Please dispense with the terminology as it's Catholic POV. The Avignon Papacy had Petrine descent, so an Avignon AntiPope is a contradiction in terms. In reality, Pierre d'Ailly, of the Compiegne sub-branch of the fairly minor noble house, had become Chancellor of the University, which brought with it the secondary hats of Chief Theologian and King's Confessor. When the House of Savoie, irritated by the Valois use of what to them was a puppet Pope, decided that what was sauce for the goose could be sauce for the gander, appointing one of their own as a rival Pope, d'Ailly attempted an administrative resolution, which displaced him. He did, however, retain enough influence to get his former pupil and friend Jean Gerson placed in his honours, retiring th the vacant Bishopric of Cambrai, which straddled the Franco-Burgundian border. It's also important to note that the Papal Council was comprised of the Holy Roman Emperor, to whom Burgundy was a vassal, Plantagenet England, allied in the wool trade with Burgundy, Valois France, and the relatively impuissant Spain and Portugal, the latter being allied with the Plantagenet.
Eventually, Gerson spotted a case to restore Papal Supremacy, in the thinking of the Burgundian mystic Jan van Ruusbroec, and then the HRE found a need to bring the Valois-Plantagenet strife to an end, to present a united front to the rising Ottoman threat to the Black Sea holdings of their Austro-Hungarian vassals. Convening the Concilium in 1414 at Constance, the determination was first shown in the execution of Jan Huss: when the French proved equally recalcitrant, Henry V of England suckered all four French Armies into a trap at Agincourt, when the Burgundian forces reinforced his apparently understrength army and captured the lot, executing those who couldn't pay a huge ransom. As a result, all contending Popes were dismissed, and replaced by the debilitated Martin V, as a sop to tradition. He didn't die as hoped, thanks to the Papal nuns who recognised lactose intolerance and switched him to goats' milk, instead he lived to an inconvenient old age which allowed the next generation of French nobility to take control, under a relative of d'Ailly's, Jeanne "of Ark".
The critical thing is that none of the would-be Popes came out on top. All must be seen as equal in infamy, so the term "anti-pope" lacks objectivity. 51.183.175.111 (talk) 00:33, 29 April 2024 (UTC)Reply
