History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome, Volume I

The Great Schism of 1378 tore Western Christianity apart for nearly forty years, and Mandell Creighton brings this perilous era to vivid life with the precision of a scholar and the eye of a dramatist. When the papacy fractured into rival claimants, one in Rome, another in Avignon, the faithful were left in an impossible position: which pope was truly Christ's vicar? Creighton traces the chaos that followed: the tumultuous reign of the volatile Urban VI, the desperate scheming of anti-popes, the futile attempts at resolution by the University of Paris, and the bemusing spectacle of Wenzel, the alcohol-soaked Holy Roman Emperor, whose attempts at leadership were as muddled as his mind. The narrative builds inexorably toward the Council of Constance, where the church finally attempted to end its own fragmentation. Creighton excels at the human detail, the vivid image of Pope John XXIII fleeing in disguise, hat slouched over his face, mounted on a sorry nag like a common groom, reminding us that even the highest spiritual authority is exercised by flawed, frightened mortals. This is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how the medieval church nearly collapsed under the weight of its own contradictions.