Antipope Alexander V

Alexander V
Antipope Alexander V (1409–1410)
Papacy began	June 26, 1409
Papacy ended	May 3, 1410
Predecessor	Benedict XIII (Avignon claimant) Gregory XII (Roman claimant)
Successor	Antipope John XXIII
Opposed to	Benedict XIII (Avignon claimant) Gregory XII (Roman claimant)
Personal details
Born	Petros Philargos 1339 Neapoli, Crete, Republic of Venice
Died	May 3, 1410 (aged 70–71) Bologna, Papal States
Nationality	Greek
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Other popes and antipopes named Alexander

Alexander V (also Peter of Candia or Peter Phillarges, ca. 1339 – May 3, 1410) was antipope during the Western Schism (1378–1417). He reigned from June 26, 1409, to his death in 1410 and is officially regarded by the Roman Catholic Church as an antipope.

Life

Alexander V was born in Crete (Candia) in 1339 of Greek descent. He was originally named Petros Philargos, but is often known by the Italian version of this name, Pietro Philarges. He soon entered the Franciscan order, and his abilities were such that he was sent to study at the universities of Oxford and Paris. While he was in Paris the Western Schism occurred; Philarges supported Pope Urban VI (1378–89). He settled in Lombardy, where, thanks to the favour of Giangaleazzo Visconti, the Duke of Milan, he became bishop, first of Piacenza (1386), then of Vicenza (1387), then of Novara (1389), and finally Archbishop of Milan (1402).

On being created cardinal by Pope Innocent VII (1404–06) in 1405, he devoted all his energies to the reunion of the Church, in spite of the two rival popes. He was one of the promoters of the Council of Pisa and his politicking incurred the displeasure of Pope Gregory XII (1406–15), who ordered Philarges deprived of both his archbishopric and his cardinalatial dignity.

At the Council of Pisa (from March 25, 1409), the assembled cardinals chose Philarges as the new prelate for a chair they presumed was vacant. He was crowned on June 26, 1409, as Alexander V, making him in reality the third rival pontiff.

During his ten-month reign, Alexander V's aim was to extend his obedience with the assistance of France, and, notably, of Duke Louis II of Anjou, upon whom he conferred the investiture of the Kingdom of Sicily, having removed it from Ladislaus of Naples. He proclaimed and promised rather than effected a certain number of reforms: the abandonment of the rights of "spoils" and "procurations," and the re-establishment of the system of canonical election in the cathedral churches and principal monasteries. He also gave out papal favours with a lavish hand, from which the mendicant orders benefitted especially.

Alexander V suddenly died while he was with Cardinal Baldassare Cossa at Bologna, on the night of 3–4 May 1410. His remains were placed in the church of St. Francis at Bologna. A rumour, though now considered false, spread that he had been poisoned by Cossa, who succeeded him as Antipope John XXIII (1410–15). The Council of Constance in 1418 rejected the line of Pisan popes as "antipopes."

Legacy

Having been a student of Greyfriars, Oxford, recently assimilated into Regent's Park College, Oxford, a Greyfriars tradition asserts that the college drinking society, 'Pope's', was in fact founded by Philarges in the 1350s during his time at the University.

External links

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• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope Alexander V" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• The Peter of Candia Homepage

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)