New Thoughts on Church and State and the Rise of Conciliarism
The people grew more and more frustrated with the Church and attempted to devise ways in which they could correct the problems within it. A man named Marsiglio of Padua (c. 1270-1342) wrote a book called Defender of Peace. His biggest point of contempt with the Church and in his eyes the one thing that the Church got wrong is that they really don't have power over all monarchies through Papal Authority like Boniface had claimed. Furthermore he claimed that since the pope didn't posses the power they had claimed for so long, a council should have it.
The Conciliar Movement
The cardinals believed that a great council of church authority would be capable to end the seemingly endless schism. This belief, that the church's problems could be fixed by a general council was called Conciliarism. Neither pope, however, would call for such a council, so the cardinals forcefully called for a general council in 1409 referred to as the Council of Pisa. It was at the Council of Pisa that the cardinal made the worst mistake possible and elected yet another pope. Now with three popes the cardinals had no clue how to mend the tears in the Church.
Realizing that the Church was lost and that the schism was becoming an increasingly greater problem the Holy Roman Emperor at the time, Sigismund, called for another council from 1414 to 1418 and it was there that the cardinal stubbled upon the simple solution that had evaded them for so long. They either denounced the popes or they resigned themselves and then the council continued to elect another sole pope, called Pope Martin V (1417-1431), a man who was from the Roman family. The cardinals had effectively ended the schism after many years.
Realizing that the Church was lost and that the schism was becoming an increasingly greater problem the Holy Roman Emperor at the time, Sigismund, called for another council from 1414 to 1418 and it was there that the cardinal stubbled upon the simple solution that had evaded them for so long. They either denounced the popes or they resigned themselves and then the council continued to elect another sole pope, called Pope Martin V (1417-1431), a man who was from the Roman family. The cardinals had effectively ended the schism after many years.