John XXIII, Antipope (Baldassarre Cossa) (1360/65-1419) 
- Name:
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John XXIII, Antipope (Baldassarre Cossa)
- Dates:
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Naples 1360/65 – Florence 1419
- Activity:
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Cardinal, Antipope
- Places:
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Naples, Bologna, Rome, Florence
- Biographical information:
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Born around 1360/65, the son of Giovanni Cossa, lord of Procida, Baldassarre belonged to an illustrious Neapolitan family close to the Popes of Roman obedience. He attended the University of Bologna, where he took a doctor’s degree in law. He probably undertook his ecclesiastic career at the wish of his family.
Thanks to influential backing, he succeeded in obtaining important positions. In 1386 he is recorded as canon of the cathedral of Bologna, administrative vicar of the chapter and commissioner to the cardinal legate of the Emilian city. In 1392 he became cubicularius to Pope Boniface IX in Rome and four years later archdeacon in Bologna. In 1402 the Pope made him a member of the Sacred College as Cardinal-Deacon of Saint Eustachius, and the following year appointed him as legate in Romagna. Through his administration Cossa consolidated the power of the church in the region. Later he allied himself with Florence to thwart the aspirations to the Sicilian crown of Ladislaus of Anjou Durazzo.
He exerted himself to resolve the Western Schism, attempting to bring about an agreement between Pope Gregory XII, elected in 1406 and the Avignon Pope, Benedict XIII. The attempts having failed, in 1408 along with other Cardinals he called for a Council to heal the rift. This council, which was summoned and probably financed by Cossa himself, with the help of the Florentine Comune and of Louis II of Anjou (the rival of Ladislaus), was held in Pisa from March to June of 1409. The two rival Popes having been deposed, the Pisan Council elected Alexander V, after whose death (3 May 1410) he was succeeded by Cossa himself with the name of John XXIII (17 May 1410). On 24 May he was ordained priest, and on the following day was made bishop and crowned Pope.
During his brief papacy he introduced the Medici into the activity of the Apostolic Camera, thus giving them the opportunity to boost the financial fortunes of the family bank.
Among John XXIII’s primary objectives was the reconquest of Rome, which was occupied by Ladislaus’s troops: on 12 April 1411 the Pope entered the city alongside Louis II. Abandoned by the latter, John XXIII applied to the protection of the new king of the Romans Sigismund of Luxembourg, and in general sought the support of all the Christian kingdoms, among other things electing various cardinals indicated by the respective monarchs.
On 29 April 1411 Cossa summoned another Council to be held in Rome the following Spring, as had been resolved at the Council of Pisa. Despite the differences of opinion, solicited from all sides and urged by the need to placate the divisions within the Papal State, John XXIII finally negotiated an agreement with Ladislaus, King of Sicily, which was drawn up on 17 June 1412 on the beach of Monte Circeo by his representative, Cardinal Rinaldo Brancaccio. On 10 February 1413 he succeeded in opening the Council in Rome as scheduled, but he was obliged to dissolve it after not even a month, and fled from the papal city taking refuge in Bologna, while the papal State was once again left open to rival attacks and the ambitions of Ladislaus were refuelled. Thus a new seat for the Council was proposed, the choice falling on Constance, which was in imperial territory and hence under the jurisdiction of Sigismund. The Council was opened there on 1 November 1414. In the meantime the death of Ladislaus in August rekindled in Cossa the hope of returning to Rome. However, he was urged by the hostility of the Council to abdicate, and he fled from Constance in the company of his new protector, Duke Frederick of Austria, taking refuge first in the Castle of Schaffhausen from where he moved on to the fortress of Laufenburg and finally to Freiburg. This flight kindled the ire of Sigismund who forced the Duke of Austria to hand over John XXIII and imprisoned him in Radolfzell close to Constance. Cossa was then tried before the Council and was deposed on 29 May 1515. Sigismund handed him over to the Palatine Count, Louis of Bavaria, who shut him up in the castle of Hausen close to Mannheim and then, after an attempted escape, transferred him to Heidelberg. In January 1418 his case was taken over by Pope Martin V, who had been elected the previous November, who then undertook lengthy negotiations to obtain his liberation. In April of the following year, Cossa was finally handed over to the papal commissioners, after an agent of Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici had paid 35,000 Rhenish guilders to the Palatine Count of Heidelberg. On 23 June 1419 Cossa arrived in Florence and, in the garb of a doctor of the law, presented himself before Martin V and paid homage to him as the legitimate Pope. For his merits, the Pope allowed Cossa to be reinstated in the Sacred College, appointing him as Bishop of Muscolo.
On 27 December 1419 Baldassarre Cossa died in Florence.
The executors of his will were various illustrious Florentines, such as Niccolò da Uzzano, Bartolomeo Valori, Vieri Guadagni and Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici. Cossa had requested to be buried in the Baptistery of Florence, to which he had donated a reliquary with the finger of St. John the Baptist. After much discussion, the burial was approved and the Medici commissioned the sepulchral monument from Donatello and Michelozzo. The artists executed the work in the years 1425-1430, while they were also working on the monument commissioned by Cardinal Rinaldo Brancaccio for his tomb in Naples. -
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