Western Schism

The Western Schism began in 1378 when rival papal claimants divided the Latin Church between Rome and Avignon, later complicated by the Pisan obedience. Kings, cities, bishops and universities aligned themselves according to politics as much as theology.

The schism mattered because it made papal authority part of diplomacy, finance and war. Taxes, appointments, embassies and military alliances could all be affected by which pope a ruler recognised.

Simon Fairfax’s Condottieri and Road to Agincourt books use this divided religious world as part of the background to Italian conflict, English policy and diplomacy before Agincourt. The context is useful for fiction about papal finance, embassies, divided loyalties, church politics and the instability of late-medieval Europe.