September 20, 1378

Great Western Schism

On September 20, 1378, 13 cardinals, mostly French, met in secret in Anagni, south of Rome.

Dissatisfied with the pope imposed by the Roman people on April 8, 1378, under the name of Urban VI, they designated as pope the Savoyard prelate Robert of Geneva.

The newly elected took the name of Clement VII and settled in Avignon, which his predecessor Gregory XI had abandoned on January 17, 1377.

He immediately posed as a competitor to Urban VI, described as the "antipope."