Urban VI
Archbishop of Bari, elected pope at Rome in April 1378. Within months the cardinals who had chosen him declared the election forced and set up a rival, which opened the Great Western Schism.
The conclave at Rome chose Bartholomew, archbishop of Bari, in April 1378. The cardinals wrote in May that they had elected him freely and unanimously and that he had taken the name Urban VI (Knighton, Chronicle vol. 2, pp. 128–129). In August they declared that they had acted in fear of the Roman crowd and that he was no pope but an apostate (Declaration of the Cardinals (1378)). Catherine of Siena defended his election as lawful (Catherine of Siena, Letters To Three Italian Cardinals).
The line of popes that claimed succession from him ended when Gregory XII resigned at the Council of Constance in 1415 (Council of Constance, session 14). See the Great Western Schism.
In the timeline
- 1378 to 1417, firm dateThe Great Western Schism
The cardinals who elect Urban VI at Rome in 1378 declare the election forced and set up Clement VII. For nearly forty years two and then three lines of popes divide Latin Christendom, until at Constance two are deposed, one resigns and Martin V is elected.
Primary sources
Decrees of the Council of Constance
- Council of Constance, session 14papalencyclicals.net