Editing Pope Urban VI (section)

==Crisis of control==
Immediately following his election, Urban began preaching intemperately to the cardinals (some of whom thought the delirium of power had made Urban mad and unfit for rule), insisting that the business of the Curia should be carried on without gratuities and gifts, forbidding the cardinals to accept annuities from rulers and other lay persons, condemning the luxury of their lives and retinues, and the multiplication of [[benefice]]s and bishoprics in their hands. Nor would he remove again to Avignon, thus alienating King [[Charles V of France]].

[[File:Medieval papal bulla (Urban VI) (FindID 601001).jpg|thumb|[[Bulla (seal)|Bulla]] of Urban VI|left]]
The cardinals were mortally offended. Five months after his election, the French cardinals met at [[Anagni]], inviting Urban, who realized he would be seized, and perhaps slain. In his absence, they issued a manifesto of grievances on 9 August which declared his election invalid since they had been cowed by the mob into electing an Italian. Letters to the missing Italian cardinals followed on 20 August declaring the papal throne vacant (''[[sede vacante]]''). Then at [[Fondi]], secretly supported by the king of France,<ref>Pastor 127; {{cite book |first=W. |last=Ullmann |title=The Origins of the Great Schism |location=London |year=1948 |pages=54 }}</ref> the French cardinals proceeded to elect [[Robert of Geneva]] as pope on 20 September. Robert, a militant cleric who had succeeded [[Gil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz|Albornoz]] as commander of the papal troops, took the name [[antipope Clement VII|Clement VII]], beginning the [[Western Schism]], which divided Catholic Christendom until 1417.

Urban was declared [[excommunicated]] by the French [[antipope]] and was called "the [[Antichrist]]", while [[Catherine of Siena]], defending Pope Urban, called the cardinals "devils in human form." [[Coluccio Salutati]] identified the political nature of the withdrawal: "Who does not see," the Chancellor openly addressed the French cardinals, "that you seek not the true pope, but opt solely for a Gallic pontiff."<ref>"Quis non-videt vos non-verum Papam quærere, sed solum Pontificem natione Gallicum exoptare" (quoted Pastor 131 note).</ref> Opening rounds of argument were embodied in [[John of Legnano]]'s defense of the election, ''De fletu ecclesiæ,'' written and incrementally revised between 1378 and 1380, which Urban caused to be distributed in multiple copies, and in the numerous rebuttals that soon appeared.<ref>{{cite journal |first=John P. |last=McCall |title=Chaucer and John of Legnano |journal=Speculum |volume=40 |issue=3 |year=1965 |pages=484–489 [p. 487] |jstor=2850921 |doi= 10.2307/2850921|s2cid=162074397 }} Notes 38 surviving manuscripts of ''De fletu'' in full or in part, and three responses from French cardinals as wekll as Jean LeFevre's ''De planctu bonorum'' ("The plaint of Bologna", 1379), which played on the title and gave a point-by-point rebuttal.</ref> Events overtook the rhetoric, however; 26 new cardinals were created in a single day, and by an arbitrary alienation of the estates and property of the church, funds were raised for open war.<ref>The reduced and disordered finances at Rome, most of the records being retained at Avignon and most of the experienced members of the papal camera and treasury having followed Clement, is discussed by {{cite book |first=Jean |last=Favier |title=Les Finances Pontificales a L'Epoque Du Grand Schisme D'Occident, 1378–1409 |location=Paris |year=1966 }}</ref> At the end of May 1379 Clement went to Avignon, where he was more than ever at the mercy of the king of France. [[Louis I, Duke of Anjou]], was granted a phantom kingdom of Adria to be carved out of papal Emilia and Romagna, if he could unseat the pope at Rome.<ref>Pastor 133.</ref>