URBANO VI, PAPA — St Peter handing the keys to U. VI. Detail of the Pontiff’s tomb (late 14th century; reused Roman sarcophagus), Vatican Sacred Grottoes.
The Limousin Pietro di Monteruco, nephew of Innocenzo VI and papal vice-chancellor, had him as chaplain and member of his household.
Urbano V appointed him archbishop of Acerenza, in Lucania, on 22 March 1363. On 13 Jan. 1377 Gregorio XI transferred him to the see of Bari and, after bringing the Curia to Rome, entrusted him with the Chancellery in place of Cardinal Pietro, who had remained at Avignon. After the death of Gregorio XI on 27 March 1378, Prignano, even amid the disturbances stirred up by the Roman people, who feared the papacy’s return to Avignon, was elected pontiff by the cardinals on 8 Apr. 1378, taking the name U. VI (v. SCISMA D'OCCIDENTE). He was consecrated on 18 Apr.
A man of integrity and experienced in the affairs of the Curia, but harsh and obstinate by nature, he soon alienated the sympathies of his electors, who, on the pretext that the election had not been free, assembled at Fondi after reaching an agreement with the Court of France and, on 20 Sept. 1378, opposed Roberto di Ginevra (v.), who assumed the name Clemente VII. U., who was staying at Tivoli, was able, with the help of armed forces, to make himself master of Rome, where he excommunicated his adversary and deposed Giovanna, queen of Naples, who had declared herself for him. In her place he crowned Carlo di Durazzo king in Rome on 12 June 1381, and went to Aversa (1383), then to Nocera (1384), where he soon fell out with him, took six cardinals prisoner and brought them to trial on charges of treason, and excommunicated the King himself. Carlo kept the Pope under siege at Nocera until a Genoese fleet liberated him and brought him to Genoa (23 Sept. 1385), together with the six imprisoned cardinals, five of whom perished mysteriously. U. did not leave Genoa until the end of 1386 and went by way of Lucca to Perugia (2 Oct. 1387); only in Sept. 1388 did he return to Rome, where he died on 15 Oct. 1389.