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CONSTANCE, COUNCIL OF

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 986 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CONSTANCE, See also:COUNCIL OF . This council, convoked at the instance of the See also:emperor See also:Sigismund by See also:Pope See also:John See also:XXIII.—one of the three popes between whom Christendom was at the See also:time divided—with the See also:object of putting an end to the See also:Great See also:Schism of the See also:West and reforming the See also:church, was opened on985 the 5th of See also:November 1414 and did not See also:close until the 2rnd of See also:April 1418. In spite of his reluctance to go to Constance, John XXIII., who succeeded See also:Alexander V. (the pope elected by the council of See also:Pisa), hoped that the new council, while confirming the See also:work of the council of Pisa, would proclaim him See also:sole legitimate pope and definitely condemn his two rivals, See also:Gregory XII. and See also:Benedict XIII. But he was soon forced to renounce this See also:hope. So urgent was the need of restoring See also:union at any cost that even prelates who had taken an active See also:part in the work of the council of Pisa, such as See also:Pierre d'See also:Ailly, See also:cardinal See also:bishop of See also:Cambrai, were forced to admit, in view of the fact that the decisions of that council had been and were still contested, that the only possible course was to reconsider the question of the union de novo, entirely disregarding all previous deliberations on the subject, and treating the claims of John and his two competitors with the strictest impartiality. Feebly supported by the Italians, by the See also:majority of the cardinals, and by the representatives of the See also:king of See also:France, John soon found himself in danger of being driven to abdicate. With the connivance of the See also:duke of See also:Austria he fled, first to See also:Schaffhausen, then to Laufenburg, See also:Freiburg, and finally to See also:Breisach, in the hope of escaping in Burgundian territory the pressure exerted upon him by the emperor and the fathers of the council. His See also:flight, however, only precipitated events. Sigismund declared See also:war on the duke of Austria, and the fathers, determined to have their will carried out, See also:drew up in their 4th and 5th sessions (3oth of See also:March and 6th of April 1415) a set of decrees with the intention of justifying their attitude and putting the fugitive pope at their See also:mercy. Interpreted in the most See also:general sense, these decrees, which enacted that the council of Constance derived its See also:power immediately from Jesus See also:Christ, and that every one, even the pope, was See also:bound to obey it and every legitimately assembled general council in all that concerned faith, reform, union, &c., were tantamount to the overturning of the constitution of the church by establishing the superiority of the council over the pope. Their terms, however,could not fail to give rise to some See also:ambiguity, and their validity was especially contested on the ground that the council was not ecumenical, since it represented at that date the obedience of only one of three See also:rival popes.

Nevertheless, John, who had been abandoned by the duke of Austria and imprisoned in the See also:

castle of Radolfzell, near Constance, was arraigned, suspended and deposed (May 29th), and himself ratified the See also:sentence of the council. Pope Gregory XII. was next required to renounce his rights, and this he did, with as much See also:independence as dignity, through a See also:legate, who previously convoked the council in the name of his See also:master, and thus in some sort gave it the necessary confirmed authority. This was the See also:regular extinction of the See also:line of pontiffs who, if the validity of the See also:election of See also:Urban VI. on the 8th of April 13 78 be admitted, had held the legitimate papacy for See also:thirty-seven years. All that remained was to obtain the See also:abdication of Benedict XIII., the successor of the See also:Avignon pope See also:Clement VII., but the combined efforts of the council and the emperor were power-less to overcome the obstinacy of the Aragonese pope. It was in vain that Sigismund journeyed to See also:Perpignan, and that the See also:kings of See also:Aragon, See also:Castile and See also:Navarre ceased to obey the aged pontiff. Abandoned by almost all his adherents Benedict found See also:refuge in the castle of Peiiiscola on an impregnable See also:rock overlooking the Mediterranean, and remained intractable. At the council proceedings were instituted against him, which ended at last on the 26th of See also:July 1417 in his deposition. In this sentence it is to be noted that the council of Constance was careful not to See also:base itself upon the former decision of the council of Pisa. The See also:action of the council of Constance in renewing the condemnation of the doctrines of Wycliffe pronounced at See also:Rome in 1413, and in condemning and executing John See also:Huss and See also:Jerome of See also:Prague, is dealt with elsewhere (see WYCLIFFE; Huss; JEROME of PRAGUE). Nor is it possible to mention here all the intrigues and quarrels that arose during three and a See also:half years among the See also:crowd of prelates, monks, doctors, See also:simple clerks, princes and ambassadors composing this tumultuous assembly—perhaps the greatest See also:congress of See also:people the See also:world has ever seen. From the outset, voting by See also:count of heads had been superseded by' voting according to nations, i.e. all questions were deliberated and settled in four distinct assemblies—the See also:Italian, the See also:French, the See also:German and the See also:English,'—the decisions of the nations being merely ratified afterwards See also:pro forma by the council in general See also:congregation, and also, if occasion arose, in public session. These four See also:groups, however, were of unequal importance, and thanks to this arrangement the English, although weakest in point of See also:numbers, were able to exercise the same See also:influence in the council as if they had formed a See also:fourth of the voters—the same influence, for instance, as the Italians, who had an imposing numerical force.

