reconciliation. Cardinal Guy de Malsec was Dean of the College of Cardinals, a matter of seniority, in the Obedience of Avignon from August 1405 until his death. Benedict XIII, however, continued to be under intense pressure to end the schism. He repeatedly promised to do everything he could to achieve that goal, and then found obstacle after obstacle to its realization. In May 1408 he sent an embassy to Italy to negotiate with Pope Gregory XII (Angelo Corraro). The embassy was led by four cardinals, Guy de Malsec (Bishop of Palestrina), Pierre de Thury, Pierre Blau (who died on 12 December 1409), and Antoine de Chalant In accordance with the written Instructions given them, the Cardinals were to get in touch with the cardinals of Gregory XII and sound them out as to the prospects for a General Council of the Church. At Livorno the embassy happened to meet some of the cardinals of Gregory XII who had fled from his Court, which was living in exile in Lucca at the time. Those cardinals had fled on 11 and 12 May, fearing arrest and worse at the hands of that Pope's violent nephew, Paolo Corraro. Paolo had already tried unsuccessfully to seize Jean Gilles, the Cardinal of Liège (who died on 1 July 1408). The Gregorian cardinals were Francesco Uguccione (the Cardinal of Bordeaux), Giordano Orsini, Niccolò Brancaccio and Angelo de Sommariva. On 29 June 1408 the cardinals of both Observances published a document on which they had reached agreement, pledging themselves to summon a General Council of the entire Church, and that if both papal claimants did not give peace to the Church by mutual cessation (resignation), the General Council would take action. They agreed that they would not maintain their adherence to either claimant. They agreed that they would pay no attention to the diminution in the status of any or all of them made by either claimant after 1 May 1408. They also agreed that if one of the claimants died, his cardinals would not proceed to an election, until consultation with the Church had been undertaken concerning the surviving claimant, or the claimant had resigned. The manifesto was signed by the thirteen cardinals who were present, led by Cardinal Guy de Malsec, and later subscribed to by six other cardinals. Cardinal Jean Gilles was dying and did not sign. The opening solemnities of the Council of