WEEK 23

From 1300 to 1415 the international Roman Catholic Church went through a series of crises that brought in true heresy and important national strains to the church and its future. First came the French-led Avignon Papacy followed by true church schism, and then finally a resolution of the various strains at the Council of Constance in 1415.
Avignon Papacy (1309–1377)
During this period, seven popes, all French, resided in Avignon starting in 1309: Pope Clement V (1305–14), Pope John XXII (1316–34), Pope Benedict XII (1334–42), Pope Clement VI (1342–52), Pope Innocent VI (1352–62), Pope Urban V (1362–70), Pope Gregory XI (1370–78). The papacy was controlled by the French King in this time. In 1378, Gregory XI moved the papal residence back to Rome and died there.
Western Schism (1378–1417)
The French cardinals withdrew to a conclave of their own, where they elected one of their number, Robert of Geneva. He took the name Clement VII. This was the beginning of the period of difficulty from 1378 to 1417 which Catholic scholars refer to as the "Western Schism" or, "the great controversy of the antipopes" (also called "the second great schism" by some secular and Protestant historians), when parties within the Catholic Church were divided in their allegiances among the various claimants to the office of pope.
The Council of Constance, in 1417,
An international church council was convened in 1414 at Constance. In March 1415, the Pisan antipope, John XXIII, fled from Constance in disguise; he was brought back a prisoner and deposed in May. The Roman pope, Gregory XII, resigned voluntarily in July. The council in Constance, having finally cleared the field of popes and antipopes, elected Pope Martin V as pope in November. From the election of Pope Martin V at the Council of Constance in 1417 to the Reformation, Western Christianity was largely free from schism as well as significant disputed papal claimants. Martin V returned the papacy to Rome in 1420 and began to rebuild the international church in its traditional capital.