Antipope Clement VII

Count of Geneva

Interview between the duke of Anjou and pope Clement VII (seated) at Avignon, from Froissart's Chronicles.^[1]

Robert of Geneva (

In 1392, at the death of his brother, Pierre, he inherited the title of Count of Geneva,^[3] his four brothers having each died without issue before him. The title then passed from him through his eldest sister Mary to her son, Humbert de Thoire.

Papal election and reign

Robert was elected pope at Fondi on 20 September 1378 by the cardinals who opposed the return of the Papacy from Avignon to Rome, and the election of Pope Urban VI in the latter town.^[9] He chose the regnal name of Clement VII, and became the first of the line of 'popes' (now counted as antipopes) of the so-called Western Schism, the second of the two periods referred to as the Great Schism, which lasted until 1417.^[10] Following a victory at Marino by Urban VI's troops,^[11] Clement, feeling vulnerable, fled Anagni to Sperlonga, then Gaeta, finally landing at Naples.^[12] Received with great respect by Queen Joanna I of Naples, Clement found himself assailed by the local populace which chanted, "Viva Papa Urbano" and "Muoia l'Anticristo".^[12][13] He deemed Naples unsafe and fled by ship to Avignon, France, being greeted by five cardinals.^[12]

Charles V of France, who seems to have been sounded beforehand on the choice of the Roman pontiff, soon became his warmest protector. Clement eventually succeeded in winning to his cause Castile, Aragon, Navarre, a great part of the Latin East, and Flanders. Scotland supported Clement because England supported Urban.^[14] He had adherents, besides, scattered through Germany, while Portugal on two occasions acknowledged him, but afterwards forsook him.^[15] Burgundy^[16] and Savoy also acknowledged his authority.^[17]

On 29 November 1378, Clement was excommunicated by Pope Urban VI.

There came a time, however, when Clement and more particularly his following had to acknowledge the vanity of these elusive dreams; and at the end of his life he realized the impossibility of overcoming by brute force an opposition which was founded on the convictions of the greater part of Catholic Europe.[15] Moreover, his ambitions and the financial needs of his court had resorted to simony, the loss of land and extortion which discerned among his adherents the germs of disaffection.^[15] To solicit political support, he created nineteen of the thirty-three total cardinals,^[20] but he seems never to have sincerely desired the termination of the schism.^[21]

He died at Avignon on 16 September 1394.^[21]

Eventually it was determined that he would be recorded as an antipope rather than as a pope. Uncertainty over who the legitimate pope might be during the time of the Western Schism gave rise to the legal theory called Conciliarism, which claimed that a general council of the church was superior to the pope and could therefore judge between rival claimants.

See also

• Clement Bible

References

Sources

• Creighton, Mandell (2012). A History of the Papacy During the Period of the Reformation. Vol. 1: The Great Schism – The Council of Constance. 1378–1418. Cambridge University Press.
• Fleck, Cathleen A. (2009). "Seeking Legitimacy: Art and Manuscripts for the Popes in Avignon from 1378 to 1417". In Rollo-Koster, Joëlle; Izbicki, Thomas M. (eds.). A Companion to the Great Western Schism (1378–1417). Brill.
• Guenée, Bernard (1991). Between Church and State: The Lives of Four French Prelates in the Late Middle Ages. University of Chicago Press.
• Keen, Maurice, ed. (2010). Medieval Warfare: A History. Oxford University Press.
• McBrien, Richard P. (1997). Lives of the Popes. HarperCollins.
• Murphy, David (2007). Condottiere 1300–1500: Infamous Medieval Mercenaries. Osprey Publishing.
• Pattenden, Miles (2017). Electing the Pope in Early Modern Italy, 1450–1700. Oxford University Press.
• Pham, John-Peter (2004). Heirs of the Fisherman: Behind the Scenes of Papal Death and Succession. Oxford University Press.
• Trexler, R.C. (1974). The Spiritual Power: Republican Florence under Interdict. Brill.
• Ullman, Walter (1948). The Origins of the Great Schism: A study in fourteenth-century ecclesiastical history. Burns Oates and Washbourne Ltd.
• Walsh, Michael J. (2011). The Cardinals: Thirteen Centuries of the Men Behind the Papal Throne. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.
  ISBN 978-0-8028-2941-2
  .
• Williams, George L. (1998). Papal Genealogy: The Families and Descendants of the Popes. McFarland & Company Inc.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Valois, Joseph Marie Noel (1911). "Clement s.v. Clement VII.". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 485.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Weber, Nicholas Aloysius (1912). "Robert of Geneva". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company.