Antipope John XXIII

Antipope John XXIII
2.2 Election to the Papacy
For the twentieth-century pope, see Pope John XXIII.

See also: Pope John (numbering)
Alexander V died soon after, and on 25 May 1410 Cossa

was consecrated pope, taking the name John XXIII. He
had been an ordained priest only one day earlier. John
XXIII was acknowledged as pope by France, England,
Bohemia, Portugal, parts of the Holy Roman Empire,
and numerous Northern Italian city states, including Florence and Venice; however, the Avignon Pope Benedict
XIII was regarded as pope by the Kingdoms of Aragon,
Castile, Sicily and Scotland and Gregory XII was still
favored by Ladislaus of Naples, Carlo I Malatesta, the
princes of Bavaria, Louis III, Elector Palatine, and parts
of Germany and Poland.[5]
Baldassarre Cossa (c. 1370 22 December 1419) was

antipope John XXIII (14101415) during the Western
Schism. The Catholic Church regards him as an antipope,
as he opposed the Pope whom the Catholic Church now
recognizes as the rightful successor of Saint Peter. He was
eventually deposed and tried for various crimes, though
later accounts question the veracity of those accusations.
Early life
The Medici had supported Cossa in his campaign to become cardinal and pope. Once in oce, John XXIII
made the Medici Bank the bank of the papacy, contributing considerably to the familys wealth and prestige.
Baldassarre Cossa was born on the island of Procida or

Ischia in the Kingdom of Naples into a noble but impoverished family. Initially he followed a military career, taking part in the Angevin-Neapolitan war. His two brothers were sentenced to death for piracy by Ladislaus of
Naples.[1]
John had his ocials sell indulgences, a controversial

practice that was protested in various parts of Europe,
for instance by the followers of Jan Hus in Prague.
He studied law at the University of Bologna and obtained

doctorates in both civil and canon law.[2] In 1392 he entered the service of Pope Boniface IX, rst working in
Bologna and then in Rome. (The Western Schism had
begun in 1378 and there were two competing popes at the
time, one in Avignon supported by France and Spain, and
one in Rome supported by most of Italy, Germany and
England.) Still a member of the laity, he became Cardinal
deacon in 1402 and Papal legate in Forl in 1403. At this
time Cossa also had some links with local robber bands,
which were often used to intimidate his rivals and attack
carriages. These connections added to his inuence and
power in the region. [3]
2
2.1
The main enemy of John was Ladislaus of Naples, who

protected Gregory XII in Rome. Following his election
as pope, John spent a year in Bologna and then joined
forces with Louis II of Anjou to march against Ladislaus.
An initial victory proved short-lived and Ladislaus retook
Rome in May 1413, forcing John to ee to Florence.[4]
In Florence he met Sigismund, King of the Romans.
Sigismund wanted to end the schism and urged John to
call a general council. John did so with hesitation, at
rst trying to have the council held in Italy (rather than
in a German Imperial City, as Sigismund wanted). The
Council of Constance was convened on 30 October 1413.
During the third session, rival Pope Gregory XII authorized the council as well. The council resolved that all
three popes should abdicate and a new pope be elected.[6]
Role in the Western Schism

The Council of Pisa
2.3 Flight from the Council of Constance
He was one of the seven cardinals who, in May 1408,

deserted Pope Gregory XII, and, with those following
Antipope Benedict XIII from Avignon, convened the
Council of Pisa, of which Cossa became the leader. The
aim of the council was to end the schism; to this end they
deposed Gregory XII and Benedict XIII and elected the
new pope Alexander V in 1409.[4] Gregory and Benedict ignored this decision however, so that there were now
three simultaneous claimants to the Papacy.
In March, John escaped from Constance disguised as

a postman.[6] According to the Klingenberger Chronicle, written by a noble client of Frederick IV, Duke
of Austria, John XXIII travelled down the Rhine to
Schahausen in a boat, while Frederick accompanied
him with a small band of men on horseback. There was
a huge outcry in Constance when it was discovered that
John had ed, and Sigismund was furious about this setback to his plans for ending the Schism. The King of
1
REFERENCES
the Romans issued orders to all the powers on the Upper

