Uneasy Money-P. G. Wodehouse

Volume I of the "History of the Papacy" by the Anglican Lord Bishop of London, Mandell Creighton, deals with the popes, princes, and scholars who dominated the period of the Great Schism. Creighton describes the tumultuous reign of Pope Urban VI, the agitations of the two anti-popes, the efforts to resolve the crisis by the University of Paris, by the mad king of France, and by Wenzel, the alcohol-fuddled Holy Roman Emperor. Eventually, Sigismund deposed his brother, Wenzel, and convened the Council of Constance to resolve the Schism. The author writes that faced with deposition, Pope John XIII, fled the Council, "disguised as a groom, mounted on a sorry nag, covered by a grey cloak...a hat slouched over his face." This first volume concludes with the capture of the fugitive pope and his deposition by the Council of Constance. (Summary by Pamela Nagami, M.D.)