The Western Schism was a split within the Roman Catholic Church which lasted from 1378 to 1417. It was driven by a conflict between French and Italian cardinals after the death of Pope Gregory XI in 1378. The new elected Pope, Urban VI, proved to be unsuitable, so an antipope, Clement VII, was elected. Clement VII reestablished the papal court in Avignon, which was just dissolved by Gregory XI in 1377 when he ended the Avignon Papacy (1309-1377) and moved back to Rome to escape the influence of the French Crown. The conflicts quickly escalated from a church problem to a diplomatic crisis that divided Europe, as the secular leaders had to choose which claimant they would recognize.
A first attempt to end the Schism was the Council of Pisa in 1409, an unrecognized ecumenical council. But it failed and instead of ending the Schism a third Pope, Alexander V, was elected.
Held between 1414 and 1418 the Council of Constance finally ended the Western Schism with the election of Pope Martin V in 1417 and the resignation of the remaining papal claimants. The council was mainly pressed by the later Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund and also saw the condemnation of Jan Hus in 1415 and Jerome of Prague in 1416.
