When Pope Gregory XI entered Rome for the first time in January 1377, the results of his simple desire to return the papacy to its nominal see could not have been guessed at. His predecessor, Urban V, had himself made an attempt to end the so-called Babylonish Captivity, the exile of the Roman papacy in its enclave at Avignon, which had begun during the pontificate of Clement V at the beginning of the fourteenth century. But Urban's stay in Rome had proved to be no more than a temporary sojourn. He had returned to Avignon to die, and it was there that Gregory XI, a Frenchman, had been duly elected as his successor in 1370. Gregory had made no secret of his determination to travel to Rome when the opportunity arose, but this proved impossible until 1376. And, by late 1377, it seemed likely that this re-establishment of the papacy at Rome might be as temporary as that under Urban V. For Gregory XI, however, the stay proved permanent: he died in Rome on 27 March 1378, at the age of 48.

In the uncertainties of the situation which followed the death of Gregory XI, the conclave which elected his successor proved to be very much a struggle for control of the papacy between the various factions within the College of Cardinals.