View source for Pope Innocent VII

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 1404 to 1406}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
|image = Nuremberg Chronicle f 235v 1 Innocentius VII.jpg
|caption = Miniature of Innocent VII in the ''Nuremberg Chronicle'' (1493)
|type=Pope
|honorific-prefix=  [[List of popes|Pope]]
|name=Innocent VII
|title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
|birth_name=Cosimo de' Migliorati
|church = [[Catholic Church]]
|term_start=17 October 1404
|term_end=6 November 1406
|predecessor=[[Boniface IX]]
|successor=[[Gregory XII]]
|opposed=Avignon claimant:<br>[[Antipope Benedict XIII|Benedict XIII]]
|ordination =
|ordinated_by =
|consecration =5 December 1387
|consecrated_by =
|cardinal =18 December 1389
|created_cardinal_by = [[Boniface IX]]
|birth_date=1339
|birth_place= [[Sulmona]], [[Kingdom of Naples]]
|death_date=6 November 1406 (aged 66–67)
|death_place=[[Rome]], [[Papal States]]
|previous_post={{Indented plainlist|
*[[Archbishop of Ravenna]] (1387-1389)
*[[Bishop of Bologna]] (1389-1390)
*Apostolic Administrator of Ravenna (1389–1400)
*[[Santa Croce in Gerusalemme|Cardinal-Priest of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme]] (1389–1404)
*[[Camerlengo|Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals]] (1396–1404)}}
|coat_of_arms=C o a Innocenzo VII.svg
|other=Innocent}}
{{Infobox popestyles
|image            = File: C o a Innocenzo VII.svg
|dipstyle         = [[His Holiness]]
|offstyle         = Your Holiness
|relstyle         = Holy Father
|deathstyle       = None
}}
'''Pope Innocent VII''' ({{langx|la|Innocentius VII}}; {{langx|it|Innocenzo VII}}; 1339<ref>The single contemporary source that refers to his age (chronicle of Dietrich von Nieheim) says that he became pope at the age of 65. A. Kneer: ''Zur Vorgeschichte Papst Innozenz VII.'', Historisches Jahrbuch, 1891, p. 347-348. Several modern sources (incl. The Catholic Encyclopedia or Encyclopædia Britannica) put his birth ca. 1336</ref> – 6 November 1406), born '''Cosimo de' Migliorati''', was head of the [[Catholic Church]] from 17 October 1404 to his death, in November 1406. He was pope during the period of the [[Western Schism]] (1378–1417), and was opposed by the [[Avignon]] claimant [[Antipope Benedict XIII|Benedict XIII]]. Despite good intentions, he did little to end the schism, owing to the troubled state of affairs in [[Rome]], and his distrust of the sincerity of Benedict XIII, and King [[Ladislaus of Naples]].

==Early life==
Cosimo de' Migliorati was born to a noble family of [[Sulmona]] in the [[Abruzzi]], son of Gentile Migliorati and wife Mascia Oderisi and uncle of cardinal [[Giovanni Migliorati (cardinal)|Giovanni Migliorati]].{{sfn|Lightbown|2004|p=216}} He distinguished himself by his learning in both civil and [[Canon law (Catholic Church)|Canon Law]], which he taught for a time at [[Perugia]] and [[Padua]]. His teacher [[Giovanni da Legnano]] sponsored him at Rome, where [[Pope Urban VI]] (1378–89) took him into the [[Curia]], sent him for ten years as papal collector to [[England]],<ref>There he is considered one of the connections through whom [[Chaucer]] came to know of "Lynyan", one of the "worthy clerks" mentioned in the Clerk's prologue in ''[[Canterbury Tales]]''. A.S. Cook, "Chauceriana II: Chaucer's 'Linian'", ''Romanic Review'' '''8''' (1917:375f).</ref> made him [[Bishop of Bologna]] in 1386 at a time of strife in that city,{{sfn|Hanna|2022|p=19}} and [[Archbishop]] of [[Ravenna]] in 1387.{{sfn|Morrissey|2000|p=157}}

[[Pope Boniface IX]] made him [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]]-priest of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (1389) and sent him as legate to Lombardy and Tuscany in 1390.<ref name=Ott>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08019a.htm Ott, Michael. "Pope Innocent VII." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 19 December 2018</ref> When Boniface IX died, there were present in Rome delegates from the rival pope at Avignon, Benedict XIII. The Roman cardinals asked these delegates whether their master would abdicate if the cardinals refrained from holding an election. When they were bluntly told that Benedict XIII would never abdicate (indeed he never did), the cardinals proceeded to an election. First, however, they each undertook a solemn oath to leave nothing undone, and, if need be, lay down the [[papal tiara|tiara]] to end the schism.

==Papacy==
[[File:Papal bulla of Pope Innocent VII (FindID 602224).jpg|thumb| [[Papal bulla]] of Innocent VII]]

Migliorati was [[Papal conclave, 1404|unanimously chosen]] – by nine cardinals – on 17 October 1404 and took the name of Innocent VII.{{sfn|Walsh|2003|p=102}} There was a general riot by the [[Ghibelline]] party in Rome when news of his election got out, but peace was maintained by the aid of King [[Ladislaus of Naples]], who hastened to Rome with a band of soldiers to assist the Pope in suppressing the insurrection. For his services the king extorted various concessions from Innocent VII, among them the promise that Ladislaus' claim to Naples would not be compromised,<ref name=Ott/> which claim had been challenged until very recently by [[Louis II of Anjou]]. That suited Innocent VII, who had no intention of reaching an agreement with Avignon that would compromise his claims to the [[Papal States]]. Thus Innocent VII was laid under embarrassing obligations, from which he freed himself.

