POPE BONIFACE IX, SECOND POPE OF THE WESTERN SCHISM

Pietro Tomacelli, born around 1350, was from a poor but noble family of the Kingdom of Naples. He was neither a trained theologian nor a gifted politician with experience in the Curia. But he was tactful and prudent. He was a cardinal by his early 30s, so some noticed his talents. He needed all the tact he could muster, since he was the second pope of the Western Schism.

By November 1, 1389, as Boniface IX took his throne, there was already another pope on the throne in Avignon. “Pope” Clement had already ruled, under the “protection” of the French king, for fifteen years. The recently deceased Pope Urban had been battling a two-headed papacy for years.

Boniface faced difficulties right away. In the mid-1380s, Queen Joanne of Naples had no heir. She adopted Louis of Anjou, grandson of the French king. When she died, Louis ruled some of the kingdom from 1390 to 1399, supported by the “other” pope, Clement VII. Boniface wanted the young Ladislaus, son of the deceased King Charles III of Naples, to be king. So, he crowned the man in 1390. It was a good working relationship. They worked to expel the French from Southern Italy over the next decade.

Eventually Boniface controlled the independence of the anti-papal Roman citizens and established some control. Of course, he had to fortify Castel Sant’Angelo and its bridges. The Romans did not give up without a fight and Boniface found it in his best interest to leave town for Assisi or Perugia occasionally. He gradually took back the Papal States.

The schism continued. To stop the split in the Church, England and Germany tried to persuade Boniface to abdicate, along with Clement. Neither would. Then there was pressure for an ecumenical council to answer the problem of the two popes. But that did not happen.

Two Jubilees occurred in Boniface’s papacy. The first, in 1390, was called for by the recently deceased Urban VI. It was celebrated mostly in Germany, Hungry, Poland, Bohemia and England. Indulgences were sold and preached extensively. The pope needed money! This created a major problem within one hundred years.

The second Jubilee, in 1400, developed a different set of problems.  It drew many crowds, especially in France, where a plague was raging. Agitators would entice people to follow them to Rome as penitents. Boniface remained in Rome despite the plague, and he saw not penitents, but rabble-rousers. He had the leader burned at the stake. The crowds dispersed, and the Jubilee was more successful for it.

At the same time as the second Jubilee, Wenceslaus, King of Germany, was deposed. Rupert, Duke of Bavaria, and Palatine of the Rhine, became king. Boniface was not pleased but did recognize Rupert after a few years.

Boniface’s friend, England, had people begin to turn against him. John Wyclif, an antipapal preacher, supported opposition to the king and the Church’s selling of benefices. Parliament partly went along with Wyclif, voting to give the king veto power over papal appointments. The English bishops convened to condemn Wyclif.

In the last years of the century, Constantinople was threatened by the Muslims. Boniface appealed to Europe for a crusade to save the East. There was no enthusiasm to take up the fight. But help came in another form: the Mongols attacked the Turks, who were then too busy to consider Constantinople.

When “Pope” Clement died in Avignon in 1394, Boniface thought he had a chance of eliminating the Schism. But the cardinals in Avignon elected the Spaniard, Pedro de Luna. Attempts of Pope Boniface at negotiating failed. They exchanged envoys several times. Boniface’s last interview with DeLuna’s envoy got him so upset, he went to bed and died two days later.