Pope Boniface IX
Boniface IX. (actually Pietro Tomacelli; * 1350 in Naples, † October 1, 1404 in Rome) was pope from November 2, 1389 bis 1404.
Life and work
Before his pontificate was Pietro Tomacelli since 1381, Cardinal Deacon of San Giorgio in Velabro 1385 he became cardinal priest of Santa Anastasia. He reigned during the Western Schism in Rome, while in Avignon, Clement VII officiated. The uneducated, but extremely skilful Neapolitan took advantage of his position to enrich himself and his relatives. For the removal of the schism he had no time and had probably not the earnest will. In the procurement of funds Boniface knew almost no shame. He operated mainly a roaring trade in indulgences and added the church and its reputation thus probably large damage. As other sources of funding, the Pope told the Papal States into sogenannete Vicariate. This he leased to wealthy families, which then tion states their income. One of the vicars was Baldassare Cossa in Bologna; the later Antipope John XXIII. Only by Cesare Borgia, this system of family Erbherrschaften was again eliminated in the Papal States. In Rome, the Pope broke the last remnants of the republican and municipal government and brought the city back completely under his control. Here, Pope Boniface, however, also made it to the prostrate jurisprudence and economics deserves.
Pope Boniface ended the "politics" of his predecessor Urban VI. Among other things, he made peace with the Kingdom of Naples and recognized Ladislaus, son of the murdered Charles III. , Of Naples, as ruler of Naples.
After the death of the antipope Clement Pedro de Luna followed as Benedict XIII. Despite all differences existed between Pope Boniface and antipope Benedict points in a single unity: in the crusade mania. The Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I had achieved the conquest of Bulgaria, the Hungarian border. The last and greatest crusade army was now beat under the leadership of King Sigismund of Hungary, the later German emperor, these and then advance to Jerusalem. But the crusade army was defeated already in the Battle of Nicopolis.
Boniface failed in the following years in trying to bring the German King Wenceslas to the imperial coronation in Rome. 1400 Wenzel was deposed and elected Ruprecht of the Palatinate to his successor. The Pope initially waited further developments. When it was clear who was able to prevail with the help of the Elector, he claimed (probably contrary to the facts ) in a bull, deposition and re-election of the German king had only his powerful influence ascribed. He could not even be the decaying city of Rome for sure. His plan now to crown King Ruprecht emperor in Rome, was not successful.
He died on October 1, 1404 in Rome.