having been frequent
only in the time of his forefathers.

ELECTION OF ANTIPOPE CLEMENT VII

Beginning of the Great Schism

A.D. 1378

HENRY HART MILMAN

In 1308 Pope Clement V, a Frenchman, under the influence of
King Philip the Fair, of France, transferred the papal chair
from Rome to Avignon, a possession of the holy see beyond
the Alps, in Philip's dominions. The sojourn there of
Clement and his successors, which continued until 1376, is
known as the "Babylonish captivity" of the popes.

Rome, from the first, was angry at this loss of supremacy,
and aimed at recovering her prestige; and throughout the
Christian world--France alone excepted--it was regarded as a
scandal that the chair of St. Peter should rest on any soil
but that of the Eternal City; but the French kings, and the
cardinals of France--outnumbering all others in the sacred
college--were determined to retain the pontifical seat in
their own territory.

During the pontificate of Gregory XI (1371-1378) Italy was
torn by civil dissensions; the "free companies"--bands of
organized marauders--ravaged the country with fire and
sword, plundering Guelf and Ghibelline alike. Gregory's
legates in the government of the ecclesiastical states
rendered themselves so odious to the people by their
immorality and rapacity that a league of the more powerful
political factions was formed for throwing off the yoke of
the "absentee" papal rulers. This was the beginning of the
War of Liberation (1375) that was to shake the papal power
in Italy to its very foundations.

Gregory saw that, in order to preserve even a vestige of
temporal power in the Italian states, he must act with
crushing vigor. He therefore sent the cardinal legate,
Robert, of Geneva--afterward Antipope Clement VII--into
Italy with a company of Breton adventurers dreaded for their
ferocity, and trained to plunder in the terrible wars of
France. In spite of the atrocities committed by Robert and
his hirelings, the revolt continued with unabated fury, and
at last Gregory was constrained to return in person to Italy
with the purpose of pacifying the turbulent forces. He
entered Rome, January 17, 1377; but after a year of futile
effort he died, leaving the confusion worse than he found
it.

Since, according to ecclesiastical law, the election of a
new pope must be held at the place of the last pontiff's
d