John XXIII

1370–1419

John XXIII was the Pisan antipope elected during the Western Schism. His authority depended on one of several competing papal obediences, and the Council of Constance deposed him while working to reunify the Latin church.

John XXIII also worked as antipope. John XXIII was born in Naples and died in Florence. Angelo Roncalli was elected pope in 1958 and surprised observers by convening the Second Vatican Council, which opened in 1962 and initiated major reforms in Catholic worship, ecumenism and relations with the modern world.

Toby Clements’ A Good Deliverance places the antipope John XXIII within Sir Thomas Malory’s recollection of continental service, linking Malory’s unruly career to the papal and military politics of the early fifteenth century. Simon Fairfax’s A Knight and a Spy 1414 moves into the diplomacy surrounding the Council of Constance, where the attempt to end the Western Schism makes John XXIII’s contested papacy part of the political world through which Sir James de Grispere must navigate.

Periods

Periods linked to John XXIII

Late Medievalc. 1300–1500 CE

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring John XXIII (1 series)

The Road to Agincourt- King’s Spy in Order

by Simon Fairfax 6 books 4.4(5,800)

The Road to Agincourt: King’s Spy follows Sir James de Grispere through the final years before Henry V’s French campaign. Beginning under the failing rule of Henry IV and ending at Agincourt, the sequence combines court espionage, diplomatic missions, Channel piracy, Lollard conspiracy, the Western Schism and the…