1. Ecclesiastical Breakdown
Crisis in the 14th century Church

2. Background
By the 14th western Christendom had experienced 3 centuries of incredible growth
Economically- agriculture, town life, commerce, population
Politically- powerful kings brought order and security
Religiously- the pope’s strength, reformed clergy
Culturally- solid worldview based on faith and reason
This began to change in the 14th
First decade there was food shortage and in the 2nd was famine
the plague kills million
Seen as divine punishment
Attempts to return serfs to their manors caused peasant revolts

3. War
In addition to peasant revolts and other rural debaucheries there was war
Hundred Years War
English kings ruled parts of France
It looked as if England (Henry V) would conquer France
Joan of Arc
When France comes out victorious they have a large standing army and a sense of solidarity
The English came out with similar solidarity
Peasants had been beaten down hard though
Farmers were killed and farmland was destroyed

4. Decline of the Papacy
The sign that the middle ages was declining was the waning authority and prestige of the pope
The medieval concept of a Christian civilization with the pope at its helm was shattering
As the kings increased in power the papacy declined
He got mixed up in European politics and people felt that was acting as a temporal leader as opposed to a spiritual one

5. The Church in France
In the early 14th Philip IV was taxing the church without papal permission to pay for the war
1296 Pope Boniface VIII issued Clericis Laicos which said that kings and lords that taxed the church and clergy that paid would all be excommunicated
Philip did not back down and asserted his authority
The pope had to declare that France could tax in the case of national emergencies
Later Philip tried and imprisoned a French bishop after the Pope warned him not to because the church tries its clergy; Boniface threatened to excommunicate Philip
Angry Philip attacked the papal summer palace at Anagni and took the pope captive
He released the pope but he died a month later

6. Placating Philip
Boniface’s 2 successors tried to keep Philip happy (Benedict XI and Clement V )
Clement built a temporary residence in Avignon
The Babylonian Captivity
The popes were all French and all lived in Avignon
Here they became dependent on the French king
Antipapalism began to damage the pope’s reputation
Marsiglio of Padua wrote The Defender of the Peace which said that the state had nothing to do with religious commands but on reason; it needed no instruction from a higher realm; the church deserved no temporal power

7. Schism In 1377 Gregory XI returned the papacy to Rome
In 1378 Urban VI was elected pope; he abused and imprisoned some cardinals
They fled Rome and declared that Urban was invalidly elected because they were bullied into electing an Italian
They elected Clement VII
Urban, in Rome, excommunicated Clement
Clement, in Avignon, excommunicated Urban

8. Council of Pisa
As the disgrace worsened churchmen organized a council to solve the problem
In 1409 hundred gathered and decided to depose both Urban and Clement
They elected Alexander V who died a few months later; then they elected John XXIII
Since neither Urban nor Clement had called the council, neither recognized its authority

9. We Three Popes A new council was called at Constance in 1414
All three (John, Gregory XII, and Benedict XIII) popes were either deposed or abdicated and Pope Martin V was elected universally
Gregory agreed to step down
John sought refuge with the Austrians for a while until he was finally deposed
Benedict fled to Spain and fortified himself on an island insisting till his death that he was pope

10. Adding to the Modern Mudslide
14th century ecclesiastical breakdown is one more ingredient added to the blender
Modern worldview
Medieval worldview
Renaissance:
A period of transition