Martin V Elected at Constance

November 11, 1417

After three years of ecclesiastical bargaining, the cardinals finally chose Oddone Colonna, who took the name Martin V. The forty-year Schism ended. Rival popes were deposed or ignored. The papacy returned to Rome to find the city half-ruined, the Vatican roofless, and wolves in the Forum. His election was ratified by all five national delegations, an unprecedented procedure underscoring the extraordinary measures needed to end the schism.