215
older than a thousand years, that the Pope could be judged by no one. The "common sense" (sensus communis) o the Church, long since summoned to the rescue by the absolutism of the Roman See itself, now had to enter the breach. Self-help through a kind of parliamentary rule seemed to be the only way out of the chaotic state of affairs. Two German theologians, Conrad of Gelnhausen and Henry of Langenstein (the second of whom also appealed to the authority of St. Hildegard of Bingen) conferred in Paris during 1380 and developed out of ideas once sponsored by Ockham and Marcilius of Padua their theory that in rime of need the Church is empowered to summon General Councils despite the Popes, and that to the decisions of such Councils the Bishops of Rome are also subject. This suggestion was endorsed by the university and was nursed by many minds until the situation grew so desperate that recourse to it was unavoidable.
Pope Urban's policy in Naples was nothing but a series of wild adventures. When he unearthed a conspiracy against himself, he ordered the execution of five of the cardinals who had participated. The indignation aroused by this inhuman Pontiff was so great that when he died there was turbulent rejoicing. Yet the hope that the Roman College would not seek to elect a successor was doomed to disappointment. Urban was followed by the young and uneducated Boniface IX (13891404) . The schism caused him little concern but the Papal finances alarmed him since Church moneys were now paid into two Curiac and the pecuniary stability of his throne was thereby undermined. But the gold which his pedlars of indulgences brought home, whenever they did not pocket it themselves, he turned over to his relatives. Though the repute of this simonistic Pontiff was bad, the best minds of the University of Paris nevertheless urged that a new French election be postponed when Clement died in Avignon during the middle years of Boniface's pontificate. In vain had Pierre d'Ailly, Jean Charlier de Gerson, and Nicholas of Clemanges rec- ommended three roads toward peace to Clement before he died: the voluntary retirement of both Popes and a new election, or a decision by a court of arbitration selected from both camps, or a General Coun- cil. Their advice was now again in vain. Although the young king, the mentally unsettled Charles VI, had during a lucid moment him-
216
