RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Benedict
royal assent and was promulgated (July 27), all the cardinals but three forsook Benedict, and open warfare broke out. Benedict, practically a prisoner in his palace, yielded so far (Apr., 1399) as to sign a solemn undertaking to abdicate whenever his rival would do the same or should die or be expelled from Rome; but he secretly protested that his promise was null and void, as having been given under compulsion. France was now practically without a pope; and the longer this anomalous condition continued, the more uneasi- Course of ness it caused. Leading churchmen, Events in such as Gerson and Nicholas de Cle- France. manges, began to write in favor of a return to Benedict XIII. Finally Charles called a meeting of bishops and nobles (May, 1403), to reconsider the question. Before they met Benedict had contrived to escape from Avignon, and the city had declared for him, once he was free. It is not surprising, therefore, that the assembled magnates declared for a restoration of France to his obedience, though on condition that he should renew his promise in regard to abdication, and undertake to submit the question how to end the schism to a general council within a year. This left things much as they had been in 1394 and 1395. Boniface IX died soon after (Oct. 1, 1404); but his successor, Innocent VII, showed just as little inclination to abandon his claims. Benedict, still attached to his own plan of a personal conference, undertook a journey to Genoa, without any result except to produce fresh irritation in France, whose clergy were taxed to pay the expenses of the experiment. Another national council (1406) declared in favor of withdrawing his right to present the bishoprics and benefices; but the Duke of Orleans stood out for complete obedience and hindered the execution of this decision. New hopes were aroused, on the death of Innocent VII, by the choice (Nov. 30, 1406) of Gregory XII, who at once declared himself willing to take any measures, even that of abdication, to end the schism. A meeting was planned between the rivals for the autumn of 1407, but it fell through. In November Benedict lost a powerful friend by the murder of the Duke of Orleans, and was so unwise in 1408 as to attempt to enforce the observance of the French obedience by threats of excommunication. In May Charles proclaimed France absolutely neutral in the contest. Benedict, fearing for his safety, fled to his native Aragon.
The cardinals of both factions deserted their respective popes and in June took counsel together with a view to calling a general council. This met in 1409 at Pisa, summoned both claimants before it, proceeded to hear testimony when they did not appear, and on June 5 declared both, The Coun- as heretics, schismatics, and percils of jurers, not only deposed but excom- Pisa and municated. Benedict still asserted Constance, his claims, and Spain, Portugal, and Scotland adhered to him. New negotiations with him were undertaken by the Council of Constance in 1414, but he stubbornly refused to yield, even to the persuasions of the emperor Sigismund. Finally the patience of his own sup-
porters in Spain and Scotland was worn out, and they renounced him in the Concordat of Narbonne (Dec, 1415). He entrenched himself in the mountain fastness of Peniscola, near Valencia, which belonged to his family, and proudly told the envoys of the council that the true Church was there only. On July 26, 1417, the Council of Constance once more deposed and excommunicated him; and he remained in his castle, with a court of but four cardinals, until his death at the age of nearly ninety in Nov., 1424. (A. Hauck.)
2. Benedict XIII was also the name borne by Pietro Francesco d'Orsini-Gravina, pope 1724-30. He was born Feb. 2, 1649, at Gravina in the kingdom of Naples, and in 1667, renouncing his rights of succession to the ducal estates, entered the Dominican order at Venice, taking the name of Vincenzo Maria. He studied theology at Venice and Bologna, philosophy at Naples. In 1672 he was made a cardinal by Clement X, and archbishop of Benevento in 1686. After administering his diocese admirably for thirty-eight years, and spending his leisure in the composition of theological works, he was almost unanimously elected pope (May 29, 1724), after the death of Innocent XIII. At first he took the name of Benedict XIV, but changed it to Benedict XIII in the conviction that Pedro de Luna was a schismatic and not a legitimate pope. His pontificate began with an attempt to restrain the pomp and luxury of the cardinals, which was as vain as his similar attempts to reform the rest of the clergy. Though the prescriptions of the Lateran council of 1725 in this direction were not much heeded, it is memorable because in it Benedict confirmed the constitution Unigenitus, and thus aided the Jesuits. He had the satisfaction of receiving in 1728 the unconditional submission of De Noailles, archbishop of Paris, the head of the Gallican opposition. Weakness was the principal characteristic of his dealings with the secular powers of Europe. He left such matters almost entirely in the hands of his favorite Cardinal Coscia, whose interest it was to keep on good terms with the powers. Thus the emperor Charles VI obtained the privileges which he claimed in Sicily as the successor of the older rulers, who had been legati nati of the Holy See. Thus also the king of Sardinia got the best of a long contest with Rome; and only one state found the curia stubborn. The king of Portugal, John V, requested the red hat for Bichi, the papal nuncio at Lisbon, and when it was refused showed great hostility to the pope, even threatening in 1728 to break off all relations between the Church of Portugal and Rome. Benedict was unpopular in Rome, owing to the misgovernment of Coscia, who, when the pope died (Feb. 21, 1730), was obliged to flee in disguise, and later was imprisoned for ten years by Clement XII. (A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: 1. Pedro de Luna: A Vita is found in E. Baluze, Vitas paparum Avenoniensium, i, 561-568, Paris, 1693; the Eng. transl. of several original documents which are pertinent is given in Thatcher and McNeal, Source Book, pp. 325-329; Theodoric of Nieheim, De Schismate, ed. G. Erler, ii, 33 sqq., Leipsic, 1890; Chartularium Universitatis Paris, ed. H. Denifle, iii, 552
Benedict