Urban VI

(1318–89)

   Pope.

   Urban was born Bartolommeo Prignano. He became Archbishop of Acerenza in 1363, Archbishop of Bari in 1377 and he was elected Pope in 1378, on the death of Pope Gregory xi. The French members of the conclave felt they had been pressurised into electing an Italian and they were distressed by his unfortunate manner. In consequence they declared his election null and void and put up Clement VII as antipope – thus initiating the Great Schism which was to last until 1417. According to the dictates of political expediency, the princes of Europe were almost equally divided in their support for the two candidates and the whole episode called the Church into disrepute. Towards the end of his life, Urban himself showed definite signs of insanity. He became involved in the machinations of Italian politics; he was captured on one occasion by the King of Naples and, after his escape, he had five Cardinals tortured and executed for their supposed complicity in the plot. It was rumoured that he died from poisoning.

   L. Macfarlane, ‘An English account of the election of Urban VI’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, xxvi (1953);

   W. Ullmann, The Origins of the Great Schism (1948).