The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church

Biographical Dictionary
[Antipope] Benedict XIII (1394-1423)
Consistory of May 9, 1404 (IV)


(8) 1. ZALBA, Miguel de (ca. 1374-1406)

Birth. Ca. 1374, Pamplona. Nephew of Pseudocardinal Martín de Zalba (1390). His last name is also listed as Salva; as Zalva; and as Salua.

Education. In 1386 (?), he had already obtained a baccalaureate in decrees (law); on October 16, 1403, he obtained a licentiate; and on the following December 6, a doctorate in utroque iure, both canon and civil law, at the University of Bologna.

Early life. In 1386, he had a priorate in France and the one of Villatuerta; he also had benefices in Peralta and Falces, Navarra. Canon of the cathedral chapter of Segovia in 1390. Four years later, in 1394, he was canon of the cathedral chapters of Tudela, Segovia and Calahorra, racionero of Peralta and pastor of Sara. Professor of law at the University of Avignon.

Cardinalate. Created pseudocardinal deacon of S. Giorgio in Velabro (1) in the consistory of May 9, 1404. Antipope Benedict XIII granted the benefices that were vacant because of the death of his uncle the pseudocardinal.

Episcopate. Elected bishop of Pamplona, May 25, 1406; he governed the diocese through Vicar General García de Aibar. Consecrated (no information found). United to the diocese were the priorates of Ujué and Villatuerta and the church of Montreal; to these, the antipope added, among others, the priorate of Santa Cruz de Tudela. He accompanied Antipope Benedict XIII to Italy, and fell ill of the plague and died.

Death. August 24, 1406, in Monaco, diocese of Nice. His body was transported to Nice and buried in the church of S. Francesco; later, his remains were transferred to the Carthusian church of Saint-Marie de Bon Pas, Avignon (2) and buried next to the tomb of his uncle.

Bibliography. Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm ab initio nascentis Ecclesiæ vsque ad Vrbanvm VIII. Pont. Max. 2 volumes. Romae : Typis Vaticanis, 1677, II, col. 741; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. VI. Les cardinaux du Grand Schisme (1378-1417)". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1931. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1931, p. 155; Eubel, Conradus and Gulik, Guglielmus van. Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi. Volumen I (1198-1431). Münich : Sumptibus et Typis Librariae Regensbergianae, 1913; reprint, Padua : Il Messagero di S. Antonio, 1960, pp. 30, 43, 50; Goñi Gaztambide, José. "Zalba, Miguel de." Diccionario de historia eclesiástica de España. 4 vols and Supplement. Dirigido por Quintín Aldea Vaquero, Tomás Marín Martínez, José Vives Gatell. Madrid : Instituto Enrique Flórez, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1972-1975; Suplemento (1987), IV, 2792.

Webgraphy. Biography by Julia Pavón Benito, in Spanish, DB~e, Diccionario Biográfico Español; biography by Xabier Lasalle, in Spanish, Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia; his statue, Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia; his arms, Araldica Vaticana.

(1) This is according to all the sources consulted; Francesco Cristofori, Cronotasi dei cardinali di Santa Romana Chiesa. (Rome : Tipografia de Propaganda Fide, 1888), p. 50, lists him as occupant of the title of S. Lorenzo in Lucina from 1403 to 1406.
(2) This is the text of his epitaph taken from Chacón, Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm, II, col. 741:

HIC IACET REVERENDISSIMVS PATER MICHAEL
DE LA SALVA LEGVM DOCTOR NATIONE NAVARRVS
S. GEORGII AD VELVM AVREVM DIACONVS CARDINALIS
OBIIT APVD MONACHVM NICIENSIS DIOECESIS
DIE XVI. AVGVSTI ANNO MCCCVI.
ET FVIT NEPOS DOMINI MARTINI
CARDINALIS PAMPLONENSIS VVLGARITER NVNCVPATI
IN HAC CAPELLA ETIAM SEPVLTI
QVORVM ANIMAE REQVIESCANT IN PACE. AMEN.

