From: Sokar949@msn.com   
      
   Pope Boniface IX   
   Elected at Rome, 2 November, 1389, as successor of the Roman Pope, Urban VI;   
   d. there, 1 October, 1404. Piero (Perino, Pietro) Tomacelli came of an   
   ancient but impoverished baronial family of Naples. He lacked good   
   theological training and skill in the conduct of curial business, but was by   
   nature tactful and prudent. His firm charater and mild manner did much to   
   restore respect for the papacy in the countries of his own obedience   
   (Germany, England, Hungary, Poland, and the greater part of Italy). The   
   Avignon Pope, Clement VII, had just crowned (1 November, 1389) as King of   
   Naples the French prince, Louis of Anjou. Boniface took up the cause of the   
   youthful Ladislaus, heir of Charles III of Naples and Margaret of Durazzo,   
   had him crowned King of Naples at Gaeta (29 May, 1390), and for the next   
   decade aided him efficiently to expel the Angevin forces from Italy. In the   
   course of his reign Boniface extinguished the municipal independence of Rome   
   and established the supremacy of the pope. He secured the final adhesion of   
   the Romans (1398) by fortifying anew the Castle of Sant' Angelo, the   
   bridges, and other points of vantage. He also took over the port of Ostia   
   from its cardinal-bishop. In the Papal States Boniface gradually regained   
   control of the chief strongholds and cities, and is the true founder of   
   these States as they appear in the fifteenth century. Owing to the   
   faithlessness and violence of the Romans he resided frequently at Perugia,   
   Assisi, and elsewhere. Clement VII, the Avignon pope, died 16 September,   
   1394. Boniface had excommunicated him shortly after his own election, and in   
   turn had been excommunicated by Clement. In 1392 Boniface attempted, but in   
   vain, to enter into closer relations with Clement for the re-establishment   
   of ecclesiastical unity, whereupon Boniface reasserted with vigour his own   
   legitimacy. Clement was succeeded at Avignon, 28 September, 1394, by   
   Cardinal Pedro de Luna, as Benedict XIII. Suffice it to say here that   
   Boniface always claimed to be the true pope, and at all times rejected the   
   proposal to abdicate even when it was supported by the principal members of   
   his own obedience, e.g. Richard II of England (1396), the Diet of Frankfort   
   (1397), and King Wenceslaus of Germany (Reims, 1398).   
      
   During the reign of Boniface two jubilees were celebrated at Rome. The first   
   took place in 1396, in compliance with an ordinance of his predecessor Urban   
   VI, and was largely frequented from Germany, Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, and   
   England. Several cities of Germany obtained the privileges of the jubilee,   
   but the preaching of the indulgences gave rise to abuses and to impositions   
   on the part of unaccredited agents of the pope, so that he was obliged to   
   proceed against them with severity. The jubilee of 1400 drew to Rome great   
   crowds of pilgrims, particularly from France. In spite of a disastrous   
   plague Boniface remained at his post. In the latter part of 1399 bands of   
   penitents, known as the Bianchi, or Albati (White Penitents), arose,   
   especially in Provence and Italy. They went in procession from city to city,   
   clad in white garments, with faces hooded, only the eyes being left   
   uncovered, and wearing on their backs a red cross. For a while their   
   penitential enthusiasm had some good results. After they had satisfied their   
   spiritual ardour at Rome, Boniface gradually discountenanced these wandering   
   crowds, an easy prey of agitators and conspirators, and finally dissolved   
   them. In England the anti-papal virulence of Wycliff increased the   
   opposition of both Crown and clergy to the methods of Boniface in the   
   granting of such English benefices as fell vacant in the Roman Curia through   
   the death or promotion of the incumbent. The Parliament confirmed and   
   extended more than once the statutes of Provisors and Præmunire, of Edward   
   III. Boniface protested vigorously, particularly in 1391, but in the end   
   found himself unable to execute his grants without the king's consent and   
   sanction. "Thus ended", says Lingard (ad. an. 1393), "this long and angry   
   controversy entirely to the advantage of the Crown." Nevertheless, at the   
   Synod of London (1396), the English Church condemned the anti-papal   
   teachings of Wyclif, and in 1398 the University of Oxford, consulted by   
   Richard II, issued in favour of Boniface an influential document, while in   
   1390 and again in 1393 the spiritual peers upheld the right of the pope to   
   excommunicate even those who obeyed the statutes of Provisors. In Germany   
   the electors had deposed at Rhense (20 August, 1400) the unworthy   
   Wenceslaus, King of the Romans, and had chosen in his place Rupert, Duke of   
   Bavaria and Rhenish Count Palatine. In 1403 Boniface abandoned his uncertain   
   attitude towards both, approved the deposition of Wenceslaus as done by   
   papal authority, and recognized the election of Rupert. In 1398 and 1399   
   Boniface appealed to Christian Europe in favour of Emperor Emmanuel,   
   threatened at Constantinople by Sultan Bajazet. St. Bridget of Sweden was   
   canonized by Boniface, 7 October, 1391. The universities of Ferrara (1391)   
   and Fermo (1398) owe him their origin, and that of Erfurt its confirmation   
   (1392). In 1404 Benedict XIII sent the last of his embassies to Boniface,   
   who received the agents of Benedict 29 September, but the interview ended   
   unfavourably. The pope, highly irritated, took to his bed with an attack of   
   gravel, and died after an illness of two days.   
      
   Contemporary and later chroniclers praise the political virtues of Boniface,   
   also the purity of his life, and the grandeur of his spirit. Some, like   
   Dietrich of Niem, charge him with an inordinate love of money, dishonest   
   traffic in benefices, the sale of dispensations, etc. But Dietrich is no   
   impartial writer and is blamed by Reynaldus for being bitter and unjust   
   (acertus et iniquis). In his gossipy pages one misses a proper appreciation   
   of the difficulties that surrounded Boniface-local sources of revenue lost   
   in the long absence of the papacy from Rome, foreign revenue diminished by   
   the schism, extraordinary expenses for the restoration of papal Rome and the   
   reconquest of the Papal States, the constant wars necessitated by French   
   ambition, the inheritance of the financial methods of Avignon, and the   
   obligation of conciliating supporters in and out of Italy. Boniface sought   
   nothing for himself and died poor. He is also charged with nepotism and he   
   certainly provided generously for his mother, brothers, and nephews. It may   
   be said, however, that in the semi-anarchic conditions of the time good   
   government depended upon such personal support as a temporal ruler could   
   gather and retain, i. e. could reward, while fidelity was best secured by   
   close domestic ties. Boniface was the first pope to introduce the form of   
   revenue known as annates perpetuæ, or reservation of one-half the first   
   year's fruits of every benefice granted in the Roman Court, this in addition   
      
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