GREGORY XII, Pope. - Angelo Correr, of an ancient Venetian family, b. in Venice around 1325, patriarch of Constantinople, then cardinal priest of St. Mark's. In order to put an end to the schism of the Church, which had lasted since the time of Urban VI, the Conclave having assembled to elect the successor of Innocent VII (1406), he swore with 13 other "Roman" cardinals that, in the event of election, he would renounce the papacy, provided that Benedict XIII (De Luna), the antipope residing in Avignon, made an equal renunciation. And since the latter made an analogous oath, it was hoped that the Western Schism would soon come to an end. Correr, elected pope on 30 Nov. 1406, over seventy years old, above all because he was held to be a convinced supporter of the unity of the Church, took the name G. XII and was crowned on 3 Dec. The Conclave having decided that, within three months of the election, the new Pope should initiate negotiations with his competitor in order to come to a meeting, G. XII declared that he would "at once take the pilgrim's staff" or "in a skiff" would betake himself to his competitor and would not rest until he had fulfilled his vow. At the suggestion of the cunning Benedict XIII, Savona was fixed as the seat of the meeting (29 Sept. 1407), then under the dominion of the French king Charles VI. The latter, through the governor Boucicaut, the Genoese cardinal Luigi Fieschi, and by force of arms, was carrying out the plan of extending the influence of the Avignon antipope in Italy and had succeeded in detaching from fidelity to Rome many cities, among them Genoa, which had joyfully welcomed the antipope (20 May 1405).
The plague, which broke out suddenly in Genoa, advised the latter to clear out of that city to repair to Savona, and then from there to Marseilles, where the Roman mission reached him. G. XII, distrusting the intentions of the Genoese, and having been unable to obtain ships from Venice and from Ancona, set out on his journey by land and reached Portovenere, while his competitor was withdrawing from Savona to Marseilles. Meanwhile Boucicaut's plot attempted to seize Rome, an attempt foiled by Ladislaus of Naples. Although only a few miles separated the two competitors, they never met. Disappointed by this, many cardinals who followed G. XII abandoned him. To counterbalance their hostile influence, G. XII, then at Lucca, amid great protests from the College of Cardinals, appointed four new cardinals (9 May 1408). This contravened the commitment of the Pope (and of the antipope) not to proceed to new appointments of cardinals so as not to stir up minds and not to make the unity of the Church more difficult. While France was rising up against G. XII and Florence was working diligently for unity, and King Robert of Naples was supporting, with often excessive zeal, G. XII, nine cardinals until then faithful to the latter, having broken away from him and having joined with almost all the partisans of Benedict XIII, assembled at Pisa to provide for the welfare of the Church. The Synod of Pisa (25 March 1409) declared itself canonically convoked, ecumenical and representative of the entire Catholic Church, tried G. XII and Benedict XIII, declared them both perjurers, schismatics, heretics and deposed them; it proclaimed as pope Card. Pietro Filargo da Candia under the name of Alexander V. G. XII and Benedict XIII resisted; and so instead of two, there were three Popes, each of whom was supported by his own faction, inspired and moved by lust for power, by intrigues, by pride. Thus the split in the Church grew; while the heated discussions about the superiority of the council over the pope spread the opinion that only a synod could put an end to the confusion within the bosom of the Church. The election of the new Pope was declared null by the two deposed Popes. G. XII convoked a Council at Cividale, counting on the support of Robert, king of the Romans, who was helping to secure the minds of the Germans for devotion to Rome. Venice having cleverly evaded receiving G. XII within its walls, he aimed to win over that Republic by elevating to patriarch of Aquileia the Venetian Antonio da Ponte, bishop of Concordia, and by appointing yet a certain number of new cardinals. But as hostilities grew around him, unrecognized by Christian princes, except by Ladislaus of Naples and by some minor sovereign, he fled to Austria; and from there, later, at the invitation of Ladislaus, he moved to Gaeta, and then to Rimini near Carlo Malatesta. Alexander V having died in the meantime (3 May 1410), Baldassarre Cossa was elected as his successor under the name of John XXIII. The Council of Constance, convoked on the initiative of the emperor Sigismund (1 Nov. 1414), deposed John XXIII, entered into negotiations with G. XII, consented to be canonically convoked by him, regarding him as legitimate Pope, acted in such a way that G. truly renounced the papacy (4 July 1415), a renunciation that was, in a certain sense, compensated by the appointment of Angelo Correr as perpetual legate a latere of the March of Ancona, and by the right, recognized for him, of the first place after the Pope. He enjoyed this new position but little; for he d. at Recanati on 18 Oct. 1417, twenty-four days before the election of Martin V.
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Raffaele Cissca