CLEMENT VII. (Robert of Geneva), (d. 1394), antipope, brother of Peter,
count of Genevois, was connected by blood or marriage with most of the
sovereigns of Europe. After occupying the episcopal sees of Therouanne
and Cambrai, he attained to the cardinalate at an early age. In 1377, as
legate of Pope Gregory XI. in the Romagna, he directed, or rather
assisted in, the savage suppression of the revolt of the inhabitants of
Cesena against the papal authority. In the following year he took part
in the election of Pope Urban VI. at Rome, and was perhaps the first to
express doubts as to the validity of that tumultuous election. After
withdrawing to Fondi to reconsider the election, the cardinals finally
resolved to regard Urban as an intruder and the Holy See as still
vacant, and an almost unanimous vote was given in favour of Robert of
Geneva (20th of September 1378), who took the name of Clement VII. Thus
originated the Great Schism of the West.

To his high connexions and his adroitness, as well as to the gross
mistakes of his rival, Clement owed the immediate support of Queen
Joanna of Naples and of several of the Italian barons; and the king of
France, Charles V., who seems to have been sounded beforehand on the
choice of the Roman pontiff, soon became his warmest protector. Clement
eventually succeeded in winning to his cause Scotland, Castile, Aragon,
Navarre, a great part of the Latin East, and Flanders. He had adherents,
besides, scattered through Germany, while Portugal on two occasions
acknowledged him, but afterwards forsook him. From Avignon, however,
where he had immediately fixed his residence, his eyes were always
turned towards Italy, his purpose being to wrest Rome from his rival. To
attain this end he lavished his gold--or rather the gold provided by the
clergy in his obedience--without stint, and conceived a succession of
the most adventurous projects, of which one at least was to leave a
lasting mark on history.

By the bait of a kingdom to be carved expressly out of the States of the
Church and to be called the kingdom of Adria, coupled with the
expectation of succeeding to Queen Joanna, Clement incited Louis, duke
of Anjou, the eldest of the brothers of Charles V., to take arms in his
favour. These tempting offers gave rise to a series of expeditions into
Italy carried out almost exclusively at Clement's expense, in the first
of which Louis lost his life. These enterprises on several occasions
plan