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This page reflects a new area of curiosity for me. I found out about the Western Schism quite by accident. I was flipping through a book of my sister's when I came across an index of 'antipopes.' I went to the first page and it spoke very briefly about a time when the pope resided in Avignon, France.
I thought that this was most interesting. The curious thing about this schism was that the books my sister has on the Catholic church and its history (even though we are baptist) hardly say anything about this rift in the church that lasted for over a century. This break in the church reflected current political affiliations, as some countries hailed the Avignon pope and others restarted the Roman papacy and followed him. Towards the end of the schism there were even three popes, because none would relinquish their control. Finally, it took a massive convention of cardinals, kings, princes, and one pope to force the Catholic church to return to one pope in Rome. This planted the seeds of malcontent and led to later the reformation and Martin Luther's famous break from the Catholic church altogether.
One last note before you peruse the pages below. The people of these times I like to study are of the greatest interest to me. And many commoners felt that the pope was the hand of God on earth. While there raged a war between pope and antipope, many felt this was the beginning of the Revelational last days. They felt that no one could get into heaven as long as the antipope was kept in power. Powerful thinking, huh?