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Pope Martin V dissolved the Council of Constance after its forty-fifth session on April 22, 1418. For the next 40 years the papacy struggled to eliminate the conciliar challenge to their claim to universal supremacy over the church. Martin V proceeded to confirm only the decrees of the Council defending the faith against heresy, but not the reforming decrees. He was careful not to act on any of the items the conciliarists had recommended to his immediate attention. He even drug his feet about calling a new council. Meanwhile Martin V was struggling to recover the Papal States from a collection of rulers who resisted Papal authority vigorously.
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The Bohemians had responded to Hus' death by making him a national hero. The Bohemian nobility condemned the Council's action and swore to protect free preaching. Emperor Sigismund, who had now succeeded his brother, Wenceslaus, as Bohemian king, attempted to make Bohemian practice conform to the rest of Christendom by insisting on withholding the cup from the laity. The Bohemians rebelled from Emperor Sigismund and under the radical Hussite leader John Ziska defeated Emperor's army in 1420. Pope Martin V announced a Crusade against the Bohemian rebels naming Cardinal Caesarini as his legate. An army of 150,000 gathered and invaded Bohemia five times between 1420 and 1431 only to be repulsed each time. Caesarini became convinced that if the Papacy didn't agree to call a council to deal with the Bohemian situation a new schism could develop. Sigismund and numerous conciliarists put pressure on Martin V.
Although Martin V finally called a council to meet at Pavia in 1423, the council was slow in gathering and hindered by an epidemic in the city. Martin was relieved that nothing substantial was enacted beyond the choice of Basel as the site for the next Council. The pressure from Sigismund and other princes to settle the Hussite problem continued and in the late Spring of 1431 Martin finally authorized a meeting at Basel and again named Cardinal Caesarini as his legate to organize the Council. Martin still hoped the council would be able to achieve what Sigismund and the Crusade had failed to do; namely, to convince the Bohemians to submit to the Pope's authority.
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Pope Eugenius IV became convinced before a year was over that the new Council of Basel was going to be as unproductive as Pavia. He finally did get around to confirming whatever actions of the Council of Constance that were not prejudicial to the rights, dignity and supremacy of the papacy.
Moreover, Pope Eugenius IV experienced an unexpected windfall when envoys from the eastern Emperor, John VIII Palaeologus, arrived with an urgent plea to proceed at once with a unification of the eastern and western churches. John's motivation was real, but not particularly pious. He hoped union with the western church could be used to persuade western Europeans to come help him withstand the onslaught of the Ottoman hordes. John's envoys proposed a unification council to be held as soon as possible in Italy so both eastern and western representatives could attend it. It was strategically very important that the Byzantine Emperor, John VIII, had recognized the authority of the Papacy and not the claims of the General Council.
It was obvious that as long as the Council of Basel was meeting the eastern delegation could not come. So on December 18, 1431, Eugenius IV ordered the presumably fruitless meetings at Basel dissolved and announced the call for a Council to unify the East and West beginning in June of 1433 in Italy. The Conciliarists at Basel were perplexed and irritated by the Pope's actions. They refused to publish the pope's bull when it arrived. Cardinal Caesarini advised the pope to consider allowing the Council to continue since it had finally gathered and had taken action on December 14 by adopting an agenda. Moreover, they were ready to address the ongoing Hussite problem in Bohemia in the hope of restoring peace in Europe and restoring the Bohemian church. Caesarini believed the only hope of peace with Bohemia was negotiation with the Council, otherwise he still feared a permanent schism would surely develop. When Eugenius rejected the legate's assessment Caesarini resigned from the council. Eugenius did not want the council negotiating with Bohemia. His opposition to the council became more adamant. He issued a bull in September, 1433, declaring that the concept of conciliar supremacy was heresy.
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The majority of those in attendance remained in Basel and determined to act unilaterally. In February, 1432, the Council of Basel reorganized and declared itself a general council. It consisted of nearly 500 lower clergy and university scholars and a sizable number of prelates. It was organized into four committees where debate and voting were very democratic. It renewed the conciliar theory decrees of the Council of Constance and ordered the Pope and all the cardinals to appear at the Council within 3 months. Although some cardinals did proceed to Basel Pope Eugenius did not. Meanwhile the Council proceeded with the settlement of the Hussite problem, a very popular achievement that won them lots of support.
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Meanwhile in Bohemia the radical Hussites rejected transubstantiation, worship of saints, prayers for the dead, indulgences, confession, oaths, dances and amusements. They allowed both men and women to preach in the Czech language. Under the leadership of John Ziska they fortified themselves on a hill they called Mount Tabor, about sixty miles from Prague. The group is often called the Taborites. When Ziska died in 1424 the priest, Procopius Rasa, succeeded him.
