GREGORY XII, POPE. - Angelo Correr, of an ancient Venetian family, born in Venice around 1325, Patriarch of Constantinople, then cardinal priest of S. Marco. To put an end to the schism of the Church, which had lasted since the time of Urban VI, the Conclave gathered to elect the successor of Innocent VII (1406) and he swore, together with 13 other "Roman" cardinals, that, in case of election, he would renounce the papacy, provided that Benedict XIII (De Luna), the antipope seated in Avignon, would make a similar renunciation. And since the latter made a similar oath, it was hoped that the Western Schism would soon come to an end. Correr, elected pope on 30 November 1406, over seventy years old, especially because he was considered a convinced supporter of Church unity, took the name of Gregory XII and was crowned on 3 December. Since the Conclave had decided that, within three months of the election, the new Pope should initiate negotiations with his rival to arrange a meeting, Gregory XII declared that he would "immediately take the pilgrim's staff" or, "in a skiff," would go to his rival and would not rest until he had fulfilled his vow. At the suggestion of the cunning Benedict XIII, Savona (29 September 1407) was chosen as the meeting place, then under the dominion of the French king Charles VI. The latter, through his governor Bucciolo, the Genoese cardinal Luigi Fieschi, and with arms, was implementing a plan to extend the influence of the Avignon antipope in Italy and had succeeded in drawing many cities away from loyalty to Rome, including Genoa, which had joyfully welcomed the antipope (20 May 1405).
The plague, which suddenly broke out in Genoa, advised the latter to leave that city and move to Savona, and then from there to Marseille, where the Roman mission reached him. Gregory XII, distrustful of the Genoese intentions and unable to obtain ships from Venice and Ancona, set out overland and arrived at Portovenere, while his rival moved from Savona to Marseille. Meanwhile, Bucciolo's flotilla attempted to seize Rome, a move thwarted by Ladislaus of Naples. Despite the few miles separating the two rivals, they never met. Disappointed by this, many cardinals who had followed Gregory XII abandoned him. To counter their hostile influence, Gregory XII, then in Lucca, in great protest from the College of Cardinals, appointed four new cardinals (9 May 1408). This contravened the Pope's (and the antipope's) commitment not to proceed with new cardinalatial appointments so as not to excite tempers and make Church unity more difficult. While France rose against Gregory XII and Florence worked diligently for unity, and King Robert of Naples supported Gregory XII with often excessive zeal, nine cardinals hitherto faithful to the latter, having separated from him and allied with almost all the partisans of Benedict XIII, gathered in Pisa to provide for the salvation of the Church. The Pisan Synod (25 March 1409) declared itself canonically convoked, ecumenical, and representative of the entire Catholic Church, tried Gregory XII and Benedict XIII, declared them both perjurers, schismatics, heretics, and deposed them; it proclaimed as pope Cardinal Pietro Filargo of Candia under the name of Alexander V. Gregory XII and Benedict XIII resisted; and thus, instead of two, there were now three popes, each supported by his own faction, driven by lust for power, intrigue, and pride. Thus the schism in the Church grew; while the heated debates about the superiority of the council over the pope spread the opinion that only a synod could end the confusion within the Church. The election of the new pope was declared null by the two deposed popes. Gregory XII convened a Council in Cividale, counting on the support of King Robert of the Romans, who helped secure the devotion of the Germans to Rome. Since Venice skillfully avoided hosting Gregory XII within its walls, he sought to ingratiate himself with the Republic by elevating the Venetian Antonio da Ponte, bishop of Concordia, to the patriarchate of Aquileia and appointing a certain number of new cardinals. But as hostilities around him grew and he was not recognized by Christian princes, except by Ladislaus of Naples and a few lesser sovereigns, he fled to Austria; and from there, later at the invitation of Ladislaus, he moved to Gaeta, and then to Rimini with Carlo Malatesta. Meanwhile, Alexander V having died (3 May 1410), Baldassarre Cossa was elected his successor under the name of John XXIII. The Council of Constance, convened at the initiative of Emperor Sigismund (1 November 1414), deposed John XXIII, entered into negotiations with Gregory XII, consented to be canonically convoked by him, considering him the legitimate Pope, so that Gregory would truly renounce the papacy (4 July 1415), a renunciation that was, in a sense, compensated by the appointment of Angelo Correr as perpetual legate *a latere* of the March of Ancona, and with the recognized right to the first place after the Pope. He enjoyed this new position little; for he died at Recanati on 18 October 1417, twenty-four days before the election of Martin V. BIBLICA.: N. Valois, La France et le grand Schisme d'Occident, III-IV, Paris 1901-1902; L. Zanutto, Itinerario del pontifex G. XII da Roma (9 ag. 1407) a Cividale del Friuli (26 maggio 1409). Studio storico, Udine 1901; Pastor, I. V. indice; A. Mercati, La biblioteca privata e gli arredi di cappella di G. XII, in Miscellanea Fr. Ehrle, V (Studi e testi, 42), Città del Vaticano 1924, pp. 128-65; D. De Campos, Un ritratto ideale di G. XII d'attriversità a Gerolamo Muziano, nuovamente collocato nella Pinacoteca Vaticana, Firenze (1930).