Background
Baldassare Cossa was born in about 1370 in Florence, Italy.
Baldassare Cossa was born in about 1370 in Florence, Italy.
Born of a Neapolitan family, Cossa was a soldier in his youth, then earned the degree of doctor of law at the University of Bologna.
Cossa adhered to the
Roman obedience. In 1402 Pope Boniface IX made him a cardinal, and from 1403 to 1408 he administered papal territories as legate in Bologna. It was widely believed that only such a council could restore unity to the Church, and many people accepted conciliarism--the theory that a council representing the whole Church was superior to a pope. Since 1378, the Great Western Schism had divided the Roman Catholic Church; two men claimed to be pope, one at Avignon, the other at Rome. The Council of Pisa declared the deposition of the Roman pope Gregory XII and the Avignonese pope Benedict XIII and elected a new pope,
Alexander V. This move failed to end the Great Western Schism, however, for now
there were three papal claimants instead of two. Although, of the three papal
claimants in his day, Cossa commanded the largest following within the Catholic
Church, the Catholic canon law tradition has denied the right of the Council of
Pisa to depose his rivals; if that deposition was invalid, the two popes of the Pisan obedience were antipopes (illegitimate claimants).
Only after his election was he ordained to the priesthood. On May 25 he was crowned as John XXIII. At that time, a war was being fought in Italy between Louis of Anjou and Ladislas of Durazzo, who both claimed the crown of Naples. Cossa sided with Louis, and was present at the Battle of Roccasecca in 1411. In 1413, as Ladislas' troops advanced on Rome, he and his cardinals were obliged to flee northward. Despite these secular distractions, Cossa took some important actions in church affairs. He elevated such distinguished scholars as the theologian Pierre D'Ailly and the canonist Francesco Zabarella to the rank of cardinal. In 1413, under pressure from the Emperor Sigismund, he reluctantly summoned a new general council. It convened at Constance in November 1414. In hopes of ending the schism, the council demanded that all three papal claimants abdicate, and Cossa promised to do so. In March 1415, however, he fled secretly from Constance to Schaffhausen, and was presently taken into custody. The Council of
Constance then convicted him of simony (selling church offices for money),
wasting church property and rights, and leading a "detestable and
dishonorable life, " and on May 29, 1415, declared him deposed. That is
why, when Angelo Roncalli was elected pope in 1958 and took the name John, he was called John XXIII.
In his lifetime he had
a reputation for unscrupulousness and self-aggrandizement.
