Antipope

From Cunnan
Revision as of 18:28, 16 May 2006 by User 144 (talk | contribs) (categorising)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigationJump to search

An antipope may be defined as

  • a pope elected by irregular means or methods
  • a pope (or claimant-pope) who holds irregular views
  • a pope elected at a time when another pope was already in office.

The main criterion is that of history -- an antipope is the candidate who fails to maintain his claim to the office over the longer term.

Within period, the main antipopes were those of the Great Schism (1378-1415), the period during which the French Kings supported a pope in Avignon, whilst another line of popes sat in Rome. The Schism was ended by the Council of Constance, but not until after a third line of popes had risen, centred on Pisa, in Italy.