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JOHN XXIII

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 438 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOHN See also:XXIII . (Baldassare See also:Cossa), See also:pope, or rather See also:anti-pope from 1410 to 1415, was See also:born of a See also:good Neapolitan See also:family, and began by leading the See also:life of a See also:corsair before entering the service of the See also:Church under the pontificate of See also:Boniface IX. His abilities, which were mainly of an administrative and military See also:order, were soon rewarded by the See also:cardinal's See also:hat and the See also:legation of See also:Bologna. On the 29th of See also:June 1408 he and seven of his colleagues See also:broke away from See also:Gregory XII., and together with six cardinals of the obedience of See also:Avignon, who had in like manner separated from See also:Benedict XIII., they agreed to aim at the assembling of a See also:general See also:council, setting aside the two See also:rival pontiffs, an expedient which they considered would put an end to the See also:great See also:schism of the Western Church, but which resulted in the See also:election of yet a third pope. This See also:act was none the less decisive for Baldassare Cossa's future. See also:Alexander V., the first pope elected at See also:Pisa, was not perhaps, as has been maintained, merely a See also:man of See also:straw put forward by the ambitious cardinal of Bologna; but he reigned only ten months, and on his See also:death, which happened rather suddenly on the 4th of May 1410, Baldassare Cossa succeeded him. Whether the latter had bought his See also:electors by See also:money and promises, or owed his success to his dominant position in Bologna, and to the support of See also:Florence and of See also:Louis II. of See also:Anjou, he seems to have received the unanimous See also:vote of all the seventeen cardinals gathered together at Bologna (May 17). He took the name of John XXIII., and See also:France, See also:England, and See also:part of See also:Italy and See also:Germany recognized him as See also:head of the See also:Catholic church. The struggle in which he and Louis II. of Anjou engaged with See also:Ladislaus of Durazzo, See also:king of See also:Sicily, and Gregory XII.'s See also:chief See also:protector in Italy, at first went in John's favour. After the brilliant victory of Roccasecca (May 19, 1411) he had the See also:satisfaction of dragging the See also:standards of Pope Gregory and King Ladislaus through the streets of See also:Rome. But the See also:dispersion of Louis of Anjou's troops and his carelessness, together with the lack of success which attended the See also:preaching of a crusade in Germany, France and England, finally decided John XXIII. to abandon the See also:French claimant to the See also:throne of Sicily; he recognized Ldislaus, his former enemy, as king of See also:Naples, and Ladislaus did not fail to salute John XXIII. as pope, abandoning Gregory XII. (June 15, 1412).

This was a fatal step: John XXIII. was trusting in a dishonest and insatiable See also:

prince; he would have acted more wisely in remaining the ally of the weak but loyal Louis of Anjou. However, it seemed desirable that the reforms announced by the council of Pisa, which the popes set up by this See also:synod seemed in no See also:hurry to carry into effect, should be further discussed in the new council which it had been agreed should be summoned about the See also:spring of 1412. But John was anxious that this council should be held in Rome, a See also:city where he alone was See also:master; the few prelates and ambassadors who very slowly gathered there held only a small number of sessions, in which John again condemned the writings of Wycliffe. John was attacked by the representatives of the vdrious nations and reprimanded even for his private conduct, but endeavoured to extricate himself from this uncomfortable position by gratifying their desires, if not by reforming abuses. It is, however, only See also:fair to add that he took various See also:half-See also:measures and gave many promises which, if they had been put into See also:execution, would have confirmed or completed the reforms inaugurated at Pisa. But on the 3rd of Mrach 1413 John adjourned the council of Rome till See also:December, without even fixing the See also:place where the next session should be held. It was held at See also:Constance in Germany, and John could only have resigned himself to accepting such an uncertain See also:meeting-place because he was forced by See also:distress, See also:isolation and fear to turn towards the head of the See also:empire. Less than a See also:year after the treaty concluded with Ladislaus of Durazzo, the latter forced his way into Rome (June 8, 1413), which he sacked, expelling John, to whom even the Florentines did not dare to throw open their See also:gates for fear of the king of Sicily. See also:Sigismund, king of the See also:Romans, not only extorted, it is said, a sum of 50,000 florins from the pontiff in his extremity, but insisted upon his summoning the council at Constance (December 9). It was in vain that, on the death of Ladislaus, which took place unexpectedly (See also:August 6, 1414), John was inspired with the See also:idea of breaking his compact with Sigismund and returning to Rome, at the same See also:time appealing to Louis of Anjou. It was too See also:late. The cardinals forced him towards Germany by the most See also:direct road, without allowing him to go by way of Avignon as he had projected, in order to make plans with the princes of France.

