Council of Pisa
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The Council of Pisa was a controversial council held in 1409. It attempted to end the Western Schism by deposing Benedict XIII (Avignon) and Gregory XII (Rome) for schism and manifest heresy. The College of Cardinals, composed of members of both the Avignon Obedience and the Roman Obedience, who were recognized by each other and by the Council, then elected a third papal claimant, Alexander V, who lived only a few months. He was succeeded by John XXIII.
The Cathedral of Pisa at sunset
Western Schism
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The Western Schism, also known as the Papal Schism, the Great Occidental Schism, or the Schism of 1378, was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 1378 to 1417 in which bishops residing in Rome and Avignon both claimed to be the true pope, and were joined by a third line of Pisan claimants in 1409. The schism was driven by personalities and political allegiances, with the Avignon Papacy being closely associated with the French monarchy.
A 14th-century miniature symbolizing the schism
Habemus Papam at the Council of Constance
Plaque commemorating the popes buried in St. Peter's. Alexanders VI, VII, and VIII are numbered as though the Pisan pope Alexander V were legitimate, but John XXIII (d. 1963) has reused the ordinal of the Pisan pope John XXIII.