1T6 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1204-1517.
ten years, abolished annates and first-fruits, ordered the large benefices filled by elections, and limited the number of cardinals to twenty-four. These important declarations, which went back to the decrees of the Council of Constance, were the foundations of the Galilean liberties.
The attitude of the German princes and ecclesiastics was one of neutrality or of open support of the council at Basel. Sigismund died at the close of the year 1437, and, before the election of his son-in-law, Albrecht II., as his successor, the electors at Frankfurt decided upon a course of neutrality. Albrecht survived his election as king of the Romans less than two years, and his uncle, Frederick III., was chosen to take his place. Frederick, after observing: neutrality JE£>r_se^ years, gave his adhesion to Eugepius.
~ TJnwilling to be ignored and put out of life, the_counciLat JBasei, through a commission of thirty-two, at whose head stood d'Aleman, elected^ 1439,^ Amadeus, duke of Savoy^ as pope.^ After the loss of his wife, 1435, Amadeus formed the order of St. jNIauritius, and lived with several companions in a retreat at Ripaille, on the Lake of Geneva. He was a man of large wealth and influential family connections. He as- ^umed the name of Felix V., and appointed four cardinals. A year after his election, and accompanied by his two sous, he entered Basel, and was crowned by Cardinal d'Aleman. The tiara is said to have cost 30,000 crowns. JThus Weste.rn Christendom again witnessed a schism. Felix had the support of Savoy and some of the German princes, of Alfonso of Aragon, and the universities of Paris, Vienna, Cologne, JEjcfurt, and CracQW. Frederick III. kept aloof from Basel and declined the offer of marriage to Margaret, daughter of Felix and widow of Louis of Anjou, with a dowry of 200,000 ducats.
The papa]^ achievement in winning Fredericj£_XILi king of the Romans, was luri^cly due to tlio corruption of Frederick's chief minister, C;isj>ar Schlic]^, and the treachery of ^']neas Sylvius, who desiTtcd one cause and master after another as
^ H. Manger, D. Wnhl Amadeos v. Savoyen zum Papste, Marburg, 1001, p. 04. Rigisiiiund, in 1(1'), niised the counts of Savoy to the dignity of dukes.
§ 17. THE COUNCIL OF BASEL. 1431-1449. 177
it suited his advantage. From being a vigorous advocate of the council, he turned to the side of Eugenius, to whom he made a most fulsome confession, and, after passing from the service of Felix, he became secretary to Frederick, and provec]^ himself__Eug[enius' most shrewd and pliable agent. He was an adept in diplomacy and trimmed his sails to the wind.
The archbishops of Treves and Cologne, who openly supportedJhe_BMfil assembLy, were deposed by Eugenius, lllj. The same year six of the electors offered Eugenius their obediejLce, provided lie would recognize the superiority of -aw CECumenical council, and within thirteen months call a new council to meet on German spil. Following the advice of ^neas Sylvius, the pope concluded it wise to show a conciliatory attitude. Papal delegates appeared at the diet, meeting September, 1446, and ^neas was successful in winning over the margrave of Brandenburg and other influential princes. The following January he and other envoys appeared in Rome as representatives of the archbishop of Mainz, Frederick III., and other princes. The result of the negotiations was a concordat, — the so-called princes' concordat, — Fursten IConkordat, — by which the jpope restored the two depose^l archbishops, recognized the superiority pf_general councijs, and gave to Frederick the right during his lifetime to nominate the incumbents of the six bishoprics of Trent, Brixen, Chur, Gurk, Trieste, and Pilsen, and to him and his successors the right to fill, subject to the pope's approval, 100 Austrian benefices. These concessions Eugenius ratified in four bulls, Feb. 5-7, 1447, one of them, the bull Salvatoria^ declaring that the pope in the previous three bulls had not meant Jo disparage the authority of the Apostolic See, and if his successors found his concessions out of accord with the doctrine of the fathers, they were to be regarded as void. The agreement was celebrated in Rome with the ringing of bells, and was confirmed by Nicolas V. in the so-called Vienna Concordat, Feb. 17, 1448.1
Eugenius died Feb. 23, 1447, and was laid at the side of Eugenius III. in St. Peter's. He had done nothing to intro-
1 Given in Mirbt, p. 165 sqq.