The Sacred Bonds:
Chapter 1
The holy synod of Basel, representing the universal church, legitimately assembled in the holy Spirit under the presidency of the most reverend father in Christ lord Julian, cardinal deacon of St Angelo of the holy Roman church, legate of the apostolic see, for the glory of almighty God, the exaltation of the catholic faith and the progress of the Christian religion, laying its foundation on the cornerstone Christ Jesus, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord, calls to mind that the holy general synod of Constance, celebrated in the holy Spirit, esteeming it salutary and beneficial that general councils should be frequent in the holy church of God, established this by its decree as follows: The frequent holding of general councils . . . 2 Hence for the execution of that decree, the city of Pavia in Italy was chosen for the general council to be held at the end of the five years immediately following. At the decreed time that council was indeed inaugurated in the said city of Pavia and thence it was translated for certain reasons to the city of Siena. In that general council which was begun in Pavia and was held in the city of Siena, this city of Basel was chosen and duly assigned for the next future general council to be held after the seven-year period from the end of the council of Siena, as is stated in the public instrument then composed about this succession.
The most reverend lord legate in his desire to fulfill the apostolic commission since at the time when the beginning of the council was imminent he was immersed in the expedition against the pestilential heresy of the Hussites for the sake of the faith, had his vicegerents dispatched to this city and thereafter with all possible speed came himself to this city, in order that, with the help of God's grace, he might fulfill in this general council the office of legate laid upon him, as our most holy lord Eugenius IV, pope by divine providence, had by a series of letters of his holiness enjoined on him. In this city, during more than three months, he held several congregations with prelates and others who had arrived in the city for the said general council, and he had discussions about the establishment and holding of the council. Finally it was decreed that the present solemn session should be held, in which, firstly, since from the above it is manifest that this city is the place deputed for the general council and the date for it to be held is already past, and the authority of the most holy apostolic see is not lacking, it decrees, defines and declares that in this city and place the general council is canonically fixed and founded, and that all, both prelates and others who by right or custom are obliged to attend general councils, are bound to come to its celebration.
Seeing that all things direct their actions more immediately and intensely the more knowledge they have of their destined purpose, so this holy synod, after intense meditation and thought on the needs of the Christian religion and after mature and ordered deliberation, decrees that, with the help of God from whom all good things comet, it will pursue with all its zeal and attention these three ends. First that, with the banishment of the darkness of all heresies from the bounds of the Christian people, the light of catholic truth, by the generosity of Christ the true light, may be resplendent. Secondly that, after due thought and with the help of the author of peace, the Christian people, freed from the madness of wars by which -- with the sower of weeds doing his work -- it is affected and divided in various parts of the world, may be brought back to a peaceful and tranquil state. Thirdly, as the vine of Christ has already almost run wild on account of the multitude of thistles and thorns of vices crowding in upon it, to cut them back through the endeavor of necessary cultivation, with the work from on high of the evangelical husbandman, so that it may flourish again and produce with happy abundance the fruits of virtue and esteem. Since such great benefits as these cannot be hoped for without a generous flow of heavenly grace, it earnestly exhorts in the Lord all Christ's faithful that for the happy achievement of the aforesaid they should urge the divine majesty with devout prayers, fasts and almsgiving that the good and merciful God, placated by such humble submission, may deign with his accustomed goodness to grant to this sacred council the desired completion of all these things, imposing this on them unto the remission of their sins.
-The Conciliar Decree for the First Session of the Council of Basel Given on the 14th of December in the Year of Our Lord 1431.
In the days of Constantine, when the Church became threatened with schism over the Arian controversy, Constantine had called a council. Throughout the time of the Roman Empire, Emperors had followed his lead. Later, when the Pope in Rome gained increasing influence in the West, the church councils became instruments for their policies and programs.
However, the power and prestige of the papacy was severely weakened during the so-called Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy from 1309-1377 as well as the Great Schism which immediately followed. In the Great Schism, the same group of cardinals elected two different men pope, at two different times. One, who took on the name Clement VII, established his papal court at Avignon, the site of the infamous Babylonian Captivity. The second, Urban VI, who was actually the first pope elected, established his papal court at Rome.
Naturally, each pope declared the other an anti-pope, and a pretender, causing Christendom to divide itself in their loyalties along national and factional lines. Because of this, when both initial claimants died, the schism continued, represented by Boniface IX, and later Innocent VII at Rome and Benedict XIII at Avignon. Since the Church had become split due to papal rivalries, a growing movement saw the only way to overcome this was to have a universal council of the Church, which would solve the dispute. This sentiment led to the Council of Pisa in 1408. However, this only added to the confusion, since instead of ruling in favor of one pope or the other, it simply elected a new pope, Alexander V, who after his death in 1410, was replaced by John XXIII.
