URBAN VI, Pope - St. Peter hands the keys to U. VI. Detail of the Pontiff's tomb (late 14th century; reused Roman sarcophagus), Sacred Vatican Grottoes.

the Limousin Pietro di Monteruco, nephew of Innocent VI, papal vice-chancellor, had him as chaplain and familiar.

Urban V appointed him archbishop of Acerenza, in Lucania, on 22 March 1363. Gregory XI on 13 Jan. 1377 transferred him to the see of Bari and, having brought the Curia to Rome, entrusted him with the Chancery in place of Card. Pietro, who had remained at Avignon. On the death of Gregory XI on 27 March 1378, Prignano, even amid the tumults stirred up by the Roman people who feared the return of the papacy to Avignon, was elected pontiff by the cardinals, on 8 Apr. 1378, under the name of U. VI (v. WESTERN SCHISM). He was consecrated on 18 Apr.

Upright and experienced in the affairs of the Curia, but harsh and obstinate in character, he soon alienated the minds of his electors, who, on the pretext that the election had not been free, having gathered at Fondi after agreements with the Court of France, on 20 Sept. 1378 set against him Card. Robert of Geneva (v.), who assumed the name Clement VII. U., who was at Tivoli, was able with the help of arms to make himself master of Rome, where he excommunicated his adversary and deposed Joanna queen of Naples, who had declared for him. In her place he crowned King Charles of Durazzo at Rome on 12 June 1381 and betook himself to Aversa (1383), then to Nocera (1384), where he soon fell out with him, took prisoner and brought to trial six cardinals accused of treason and excommunicated the King himself. Charles kept the Pope besieged at Nocera until a Genoese fleet had freed him and conducted him to Genoa (23 Sept. 1385) together with the six prisoner cardinals, five of whom perished mysteriously. U. did not leave Genoa until the end of 1386 and by way of Lucca betook himself to Perugia (2 Oct. 1387); only in Sept. 1388 did he return to Rome, where he died on 15 Oct. 1389.

Bibliography7 works

BIBL.: sources: Teodorico di Nyem, De schismate lib. 3, ed. Erler, Leipzig 1890; E. Baluze, Vitae Paparum Avenionensium, ed. Mollat, 4 vols., Paris 1916-28. Studies: N. Valois, La France et le grand schisme d'Occid., 4 vols., ibid. 1896-1902; L. Salembier, Le grand schisme d'Occid., 5th ed., ibid. 1921; A. Cutolo, Re Ladislao di Angiò-Durazzo, 2 vols., Milan 1936; M. de Boüard, La France et l'Italie au temps du grand schisme d'Occid., Paris 1936; P. Brezzi, Lo scisma d'Occid. come problema ital. La funz. ital. del papato nel periodo del grande scisma, in Arch. d. Deput. Rom. di st. patria, 67 (1944), pp. 391-450; W. Ullmann, The origins of the great schism, London 1948, ch. 9.

Pio Paschini

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Urban VI, Pope

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