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ALEXANDER V

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 553 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ALEXANDER V . (See also:Peter Philarges), See also:pope 1409-1410, was See also:born in See also:Crete of unknown parents and entered the See also:order of St See also:Francis, for which, as for the other mendicant orders, he later manifested his See also:affection in a striking manner. He was a member in turn of the See also:universities of See also:Oxford and See also:Paris, and finally settled in See also:Lombardy, where, thanks to the favour of Gian Galeazzo See also:Visconti, he became See also:bishop, first of See also:Piacenza, then of Vincenza, then of See also:Novara, and afterwards See also:archbishop of See also:Milan. On being created See also:cardinal by See also:Innocent VII. he devoted all his energies from 1408 onwards to the realization of the See also:union of the See also:church, in spite of the two See also:rival popes. He was one of the promoters of the See also:council of See also:Pisa, and after that See also:assembly had declared See also:Gregory XII. and See also:Benedict XIII. deposed, the cardinals assembled in See also:conclave thought they could not do better than See also:crown with the See also:tiara this See also:cosmopolitan See also:prelate, who had an equal mastery of the Latin and See also:Greek See also:languages, and was renowned not only for his learning in See also:theology but for his affability (See also:June 26, 1409). As a See also:matter of fact, the only effect of this See also:election was to aggravate the See also:schism by adding a third to the number of rival pontiffs. During his See also:short reign of ten months Alexander V.'s aim was to extend his obedience with the assistance of See also:France, and, notably, of the See also:duke See also:Louis II. of See also:Anjou, upon whom he conferred the See also:investiture of the See also:kingdom of See also:Sicily, together with the See also:title of gonfalonier of the church. He proclaimed and promised rather than effected a certain number of reforms: the See also:abandonment of the rights of " spoils " and " procurations," the re-See also:establishment of the See also:system of canonical election in the See also:cathedral churches and See also:principal monasteries, &c. But See also:death came upon him almost without warning at See also:Bologna, in the See also:night of the 3rd-4th May 1410. A rumour went about that he had been poisoned by the cardinal Baldassare See also:Cossa, impatient to be his successor, who succeeded him in fact under the name of See also:John See also:XXIII. The See also:crime has, however, never been proved, though a Milanese physician, who performed the task of dissecting the See also:corpse of Peter Philarges, seems to have thought that he found traces of See also:poison. (N.

End of Article: ALEXANDER V

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