Council of Pisa
[6] On 2 and 5 July 1408, the cardinals at Livorno addressed an encyclical letter to the princes and prelates of the Christian world, summoning them to a general council at Pisa, which was to begin on 25 March 1409.
[8] The Universities of Paris, Oxford, and Cologne, many prelates, and the most distinguished doctors, like Pierre d'Ailly and Jean Gerson, openly approved the action of the revolted cardinals, and sent delegations to the Council.
The cardinals of the reigning pontiffs being greatly dissatisfied, both with the pusillanimity and nepotism of Gregory XII and the obstinacy and bad will of Benedict XIII, resolved to make use of a more efficacious means, namely a general council.
The French king, Charles V, had recommended this, at the beginning of the schism, to the cardinals assembled at Anagni, who had anathematized Urban VI as an Intruder on the papal throne, and elected Pope Clement VII (Robert of Geneva) instead, without dissent.
The idea of a general council had been upheld by several regional councils, by the cities of Ghent and Florence, by the University of Oxford and University of Paris, and by some most prominent doctors of the time, for example: Henry of Langenstein ("Epistola pacis", 1379, "Epistola concilii pacis", 1381); Conrad of Gelnhausen ("Epistola Concordiæ", 1380); Jean de Charlier de Gerson (Sermo coram Anglicis); and especially the latter's master, Pierre d'Ailly, the Bishop of Cambrai, who wrote of himself: "A principio schismatis materiam concilii generalis … instanter prosequi non timui" (Apologia Concilii Pisani, in Paul Tschackert).
Encouraged by such men and by the known dispositions of King Charles VI and of the University of Paris, four members of the Sacred College of Avignon went to Leghorn where they arranged an interview with those of Rome, and where they were soon joined by others.
[13] Among the clergy were the representatives of 100 absent bishops, 87 abbots with the proxies of those who could not come to Pisa, 41 priors and generals of religious orders, and 300 doctors of theology or canon law.
Two cardinal deacons, two bishops, and two notaries approached the church doors, opened them, and in a loud voice, in the Latin tongue, called upon the rival pontiffs to appear.
The Bishop of Verden, Ulrich von Albeck,[19] made a strong statement against the pretensions of the Council itself, listing twenty-four objections of various kinds that the Germans wished to propound; most involved minutiae of Canon Law.
Finally, the German delegation proposed a meeting between the Pisans and Pope Gregory at a mutually agreeable place, a proposition which was old and which had already failed several times.
It rehearsed all of the charges against the two popes from the point of view of the cardinals, of which there were thirty-eight, going lightly over their participation in the events; it demanded that the two should be judged to be heretics and should be deprived of their offices.
[22] Carlo Malatesta, Prince of Rimini, adopted a different approach, defending Gregory's cause as a man of letters, an orator, a politician, and a knight, but was still unsuccessful.
[24] Benedict refused to attend the council in person, but his delegates arrived very late (14 June), and their claims aroused the protests and laughter of the assembly.
[25] At the seventh session on 4 May, Piero d'Anchorano, a professor of law at Bologna, read a refutation of the case presented by the embassy of King Rupert.
On 26 April, the French embassy, led by Simon de Cramaud, who held the title of Patriarch of Alexandria, arrived in Pisa.
In the fifteenth session on 5 June 1409, when the usual formality was completed with the request for a definite condemnation of Pedro de Luna and Angelo Corrario, the Fathers of Pisa returned a sentence until then unexampled in the history of the Church.
All were stirred when the Patriarch of Alexandria, Simon de Cramaud, addressed the meeting: "Benedict XIII and Gregory XII are recognised as schismatics, the approvers and makers of schism, notorious heretics, guilty of perjury and violation of solemn promises, and openly scandalising the universal Church.
"[32] This grave sentence was greeted with joyful applause, the Te Deum was sung, and a solemn procession was ordered next day, the Feast of Corpus Christi.
[35] Then, the Archbishop of Pisa read out a document containing Electoral Capitulations, signed and sealed by each of the cardinals, promising that whoever was elected pope would carry out a reform of the Church, and would not allow the Council to dissolve until that goal had been achieved.
[37] At the seventeenth session, on Thursday 13 June, there was a reading of the relevant sections of Pope Gregory X's constitution ubi majus periculum, in which the magistrates of the host city of a conclave are required to provide security and safety for the participants.
Then the three patriarchs read out a conciliar decree, authorizing the cardinals, without regard to obedience, in the name of the Council and by virtue of Canon Law to proceed to an election.
[46] He presided over the last four sessions of the Council, confirmed all the ordinances made by the cardinals after their refusal of obedience to the antipopes, united the two sacred colleges, and subsequently declared that he would work energetically for reform.
[51] The nineteenth session of the council took place on Monday 1 July 1409, with Pope Alexander presiding, and Cardinal de Thureyo singing the Solemn High Mass.
Through Cardinal de Challant the Pope announced that all penal sentences which had been levelled against anyone by either Gregory XII or Benedict XIII were declared null and void.
[53] Another session was scheduled for Monday 15 July, but it was postponed until the 27th at the Pope's request, due to the arrival of Louis of Anjou, the pretender to the throne of Naples.
He received a severe blow when the Venetians decided to support the Council of Pisa, since Venice controlled both the land and sea routes between Rimini and Cividale.
That may or may not have been the case, but there was one cardinal whose cardinalate preceded the Schism, Guy de Malsec, who had helped summon the Council and who voted in the papal election.
Yet, because Alexander was not elected in opposition to a generally recognized pontiff, nor by schismatic methods, his position was better than that of Clement VII and Benedict XIII, the popes of Avignon.
Archbishop Antoninus of Florence, Thomas Cajetan, Juan de Torquemada, and Odericus Raynaldus all cast doubt on its authority.
Bossuet says: "If the schism that devastated the Church of God was not exterminated at Pisa, at any rate it received there a mortal blow and the Council of Constance consummated it."
