The Resolution of the Western Schism at the Council of Constance
By the early fifteenth century, the Western Schism had fractured European ecclesiastical alignments, producing three rival papal claimants. The deadlock necessitated a radical institutional strategy. Convened in 1414 under the orchestration of King Sigismund of Hungary, the Council of Constance aimed not merely to select a legitimate pontiff but to assert the supreme authority of an ecumenical council over the papacy itself. This ideological shift, known as conciliarism, provided the legal framework required to dismantle the tripartite division.
To neutralize the numerical advantage of Italian prelates, the council implemented a profound structural reform. Voting was reorganized by designated nations rather than individual bishops. This diplomatic equilibrium prevented any single faction from dominating the proceedings and proved critical in dismantling the entrenched power bases of the respective claimants.
Through calculated diplomatic pressure, the council systematically eliminated the rival pontiffs:
The Pisan claimant, John XXIII, was captured and deposed after attempting to flee the assembly.
The Roman claimant, Gregory XII, agreed to formally resign, but only after the council allowed him to officially convoke them, thereby preserving his line’s claim to legitimacy.
* The Avignon claimant, Benedict XIII, refused to yield and was subsequently isolated by secular allies before being deposed in absentia.
With the papal throne decisively vacated, the election of Pope Martin V in 1417 restored unity to the Latin Church. The Council of Constance succeeded through a combination of secular diplomatic enforcement and the unprecedented application of conciliar authority, ultimately resolving the most severe constitutional crisis in the history of the medieval papacy.
