Pope Urban VI

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Boniface IX
Opposed toAvignon claimant:
Clement VII
Orders
Consecration21 March 1364
Personal details
Born
Bartolomeo Prignano

c. 1318
Itri, Kingdom of Naples
Died15 October 1389(1389-10-15) (aged 70–71)
Rome, Papal States
Coat of armsUrban VI's coat of arms
Other popes named Urban
Papal styles of
Pope Urban VI
His Holiness
Spoken styleYour Holiness
Religious styleHoly Father
Posthumous styleNone

Pope Urban VI (

France, the Iberian Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, and Scotland recognizing Clement VII
, based in Avignon, as the true pope.

Early life

Born in

Archbishop of Bari in 1377.[1]

Prignano had developed a reputation for simplicity and frugality and a head for business when acting vice-chancellor. He also demonstrated a penchant for learning, and, according to Cristoforo di Piacenza,[2] he had no family allies in an age of nepotism, although once in the papal chair he elevated four cardinal-nephews and sought to place one of them in control of Naples. His great faults undid his virtues: Ludwig von Pastor summed up his character: "He lacked Christian gentleness and charity. He was naturally arbitrary and extremely violent and imprudent, and when he came to deal with the burning ecclesiastical question of the day, that of reform, the consequences were disastrous."[3]

Election

Map showing support for Avignon (red) and Rome (blue) during the Western Schism

On the death of

Joan I of Naples
, had been chosen.

Though the coronation was carried out in scrupulous detail, leaving no doubt as to the legitimacy of the new pontiff,

Leonardo Aretino, Tommaso de Acerno[8] and St. Antoninus of Florence recorded similar conclusions.[9]

Crisis of control

Immediately following his election, Urban began preaching intemperately to the cardinals (some of whom thought the delirium of power had made Urban mad and unfit for rule), insisting that the business of the Curia should be carried on without gratuities and gifts, forbidding the cardinals to accept annuities from rulers and other lay persons, condemning the luxury of their lives and retinues, and the multiplication of benefices and bishoprics in their hands. Nor would he remove again to Avignon, thus alienating King Charles V of France.

Bulla of Urban VI

The cardinals were mortally offended. Five months after his election, the French cardinals met at

Robert of Geneva as pope on 20 September. Robert, a militant cleric who had succeeded Albornoz as commander of the papal troops, took the name Clement VII, beginning the Western Schism
, which divided Catholic Christendom until 1417.

Urban was declared

Louis I, Duke of Anjou, was granted a phantom kingdom of Adria to be carved out of papal Emilia and Romagna, if he could unseat the pope at Rome.[14]

War of the Eight Saints

Main article: War of the Eight Saints
Posthumous portrait of Urban VI by Onofrio Panvinio

Meanwhile, the War of the Eight Saints, carried on with spates of unprecedented cruelty to civilians, was draining the resources of Florence, though the city ignored the

interdict placed upon it by Gregory, declared its churches open, and sold ecclesiastical property for 100,000 florins to finance the war. Bologna had submitted to the Church in August 1377, and Florence signed a treaty at Tivoli
on 28 July 1378 at a cost of 200,000 florins indemnity extorted by Urban for the restitution of church properties, receiving in return the papal favor and the lifting of the disregarded interdict.

Urban's erstwhile patroness, Queen Joan I of Naples, deserted him in the late summer of 1378,

King of Naples on 1 June 1381, and was crowned by Urban. Joan's authority was declared forfeit, and Charles murdered her in 1382. "In return for these favours, Charles had to promise to hand over Capua, Caserta, Aversa, Nocera, and Amalfi to the pope's nephew,[17] a thoroughly worthless and immoral man."[16]
Once ensconced at Naples, Charles found his new kingdom invaded by Louis of Anjou and
bell, book and candle
; a price was set on his head.

"Pope Urban the sixth was besieged in the castle of Nocera", from Croniche of Giovanni Sercambi

Rescued by two Neapolitan barons who had sided for Louis,

Egidio da Viterbo remarked.[18]

Coin depicting Pope Urban VI, Bode Museum, Berlin.

Urban's support had dwindled to the northern Italian states, Portugal, England,

Emperor Charles IV
, who brought with him the support of most of the princes and abbots of Germany.

