There was one unfortunate exception: the fourteenth century saw the burgeoning of
the slave trade in southern Europe. Girls, mainly from the Mongol world but also
sometimes Greeks or Slavs (and therefore Christians), were herded onto ships; those
who survived the harrowing trip across the Mediterranean were sold on the open
market in cities such as Genoa, Florence, and Pisa. They were high-prestige
purchases, domestic “servants” with the allure of the Orient.
The Church Divided
The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries saw deep divisions within the church. Popes
fought over who had the right to the papacy, and ordinary Catholics disputed about
that as well as the very nature of the church itself.
THE GREAT SCHISM
Between 1378 and 1409, rival popes—one line based in Avignon, the other in Rome
—claimed to rule as vicar of Christ; from 1409 to 1417, a third line based in Bologna
joined them. (See the list of Popes and Antipopes to 1500 on p. 341.) The popes at
each venue excommunicated the others, surrounded themselves with their own
college of cardinals, and commanded loyal followers. The Great Schism (1378–1417)
—as this period of popes and antipopes is called—was both a spiritual and a political
crisis.
Exacerbating political tensions, the schism fed the Hundred Years’ War: France
supported the pope at Avignon, England the pope at Rome. In some regions the
schism polarized a single community: for example, around 1400 at Tournai, on the
border of France and Flanders, two rival bishops, each representing a different pope,
fought over the diocese. Portugal, more adaptable and farther from the fray, simply
changed its allegiance four times.
The crisis began with the best of intentions. Stung by criticism of the Avignon
papacy, Pope Gregory XI (1370–1378) left Avignon to return to Rome in 1377.
When he died a year later, the cardinals elected an Italian as Urban VI (1378–1389).
Finding Urban high-handed, however, the French cardinals quickly thought better of
what they had done. At Anagni, declaring Urban’s election invalid and calling on him
to resign, they elected Clement VII, who installed himself at Avignon. The papal
monarchy was now split. The group that went to Avignon depended largely on
French resources to support it; the group at Rome survived by establishing a
signoria, complete with mercenary troops to collect its taxes and fight its wars. Thus
