| Titles | Order |
|---|---|
| Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy by John Julius Norwich | Pietro Tomacelli, c.1350-1404 |
| The Fears of Henry IV: The Life of England's Self-Made King by Ian Mortimer | Pietro Tomacelli, c. 1350-1404 |
| Wide as the Waters: The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution It Inspired by Benson Bobrick | Pietro Tomacelli, c. 1350-1404 |
| Description | Pope Boniface IX (Latin: Bonifatius IX; Italian: Bonifacio IX; c. 1350 – 1 October 1404, born Pietro Tomacelli) was head of the Catholic Church from 2 November 1389 to his death, in October 1404. He was the second Roman pope of the Western Schism. During this time the Avignon claimants Roman Curia in Avignon, under the protection of the French monarchy. In 1399 there arose bands of flagellants, known as the Bianchi, or Albati ("White Penitents") For a while, as the White Penitents approached Rome, Boniface IX and the Curia supported their penitential enthusiasm, but when they reached Rome, Boniface IX had their leader burnt at the stake, and they soon dispersed. In England the anti-papal preaching of John Wyclif supported the opposition of the king and the higher clergy to Boniface IX's granting English benefices to favorites in the Roman Curia. Boniface IX introduced a revenue known as annates perpetuæ, withholding half the first year's income of every benefice granted in the Roman Court. The pope's agents also now sold not simply a vacant benefice but the expectation of one; and when an expectation had been sold, if another offered a larger sum for it, the pope voided the first sale. Boniface IX was a frank politician, strapped for cash like the other princes of Europe, as the costs of modern warfare rose and supporters needed to be encouraged by gifts, for fourteenth-century government depended upon such personal support as a temporal ruler could gather and retain. All the princes of the late 14th century were accused of avaricious money-grubbing by contemporary critics, but among them contemporaries ranked Boniface IX as exceptional. Boniface IX provided generously for his mother, his brothers, and his nephews in the spirit of the day. The Curia was perhaps equally responsible for new financial methods that in the next century aroused bitter feelings against Rome. Wikipedia |
