Great Western Schism

Overview

The Great Western Schism was the late-14th-century division in which rival popes and obediences claimed authority from Rome and Avignon.

Current Profile

356: The Blood-Drinking Bride of Christ introduces the schism through the aftermath of Gregory XI’s return to Rome and death. The cardinals’ contested succession produced rival popes, and Catherine backed the Roman claimant Urban VI, showing how charismatic religious authority could be recruited into an institutional legitimacy struggle.

Key Characteristics

• Emerged after the papacy’s return from Avignon and Gregory XI’s death.
• Divided western Christian allegiance between rival papal claimants.
• Converted questions of election and location into a wider legitimacy crisis.
• Drew Catherine’s mystical reputation into active papal politics.

Evidence

• Succession sequence: 356: The Blood-Drinking Bride of Christ connects Gregory’s death, cardinal conflict, and rival popes.
• Catherine’s alignment: 356: The Blood-Drinking Bride of Christ records her support for Urban and address to cardinals.

Qualifications

The source note supplies only the opening of the schism as the closing political context for Catherine’s life. It does not provide a complete chronology, account of rival elections and obediences, legal analysis, resolution, or social consequences across Europe.

What Changed

• Created an event profile centered on the transition from Avignon residence to disputed papal succession.

Relationships

• 阿维尼翁教廷 / Avignon Papacy - preceding institutional geography whose legacy shaped the rival Avignon obedience.
• Gregory XI - pope whose return and death frame the schism’s opening.
• Urban VI - Roman claimant supported by Catherine.
• Catherine of Siena - mystic and political actor who intervened for Urban’s legitimacy.