Cool Archive

(9) 2. CHALLANT, Antonio de (ca. 1350-1418)

Birth. Ca. 1350, Savoy. Son of Aimone (or Aimon) Challant, signore of Fênis, Ussel and Saint-Marcel, and Fiorina Provana, of the signore of Leynì. He had two brothers, Boniface and Guillaume; the latter one also embraced the ecclesiastical state. His first name is also listed as Antònio; as Antoine; and as Anthonius; and his last name as Chalant; as Chalanto; as Chalanco; and as Celancho. He was called the Cardinal of Challant.

Education. Obtained a doctorate in law at the University of Orléans. His enemies always accused him of being an ignorant. The prestige of his family and the generosity that the Avignon popes always showed towards the clergy of the States of Savoy were important factors in the success of his ecclesiastical career.

Early life. Archdeacon of Reims toward the end of 1388. Archdeacon of Chartres in 1394. Prior commendatario of S. Maria di Payerne. Chancellor of the county of Savoy, December 29, 1402 to June 30, 1404, when the duke of Savoy named Guillaume de Challant, brother of Antonio and abbot of Saint-Michel de la Cluse, as chancellor. Named counselor of the county of Savoy and its procurator for all the litigations and affairs, January 26, 1403. He was promoted to the cardinalate in gratitude to Count Amedeo VIII of Savoy for the latter's resistance to abandon the obedience of Antipope Benedict XIII.

Cardinalate. Created pseudocardinal deacon of S. Maria in Via Lata in the consistory of May 9, 1404.

Episcopate. Named administrator of the metropolitan see of Tarentaise, June 1, 1404 (1); took possession on September 23, 1405; he delegated the administration to a vicar general; occupied the post until his death. He joined the antipope, who after the escape from Avignon in March 1403, was in the estates of the count of Provenza. In April 1406, Pseudocardinal Challant was sent to the French court to oppose the request of resignation of the pope and the antipope; he was not received until April 29, 1406 and failed in his mission; he left Paris in the summer and was with the antipope in Nice on October 12, 1406. In 1407, he went with the antipope to meet Pope Gregory XII in Porto Venere but the meeting did not realize. In May 1409, nine of the twelve cardinals of Pope Gregory XII abandoned him and went to Pisa. Antipope Benedict XII sent four of his pseudocardinals, among them Antonio Challant, to organize a meeting between him and the dissident cardinals; since the Florentine authorities prevented the Avignonese to go over Livorno (Leghorn), they were joined there by the end of May by four of the Roman cardinals. The discussions among the Avignonese and the Romans College seemed to be born of a project that a council could possibly meet without the prior consent of Antipope Benedict XIII. The latter, ill-informed about the true intentions of the cardinals expressed to the negotiators testimony of his satisfaction, but news reached Leghorn on June 5, 1408, that France had taken against Antipope Benedict XIII and his supporters became afraid of being arrested. Pseudocardinal Challant, the only one among the cardinals, on June 11, 1408, left suddenly for Porto Venere, where he informed the antipope of the status of the negotiations and the need for his security,to abandon Italy, where it was enough to procurators prosecutors as representatives in the discussions that would continue in Livorno among his cardinals and those of Pope Gregory XII. On June 16, 1408, Antipope Benedict XIII, accompanied by Pseudocardinal Challant and three other pseudocardinals, left Porto Venere having summoned a council at Perpignan for All Saints' Day. The two colleges of cardinals remained in Italy and decided to unite on June 29, 1408. On October 20, 1408, the University of Paris had Pseudocardinal Challant included in a list of eleven suspected of heresy whose benefits were to be seized, by applying the decisions of a national council meeting in Paris in the summer; in spite of all this, the pseudocardinal still persevered in the defense of Antipope Benedict XIII, and joined him and Cardinals Ludovico Fieschi and Jean Flandrin and dismissed the summons to the council that was to open in Pisa on March 25, 1409. He was in Perpignan with Antipope Benedict XIII on July 24, 1408 and participated in the Council of Perpignan, which took place from November 15 of that year to March 26, 1409. At the council of Perpignan, he read in the first seven sessions of a long historical memory, intended to place the pontificate of Benedict XIII in its true light. In February 1409, when the ranks around the antipope had already thinned, Pseudocardinal Challant was still among the members of the commission - reduced to a dozen people - drafting the final motion. The document, presented on February 1, 1409, asked Antipope Benedict XIII in firm terms to engage in the via cessionis (renounce the papal dignity). The antipope demurred and his response was swift, but it was clear that he had no intention of agreeing with the Council of Pisa on the election of a new pope. Pseudocardinal Challant felt threatened and left Perpignan in March 1409 along with his brother Guillaume, who in the meantime had been appointed bishop of Lausanne.

