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| Antipope John XXIII (1410–1415) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Baldassarre Cossa |
| Title | Antipope John XXIII |
| Birth date | c. 1370 |
| Birth place | Naples |
| Death date | 22 December 1419 |
| Death place | Florence |
| Preceded | Pope Gregory XII (contested) |
| Succeeded | Pope Martin V |
| Other names | Baldassare Cossa |
Antipope John XXIII (1410–1415) was the name taken by Baldassarre Cossa during the Western Schism, when competing obediences of Roman Catholic Church authority fractured papal legitimacy among Avignon Papacy adherents and supporters of Pope Gregory XII. His election and assertion of the papacy intersected with dynastic politics involving the Kingdom of Naples, the Holy Roman Empire, and influential families such as the Medici and Borgia. His career culminated at the Council of Constance, where questions of conciliar authority, deposition, and reform reshaped late medieval Christendom.
Baldassarre Cossa was born circa 1370 into the noble Cossa family of Naples, a region contested among the Anjou and Aragon claimants and influenced by the Kingdom of Naples court. He studied canon law and rose through ecclesiastical ranks under patrons tied to the Curia, gaining benefices in dioceses connected to Pope Boniface IX and Pope Innocent VII. His early service included roles within papal administration and involvement with cardinals allied to the Roman obedience, notably engaging with the political networks of Pope Gregory XII, Cardinal Angelo Acciaioli, and other Italian prelates. Cossa’s career was shaped by interactions with major actors such as Queen Joanna II of Naples, the Colonna family, and litigations before the Apostolic Camera.
In 1402–1410 Cossa consolidated influence among cardinals who opposed the Avignon Papacy and supported a Roman claimant. After the resignation of rivals and shifting allegiances involving the Council of Pisa (1409) and the election that produced dual claimants, Cossa accepted election as pope in November 1410, taking the name John XXIII. This election occurred amid maneuvering by factions including the Colonna family, emissaries from Florence, and political operators from Lucca and Siena. His claim was contested by adherents of Pope Benedict XIII and the supporters of Pope Gregory XII, producing a tripartite schism that drew responses from rulers such as Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, the Kingdom of France, and the Crown of Aragon.
As John XXIII, Cossa pursued policies balancing ecclesiastical reform rhetoric and pragmatic patronage: he appointed cardinals from families like the Medici, rewarded military captains from the Condottieri class, and negotiated with secular rulers including Sigismund and Queen Joanna II of Naples. His administration relied on financial instruments of the Curia—indulgences, benefices, and annates—to fund campaigns and retain loyalties among Italian communes such as Florence and Venice. Supporters ranged from Italian magnates to German princes who preferred conciliation over prolonged schism; among them were figures linked to the Pisan line and magnates of the Kingdom of Hungary. His court entertained humanists and clerics associated with educational centers like Padua and Bologna.
Cossa’s claim provoked military and diplomatic conflicts, including confrontations in the Kingdom of Naples and tensions with commanders like Braccio da Montone and Giovanni di Vico. The escalating crisis prompted Sigismund to convene the Council of Constance (1414–1418), which aimed to end the schism, address heresy charges associated with figures like Jan Hus, and reform church structures. At Constance, political negotiations involved delegations from the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of France, and English and Burgundian envoys; debates centered on conciliarism advanced by proponents such as Pierre d'Ailly and resisted by papal loyalists. John XXIII attempted to forestall the council’s authority by prorogation and preemptive diplomacy but faced coordinated pressure from ecumenical and imperial parties.
In April 1415 the council declared John XXIII deposed after charges of simony, schism, and maladministration; he fled Constance but was captured by forces loyal to Sigismund. The council subjected him to a formal trial involving commissioners from major sees including Rome, Avignon, and Constanz delegates; his deposition followed the earlier resignation of Pope Gregory XII and the excommunication of Benedict XIII by conciliar act. John XXIII was imprisoned under the custody of Frederick IV of Nuremberg and later confined at Schwarzenberg and lordly residences, where his treatment reflected both punitive and diplomatic calculation by imperial and conciliar authorities.
After several months of confinement, John XXIII submitted to the council’s conditions; he performed penances and negotiated a formal pardon brokered by envoys from Rome and Florence. His restoration to clerical status was limited: he retained cardinalatial rights in diminished form and spent his remaining years under ecclesiastical supervision, residing in cities such as Florence and Bologna. He died on 22 December 1419 in Florence, where contemporaries and later chroniclers, including Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini (future Pope Pius II), recorded his final days and debated the moral and political meanings of his career.
Historians assess John XXIII’s papacy within debates over conciliarism, legitimacy, and late medieval reform. His elevation and deposition at Constance contributed to the end of the Western Schism and the election of Pope Martin V, reshaping relations among the Holy See, Italian principalities, and imperial authority. Scholars referencing archives in Vatican City, diplomatic correspondence with the Kingdom of France and Holy Roman Empire, and chronicles by Flavio Biondo and Giovanni Villani analyze his role in patronage networks, nepotism controversies tied to families such as the Cossa and Orsini, and interactions with reformers including Conciliar movement proponents. John XXIII’s case remains central to studies of medieval governance, the limits of papal power, and the emergence of early modern church-state configurations.
Category:Antipopes Category:15th-century Italian people Category:History of the Papacy