INNOCENT VII, POPE

Ponitficate: Oct. 17, 1404 to Nov. 6, 1406; b. Cosimo de' Migliorati, Sulmona, ltaly, c. 1336; d. Rome. After juridical studies at Bologna under Giovanni di Lignano he was professor of law at Perugia and Padua. He was sent by urban vi to England where he acted as papal collector for ten years. In 1387 he was made archbishop of Ravenna, was transferred to Bologna in 1389, and in the same year was created cardinal; in 1390 he was appointed legate for northern Italy. Upon his election as pope he was confronted with a Church rent by the western schism. With the other cardinals in conclave he had made a pre-election promise to resign, if necessary, to restore unity to the Church (see capitulations). In trying to keep his promise he made overtures to Benedict XIII and summoned a council. However, the obstinacy of Benedict, the rebellion of the Romans against his nephew Ludovico, and the pope's subsequent flight, the invasion of the Papal States by King Ladislaus of Naples, and above all, the shortness of Innocent's reign frustrated all his efforts. Upon his return to Rome (March 1406), he planned the reorganization of the University of Rome but was interrupted by death.

Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. l. duchesne 2:508–510, 531–533, 552–554. l. a. muratori, Rerum italicarum scriptores,

500–1500 3.2:832–835. h. denifle, Die Universitäten des Mittelalters bis 1400 (Berlin 1885). l. pastor, The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages (London-St. Louis 1938–61) 1:165–166, 169–171. e. vansteenberghe, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant et al. (Paris 1903–50) 14.1:1468–92. f. x. seppelt, Geschichte der Päpste von den Anfängen bis zur Mitte des 20. Jh. (Munich 1957) 4:480–484. j. grohe, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche (3d ed. Freiburg 1996). h. heimpel, Studien zur Kirchen—und Reichsreform des 15. Jahrunderts. II.: Zu zwei Kirchenreform—Trakaten des beginnenden 15. Jahrhunderts (Heidleberg 1974). m. maillard-luypaert, Lettres d'Innocent VII (1404–1406). (Brussels-Rome 1987). j. n. d. kelly, Oxford Dictionary of Popes (New York 1986) 234.

[w. r. bonniwell]