The moderate Hussites were known as the Pragers because Prague was their geographic focus. John Rokyzana was their spokesman. The Articles of Prague of 1420 spelled out their position in relation to four points. First, free preaching of the Gospel. Second, distribution of the cup to the laity. Third, civil court is to have jurisdiction over mortal sins. Fourth, Clergy must practice apostolic poverty. The Pragers used Czech only for the reading of Scripture in worship.
Both the Taborites and the Pragers were sometimes called the Calixtines (from calix, cup) or Utraquists (from sub utraque specie, under both kinds, referring to the national practice of distributing both the bread and the wine in the Eucharist. The Catholics of Bohemia were called Subunists (sub una specie) or just Unists. They maintained separate churches and separate clergy but otherwise lived peacefully together.
When the in 1431 after the defeat of the invasion the Council of Basel now offered to negotiate, the Bohemian Diet sent 300 delegates led by John Rokyzana, leader of the moderate party, and Procopius Rasa, leader of the radical party. The negotiations led to a document called the Compactata which provided that the cup would be distributed to the laity where they wanted it, but affirmed that Christ is wholly present in both elements. Civil war broke out in Bohemia during the negotiations. There were 22,000 casualties in Prague alone. The Taborites were defeated at Lipany in 1434. The Bohemian Diet accepted the Campactata in July 1436, but the Taborites remained alienated and dissatisfied.
King Sigismund of Germany attempted successfully to mediate between the new Council of Basel and Pope Eugenius IV forcing the Pope to retract all his opposition to the Council. In December, 1433, Eugenius IV agreed to accept the council as it had defined itself. The pope was at this time having a very difficult time keeping peace in the Papal States between the Colonna and Savelli families, and he was embroiled in a controversy with the Visconti rulers of Milan as well.
(The Bohemian account is continued in Lecture/Essay Eleven).
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But the Council now went ahead to pass a series of decrees addressing particular problems in the Church such as concubinage, simony, and the abuse of excommunication and interdicta. Other decrees addressed the scandalous theatrical performances in cemeteries and churches and disorderly conduct of public worship. So far these were tolerable decrees, but then the radicals gained the upper hand at Basel and decrees abolishing annates, the pallium honorarium, and Chancery fees, and limiting papal reservations were approved. Still other decrees stipulated arrangements for the forthcoming union council, imposing a papal oath of allegiance to the general council and setting the number of cardinals.
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Eugenius IV remained reconciled to the Council as long as it's were within reason, but the radical reforming decrees were flat unacceptable. Eugenius issued a Bull in September, 1437, terminating the sessions in Basel and calling them to reassemble at Ferrara by January 1438 for the meeting with delegates from Constantinople.
When Eugenius IV announced that the meeting with Byzantine churchmen would be held in Ferrara instead of at Basel, the Council declared him in contempt and called him to trial. A small number of councilors left Basel and went to Ferrara, but the rump, consisting of about 300 lower clergy and teachers--only one cardinal remained--, continued to hold sessions in Basel. When they declared Eugene deposed, England, Castile, Aragon, Bavaria and Milan all repudiated their support of Basel. France and Germany tried to remain neutral in this latest disagreement but retain their commitment to conciliarism.
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King Charles VII gathered the French clergy at Bourges in May 1438. They adopted the substance of 23 of the reform decrees of Basel including the affirmation of conciliar theory. On July 4, 1438, Charles VII made these decrees part of the law of the land in the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges. Thus France declared its loyalty to the conciliar movement and rejected the Papacy. The Electoral diet of Germany also adopted many of Council's decrees in the form of a document called the Instrumentun acceptationis of Mainz.
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On May 1, 1439, the Council at Basel acted to redefine the "true Catholic faith" as including the following doctrines:
When Eugenius IV promptly condemned them as heretics, the Council proceeded to elect an anti-pope, Felix V (1439-1451), who at first was supported only by Savoy, Switzerland and some German princes. France declared loyalty to Eugenius at once, but did not revoke the reforms that were part of the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges.
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Meanwhile, Pope Eugenius IV, came to Ferrara in January of 1438 and presided in person at what is considered the continuation of the first 25 legitimate sessions of the Council of Basel. The 700 Greek delegates arrived together with Emperor John VIII Palaeologus in March 1438. Patriarch Joseph II of Constantinople came as did legates of the Patriarch's of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem. John Bessarion, Archbishop of Nicaea, and Isidore, bishop of Kiev and representative of the Russian Orthodoxy, were present. Both the latter remained in the west and became Cardinals. The council was adjourned to Florence in January 1439 because the Florentine bankers agreed to help foot the bill to host the over 700 Greeks provided the council convene in their city. The Bull of Union, July 6, 1439, signed by an additional 114 Latins and 32 Greeks marked the success of the council after many debates. The items agreed upon included the following:
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Accepting the western addition of the word filioque to the Nicene Creed was a point of real difficulty for the Eastern Christians, but in the light of the urgency of their motivation the Eastern delegates cast away their scruples. After all they had much less resistance to agreeing with the West on the doctrine that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son than agreeing to change the wording of the Creed.
