This book, originally published in 1980, examines the history of the papacy in the century between the end of the Great Schism and the start of the Reformation, and considers how, and at what price, the popes were able to re-establish their power after the troubles of the years from 1378 to 1417. The author approaches the subject analytically rather than chronologically, covering such themes as theories of authority in the late Middle Ages, the problems of papal government and the potential areas of conflict between the popes and the secular princes. By concentrating on the period before 1517, the author stresses the importance of seeing the fifteenth century Church as the product of the conciliar crisis rather than as the cause of the Reformation although he suggests that the concession made by the papacy in this period created the political situation which made possible the divisions of Christendom in the sixteenth century. This work will be of interest to historians of the late medieval and early modern period, particularly those specialising in conciliar thought and Church history.
