Alexander V became a Franciscan theologian and then archbishop of Milan (1402). Pope Innocent VII appointed him cardinal (1405) and papal legate to Lombardy. Unanimously elected by the invalid Council of Pisa in 1409 when he was 70 years old, Alexander reigned only ten months. It was hoped that his election would swiftly terminate the Great Western schism of 1378-1417, but the council did not persuade pope Gregory XII and the antipope Benedict XIII to resign. A condominium of three popes resulted. In 1410 Alexander sent to Archbishop Zbynek of Prague a bull which ordered the burning of Wycliffe´s heretical works. Alexander died mysteriously, some professing -through without proof- that he was poisoned by his successor, the antipope John XXIII.
Alexander VII was grandnephew of Pope Paul V, he served the church as vice-legate at Ferrara and as nuncio at Cologne (1639-1651). During the negotiations leading to the Peace of Westphalia (1648), he refused to deliberate with heretics and urged the Catholic princes not to sacrifice the rights of the church. They, however, were tired of war and yielded to France and the Protestants. Secretary of state to Pope Innocent X in 1651 and made cardinal in 1652, Chigi was elected pope on April 7.
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