Antipope Alexander V

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Alexander V
Nuremberg Chronicles f 235v 3 Alexander V.jpg
Miniature of Alexander V in the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493
Papacy began26 June 1409
Papacy ended3 May 1410
Predecessor Gregory XII
Successor John XXIII
Opposed to
Personal details
Born
Petros Philargos

c. 1339
Died3 May 1410 (aged 7071)
Bologna, Papal States
Nationality Greek [1]
Denomination Catholic
Coat of arms C o a Alexandre V (Pisa).svg
Other popes and antipopes named Alexander

Peter of Candia, also known as Peter Phillarges (Greek:Πέτρος Φιλάργης) (c. 1339 – 3 May 1410), named as Alexander V (Latin : Alexander PP. V; Italian : Alessandro V), was an antipope elected by the Council of Pisa during the Western Schism (1378–1417). He reigned briefly from 26 June 1409, to his death in 1410, in opposition to the Roman pope Gregory XII and the Avignon antipope Benedict XIII. In the 20th century, the Catholic Church reinterpreted the Western Schism by recognising the Roman popes, as legitimate. Gregory XII's reign was extended to 1415, and Alexander V is now regarded as an antipope.

Contents

Life

Peter was born near present-day Neapoli in Crete, then part of the Republic of Venice, in 1339. [1] He was baptised Pietro Filargo, but is often known by the names Pietro di Candia and Peter Philarges. [1]

Peter entered the Franciscan order, and his abilities were such that he was sent to study at the universities of Oxford and Paris. While he was in Paris the Western Schism occurred; Peter supported Pope Urban VI (1378–89). He returned to Lombardy, where, thanks to the favour of Giangaleazzo Visconti, the Duke of Milan, Peter became bishop, first of Piacenza (1386), then of Vicenza (1387), then of Novara (1389), and finally Archbishop of Milan (1402). [2]

On being created cardinal by Pope Innocent VII (1404–1406) in 1405, Peter devoted all his energies to the reunion of the Church, in spite of the two rival popes. He was one of the promoters of the Council of Pisa and his political maneuvers incurred the displeasure of Pope Gregory XII (1406–1415), who ordered Peter deprived of both his dignities as archbishop and cardinal. [2]

Papal election

At the Council of Pisa (from 25 March 1409), the assembled cardinals elected Peter to the Papal chair they had declared vacant. He was crowned on 26 June 1409, as Alexander V, making him in reality the third rival pontiff. Following his election, most polities in Europe recognised him as the true pontiff with the exceptions of the Kingdom of Aragon and Scotland, which remained loyal to the Avignon pope, and various Italian states, which adhered to the Roman pope. [3]

During his ten-month reign, Alexander's aim was to extend his obedience with the assistance of France, and, notably, of Duke Louis II of Anjou, upon whom he conferred the investiture of the Kingdom of Sicily, having removed it from Ladislaus of Naples. He proclaimed and promised rather than effected a certain number of reforms: the abandonment of the rights of "spoils" and "procurations", and the re-establishment of the system of canonical election in the cathedral churches and principal monasteries. [4] He also gave out papal favours with a lavish hand, from which the mendicant orders benefitted especially.

Alexander suddenly died while he was with Cardinal Baldassare Cossa at Bologna, on the night of 3–4 May 1410. His remains were placed in the church of St. Francis at Bologna. A rumour, though now considered false, spread that he had been poisoned by Cossa, who succeeded him as John XXIII (1410–1415). [5] [6]

Legacy

The Popes' drinking society at Greyfriars, Oxford, is traditionally held to have been founded by Peter during his time at the university. With the closure of Greyfriars in 2008, the society is now populated mainly by students of Regent's Park College, Oxford. [7]

Traditionally, the Catholic Church considered Gregory XII's papacy to have ended in 1409 with the election of Alexander V. In 1958, Pope John XXIII selected the regnal number XXIII, citing "twenty-two [sic] Johns of indisputable legitimacy." [8] Since the previous John XXIII (1410–1415) had succeeded Alexander V, the Pisan line became illegitimate. Gregory XII's papacy was extended to 1415, and Alexander V is now regarded by the Catholic Church as an antipope. [9] Alexander V remains in the numbering sequence, since Rodrigo Borgia had already taken the name Alexander VI in 1492.

