Clement VII | |
|---|---|
| Count of Geneva | |
 Interview between theduke of Anjou and pope Clement VII (seated) at Avignon, fromFroissart's Chronicles.[1] | |
| Elected | 20 September 1378 |
| Papacy began | 20 September 1378? |
| Papacy ended | 16 September 1394 |
| Predecessor |
|
| Successor |
|
| Opposed to | Roman claimants: |
| Other posts | |
| Orders | |
| Created cardinal | 30 May 1371 byPope Gregory XI |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Robert of Geneva 1342 (1342) |
| Died | 16 September 1394 (1394-09-17) (aged 52) |
| Coat of arms | .svg) |
| Other popes and antipopes named Clement | |
Robert of Geneva (French:Robert de Genève; 1342 – 16 September 1394) was elected to the papacy asClement VII (French:Clément VII) by thecardinals who opposedPope Urban VI and was the firstantipope residing inAvignon, France. His election led to theWestern Schism.
The son ofAmadeus III, Count of Geneva, Robert becameArchbishop of Cambrai and was made a cardinal in 1371. As legate, during theWar of the Eight Saints, he is said to have authorized the massacre of over 2,000 civilians atCesena in 1377. He was elected pope the following year by the cardinals who opposed Urban VI and established himself at Avignon.
Robert was born in theChâteau d'Annecy in 1342, the son ofAmadeus III, Count of Geneva, and Mahaut de Boulogne,[2][3] who were important within theHouse of Savoy.Guy de Boulogne was his maternal uncle. Robert studied atLa Sorbonne in Paris. In 1359, he was appointed prothonotary Apostolic, becameBishop of Thérouanne in 1361, Archbishop of Cambrai in 1368, and acardinal on 30 May 1371.[2] From 1373 he held the position ofArchdeacon of Dorset,[4] and from 1374 alsoPrebend of All Saints Parish Church inMiddle Woodford inWiltshire,[5] leaving both positions in 1378. From 1375, he held a living as rector ofBishopwearmouth inCounty Durham, England, and instead used the income from that highly prized living for his papal election expenses.[6]
In 1377, while serving as papal legate in upper Italy (1376–1378), in order to put down a rebellion in thePapal States,[7] known as theWar of the Eight Saints, he personally commanded troops lent to the papacy by thecondottiereJohn Hawkwood to reduce the small city ofCesena in the territory ofForlì, which resisted being added to thePatrimony of Peter for the second time in a generation; there he authorized the massacre of 3,000–8,000 civilians, an atrocity even by the rules of war at the time, which earned him the nicknamebutcher of Cesena.[8]
In 1392, at the death of his brother,Pierre, he inherited the title ofCount 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.
Robert was elected pope atFondi on 20 September 1378 by the cardinals who opposed the return of the Papacy fromAvignon toRome, and the election ofPope 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-calledWestern 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 QueenJoanna 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 toAvignon, 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.[18] Coupled with the expectation of succeeding to Queen Joanna, Clement incitedLouis I, Duke of Anjou, the eldest of the brothers of Charles V, to take arms in his favour. These tempting offers gave rise to a series of expeditions into Italy carried out almost exclusively at Clement's expense, in the first of which Louis went to war with some 40,000 troops.[19] The campaign was unsuccessful: Louis suddenly died atBisceglie on 20 September 1384. Still, these enterprises on several occasions planted Angevin domination in the south of the Italian peninsula, and their most decisive result was the assuring of Provence to the dukes of Anjou and afterwards to the kings of France. After the death of Louis, Clement hoped to find equally brave and interested champions in Louis' son and namesakeLouis II of Anjou, to whom he donated the larger part of the Pontifical States. Clement then tried to ally withLouis I, Duke of Orléans, the brother ofCharles VI; with Charles VI himself; and withJohn III, Count of Armagnac. The prospect of his brilliant progress to Rome was ever before Clement's eyes; and in his thoughts force of arms, of French arms, was to be the instrument of his glorious triumph over his competitor.[15]
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 tosimony, 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 calledConciliarism, which claimed that a general council of the church was superior to the pope and could therefore judge between rival claimants.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Valois, Joseph Marie Noel (1911). "Clement s.v. Clement VII.". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 485.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Weber, Nicholas Aloysius (1912). "Robert of Geneva". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company.| Catholic Church titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Archbishop of Cambrai 1368–1371 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Bishop of Thérouanne 1361–1368 | |
| Regnal titles | ||
| Preceded by | Count of Geneva 1392–1394 | Succeeded by |
| Late Antiquity | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early Middle Ages | |||||||
| High Middle Ages | |||||||
| Late Middle Ages / Western Schism |
| ||||||
| Modern era |
| ||||||
.jpg){kind=link}