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He was elected from outside the College of Cardinals , and his pontificate began shortly after the end of the Avignon Papacy. Born in Itri , then part of the Kingdom of Naples , Prignano was a devout monk and learned casuist , trained at Avignon.

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He became Archbishop of Bari in Prignano had developed a reputation for simplicity and frugality and a head for business when acting vice-chancellor. He also demonstrated a penchant for learning, and, according to Cristoforo di Piacenza, [ 2 ] he had no family allies in an age of nepotism , although once in the papal chair he elevated four cardinal-nephews and sought to place one of them in control of Naples.

His great faults undid his virtues: Ludwig von Pastor summed up his character: "He lacked Christian gentleness and charity. He was naturally arbitrary and extremely violent and imprudent, and when he came to deal with the burning ecclesiastical question of the day, that of reform, the consequences were disastrous.

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With the cardinals being under some haste and great pressure to avoid the return of the papal seat to Avignon , Prignano was unanimously chosen Pope on 8 April as acceptable to the disunited [ 4 ] majority of French cardinals , taking the name Urban VI. Not being a cardinal, he was not well known. Immediately following the conclave, most of the cardinals fled Rome before the mob could learn that not a Roman though not a Frenchman either , but a subject of Queen Joan I of Naples , had been chosen.

Though the coronation was carried out in scrupulous detail, leaving no doubt as to the legitimacy of the new pontiff, [ 5 ] [ 6 ] the French were not particularly happy with this move and began immediately to conspire against this pope. Urban VI did himself no favors; whereas the cardinals had expected him pliant, he was considered arrogant and angry by many of his contemporaries.

Dietrich of Nieheim reported the opinion of the cardinals that his elevation had turned his head, [ 7 ] and Froissart , Leonardo Aretino , Tommaso de Acerno [ 8 ] and St. Antoninus of Florence recorded similar conclusions. Immediately following his election, Urban began preaching intemperately to the cardinals some of whom thought the delirium of power had made Urban mad and unfit for rule , insisting that the business of the Curia should be carried on without gratuities and gifts, forbidding the cardinals to accept annuities from rulers and other lay persons, condemning the luxury of their lives and retinues, and the multiplication of benefices and bishoprics in their hands.