Council of Basel

The Council of Basel was a council of bishops and other ecclesiastics of the Roman Catholic Church that was held at Basel, Switzerland, away from territories of the Papacy, the Holy Roman Emperor or the kings of Aragon or France, whose influences the council hoped to avoid.

Attemted dissolution

From Italy, France and Germany the fathers came late to Basel. Cesarini devoted all his energies to the war against the Hussites, until the disaster of Taus forced him to evacuate Bohemia in haste. The progress of heresy, the reported troubles in Germany, the war which had lately broken out between the dukes of Austria and Burgundy, and finally, the small number of fathers who had responded to the summons of Martin V, caused that pontiff's successor, Pope Eugenius IV, to think the synod of Basel doomed to certain failure. This opinion, added to his desire to preside over the council in person, induced him to recall the fathers from Germany, whither his health, impaired of late, probably owing to a cerebral congestion, rendered it all the more difficult for him to go. He commanded the fathers to disperse, and appointed Bologna as their meeting-place in eighteen months' time, with the intention of making the session of the council coincide with some conferences with representatives of the Greek church, scheduled to be held there with a view to union (18 December 1431).

Related Topics:
Italy - France - Germany - Hussite - Disaster of Taus - Bohemia - Heresy - Austria - Burgundy - Pope Eugenius IV - Bologna - Greek church - 18 December - 1431

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This order led to an outcry among the fathers at Basel and incurred the deep disapproval of the legate Cesarini. The Hussites, they said, would think the Church afraid to face them; the laity would accuse the clergy of shirking reform; in short, this failure of the council would produce disastrous effects. In vain did the pope explain his reasons and yield certain points; the fathers would listen to nothing, and, relying on the decrees of the Council of Constance, which amid the troubles of the Western Schism had proclaimed the superiority, in certain cases, of the council over the pope, they insisted upon their right of remaining assembled, hastily beat up the laggards, held sessions, promulgated decrees, interfered in the government of the papal countship of Venaissin, treated with the Hussites, and, as representatives of the universal Church, presumed to impose laws upon the "sovereign pontiff" himself.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Eugenius IV resolved to resist this supremacy; however he did not dare openly to repudiate a very widespread doctrine considered by many to be the actual foundation of the authority of the popes before the schism. He soon realized the impossibility of treating the fathers of Basel as ordinary rebels, and tried a compromise; but as time went on, the fathers became more and more intractable, and between him and them gradually arose an impassable barrier.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Abandoned by a number of his cardinals, condemned by most of the powers, deprived of his dominions by condottieri who shamelessly invoked the authority of the council, the pope made concession after concession, and ended on 15 December 1433 with a pitiable surrender of all the points at issue in a bull, the terms of which were dictated by the fathers of Basel, that is, by declaring his bull of dissolution null and void, and recognising that the synod as legitimately assembled throughout. However, Eugenius IV did not ratify all the decrees coming from Basel, nor make a definite submission to the supremacy of the council. He declined to express any forced pronouncement on this subject, and his enforced silence concealed the secret design of safeguarding the principle of sovereignty.

Related Topics:
Cardinals - Condottieri - 15 December - 1433

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The fathers, filled with suspicion, would only allow the legates of the pope to preside over them on condition of their recognizing the superiority of the council; the legates ended by submitting to this humiliating formality, but in their own name only, thus reserving the judgment of the Holy See. Furthermore, the difficulties of all kinds against which Eugene had to contend, such as the insurrection at Rome, which forced him to escape by the Tiber, lying in the bottom of a boat, left him at first little chance of resisting the enterprises of the council.

Related Topics:
Rome - Tiber

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~