138 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
the disgrace aiul confusion into which Western Christendom had been thrown and of a reunion of the Church.
§ 15. The Council of Pisa.
The three councils of Pisa, 1409, Constance, 1414, and Basel, 1431, of which the schism was the occasion, are known ^n history as the Reformatory councils. Of the tasks they set out to accomplish, the healing of the schism and the institution of disciplinary reforms in the Church, the first they accomplished, but with the second they made little progress. They represent the final authority of general councils in the aifairs of the Church — a view, called the conciliary theory — ■ in distinction from the supreme autliority of the papacy.
The Pisan synodmarks an epoch in thejiistory^gf Westeiai Christendon^not so much on account of what it actually accomplished as because it was the first revolt in council against the theory of papal absolutism which had been accepted for centuries. It followed the ideas of Gerson and Langenstein, namely, that the Church is the Church even without the presence of a pop_e, and that an oecumenical council is legitimate which meets not only in the absence of his assent biit in the face of his protes^t. Representing intellectually the weight of the Latin world and the larger part of its constituency, the assembly was a momentous event leading in the opposite direction from the path laid out by Hildebrand, Innocent III., and their successors. It was a mighty blow at the old system of Church government.
While Gregory XII. was tarrying at Rimini, as a refugee, under the protection of Charles Malatesta, and Benedict XUI. was confined to the seclusion of Perpignau, the synod was opened on the appointed day in the cathedral of Pisa. There was an imposing attendance of 14 cardinals, — the number being afterwards increased to j24, — 4 patriarchs, 10 archbishops, 79 bishops and representatives of 116 other bishQ|)s, 128 abbots and priors and the representatives of 200 otlier abbots. To these prelates were added tjie generals of the Dominican, Franciscan, Carmelite, and Augustinian orders,
§ 15. THE COUNCIL OF PISA. 139
the grand-master of the Knights of St. John, who was accompanied by 6 commanders, the general of the Teutonic order, 300 doctors of theology and the canon law, 109 representatives of cathedral and collegiate chapters, and the deputies of many princes, including the king of the Romans, Wenzil, and the kings of England, France, Poland, and Cyprus. A new and significant feature was the representation of the universities of learning, including Paris,^ Bologna, Oxford and Cambridge, Montpellier, Toulouse, Angers, Vienna, Cracow, Prag, and Cologne. Among the most important personages was Peter d'Ailly, though there is no indication in the acts of the council that he took a prominent public part. John Gerson seems not to have been present.
The second day, the archbishop of Milan, Philargi, himself soon to be elected pope, preached from Judg. 20: 7: "Behold ye are all children of Israel. Give here your advice and counsel," and stated the reasons which had led to the summoning of the council. G;uy de Maillesec, the only cardinal surviving from the days prior to the schism, presided over the first sessions. His place was then filled by the patriarch of Alexandria, till the new pope was chosen.
One of the first deliverances was a solemn profession of the Holy Trinity and the Catholic faith, and that every heretic and schismatic will share with the devil and his angels the burnings of eternal fire unless before the end of this life he make his peace with the Catholic Church. ^
The business which took precedence of all other was the healing of the schism* the causa unionis, as it was called, and disposition was first made of the rival popes. A formal trial was instituted, which was opened by two cardinals and two archbishops proceeding to the door of the cathedral and solemnly calling Gregory and Benedict by name and summoning them to appear and answer for themselves. The formality
1 Schwab, p. 223 sq. The address which Gerson is said to have delivered and which Mansi includes in the acts of the council was a rhetorical composition and never delivered at Pisa. Schwab, p. 243.
2 Mansi, XXVII. 358.