113 - How the King of Castile and the King of Portugal declared for Pope Clement and gave him their obedience

Summary

The rules of writing history well require that we turn to the conclusion of the events surrounding the Great Schism which we have started to describe, although it must be told concisely, since we have much to tell about the following stories. It is important that you should know then that, once those two Popes had been created, namely Urban and Clement, of whom you have previously heard, the kings in their realms were quite troubled by the event and had great doubts as to which party they should support. Among those, one was King Juan of Castile and another was King Fernando of Portugal. Although each in his own lands and domains strove by wise counsel to know which of them was the rightful pastor, certain alliances and affections, which lead the law to correspond to which of the parties they want to be right, created a great division in God's Church. This was because the King of France, who had a strong link with the King of Castile, sent his ambassadors to him, saying that the elect named Clement was the true Pope. Some people claimed the latter was a relative of the King of France. They also said that King Juan, acting in a similar way, had sought from King Fernando his declaration in favour of Pope Clement.

The King of Portugal, although he had at first agreed with the scholars of his realm, counter to the choice given by the soundest advice and against the desire of all his people, following more his own feelings rather than the wisdom of reason, declared, in the town of Évora, where he then was, that Clement and not Urban, the Sixth, as referred to above, was the true Pope. That declaration, as we said, most of his Royal Council understood to have been made as a result of the King of Castile's entreaty and on the advice of Don Martín, a Castilian, at the time the Bishop of Silves, who was also a very close friend of his.

Following this, the King of Castile, in the city of Salamanca, likewise declared that he backed that self-same Clement, who called himself Pope Clement VII, and wrote a very long letter which was dispatched throughout his kingdom and to other parts, and which gave the reasons that had led him to make that declaration.