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The troubled 14th century saw the Avignon Papacy of 1305–78,[288] also called the "Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy" (a reference to the Babylonian captivity of the Jews),[289] and then the Great Schism that lasted from 1378 to 1418, when there were two, then later three, rival popes, each supported by several states.[290] In the early years of the 15th century, after a century of turmoil, ecclesiastical officials convened in Constance in 1414, and the following year the council deposed one of the rival popes, leaving only two claimants. Further depositions followed, and in November 1417 the council elected Martin V (pope 1417–31) as pope.[291] Besides the schism, the western church was riven by theological controversies, some of which turned into heresies. John Wycliffe (d. 1384), an English theologian, was condemned as a heretic in 1415 for teaching that the laity should have access to the text of the Bible as well as holding views on the Eucharist that were contrary to church doctrine.[292] Wycliffe's teachings influenced two of the major heretical movements of the later Middle Ages—Lollardy in England and Hussitism in Bohemia.[293] The Bohemians were also influenced by the teaching of Jan Hus, who was burned at the stake in 1415 after being condemned as a heretic by the Council of Constance. The Hussite church, although the target of a crusade, survived beyond the Middle Ages.[294] Other heresies were manufactured, such as the accusations against the Knights Templar that resulted in their suppression in 1312, and the division of their great wealth between the French King Philip IV (r. 1285–1314) and the Hospitallers.[295] The papacy refined the concept of transubstantiation further in the Late Middle Ages, stating that the clergy alone was allowed to partake of the wine in the Eucharist. This further distanced the secular laity from the clergy. The laity continued the practices of pilgrimages, veneration of relics, and belief in the power of the Devil. Mystics such as Meister Eckhart (d. 1327) or Thomas à Kempis (d. 1471) wrote works that taught the laity to focus on their inner spiritual life, which laid the groundwork for the Protestant Reformation. Besides mysticism, belief in witches and witchcraft became widespread, and by the late 15th century the Church had begun to lend credence to populist fears of witchcraft by its condemnation of witches in 1484 and the publication in 1486 of the Malleus Maleficarum, the most popular handbook for witch-hunters.[296] |
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