RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Basel
his cardinals were invited to come to Basel. As the former did not come, a process was instituted (Sept. 6) against him for contumacy. The council stood at that time in the zenith of its power, since it was recognized by most states, and Eugenius had to yield and expressly recognize the council Aug. 1, 1433.
In the mean time the authority of the council had increased through its negotiations with the Hussites. On Jan. 4, 1433, the Hussites Procopius, the terror of Christendom, and John Rokyczana, the learned and fanatic orator,
together with a numerous and brilliant Relations retinue, rode into Basel, not as peniwith the tent heretics, but with proud and fierce Hussites, mien, as guests of the council. The
negotiations with them resulted in an agreement in 1434 by which the so-called Compactata of Prague (see Huss, John), embodying their principal demands, among others the use of the cup in the celebration of the Lord's Supper, were granted with modifications.
Beginning in 1435, the council considered and issued a number of decisions, which concerned the reform of the Church in its head and members and
the introduction of a better discipline, Church but these measures were dictated by Reform, hatred to the curia, rather than by
enthusiasm for reform. The annates, the pallium-money, the tax on the papal confirmation of ecclesiastical promotion, the judicial authority of the pope, the richest source of the revenues of the curia, were abolished and declared to be simony. Prospects of a compensation were held out, but not fixed. As concerns the spiritual offices the canonical chapter-election was reinstated in its full right, the papal reservations, with a few exceptions, were abolished, and strict provisions were made concerning the moral worthiness of those to be elected. The troublesome appeals to Rome were limited, also the election and number of the cardinals and their prebends. But the restriction of the sources of power of the curia when it needed revenues the most, excited the fierce opposition of the whole army of officials. In the council a small but strong party arose which wished to avoid a breach with the curia, a party of legates, headed by Cardinal Cesarini.
Another matter, however, brought about a complete breach. The Greek emperor John Palaeologus had addressed himself to both the pope and the council with a view of obtaining help against the menacing Turks through a union of the Greek and
Roman Churches. The pope would
Proposed not concede that the glory of having
Union with brought about a union with the Greeks
the Greek should belong to the members of the
Church. council; he and the minority at Basel
wished the negotiations with the Greeks to be carried on in a city of Italy, whereas the antipapal majority at Basel wished the negotiations to be carried on there. The party of the legates left the council in 1437 and outwardly also sided with the pope. Of the cardinals only Louis d'Allemand (q.v.) remained and the vacant seats of the bishops were filled by clerics of lower order. I.— 32
The council became more and more democratic. All regard for the pope now ceased; the council opened the process against him and the cardinals and on Jan. 24, 1438, he was suspended. The pope declared the council to be a company of Satan, excommunicated its members, and convened a countercouncil at Ferrara, which he soon removed to Florence, where he met the Greek emperor and his spiritual and secular retinue (see Ferrara-Florence, Council of). He brought about the socalled Florentine union, which in itself was delusive and unreal, but greatly enhanced the fame of the pope in the eyes of his contemporaries, while the council at Basel deposed him June 25 as a backsliding heretic.
The governments took advantage of the differences of both parties. In France, the Synod of Bourges (1438) incorporated the decrees of the Council of Basel with the laws of the kingdom, the so-called pragmatic sanction of Bourges (see Pragmatic Sanction). Germany declared in 1439 that it would keep neutral, and observed the neutrality for some time to the great detriment of the curia. Ultimately, however, almost all European governments sided with Eugenius. The council at
Decline Basel persisted in its opposition under
and End the direction of Allemand. On Nov. of the 5, 1439, it elected an antipope in the
Council, person of the Duke Amadeus of Savoy, who took the name of Felix V (q.v.) and was crowned at Basel with great pageantry. He did not satisfy the expectations of the Fathers at Basel and was not recognized by the princes and nations. The German king, Frederick III, was especially averse to him, and the cunning secretary of the king, iEneas Sylvius Piccolomini (see Pius II, Pope) secretly influenced the German church policy in favor of Eugenius, who lived to know, though dying, that the German king and most of the German princes had declared for him Feb. 7, 1447 Great concessions had indeed been wrung from the pope; they were afterward modified or not regarded at all. The tolling of bells and bonfires announced the victory of Rome. The German king withdrew his support of the council, and it decreed June 25, 1448, to meet at Lausanne, where Pope Felix V had his residence. Ten months later the king of France induced the pope to resign, and the council, tired of the unending conflict, made Nicolas V his successor, whom the cardinals at Rome had appointed after the death of Eugenius. In this way it meant to preserve at least a semblance of authority, and in its last session, Apr. 25, 1449, it decreed its own dissolution. In spite of the failure of the council the belief that the Church needed reformation persisted.
Paul Tschackert.
Bibliography: The sources for a history are in the Acts of the Council, to be found in Mansi, Concilia, vols, xxix-xxxi, and Harduin, Concilia, vols, viii-ix; also in Mneas Sylvius, Commentarius de rebus Basilew gestis, used in C. Fea, Pius II. a calumniis vindicatus, Rome, 1823; Monumenta conciliorum generalium seculi xv. Concilium Basiliense, Scriptorum, i, ii, iii, Vienna, 1857-94; and Concilium Basiliense; Studien und Quellen zur Geschtchle des Concils von Basel, ed. J. Haller, G. Beckmann, R. Wackernagel, G. Coggiola, Basel, 1896-1904 (reports on the Mht-. still preserved in Basel and Paris, and criticism of jEneas
Bashan Basil