Pope Urban VI (Latin:Urbanus VI;Italian:Urbano VI; c. 1318 – 15 October 1389), bornBartolomeo Prignano (Italian pronunciation:[bartoloˈmɛːopriɲˈɲaːno]), was head of theCatholic Church from 8 April 1378 to his death, in October 1389. He was the last pope elected from outside theCollege of Cardinals. His pontificate began shortly after the end of theAvignon Papacy. It was marked by immense conflict between rival factions as a part of theWestern Schism, with much of Europe, such asFrance, the Iberian Kingdoms ofCastile andAragon, andScotland recognizingClement VII, based in Avignon, as the true pope.
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 ofnepotism, although once in the papal chair he elevated fourcardinal-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]
Map showing support for Avignon (red) and Rome (blue) during the Western Schism
On the death ofGregory XI (27 March 1378), a Roman mob surrounded theconclave to demand a Roman pope be chosen. With the cardinals being under some haste and great pressure to avoid the return of the papal seat toAvignon, Prignano was unanimously chosen Pope on 8 April 1378 as acceptable to the disunited[4] majority of Frenchcardinals, taking the nameUrban VI. Not being a cardinal, he was not well known. Immediately following the conclave, most of the cardinals fled Rome before the mob could learn that not a Roman (though not a Frenchman either), but a subject of QueenJoan 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,[5][6] the French were not particularly happy with this move and began immediately to conspire against this pope. Urban VI did himself no favors; whereas the cardinals had expected him pliant, he was considered arrogant and angry by many of his contemporaries.Dietrich of Nieheim reported the opinion of the cardinals that his elevation had turned his head,[7] andFroissart,Leonardo Aretino, Tommaso de Acerno[8] and St.Antoninus of Florence recorded similar conclusions.[9]
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 ofbenefices and bishoprics in their hands. Nor would he remove again to Avignon, thus alienating KingCharles V of France.
The cardinals were mortally offended. Five months after his election, the French cardinals met atAnagni, inviting Urban, who realized he would be seized, and perhaps slain. In his absence, they issued a manifesto of grievances on 9 August which declared his election invalid since they had been cowed by the mob into electing an Italian. Letters to the missing Italian cardinals followed on 20 August declaring the papal throne vacant (sede vacante). Then atFondi, secretly supported by the king of France,[10] the French cardinals proceeded to electRobert of Geneva as pope on 20 September. Robert, a militant cleric who had succeededAlbornoz as commander of the papal troops, took the nameClement VII, beginning theWestern Schism, which divided Catholic Christendom until 1417.
Urban was declaredexcommunicated by the Frenchantipope and was called "theAntichrist", whileCatherine of Siena, defending Pope Urban, called the cardinals "devils in human form."Coluccio Salutati identified the political nature of the withdrawal: "Who does not see," the Chancellor openly addressed the French cardinals, "that you seek not the true pope, but opt solely for a Gallic pontiff."[11] Opening rounds of argument were embodied inJohn of Legnano's defense of the election,De fletu ecclesiæ, written and incrementally revised between 1378 and 1380, which Urban caused to be distributed in multiple copies, and in the numerous rebuttals that soon appeared.[12] Events overtook the rhetoric, however; 26 new cardinals were created in a single day, and by an arbitrary alienation of the estates and property of the church, funds were raised for open war.[13] At the end of May 1379 Clement went to Avignon, where he was more than ever at the mercy of the king of France.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]
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 theinterdict 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 atTivoli 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,[15] in part because her former archbishop had become herfeudal suzerain. Urban now lost sight of the larger issues and began to commit a series of errors. He turned upon his powerful neighbor Joan, excommunicated her as an obstinate partisan of Clement, and permitted a crusade to be preached against her. Soon her enemy and cousin, the "crafty and ambitious"[16]Charles III was madeKing 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 overCapua,Caserta,Aversa,Nocera, andAmalfi 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 andAmadeus VI of Savoy; hard-pressed, he reneged on his promises. In Rome, theCastel Sant'Angelo was besieged and taken, and Urban was forced to flee. In the fall of 1383 he was determined to go to Naples and press Charles in person. There he found himself virtually a prisoner. After a first reconciliation, with the death of Louis (20 September 1384), Charles found himself freer to resist Urban's feudal pretensions, and relations took a turn for the worse. Urban was shut up inNocera, from the walls of which he daily fulminated hisanathemas against his besiegers, withbell, book and candle; a price was set on his head.
"Pope Urban the sixth was besieged in the castle of Nocera", fromCroniche ofGiovanni Sercambi
Rescued by two Neapolitan barons who had sided for Louis,Raimondello Orsini and Tommaso di Sanseverino, after six months of siege he succeeded in making his escape toGenoa with six galleys sent him bydogeAntoniotto Adorno. Several among his cardinals who had been shut up inNocera with him were determined to make a stand, proposing that the Pope, due to incapacity and obstinacy, be put in the charge of one of the cardinals. Urban had them seized, tortured and put to death, "a crime unheard of through the centuries" the chroniclerEgidio da Viterbo remarked.[18]
Urban's support had dwindled to the northern Italian states, Portugal, England,[19] andEmperor 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 toLucca in December of the same year. The Kingdom of Naples was contended between a party favouring Charles's sonLadislaus andLouis II of Anjou. Urban contrived to take advantage of the anarchy which had ensued (as well as of the presence of the feebleMaria asQueen of Sicily) to seize Naples for his nephewFrancesco Moricotti Prignani. In the meantime he was able to haveViterbo andPerugia return to the Papal control.
In August 1388 Urban moved from Perugia with thousands of troops. To raise funds he had proclaimed aJubilee to be held in 1390. At the time of the proclamation, only 38 years had elapsed since the previous Jubilee, which was celebrated underClement VI.[20] During the march, Urban fell from his mule atNarni and had to recover in early October in Rome, where he was able to oust the communal rule of thebanderesi and restore the papal authority. He died soon afterwards, likely of injuries caused by the fall, but not without rumors of poisoning.[1] He was succeeded byBoniface IX.
During the reconstruction ofSaint 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 historianGiacomo Grimaldi arrived and, realizing its importance, ordered it preserved.[21]
^ab One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Mulder, William (1912). "Pope Urban VI". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^In a letter to his master,Lodovico Gonzaga of Mantua; (Pastor 121, who adds "He was quickly and thoroughly undeceived!").
^Pastor 122; on the urgency of reforms, see the contemporary letters ofCatherine of Siena.
^Bernhard Schimmelpfennig (translated by James Sievert),The Papacy (ISBN0-231-07515-4), 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."
^Pastor 127;Ullmann, W. (1948).The Origins of the Great Schism. London. p. 54.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^"Quis non-videt vos non-verum Papam quærere, sed solum Pontificem natione Gallicum exoptare" (quoted Pastor 131 note).
^McCall, John P. (1965). "Chaucer and John of Legnano".Speculum.40 (3): 484–489 [p. 487].doi:10.2307/2850921.JSTOR2850921.S2CID162074397. Notes 38 surviving manuscripts ofDe fletu in full or in part, and three responses from French cardinals as wekll as Jean LeFevre'sDe planctu bonorum ("The plaint of Bologna", 1379), which played on the title and gave a point-by-point rebuttal.
^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 byFavier, Jean (1966).Les Finances Pontificales a L'Epoque Du Grand Schisme D'Occident, 1378–1409. Paris.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^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.
^[1],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.
^"scelus nullo antea sæculo auditum" (Egidio da Viterbo,Historia viginti sæculorum) noted Pastor 137 note.
^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).
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