107 - How Pope Gregory died, and Don Bartolommeo, the Archbishop of Bari, was elected in his place and named Urban VI

Summary

As we have just related the circumstances of Prince João's flight to Castile, it now behoves us to deal with the matter of the Great Schism which arose at that time in the Church. We are obliged to speak of it not only because it is necessary to this narrative, as you will see below, but also so that we do not have any flaws in our work, since famous historians mention it in their chronicles. Thus in a brief discourse, but more clearly than they have done, we shall tell you in good order what caused the beginning and end of the schism and how long it lasted.

You should know that its ugly birth, very much to be abhorred, had its origins in the following manner. While Pope Gregory XI was in Avignon with his Curia, it came to his ears through certain reports that some towns and castles in Italy, subject to him in matters temporal and spiritual, had rebelled against him in every respect, in such a way that they did not want to obey either his orders or those of his messengers. The cause of this rebellion, according to what was said, was that the Pope and all his cardinals, the majority of whom were French, imposed such burdens and subjections on them that they could no longer bear it. For that reason, the aforesaid Pope left Avignon on 14 September 1377, went to Marseilles with his cardinals and from there embarked on Genoese galleys, heading for Rome to subdue those who had rebelled.

On 27 March 1378, Pope Gregory died in Rome. When he died, there were sixteen cardinals remaining in Rome, twelve Ultramontanes from north of the Alps and the rest Italians, all of whom had the right to elect a successor. All these cardinals met in various places, sometimes separately and sometimes all together, speaking about which of them would succeed in Pope Gregory’s place. However, they could not agree regarding the election of an Ultramontane cardinal, that is, someone from France, England or Spain. The Ultramontane cardinals were themselves divided into two groups.