The Orthodox Church knew nothing of the concept of Purgatory anywhere in their tradition. It was in their view an unnecessary and confusing doctrine. Again, it was not a time to quibble.
The beginning of the Beatific Vision, when the believer comes face to face with God in heaven, was another slight disagreement where the Orthodox accepted the Western opinion.
The use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist was the established practice in the West but the Orthodox church used unleavened bread for only a few special occasions. More often they traditionally had used leavened bread in the Eucharist, but the delegates agreed to follow the Roman custom.
The Orthodox view that the miracle of transubstantiation takes place at the time of the Epiklésis, the prayer for the Holy Spirit to come to the elements, was repudiated in favor of the western understanding that it took place at the moment when Christ's words, "this is my body" were spoken by the priest.
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The Orthodox also agreed to recognize the supremacy of the Roman Church and the supremacy of the papacy. These were bitter pills to swallow, but the hope of military aid against the Ottomans motivated them.
Although five other Eastern churches entered into more or less lasting relations with Rome in the fifteenth century, the rank and file of the (Greek) Orthodox Church flatly rejected the agreements of the Council of Ferrara-Florence. Likewise the Russian Orthodox Church maintained its independence from Rome. Yet the new ties with eastern churches created a whole group of denominations called Uniates. Uniate churches still exist today in the Middle East and the Balkans as a result of agreements in the fifteenth century between the Western church and the Monophysite Armenians, the western Jacobites the eastern Jacobites, the Nestorians, and the Monothelite Maronites.
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While the Council of Ferrara-Florence proved ultimately to be the turning point in the re-assertion of papal authority, the actual substance of that restored authority was more symbolic than it had been. The popes were busy meantime continuing to negotiate with the governments of Europe one at a time. In most of these negotiations the papacy had to give up recently claimed rights, especially those claimed during the schism. The fifteenth century European governments received for their recognition of the papacy in place of the General Council as the head of the church a substantial share in the income from the churches within the particular state and a valuable role in the administration of that part of the church. A series of concordats, i.e. agreements, were made with Venice, Piedmont, Savoy, Genoa, the Catholic monarchs of Spain, Denmark, Hungary, etc. Even thereafter, most governments were in a powerful position to force further concessions out of the papacy in return for their continued support. The papacy's sphere of effective influence was being greatly reduced as the Renaissance governments emerged everywhere in Europe.
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The Holy Roman Empire also eventually came round under the leadership of Emperor Frederick III, Hapsburg (1440-1493), and with the concessions offered by Pope Eugenius IV on his death bed. It was left to the next pope to finally sign the Concordat of Vienna, 1448, establishing the newly defined relations between the Roman papacy and the German Imperial territories. It provided the following:
The loss of political support doomed the Council of Basel. It had no public sessions after 1443, but many of its members had remained in Basel. Frederick III ordered them to disperse in July 1448 so the surviving council members moved to Lausanne (Switzerland). When Felix V resigned as their pope in 1451 they assembled one last time to elect Nicholas V in Felix's place and then dissolved the Council.
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The victory of the papacy over conciliarism has generally been seen as the inaugural triumph of absolutism in Western Europe. The passing of the conciliar movement is likewise interpreted as part of the rise of absolutism--or Renaissance monarchy. Just as the Papacy had been the inaugural model for medieval monarchy that the would-be secular monarchs emulated in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, so now it was the model absolute monarch that led the rest of Europe into the age of absolutism. It is true that the nobility and rulers of Europe began to fear the conciliar movement as a potential disrupter of life as they knew it--of their vested privileges. It seemed to many conservatives as likely to introduce chaos rather than improvement.
However, the argument is, at best, somewhat hollow. The effectiveness of papal power in Western Europe was not restored to its former level just because the Pope's supremacy over the church was recognized in place of the general council. In practical terms the popes were not absolute rulers over the Church; for, the necessary cooperation of the new Renaissance monarchs definitely limited papal freedom and effectiveness. The so-called absolutism of the papacy is actually rather ephemeral and perhaps more easily challenged or ignored than the medieval papacy's suzerainty. The one true sense in which the papacy was by the end of the fifteenth century absolute was in his role as ruler over the Papal States in Italy.
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