The 1389 papal conclave was convoked after the death of Pope Urban VI. The conclave is historically unique because all of the cardinal electors were the creation of a single pontiff: Urban VI, the very pope who was being replaced. None of the surviving cardinals created by previous popes recognized Urban VI as legitimate. In addition, Urban VI had deposed four of his creatures, and three were absent, leaving only sixteen cardinal electors.

Pope Boniface IX was head of the Catholic Church from 2 November 1389 to his death, in October 1404. He was the second Roman pope of the Western Schism. During this time the Avignon claimants, Clement VII and Benedict XIII, maintained the Roman Curia in Avignon, under the protection of the French monarchy. He is the last pope to date to take on the pontifical name "Boniface".