INNOCENT VII, POPE. — Cosimo Gentile de’ Migliorati, born at Sulmona about 1336, died at Rome on 6 Nov. 1406. He entered the Curia, where he became a cleric of the Sacred College, papal chaplain, and apostolic collector in England. Appointed Archbishop of Ravenna on 4 Nov. 1387, he was transferred to Bologna on 18 June 1389 and created Cardinal of S. Croce on 18 Dec. 1389 by Boniface IX. On 9 March 1390 he went as legate to Lombardy and Tuscany to restore peace between Galeazzo Visconti and the communes of Florence and Bologna. On 17 Oct. 1404 he was elected pope by the eight cardinals of the obedience of Boniface IX present in Rome, binding himself to resign should his Avignonese rival, Benedict XIII, do likewise; he refused, however, to meet with him.
In his government he had to endure the arrogance of Ladislaus of Durazzo, King of Naples, and the disorders of the Roman commune. His nephew Ludovico Migliorati, a condottiere, sought to avenge him: as the popular representatives left the Vatican after a harsh negotiation with Innocent, they passed near S. Spirito, where Ludovico seized them and killed eleven (16 Aug. 1405). The people rose in revolt, forcing Innocent to flee precipitously toward Viterbo, but he soon returned at the Romans’ invitation (16 March 1406), pardoning them while punishing only the chief culprits—excluding his nephew.
Innocent deserves credit for providing for the University of Rome by establishing new chairs for the teaching of Greek, medicine, rhetoric, and philosophy.