On the death of Charles of Naples on 24 February 1386, Urban moved to Lucca in December of the same year. The Kingdom of Naples was contended between a party favouring his son Ladislaus and Louis II of Anjou. Urban contrived to take advantage of the anarchy which had ensued (as well as of the presence of the feeble Maria as Queen of Sicily) to seize Naples for his nephew Francesco Moricotti Prignani. In the meantime he was able to have Viterbo and Perugia return to the Papal control.

Injury and death

Tomb of Urban VI

In August 1388 Urban moved from Perugia with thousands of troops. To raise funds he had proclaimed a

Boniface IX
.

During the reconstruction of

Saint Peter's Basilica, Urban's remains were almost dumped out to be destroyed so his sarcophagus could be used to water horses. The sarcophagus was saved only when church historian Giacomo Grimaldi arrived and, realizing its importance, ordered it preserved.[21]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Mulder, William (1912). "Pope Urban VI". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  2. ^ In a letter to his master, Lodovico Gonzaga of Mantua; (Pastor 121, who adds "He was quickly and thoroughly undeceived!").
  3. ^ Pastor 122; on the urgency of reforms, see the contemporary letters of Catherine of Siena.
  4. ^ Pastor 118.
  5. ^ Pastor 119f.
  6. ISBN 0-231-07515-4
    ), p. 220. Quote: "The next day, after Prignano had called upon them to do so, most of the cardinals came back to the palace and enthroned him. Prignano gave himself the name of Urban VI. The cardinals presented him with the customary petitions, and then took part in worship services being held not for the new pope but in celebration of Holy Week, before the new pontiff was crowned on Easter Sunday, April 18. The cardinals stayed at his court for the next three months, assisting him with liturgical functions. The curia that had remained in Rome likewise seemed to have acknowledged him."
  7. ^ Pastor 122.
  8. ^ Tomasso de Acerno, De creatione Urbani VI opusculum.
  9. ^ Drawn together by Alfred von Reumont (ii, 1024), Pastor notes.
  10. ^ Pastor 127; Ullmann, W. (1948). The Origins of the Great Schism. London. p. 54.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  11. ^ "Quis non-videt vos non-verum Papam quærere, sed solum Pontificem natione Gallicum exoptare" (quoted Pastor 131 note).
  12. S2CID 162074397
    . Notes 38 surviving manuscripts of De fletu in full or in part, and three responses from French cardinals as wekll as Jean LeFevre's De planctu bonorum ("The plaint of Bologna", 1379), which played on the title and gave a point-by-point rebuttal.
  13. ^ The reduced and disordered finances at Rome, most of the records being retained at Avignon and most of the experienced members of the papal camera and treasury having followed Clement, is discussed by Favier, Jean (1966). Les Finances Pontificales a L'Epoque Du Grand Schisme D'Occident, 1378–1409. Paris.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  14. ^ Pastor 133.
  15. ^ Salvatore Fodale, La politica napoletana di Urbano VI (Rome: Sciascia) 1976, treats the convoluted career of Urban's most important political course as invariably rational – in the face of the contemporary accounts – with copious quotes from original sources.
  16. ^ a b Pastor 136.
  17. Francesco Moricotti Prignano
    , of Vico, near Pisa; he was made a cardinal (18 September 1378) and called the "Cardinal of Pisa;" appointed governor of Campagna, 21 April 1380; Urban's constant assistant, he died in 1394.
  18. ^ "scelus nullo antea sæculo auditum" (Egidio da Viterbo, Historia viginti sæculorum) noted Pastor 137 note.
  19. ^ Richard II of England lost no time in confiscating properties of the French cardinals, and subsequently Richard alone responded to Urban's call for a crusade against Clement in France. (Pastor 134).
  20. ^ Thurston, Herbert. "Holy Year of Jubilee", The Catholic Encyclopedia] Volume 8, 1910. Retrieved on 9 January 2010.
  21. ^ Reardon, Wendy. The Death of The Popes. McFarland Publishers.

References

  • Rendina, CLaudio (1993). I papi – Storia e segreti. Rome: Newton & Compton.
  • Pastor, Ludwig
    . The History of the Popes: From the Close of the Middle Ages. Vol. I.
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Gregory XI
 Pope
1378 – 1389
with Clement VII as antipope 		Succeeded by
Boniface IX
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