cardinal riding on one side of his horse as women do. In the presence of this cardinal and doctor, the abbot of Caudebec, of the order of Cistercians, and doctor in theology, proposed, on the part of the university, an union of the church. The abbot of St. Denis, with other doctors in theology, declared for an union of the universal church; and, shortly after, the cardinal departed from Paris for Boulogne, and thence went to Calais.
The abbot of St. Denis and another doctor of theology, who had been, by the king's orders, confined in the prison of the Louvre, were released, at the request of the cardinal de Bar, and set at liberty, contrary to the will of the university of Paris. In like manner did the bishop of Cambray, master Peter d'Ailly, an excellent doctor of theology, gain his liberty. He had been confined at the instance of the university, because he was not favourable to their sentiments, and was delivered at the entreaties of count Waleran de St. Pol, and the great council of the king. All Christendom Was now divided in religious opinions, as to the head of the church, by the contentions of the two rival popes, who could not be brought to agree on the means to put an end to this disgraceful schism.2
Notes:
1: Of one of the most noble houses in Picardy. Matthew II. lord de Roye and d'Aunoy, grand master of the cross-bows, mentioned by Froissart, had issue,
1. John III. lord of Roye, &c;
2. Guy, archbishop of Rheims.
3. Matthew Tristan, lord of Busancy, &c.
4. John Saudran de Cangy.
5. Drogo, counsellor and chamberlain, grand master of waters and forests in Languedoc, killed at Nicopolis.
6. Raoul, abbot of Corbie.
7. Reginald, who went to Hungary with his brother Drogo.
8. Beatrix-John de Chatillon, vidame of the Laonnois.
2: This schism commenced in1378, and was not put to an end until 1409, see chap. 53, infra. It took its rise from the unwillingness with which the people of Rome beheld Avignon transformed into the seat of papal power, and their city deserted, - a course which had been pursued by the popes since Clement V. first took up his residence there in 1309. Gregory XI. had, at the earnest solicitations of the inhabitants visited Rome in 1377, hoping by his presence to compose the disorders which distracted all Italy; but finding all his efforts vain, he was preparing to return to Avignon when death overtook him in march 1378. The conclave that assembled consisted of only twenty cardinals, of whom sixteen were ultramontane, and only four Italians, and consequently they were but ill disposed to comply with the wishes of the Romans, who demanded an Italian pope. They were, however, overawed and Bartolomeo Prignani, archbishop of Bari, then sixty years of age, a man of considerable learning, of singular modesty and humility, was somewhat tumultuously elected. A soon as the ultra-montane cardinals found themselves freed from their fears of violence of the Roman population, they denounced the election of the archbishop of Bari, who had taken the name Urban VI. and demanded his resignation, which he peremptorily refused. Upon this they passed a sentence of nullity against Urban’s election, and excommunication of his person; and assembling at Fondi, prevailed upon the Italian cardinals to join them in the election of a new pope, when their choice fell upon cardinal Robert, brother of the count of Geneva and allied to most of the royal houses of Europe. He was a man of learning, talent and courage, and being still in the prime of life, (he was only thirty-six when he was elected, on the 27 August, 1378,) he was regarded as the fittest opponent to Urban. He took up his residence at Avignon, where he continued to reside till his death, on the 16th September, 1394. Peter of Luna, a man of noble Arragonese family, possessed of high talents, but a man of restless and ambitious spirit, who had alternately applied himself to the law, to arms, to divinity, and to diplomacy, having acted as ambassador in Spain from Clement, was chosen to succeed him. He assumed the name of Benedict XIII. Meanwhile a succession of popes had occupied the Roman chair. Urban VI., after a violent and turbulent reign, died in October, 1389, and was succeeded by Innocent VI., elected in 1404, and Gregory XII., raised to the papal chair in 1406. Repeated attempts had been made to heal the breach in the church, without any effect, and at length the council of Pisa, in 1409, (see chap. 53,) proceeded to depose both Benedict and Gregory, and peter of Candia was elected as the only true pope under the name of Alexander V. His history is extraordinary. Abandoned by his parents in his childhood, he was found begging from door to door, by an Italian monk, who, struck by the boy’s intelligence, befriended him. After studying at Oxford and Paris, he attracted the notice of John Galeas Visconti, duke of Milan, by whom he was confidentially employed, and who procured for him considerable church preferment; he was made a cardinal by Innocent VII., and at length, at the age of seventy years, attained the highest dignity then existing in Christendom. He, however, enjoyed his new honours but ten months, when, on his death, he was succeeded by a man whose history is yet more extraordinary. Balthazar Cozza, a scion of a noble but decayed Neopolitan family, passed the earlier days of his life as a rover on the high seas. In fact, his occupation was little, if at all, to be distinguished from piracy. He was on sea what the free companies were on shore. His vessels being employed to convey Louis of Anjou to Naples, his ambition was aroused by the splendour he beheld at the court of Avignon, which he visited in the execution of his mission. He at once abandoned his old pursuits, and, at the age of twenty-five, devoting himself to the study of divinity, his talents and application were so great as to enable him to proceed doctor at the earliest regular period. Platina relates of him, that on leaving Bologna, where he had pursued his studies, being questioned whither he was going, his reply was “To the popedom.” Attaching himself to Boniface IX., who was his countryman, he quickly gained his confidence, and was by him promoted to the purple in 1402. His subsequent history, and that of the final settlement of the church, will be found in ensuing pages. – Ed.