He reached Savoy, and there he was able to convince the clergy, and especially the count, Amedeo VIII (future Antipope Felix V), to join the Council of Pisa (2). He arrived in Pisa from Savoy on June 7, 1409; and joined the
Council on June 10, 1409. He was immediately reinstated in the fullness of his cardinalitial rights thanks to the intervention of Cardinal Niccolò Brancaccio. Participated in the conclave of 1409, celebrated in Pisa, which elected Antipope Alexander V, and joined the obedience of the antipope (3). After the election of the new antipope, he obtained not only the return of some benefices (July 7, 1409), but also the reserves of the Benedictine priory of Moutiers in the diocese of Auxerre (November 13, 1409). At the end of the Council, he read the decrees and proclaimed its closure on August 7, 1409. Participated in the conclave of 1410, celebrated in Bologna, which elected Antipope John XXIII, and joined the obedience of the antipope. He may have received in commendam the deaconry of S. Eustachio in 1410. Prior of Chamonix and of Megève, in the diocese of Geneva, both dependent of the Abbey of Saint-Michel de la Cluse, which he had in commendam from 1410 to 1421. Also in 1410, he was named gerent of the Apostolic Chamber in place of Camerlengo François de Conzié, who had not left Avignon. Nuncio to France in 1411. Opted for the order of cardinal priests and the title of S. Cecilia on March 19, 1412.

Priesthood. Ordained on March 19, 1412 by Antipope John XXIII. He participated in the council summoned to Rome by Pope John XXIII in early 1413. On May 15, 1413, he received from Antipope John XXIII the bull for a mission in England and Scotland, with very extensive powers. This mission had come to an end very soon because as early as the following October Pseudocardinal Challant went to Como in the company of Pseudocardinal Francesco Zabarella to meet the King of the Romans, Sigismund (future emperor), on whom depended the fate of Antipope John XXIII, banished from Rome in early June; they left from Florence on September 6, 1413; their mission was also to discuss with the king the place for the celebration of the future council; during the meeting, it was decided that the future council would be open in Constance on November 1, 1414, a choice that Antipope John XXIII ratified in December (4). Attended the Council of Constance; he was the ambassador of the duke of Savoy. In January 1415, he opposed that the council receive Cardinal Giovanni Dominici, representative of Pope Gregory XII. When Antipope John XXIII, fled from Constance (night of March 20-21, 1415) he hesitated to separate from him and his brother, Guillaume, went to visit the antipope in Sciaffusa. On March 29, the pope fled again; Pseudocardinal Challant then reached the other cardinals who, because condemning Antipope John XXIII, now exerted a moderating influence on the conciliar assembly. He did not participate in the instruction process against Antipope John XXIII; a witness even accused him of having favored for money the election of the antipope, who later would give him, in gratitude, the bishopric of Aosta to Savoyard Oger Morizet. This did not prevent Pseudocardinal Challant to be part of the delegation of cardinals who went to present to the pseudo pontiff the charges and earnestly urge him to nominate procurators to submit to the council his resignation. In the course of the process against Antipope Benedict XIII he had less scruples and was called as a witness against the man who had made him a cardinal. On June 17, 1415, he had a personal encounter with the king of the Romans, who wanted to impose his ecclesiastical authority on the ecclesiastics for the smooth running of the council. The rest of his actions coincided with that of the entire Sacred College. Participated in the conclave of 1417, celebrated in Constance, which elected Pope Martin V on November 11. He was appointed along with Cardinals Branda Castiglione and Alamanno Adimari, as one of the councilors of the new pontiff. On April 19, 1418, he read during the conciliar general session the decree of convocation of a future council; and on the 22nd the decree closing the assembly and the proclamation of indulgences. Then, he left Constance with the pope and the Roman Curia on the way to Geneva. The following year, he accompanied the pope to Lausanne. In the summer of 1418, he went to Bulle now in the Canton of Fribourg, to rest, probably with his brother, then bishop of Lausanne.

