It had never happened before and has never happened since. On November 11, 1417, a pope was selected largely thanks to the efforts of the English.
That would be notable enough in itself, but it is all the more significant because the pope in question, Martin V, decisively set the papacy on the course which, essentially, it has pursued ever since.
Martin was elected after a 40-year crisis. During the Great Schism in 1378, the same College of Cardinals had elected not one but two popes: Urban VI in Rome and Clement VII in Avignon. After that, Catholic Christendom split on political and diplomatic rather than theological lines. When in 1408 the cardinals tried to heal the split between Rome and Avignon and elect a new pope, all they achieved was to add a third: Alexander V, who was quickly succeeded by John XXIII – now recognised as an antipope.