Now the situation was worse, as neither of the two previous popes renounced their claims, creating, in effect, three popes. This situation continued until yet another council which gathered at Constance in 1414. Here, the council not only deposed the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII, but also Pope John XXIII, who the previous council had elected. At this, Pope Gregory XII voluntarily agreed to resign. The council then elected Pope Martin V, ending the Great Schism.
However, having exercised its power in ending the schism, the council felt itself above the pope. Because of politics, the council was able to force Martin to agree to periodically reconvene the council. The first council called under this agreement in 1423 did not accomplish much as attendance was low and difficulties arose due to a break out of plague. Because of this, Martin thought that he might be able to get away with not calling another council in 1430, the date set for the next council to meet.
However, despite the minor setback of 1423, counciliarism was still strong, so in order to prevent a crisis, Martin called one to meet at Basel, though he died shortly after it gathered. However, the progress of the Hussites, the lately begun war between Burgandy and Austria, and the low attendance to the council damaged the reputation of the council, causing Martins successor, Eugene IV, to believe that the counciliarism movement had died. Because of this, Eugene declared the council to be disbanded. Eugenes plan, however, backfired dramatically. Led by the vigorous cardinal Julian Cesarini, the council refused the orders to disband. Believing that disbanding the council would amount to a surrender to the Hussites as well as give up all hope for reform in the Church, Cesarini devoted his considerable energies to the council, swaying the council to refuse the popes command to disband. As a result of his efforts, attendance rose and concrete measures were taken, showing that the council was not dead.
Soon, it appeared the council would win over the pope, as the pope became increasingly isolated. Seeing the council make headway on a variety of issues, many cardinals abandoned the pope, throwing their lot in with the council. In addition, because of home politics or merely wanting to see the power of the pope reduced, the various temporal powers all refused to support the pope. Finally, adding injury to insult, the pope was deprived of his traditional estates through a series of short wars fought by condottieri, who invoked the authority of the council to justify their wars.
Because of this, on 15th of December 1433, the pope issued a papal bull declaring that his previous bull of dissolution was null and void, and recognizing that the council had never ceased to be legitimately assembled. After this, the council worked to curb the Hussites, negotiate peace between France and England, investigate private cases involving clergy, and pass decrees limiting the power of the pope.
The pope, however, did not take all this lightly, and had, in fact, one last gamble, the Roman Emperor John Palaeologus.[1] In the east, the Romans had found themselves suffering defeat after defeat against the Turks, which had cumulated in the Siege of Constantinople in 1422. Though successful in beating back the Turks from the walls of Constantinople, John wished to secure as many allies as possible in what he felt would be a fight to the death with the Turks. Because of this, John approached the Western Church, offering to reconcile the Eastern Church with them in exchange for assistance against the Turk.
In this opportunity, the pope saw a way to curb the power of the Council of Basel. Because of difficulties of travel, the Greeks would only consent to meeting the western church in a southern city of Italy. If the Council of Basel agreed to the move, they would be moving into the popes own turf, where he could personally oversee the council and work towards dominating it. If the council refused to move, he could start a rival council and use the prospect of rapprochement with the East to slowly siphon members away from the Council of Basel towards his own council, using the drain of members to doom the Council of Basel to obscurity.
What the pope did not count on, however, was the fact that the Greek church had also been in discussions with the Council of Basel. Though originally unwilling to move from Basel, the council finally agreed to move to Florence. The agreement that finally made the council willing was a promise of alliance with the Greeks to curb any potential meddling by the pope. After all, the Greeks, in seeking reunification with the West preferred a council, which was similar to their own synod system, rather than recognizing papal supremacy.
Thus, in 1437 when the council reconvened at Florence, the pope, who thought he was now at an advantage over the council, found himself again at a disadvantage. Brief hope appeared in the form of a threatened end to the council following the great debates of the filioque clause which threatened to end the talks of unification. This papal hope proved fleeting, however, as the tireless work of Cardinal Cesarini, along with others on the side of the Latins, and the Emperor and Isidore of Kieve on the Greek side produced an agreement. In this agreement, the Greeks agreed to recognize the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son as from one principium (
arche) and from one cause (
aitia). As importantly to the counciliarism party, they and the Greeks agreed that the council had authority over the pope. In return, the Greeks received promises of aid from the west in their war against the Turks.
The success of the Council of Florence, combined with the previous successes of the Council of Basel, seemed to ensure the power of the counciliarism party. The pope, who already had the prestige of his office diminished through the previous troubles of the Babylonian Captivity and Great Schism had it even further diminished. Now, he was back to being the first among equals and even that had proved to mean little before the power of the councils. As the Greeks left the Italian shores bound for their own lands, only one thing seemed certain, the Church would never be the same again.
[1]By Roman, I of course mean what is commonly referred to as the Byzantine Empire.
), which was based on an althist of mine that started in the 15th century. Also, NK wrote an althist about the Council of Constance way back. I suspect there were also some others, but those two were the biggest.
...then again, Panda took the HRE, revolting against your Ottomans wouldn't have worked, and Kalmar was united. Meh.
