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The schism in the Western church resulted from the untimely return of the Papacy from Avignon to Rome by Pope Gregory XI in 1378, ending the Avignon Papacy.

After Gregory XI died, the Romans rioted to ensure an Italian was elected; the cardinals, fearing the crowds, elected an Italian, Pope Urban VI in 1378. Urban had been a respected administrator in the papal chancery at Avignon; but once he was elected Pope, he became suspicious, overbearing, and subject to violent outbursts of temper. The cardinals who had elected him soon came to repent of their decision, and on September 20 the same year, the majority of them removed themselves to Fondi, and elected a rival Pope from there, who took the title of Pope Clement VIIFor the other Clement VII who was Pope from 1523 to 1534, see Pope Clement VII. Robert of Geneva ( 1342- 16 September 1394) was elected to the papacy by the French cardinals who opposed Urban VI, thereby becoming the first antipope of the Western Schism,.

The two popes threw the Church into a turmoil; there had been antipopeIn the case of certain periods of turbulence in the Roman Catholic Church, elections later determined to have been invalid have set up claimants to the Papacy, and usually in opposition to a specific pope. A person so chosen is known as an antipope .s, rival claimants to the papacy before, but most of them had been appointed by various rival factions. Here, the acknowledged and legitimate leaders of the Church themselves had created the two rival popes. European secular leaders had to choose which pope they would recognize; generally, FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents., AragonComunidad Autonoma de Aragon Capital Zaragoza Area total % of Spain Ranked 4th 47 719 km² 9,4% Population Total (2003) % of Spain Density Ranked 11th 1 217 514 2,9% 25,51/km² Demonym English Spanish Aragonese aragones Statute of Autonomy August 16, 1982 I, BurgundyThis page is about the region of France. For information on the wine, see Burgundy wine. Burgundy ( French Bourgogne is a historic region of France, inhabited in turn by Celts, Gauls, Romans and Gallo-Romans, and various Germanic peoples, most importantly, SavoyThis article is about the historical region of Savoy. For other uses, see Savoy (disambiguation Savoy (Italian Savoia, French Savoie is a region of western Europe that emerged, along with the free communes of Switzerland, from the collapse of the Frankish, NaplesAlternate uses: See Naples (disambiguation Naples ( Italian Napoli Neapolitan Napule from Greek Neapolis/) is the largest town in southern Italy, capital of the region of Campania. The city has a population of about 1 million, and together with its suburb, and ScotlandScotland or in Scottish Gaelic, Alba is a country and former independent kingdom of northwest Europe, and one of the four nations comprising the United Kingdom. Scotland occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Scotland took part in a p chose to recognise the Avignon claimants, while England, Germany, northern Italy and central Europe of the Holy Roman Empire followed the Roman claimant. Even saints were caught up in the dispute; St Catherine of Siena defended Urban's papacy, while St Vincent Ferrer was in Clement's camp.

Later a council at Pisa was held in 1409 to try to solve the dispute, but it only resulted in the election of a third Pope, Pope Alexander V by the council, soon to be followed by Pope John XXIII.

Finally, the Council of Constance in 1417 deposed John XXIII and the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII, received the resignation of the Roman Pope Gregory XII, and elected Pope Martin V, thereby ending the schism.

Thus the line of Roman popes was recognized as the legitimate line. Consistent with this outcome, from this time forward in the Catholic church it was decreed explicitly that no Council had power over the Popes, and there is no way to undo a Papal election by anyone but the pope.

The alternate papal claimants have become known in history as antipopes.

The Great Schism of the Western Church occupied the energies of Jean Gerson, one of the great theologians of the age.