Roman and Avignonese Propaganda in the Aftermath of the Great Schism: A New Perspective on a Political Clash From Two Inedited Letters (1378-89)

Abstract

This paper analyses and edits two anonymous Latin letters that help to assess the political climate in the aftermath of the Great Schism: a Devil’s letter addressed to Clement VII and a literary polished invective against Urban VI. After a brief investigation of the events that led to the outbreak of the schism, the paper compares the two letters in light of the contemporary political framework, in order to demonstrate why they qualify as propagandistic documents that present each of the two popes as a threat for Christendom and to evaluate how they exploited their literary distinctiveness to increase the strength of their political accusations. In doing so the aim is to assess the outbreak of the Schism from a viewpoint based on some distinctive strategies of political communication employed after the double election.

Keywords

• Middle Ages
• 14th Century
• Clement VII
• Urban VI
• Great Western Schism
• Ars dictaminis