In the late fourteenth century, the papal seat was moved to Avignon. The subservience of the papacy to France alienated both England and Germany and tales of debauchery shocked and demoralized the laity. The pope was urged by faithful leaders to return to Rome, advice Gregory XI took in 1377. Unfortunately, the return was very displeasing to a corrupt faction of the clergy, and the next year they took the radical step of electing another pope. For the next thirty-six years, until the Council of Constance met in 1414, this Great Schism, as it was called, could not be healed. The national leaders of Europe fell on both sides of the issue as seemed to their advantage. The people steadily lost respect for popes who hurled curses at each other.
Impact: Three councils met one after another in an attempt to bring order out of chaos and to reform the Church. These three are called the Reforming Councils, and they constitute an important chapter in the history of the first half of the fifteenth century.