Robert Of Geneva
Robert of Geneva
Anti-pope Clement VII in 1378. Born in 1342 at Geneva, Switzerland, the son of Amadeus III, Count of Geneva, of the House of Savoy; died on 16 September 1394 in Avignon, France. Bishop of Therouanne in 1361, Archbishop of Cambrai in 1368, papal legate in Upper Italy, created cardinal in 1371. Noted for his avarice and cruelty. in 1377 he personally commanded troops lent to the papacy by the condottiere John Hawkwood to reduce Cesena. Forli, which resisted being added to the Patrimony of Peter; there he oversaw the massacre of 4000 civilians, an atrocity even by the rules of war at the time, which earned him the nickname Butcher of Cesena. The Western Schism was opened when he was elected to the papacy at Fondi by the French cardinals, who falsely claimed that they had elected Pope Urban VI under intimidation. Robert was unable to secure Rome and took up his abode at Avignon. He made no sincere effort to end the schism and even donated a large part of the Papal States to Duke Louis of Anjou. His claims were supported by a number of the Latin countries, some of the minor German States, Scotland, Denmark, and Norway.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Robert of Geneva
Antipope under the name of Clement VII, b. at Geneva, 1342; d. at Avignon, 16 Sept., 1394. He was the son of Count Amadeus III. Appointed prothonotary Apostolic in 1359, he became Bishop of Thérouanne in 1361, Archbishop of Cambrai in 1368, and cardinal 30 May, 1371. As papal legate in Upper Italy (1376-78), in order to put down a rebellion in the Pontifical States, he is said to have authorized the massacre of 4000 persons at Cesena, and was consequently called “the executioner of Cesena”. Elected to the papacy at Fondi, 20 Sept. 1378, by the French cardinals in opposition to Urban VI, he was the first antipope of the Great Schism. France, Scotland, Castile, Aragon, Navarre, Portugal, Savoy, and some minor German states, Denmark, and Norway acknowledged his authority. Unable to maintain himself in Italy, he took up his residence at Avignon, where he became dependent on the French Court. He created excellent cardinals, but donated the larger part of the Pontifical States to Louis II of Anjou, resorted to simony and extortion to meet the financial needs of his court, and seems never to have sincerely desired the termination of the Schism.
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BALUZE, Vitæ Paparum Avenionensium, I (Paris, 1693, 486 sqq.; SALEMBIER, The Great Schism of the West, (tr. New York, 1907), passim.
N.A. TURNER Transcribed by St. Mary’s Catechetical Ministries Dedicated to Michael Samudio for completion of the Sacraments and his full initiation into the Catholic Church
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIIICopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Robert Of Geneva
antipope against Urban VI and Boniface IX, was the son of count Amadeus of Geneva. He was chosen by the French cardinals, who asserted that the election in Rome at which Urban VI was successful had not been free, and he reigned at Avignon under the title of CLEMENT VII from Sept. 21, 1378, to Sept. 26, 1394. He was recognized by France, Naples, Castile, Aragon, Navarre, Scotland, Lorraine, and Cyprus, while the other nations of Europe preferred the claims of Urban. This schism in the Church gave rise to serious complications in the intercourse of nations. The popes anathematized each other, and Urban especially caused a crusade against France and his rival to be preached in England, and had the death penalty inflicted on a number of the cardinals who had conspired to dethrone him. The election of Boniface IX in 1389 protracted the schism in all its bitterness, until the Sorbonne decided that both popes ought to resign, and that a compromise should be effected by means of arbitrators or a council of the Church. Clement was so affected by this decision that he died of apoplexy (Sept. 26, 1394). The peace desired was not, however, finally reached until 1428.