Death. September 4, 1418, castle of Bulle, near Lausanne. Buried in the cathedral of Lausanne on September 13, 1418 (5).

Bibliography. Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm ab initio nascentis Ecclesiæ vsque ad Vrbanvm VIII. Pont. Max. 2 volumes. Romae : Typis Vaticanis, 1677, II, col. 740-741; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. VI. Les cardinaux du Grand Schisme (1378-1417)". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1931. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1931, p. 155-156; Eubel, Conradus and Gulik, Guglielmus van. Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi. Volumen I (1198-1431). Münich : Sumptibus et Typis Librariae Regensbergianae, 1913; reprint, Padua : Il Messagero di S. Antonio, 1960, pp. 30, 40, 52 and 473; Galland, Bruno. "Les Savoyards au concile de Perpignan" in Le concile de Perpignan (15 novembre 1408-26 mars 1409) actes du colloque international (Perpignan, 24-26 janvier 2008). Hèléne Millet, directeur de la publication; Raymond Sala, préface. Canet-en-Roussillon : Éd. Trabucaire, 2009. (Études roussillonnaises, t. 24), p. 131-136; Moroni, Gaetano. Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica da S. Pietro sino ai nostri giorni. 103 vols. in 53. Venezia : Tipografia Emiliana, 1840-1861, XI, 143; Vesan, Sylvain. Le cardinal Antoine de Challant. Aoste : Impr. catholique, 1906.

Webgraphy. Biography by François-Charles Uginet, in Italian, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 24 (1980), Treccani; biographical entry, in Italian, Sapere; biography, in French, Wikipédia; Cardinals Participating in the Council of Pisa by John Paul Adams, CSUN, November 11, 2013 11:49 AM; his arms, Araldica Vaticana.

(1) This is according to "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. VI. Les cardinaux du Grand Schisme (1378-1417)". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1931, p. 155; and Galland, "Les Savoyards au concile de Perpignan" in Le concile de Perpignan (15 novembre 1408-26 mars 1409) actes du colloque international (Perpignan, 24-26 janvier 2008), p. 133. His first biography in Italian, linked above, says that he was named on June 10, 1404. Pius Bonifatius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae (3 v. in 1. Graz : Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1957), p. 829, says that he was named on September 23, 1405.
(2) "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. VI. Les cardinaux du Grand Schisme (1378-1417)". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1931, p. 155, says that Antipope Benedict XIII deposed Cardinal Challant on October 21, 1408, which could be a typographical error meaning 1409 because on the former date the cardinal was taking part in the Council of Perpignan together with the antipope.
(3) "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. VI. Les cardinaux du Grand Schisme (1378-1417)". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1931, p. 155, indicates that Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica da S. Pietro sino ai nostri giorni, XI, 143; and Francesco Cristofori, Cronotasi dei cardinali di Santa Romana Chiesa (Rome : Tipografia de Propaganda Fide, 1888), p. 411, say, erroneously, that he opted for the deaconry of S. Eustachio on March 26, 1409. Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1931 adds that perhaps he received that deaconry in commendam in 1410.
(4) His first biography in Italian, linked above, says that "it was indicated, in this period, among the partisans that the king of the Romans counted in the Sacred College, that Pseudocardinal Challant was a supporter of Antipope Benedict XIII and hostile to Antipope John XXIII. In fact, Pseudocardinal Challant shuffled somewhat in his attitude toward the antipope before King Sigismund, of whom he himself could not deny the essential role for the performance of the council, and seems to have shown a degree of independence."
(5) This is according to "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. VI. Les cardinaux du Grand Schisme (1378-1417)". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1931, p. 156. His first biography in Italian, linked above, says that his body was transferred to Aosta and buried in the Church of S. Francesco, where his tomb could still be seen in the 18th century. Pius Bonifatius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae (3 v. in 1. Graz : Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1957), p. 829, says that he died on September 13, 1418.

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