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 BASLE

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BASLE

Eugene issued a Bull in which he accepted the formnla "we decree and declare" by which he with- drew all his previous manifestoes against the Council of Basle.

Thus peace was estaUished between the two parties, bat the reconciliation was more apparent than reaL The papal legates were indeed admitted as presidents. lAit their jurisdiction was denied, their powers limited by the will of the council, they were even forced to accept the decrees of Constance which they did in their own name but not ld the name of the pope (24 AprQ, 1434), and finally, when in the eighteenth public session (26 June) the Constance decrees were srfenmly renewed they reused to attend. In spite of their efforts the council continued in its opposition to the pope, riaiming jurisdiction in an affairs, poUtical and religious, and entoing into negptiations with the Greeks about the reunion of the Chtirehes. At the twentieth puUic session (22 January, 1435) the reform of church discipline was begun. Decrees were passed against concubinage of the clergy and the abuse of excommunications and interdicts. On the 9th of June, 1433, aimates and all the cus- tomary papal taxes were abolished, althou^ no stqis were taken to provide for the financial status of the papacy. Later stiD the papal nAectors were ordered to appear in Basle to render an account of their work, and all outstanding debts due to the pope were to be paid at Basle. The ftapal delegates, especially Traversari and .Anton de Vito, defended tl^ rights of Eugene, but the moderate el^nmt was gradually losing control in the assembly, and the extreme party, gathered around Cardinal Louis d'.\llemand, could no longer be restrained. Xo leg- islation had any chance of being passed unless directed against the Holy See. At last, after the papal d^Mities. Cardinals Albergati and Cervantes, had beoi recrived very hadh- at Bade (25 March, 1436), and after decrees had been passed regarding the futtire conclave, the papal oath, the number of cardinals, etc., Eugene I\^ realized that conciliation was no longer possible, and addressed a Note to the princes of Europe in which he summed up the injuries inflicted on the papacy by the council and requested the different rulers to withdraw their bbhops from Basle and assist in the preparation for another general council from the deliberations of which something better might be awaited.

The councQ had previously opened communication with the Greeks (September. 1434) to determine where the assembly for reunion should be held. In December, 1436. it was proposed that the council should be held either at Basle itself, at .Avignon, or in Savoy. Cardinal Casarini refused to put this proposal to the meeting, but on the motion of Cardinal d'.AUemand it was passed. The pope refused to consent, and the deputies of the Greek Emperor protested against it (23 February, 1437), whereupon a new embassy was dispatched to Con- stantinojrfe. The Greeks refused to come either to Basle or Savoy, and the people of .AA-ignon had shown no desire that the council should be held there. -A strong minority, including the papal legates, and most of the bishops present, wished tlSt some Italian city should be selected; the ma- jority, led by Cardinal d'.AUemand and composed mainly of the inferior clergy, were opposed to this proposal, and after a disorderly session (7 May, 1437), at which both parties published their decrees, Eugene IV confirmed that of the minority, and the Greek ambassador declared it to be the one ac- ceptable to the emperor. The revolutionary party now completely controlled the council. .Against the wishes of Caesarini. Cer\'antes. and Sigismund, the pope was commanded (31 July. 1437) to appear before the council to answer for his disobedience, and U.— 22

on the 1st of October he was declared contumaaous. Eugene IV repUed to these exoeses by the publica- tion of the Bull " Doctoris gentium" (18 Septembra-), in which it was stated that unless tl^ ddegates abandoned their methods and confined themselves for a Umited ntmiber of days only to the Bohemian affair the coimcil would be transferred to Ferrara. The reply was a reassertion of the superiority of a general council (19 October). (Cardinal (3sesarini made one final effort to effect a reconciliation, but failed, and then, accompanied by all the cardinals except d'AUemand and by most of the bishops, he left Basle and joined the pope at Ferrara, to which l^ace the councQ had been definitely transferred by a Bun of Eugene FV (30 Decembo-).

Henceforth the assembly at Basle could be re- garded only as schismaticaL Most of the Cbristiaii world stood loyal to the pope aiKi to the Council of Ferrara. England, C^astile and .Aragpn, Milan, and Bavaria d^vowed the assembly at Basle, while, on the other hand, France anid Germany, though recognizing Eugene IV, aideavoured to maintain a neutral position. In a meeting of the French Oergy at Bourges (May, 1438), at which were present delegates from the pope and from Basle, it was determined to remain loyal to Eugene, while at the same time many of the reforms of Basle were accepted with certain modifications. It was on this basis that the twenty-three articles of the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges were drawn up (7 July, 143S). In Gennany. after the death of Sigismund (9 December, 1437), delegates of both parties attended at Frankfort (1438) to seek the assistance of the princes, but they declared for neutrality tmtil a king had been elected, and even after the election of Albrecht II the attitude of neuiraUty was maintained till at last, in Mainz (Mareh, 1439), they followed the example of France and declared for Eugene TV as lawftd pope while they aco^ted many of the reforms of Basle.

In Basle itself it was resolved to depose the pope and in order to prepare the way for deposition three articles were drawn up, namely: (1) that a general coimcil k superior to a pope; (2) that the pope cannot prorogue, or dissolve such an assembly: P) that whoever denies these is a heretic. Car- dinal d'AUemand was the leading ^irit in this undertaking. .Against the wishes of the bishops and most of the ambassadors present, these decrees were passed (16 May, 1439), and Eugene TV was deposed as a heretic and schismatic (25 June). Immediately steps were taken to elect his successor. Cardinal Louis d'.AUemand. eleven bishops, five theologians, and nine jurists and canonists formed the conclave, and on the 30th of October, 1439, .Amadeiis, ex-Duke of Savoy, was elected and look the name of FeUx V. Since his retirement he had been living with a body of knights, which he organized as the Order of St. Maurice, on the banks of the Lake of Geneva. He was closely connected with many of the princes of Europe, and the council stood in bad need of the wealth which he was re- puted to possess. He named Cardinal d'.AllemaiKl president, but the conventicle resented this act of authority and elected instead the .Archbishop of Ta- rentaise i26 Februarj-, 1440). Steps were al«) taken to le\7" taxes on ecclesiastical baiefices to pro\-ide revenue for Felix V (4 .August. 1440). But the election of an antipope ahenated the sympaihy of the world from Basle. Hencefonh they could relv only upon Switzerland and Sa^-oy.

bisputes soon broke out between Felix V and the conventicle at Basle. It refused to allow his name to precede that of the council in the promulga- tion of its decrees, and he was imwiUing to undergo the expense of supporting nuncios in the different cotmtries. The swaaons became less frequent, the