Western Civilization I / Unit 12 WC1 1117 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Great Western Schism, 1378 to 1417
Captions available
The idea
Urban VI returned to Rome in thirteen seventy-eight; French cardinals elected Clement VII, and the two excommunicated each other. The Great Western Schism ran to fourteen seventeen with up to three popes at once, while monarchs and laypeople carried on unbothered.
In practice
Antipope, each side's word for the other.
Where people slip
Unit 09's Schism of ten fifty-four is a different split.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it