Innocent VII had made the great mistake of elevating his highly unsuitable nephew [[Ludovico Migliorati]] – a colorful [[condottiero]] formerly in the pay of [[Giangaleazzo Visconti]] of [[Milan]] – to be Captain of the Papal Militia, an act of nepotism that cost him dearly.<ref name="treccani.it">Italian Biographical Dictionary, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/lodovico-migliorati_(Dizionario-Biografico)/</ref> Innocent further named him the rector of Todi in April 1405.<ref name="treccani.it"/> In August 1405, Ludovico Migliorati, using his power as head of the militia, seized eleven members of the obstreperous Roman partisans on their return from a conference with the Pope, had them murdered in his own house, and had their bodies thrown from the windows of the hospital of Santo Spirito into the street. There was an uproar. Pope, court and cardinals, with the Migliorati faction, fled towards [[Viterbo]]. Ludovico took the occasion of driving off cattle that were grazing outside the walls, and the Papal party were pursued by furious Romans, losing thirty members, whose bodies were abandoned in the flight, including the Abbot of Perugia, struck down under the eyes of the Pope.

Innocent's protector Ladislaus sent a squad of troops to quell the riots, and by January 1406 the Romans again acknowledged Papal temporal authority, and Innocent VII felt able to return. But Ladislaus, not content with the former concessions, desired to extend his authority in Rome and the Papal States. To attain his end he aided the Ghibelline faction in Rome in their revolutionary attempts in 1405. A squad of troops which King Ladislaus had sent to the aid of the [[Colonna family|Colonna]] faction was still occupying the [[Castel Sant'Angelo|Castle of Sant' Angelo]], ostensibly protecting the [[Holy See|Vatican]], but making frequent sorties upon Rome and the neighbouring territory. Only after Ladislaus was [[excommunicated]] did he yield to the demands of the Pope and withdraw his troops.<ref name=Ott/>

Shortly after his accession in 1404 Innocent VII had taken steps to keep his oath by proclaiming a council to resolve the Western Schism. King [[Charles VI of France]], theologians at the [[University of Paris]], such as [[Pierre d'Ailly]] and [[Jean Gerson]], and King [[Rupert of Germany]], were all urging such a meeting. However, the troubles of 1405 furnished him with a pretext for postponing the meeting, claiming that he could not guarantee safe passage to his rival Benedict XIII if he came to the council in Rome. Benedict, however, made it appear that the only obstacle to the end of the Schism was the unwillingness of Innocent VII. Innocent VII was unreceptive to the proposal that he as well as Benedict XIII should resign in the interests of peace.

==Death==
Innocent died in Rome on 6 November 1406.<ref name=ncd>{{cite web| url = http://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-pope-innocent-vii/| title = "Pope Innocent VII". ''New Catholic Dictionary''. CatholicSaints.Info. 13 August 2018}}</ref> 

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
*[[Cardinals created by Innocent VII]]
*[[List of popes]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book |chapter=Richard Rolle’s ‘Valde Intimus Socius’: A Search for William Stoups |first=Ralph |last=Hanna |pages=9-25 |title=Middle English Manuscripts and their Legacies: A Volume in Honour of Ian Doyle |editor-first1=Corinne |editor-last1=Saunders |editor-first2=Richard |editor-last2=Lawrie |publisher=Brill |year=2022 |isbn=978-90-04-47214-3 }}
*{{cite book |title=Carlo Crivelli |first=Ronald |last=Lightbown | author-link = Ronald Lightbown|publisher=Yale University Press |year=2004 }}
*{{cite book |chapter=Peter of Candia at Padua and Venice in March 1406. A Critical Edition |first=Thomas E. |last=Morrissey |pages=155-173 |title=Reform and Renewal in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Studies in Honor of Louis Pascoe, S.J. |editor-first1=Christopher M. |editor-last1=Bellitto |editor-first2=Thomas M. |editor-last2=Izbicki |publisher=Brill |year=2000 |isbn=90 04 11399 1 }}
* {{Catholic|wstitle=Pope Innocent VII}}
*{{cite book |title=The Conclave: A Sometimes Secret and Occasionally Bloody History of Papal Elections |first=Michael |last=Walsh |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2003 |isbn=9781461601814 }}





{{commons category|Innocentius VII}}

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{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Boniface IX|Boniface IX]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=17 October 1404 &ndash; 6 November 1406 <br><small>Avignon claimant: [[Antipope Benedict XIII|Benedict XIII]]</small>}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Gregory XII|Gregory XII]]}}
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{{Western Schism timeline}}
{{WesternSchism}}
{{Popes}}
{{Catholicism}}
{{History of the Catholic Church}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Innocent 07}}
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:University of Perugia alumni]]
[[Category:14th-century Italian Roman Catholic archbishops]]
[[Category:Archbishops of Ravenna]]
[[Category:People from Sulmona]]
[[Category:1339 births]]
[[Category:1406 deaths]]
[[Category:Cardinal-nephews]]
[[Category:15th-century popes]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Peter's Basilica]]