See also

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Pope Innocent VII, the third Pope in the obedience of Rome during the Great Western Schism, created eleven new cardinals in one consistory celebrated on 12 June 1405:

  1. Corrado Caraccioli, archbishop of Mileto and camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church − cardinal-priest of S. Crisogono, † 15 February 1411
  2. Angelo Correr, Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, administrator of the see of Coron and governor of the March of Ancona − cardinal-priest of S. Marco, then Pope Gregory XII in the obedience of Rome ; became cardinal-bishop of Frascati (Tusculum) after his abdication, † 18 October 1417
  3. Francesco Uguccione, archbishop of Bordeaux − cardinal-priest of SS. IV Coronati, † 14 July 1412
  4. Giordano Orsini, archbishop of Naples − cardinal-priest of SS. Silvestro e Martino, then cardinal-bishop of Albano, cardinal-bishop of Sabiny, † 29 May 1438
  5. Giovanni Migliorati, archbishop of Ravenna − cardinal-priest of S. Croce in Gerusalemme, † 16 October 1410
  6. Pietro Filargo, OFM, archbishop of Milan − cardinal-priest of SS. XII Apostoli, then Antipope Alexander V in the obedience of Pisa, † 3 May 1410
  7. Antonio Arcioni, bishop of Ascoli Piceno − cardinal-priest of S. Pietro in Vincoli, † 21 July 1405
  8. Antonio Calvi, bishop of Todi − cardinal-priest of S. Prassede, then cardinal-priest of S. Marco, † 2 October 1411
  9. Oddone Colonna, administrator of the suburbicarian see of Palestrina − cardinal-deacon of S. Giorgio in Velabro, became Pope Martin V on 11 November 1417, † 20 February 1431
  10. Pietro Stefaneschi, protonotary apostolic − cardinal-deacon of S. Angelo in Pescheria, then cardinal-deacon of SS. Cosma e Damiano and again cardinal-deacon of S. Angelo in Pescheria (1410), † 30 October 1417
  11. Jean Gilles, papal legate in the ecclesiastical provinces of Cologne, Reims and Trier − cardinal-deacon of SS. Cosma e Damiano, † 1 July 1408
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The Council of Pisa was a controversial council held in 1409. It attempted to end the Western Schism by deposing Benedict XIII (Avignon) and Gregory XII (Rome) for schism and manifest heresy. The College of Cardinals, composed of members of both the Avignon Obedience and the Roman Obedience, who were recognized by each other and by the Council, then elected a third papal claimant, Alexander V, who lived only a few months. He was succeeded by John XXIII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niccolò Brancaccio</span> Catholic cardinal

Niccolò Brancaccio was born in the Kingdom of Naples, perhaps in Naples itself. He was Archbishop of Bari and then Archbishop of Cosenza, while serving in the Roman Curia in Avignon. He became a cardinal of the Avignon Obedience in 1378, and was Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria in Trastevere and then Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He participated in the Council of Pisa in 1409, and was one of the electors of Pope Alexander V and of Pope John XXIII.

References

  1. 1 2 3 A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages, ed. Jorge J. E. Gracia and Timothy B. Noone, (Blackwell Publishing, 2002), 506.
  2. 1 2 Wikisource-logo.svg One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope Alexander V". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  3. Sumption, Jonathan (2015). The Hundred Years War IV: Cursed Kings. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 477. ISBN   9780812247060.
  4. Wikisource-logo.svg One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Alexander s.v. Alexander V.". Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 553.
  5. Charles A. Coulombe, Vicars of Christ: A History of the Popes (Kensington Publishing Corp., 2003), 310.
  6. P.M. Savage, Alexander V, Antipope (Peter of Candia), New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2003. HighBeam Research (17 September 2012).
  7. Robert E. Cooper, From Stepney to St Giles': the Story of Regent's Park College, 1810-1960
  8. "I Choose John ..." Time. 10 November 1958. p. 91.
  9. Oakley 2008, p. 89.

Sources