On the 5th of See also:

November 1414 John opened the council of Constance, where, on See also:Christmas See also:Day, he received the See also:homage of the head of the empire, but where his lack of See also:prestige, the defection of his See also:allies, the fury of his adversaries, and the general 'sense of the See also:necessity for See also:union soon showed only too clearly how small was the See also:chance of his retaining the See also:tiara. He had to take a See also:solemn See also:oath to abdicate if his two rivals would do the same, and this concession, which was not very sincere, gained him for the last time the See also:honour of seeing Sigismund prostrate at his feet (See also:March 2, 1415). But on the See also:night of the 2oth—21st of March, having donned the garments of a layman, with a See also:cross-See also:bow slung at his See also:side, he succeeded in making his See also:escape from Constance, accompanied only by a single servant, and took See also:refuge first in the See also:castle of See also:Schaffhausen, then in that of Laufenburg, then at See also:Freiburg-See also:im-See also:Breisgau, and finally at Brisach, whence he hoped to reach See also:Alsace, and doubtless ultimately Avignon, under the See also:protection of an escort sent by the See also:duke of See also:Burgundy. The See also:news of the pope's escape was received at Constance with an extraordinary outburst of rage, and led to the subversive decrees of the 4th and 5th sessions, which proclaimed the superiority of the council over the pope. Duke See also:Frederick of See also:Austria had hitherto sheltered John's See also:flight; but, laid under the See also:ban of the empire, attacked by powerful armies, and feeling that he was courting ruin, he preferred to give up the pontiff who had trusted to him. John was brought back to Freiburg (See also:April 27), and there in vain attempted to appease the wrath which he had aroused by more or less vague promises of resignation. His trial, however, was already beginning. The three cardinals whom he charged with his See also:defence hastily declined this compromising task. Seventy-four charges were See also:drawn up, only twenty of which were set aside after the witnesses had been heard. The See also:accusation of having poisoned Alexander V. and his See also:doctor at Bologna was not maintained. But enough deeds of immorality, tyranny, ambition and See also:simony were found proved to justify the severest See also:judgment. He was suspended from his functions as pope on the 14th of May 1415, and deposed on the following 29th of May.

However irregular this See also:

sentence may have been from the canonical point of view (for the accusers do not seem to have actually proved the See also:crime of See also:heresy, which was necessary, according to most scholars of the See also:period, to justify the deposition of a See also:sovereign pontiff), the condemned pope was not See also:long in confirming it. Baldassare Cossa, now as humble and re-signed as he had before been energetic and tenacious, on his transference to the castle of Rudolfzell admitted the wrong which he had done by his flight, refused to bring forward anything in his defence, acquiesced entirely in the judgment of the council which he declared to be infallible, and finally, as an extreme precaution, ratified motu proprio the sentence of deposition, declaring that he freely and willingly renounced any rights which he might still have in the papacy. This fact has subsequently been often quoted against those who have appealed to the events of 1415 to maintain that a council can depose a pope who is scandalizator ecclesiae. Cossa kept his word never to See also:appeal against the sentence which stripped him of the pontificate. He was held prisoner for three years in Germany, but in the end bought his See also:liberty from the See also:count See also:palatine. He used this liberty only to go to Florence, in 1419, and throw himself on the See also:mercy of the legitimate pope. See also:Martin V. appointed him cardinal-See also:bishop of See also:Tusculum, a dignity which Cossa only enjoyed for a few months. He died on the 22nd of December 1419, and all visitors to the See also:Baptistery at Florence may admire, under its high baldacchino, the sombre figure sculptured by See also:Donatello of the dethroned pontiff, who had at least the merit of bowing his head under his chastisement, and of contributing by his passive resignation to the extinction of the See also:series of popes which sprang from the council of Pisa.

End of Article: JOHN XXIII

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