Rhine and in Swabia stating that he had declared Frederick to be an outlaw and that his lands and possessions
were forfeit. In due course this led to a great deal of political upheaval and many Austrian losses in the region,
notably in Aargau to the Swiss Confederation.
In the meantime, Pope John XXIII and Frederick ed further downriver along the Rhine to the town of Freiburg
im Breisgau, which recognised the duke of Austria as its
lord. There Sigismunds lieutenant Ludwig III, Elector
Palatine caught up with them. He convinced Frederick
that he stood to lose too much by harbouring the fugitive
pope, and the Austrian duke agreed to give himself and
John up and return to Constance.[7][8]
2.4
Deposition
During his absence John was deposed by the council, and

upon his return he was tried for heresy, simony, schism
and immorality, and found guilty on all counts. Gibbon
wrote, The more scandalous charges were suppressed;
the vicar of Christ was accused only of piracy, rape,
sodomy, murder and incest.[9] John was given over to
Ludwig III, Elector Palatine, who imprisoned him for several months in Heidelberg and Mannheim. The last remaining claimant in Avignon, Benedict XIII, refused to
resign and was excommunicated. Martin V was elected
as new pope in 1417.
Tomb of Antipope John XXIII.
Death and burial
Cossa, as he was again, was imprisoned in Germany. He

was freed in 1418 after a heavy ransom was paid by the
Medici. He went to Florence where he submitted to Martin V who made him Cardinal Bishop of Frascati. Cossa
died only a few months later.
The Medici oversaw the construction of his magnicent
tomb by Donatello and Michelozzo in the Battistero di
San Giovanni in Florence. Pope Martin V protested in
vain against the inscription on the sarcophagus: John the
former pope.
The 1910 Catholic Encyclopedia remarks that Undeniably secular and ambitious, his moral life was not above
reproach, and his unscrupulous methods in no wise accorded with the requirements of his high oce ... the
heinous crimes of which his opponents in the council accused him were certainly gravely exaggerated.[4] One of
his secretaries concluded that John was a great man in
temporal things, but a complete failure and worthless in
spiritual things.[1]
4 Numbering issues
Main article: Pope John (numbering)
He should not be confused with Pope John XXIII of the
twentieth century. When Angelo Roncalli was elected
pope in 1958, there was some confusion as to whether
he would be John XXIII or John XXIV; he then declared
that he was John XXIII to put this question to rest. There
was no John XX; this is why Gibbon refers to the antipope
John as John XXII.
5 References
[1] Joseph McCabe (1916). Chapter XI. John XXIII and the
Great Schism. Crises in the History of the Papacy. G.P.
Putnams Sons. ISBN 978-0-7661-7904-2.
[2] Stephen Greenblatt (2011). Chapter 7. A Pit to Catch
Foxes. The Swerve: How the World Became Modern.
W.W. Norton.
[3] Greenblatt, Stephen (2011). The Swerve. New York:

W.W. Norton & Co. p. 158.
[4] Kirsch, J.P. (1910). John XXIII. The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company) VIII.
Retrieved 3 January 2008
[5] Lightbown, R.W. (1980) Donatello & Michelozzo. London: Harvey Miller. Pp. 45.
[6] Miranda, Salvador. Cossa, Baldassare, The Cardinals
of the Holy Roman Church
[7] Walter Brandmller, Das Konzil von Konstanz, 1414-1418
(Paderborn, 1991-7)
[8] The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire;
Chapter 70
[9] The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, New York:
The Heritage Press, 1946, vol. 3, p. 2417
In 1983 political satirist/novelist Richard Condon (The

Manchurian Candidate) wrote A Trembling Upon Rome,
a novel of historical ction about the life of Baldassare
Cossa.
External links
7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES
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Antipope John XXIII Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipope_John_XXIII?oldid=682553325 Contributors: AxelBoldt, Kpjas,

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Antipope John XXIII

2.2 Election to the Papacy

For the twentieth-century pope, see Pope John XXIII.

Alexander V died soon after, and on 25 May 1410 Cossa

Baldassarre Cossa (c. 1370 22 December 1419) was

Baldassarre Cossa was born on the island of Procida or

John had his ocials sell indulgences, a controversial

He studied law at the University of Bologna and obtained

The main enemy of John was Ladislaus of Naples, who

Role in the Western Schism

2.3 Flight from the Council of Constance

He was one of the seven cardinals who, in May 1408,

In March, John escaped from Constance disguised as

the Romans issued orders to all the powers on the Upper

During his absence John was deposed by the council, and

Tomb of Antipope John XXIII.

Death and burial

Cossa, as he was again, was imprisoned in Germany. He

[3] Greenblatt, Stephen (2011). The Swerve. New York:

In 1983 political satirist/novelist Richard Condon (The

7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Antipope John XXIII Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipope_John_XXIII?oldid=682553325 Contributors: AxelBoldt, Kpjas,

File:C_o_a_Giovanni_XXIII_(Pisa).svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/C_o_a_Giovanni_XXIII_

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

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