ABSTRACT
Monarchical rule was an even more pronounced characteristic of the European political scene than it had been 250 years earlier. Between 1250 and 1350, for example, in most of the city-states of northern and central Italy, republican government was replaced by the rule of one man, the signore. The Great Schism, during which there were two and, in its later stages, three rival claimants to the papal throne, gave a great opportunity to the conciliar movement, because to end the scandal it was necessary to summon a council of the Church, which met at Constance. Most conciliarists wanted councils to be a regular feature of the government of the Church and to be superior to popes. Rulers were quite aware of the psychological foundations of authority, and by the fifteenth century the view that power was based on reputation was already a cliche. The revival of a money economy also had major implications for government and for power relations.
