RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Constance Constantine
Alexander V. But the result was simply that there now were three popes instead of two; and the confusion continued unabated, when, after the death of Alexander V- (1410), the leaders of the Pisan council elected John XXIII. All three popes were invited to Constance, but only John was present. He was crafty and unscrupulous, dissolute and avaricious; but he was courageous, shrewd,
inexhaustible in shifts and intrigues. The Ques- and equal to any emergency. He tion of the hoped to control the council by means Schism, of the verj' great number of Italian
prelates, who, mostly dependent upon him, accompanied him to Constance. But in this he failed. The order of business adopted (Feb. 7, 1415) on the proposal of the English was that of working and voting by nations; and in the plenary sessions the Italian nation, had, of course, only one vote beside the other nations — the German, French, English, and, after the deposition of Benedict XIII., the Spanish. Each nation formed an efficient organization, in which, contrary to the wishes of the pope, his chief opponents — the doctors, the lower clergy, the princes and their representatives — had voice and vote. John now endeavored to urge upon the assembly the view that the Council of Constance was nothing but a continuation of that of Pisa, which had formally condemned his two rivals, and, indirectly at least, legitimized his own election. But in this, too, he failed; and the party of Pierre d'Ailly finally succeeded in carrying a motion that the three popes should be compelled to abdicate, and a new election take place. John abdicated in the hope of being reelected; but he soon became aware of his mistake, fled in the disguise of a groom (Mar. 20, 1415), protested, was caught, and was finally brought to acquiesce in the decisions of the council. In its fifth plenary session (Apr. 6, 1415) the assembly agreed that an ecumenical council, legally convened, and fully representative of the Church, has its power directly from Christ, and that its decrees are consequently obligatory on all, even on the pope. May 29, 1415, John XXIII. was deposed; July 4 Gregory XII. voluntarily abdicated; July 26, 1417, Benedict XIII. was deposed; and Nov. 11, 1417, Cardinal Oddo Colonna was elected pope, and assumed the name of Martin V., who closed the council Apr. 22, 1418, at its fortyfifth session.
The Bohemian affairs were treated with great thoroughness; for Huss was burned July 6, 1415, and Jerome of Prague, May 30, 1416. But a final settlement was not arrived at, still less a satisfactory one (see Huss, John, Hussites). Still more conspicuously the council failed in its The Hus- reform plans. A collegium reformasite Heresy torium was formed in Aug., 1415; but, and Ques- characteristically enough for the whole tion of situation, when Cardinal Zabarella Reform, read aloud to the assembly the decree of Apr. 16, 1415, he wilfully left out the passage it contained on the power of the council to undertake reforms in the Church. It was the lower clergy, the monks, the doctors, and professors, led by Pierre d'Ailly and Gerson, and supported by the emperor, who demanded reforms.
But they were unable to agree among tliemselves, and the abuses in which reforms were necessary — such as the appeals to the pope, and the papal procedure, the administration of vacant benefices, and the giving in commendam, simony, dispensations, indulgences, etc. — were the sources from which the pope, the cardinals, and the huge swarm of ecclesiastical officials in Rome drew their principal revenues. In fighting against reforms, the cardinals fought for their very existence, and they proved unconquerable. In the thirty-ninth session (Oct. 9, 1417) the few articles upon which agreement was reached were approved and the decree Frequens was issued, providing for another council after five years, a second seven years later, and thereafter one every ten years. Eighteen specific reforms were brought forward, which the new pope should arrange with the council or " the deputies of the nations." The emperor wished the question of reform discussed and decided before the election of a new pope; but the cardinals declared that the worst ailing of the Church was its lack of a head, and when Martin V. was elected he understood how to bury the whole affair quietly and smoothly, by grave hesitations and cautious procrastinations. (B. Bess.) Bibliography: Sources are: Ulrich von Richenthal, Chronik des Constamer Conzils, ed. M. R. Buck, Stuttgart, 1882; H. van der Hardt, Magnum Constantiense concilium, 7 vols., Frankfort and Berlin, 1698-1742; Acta concilii Constanciensis, ed. H. Finke, vol. i., Milnster, 1896; Mansi, Concilia, vols, xxvi.— xxvii. Consult: J. Lenfant, Histoire du concile de Constance, 2 vols., Amsterdam, 1727, Eng. transl., London, 1730; F. Steinhausen, Analecta ad historiam concilii . ConstanticE, Berlin, 1862; J. Caro, Aus der Kanzlei Kaiser Sigismunds urkundliche Beitrdge zur Geschichte des Constanzer Concils, Vienna, 1879; B. Bess, Zur Geschichte des Konstanzer Konzils, Marburg, 1891; B. Fromme, Die spanische Nation und das Konstanzer Konzil, 2 parts, Miinster, 1894-96; H. Blumenthal, Die Vorgeschichte des Constanzer Conzils, Halle, 1897; L. Salembier, Le Grand Schisme d'Occident, Paris, 1900; J. H. Wylie, Council of Constance to the Death of John Hus, London, 1900; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, vols, vi.-vii.; Milman, Latin Christianity, vii. 426-524; Pastor, Popes, i. 194-207; Creighton, Papacy, 1. 228, 307-346, ii. 26-126; also the literature cited under Huss, John.