This See also:

anomaly aroused lively protests, especially in the French See also:group, after the See also:battle of See also:Agincourt. had rekindled See also:national animosity on both sides. The arrival of the Spaniards at Constance necessitating the formation of a fifth nation, Pierre d'Ailly availed himself of the opportunity to ask either that the English nation might be merged in the German, or that each great nation might be allowed to See also:divide itself into little groups each See also:equivalent to the English nation. It is not difficult to imagine the storms aroused by this indiscreet proposal; and had not the majority of the Frenchmen assembled at See also:Con-stance had the sagacity to refuse to uphold the cardinal of Cambrai on this point, the upshot would have been a premature See also:dissolution of the council. Another source of trouble was the attitude of the emperor Sigismund, who, not content with protecting by his presence and as far as possible directing the deliberations of the " Universal Church," followed on more than one occasion a policy of violence and threats, a policy all the more irritating since, weary of his previously assumed role of peacemaker between the See also:Christian See also:powers, he had abruptly allied himself with the king of See also:England, and adopted an extremely hostile attitude towards the king of France. The reform which the council had set itself to effect was a subject the fathers could not See also:broach without stirring up dissension: some stood out obstinately for preserving the status quo, while others contemplated nothing less than the transformation of the monarchical See also:administration of the church into a See also:parliamentary See also:democracy, the subordination of the See also:sovereign pontiff, and the annihilation of the Sacred See also:College. In view of these difficulties, the See also:opinion which tended to assure the success of one at least of the great tasks before the council, viz, the re-See also:establishment of unity by the election of a single pope, finally prevailed in despite of Sigismund. The general reform on which the council had failed to come to an understanding had to be adjourned, and the council contented itself with promulgating, on the 9th of See also:October 1417, the only reforming decrees on which an agreement could be reached. The principle of the periodicity of the See also:councils was admitted; the first was to assemble after the See also:lapse of five years, the second within the next seven years, and subsequent councils were to meet decennially. In the event of a fresh schism, the council, which bound itself to assemble immediately, even without formal See also:convocation, was to remain sole See also:judge of the conflict. After his election the pope had to make a profession of the See also:Catholic faith, and give guarantees against arbitrary See also:translations. Finally, the council pronounced in favour of the pope's renunciation of the right to the movable See also:property of deceased prelates (spolium) as well as of the right of procurations. The See also:execution of the surplus of the general reform of the church in its See also:head and members was See also:left in the hands of the future pope, who had to proceed conjointly with the council, or rather with a See also:commission appointed by the nations—in other words, once the new pope was elected, the fathers, conscious of their See also:impotence, were disinclined to postpone their See also:dispersion until the laborious achievement of the reform.

They were weary of the business, and wished to be done with it. In See also:

order to rebuild the see of St See also:Peter on a basis now cleared of obstacles, an See also:attempt was made to surround the election of ' The English, who had hitherto been considered to See also:form part of the German " nation," were recognized as a See also:separate nation at this council for the first time.the future pope with all the necessary guarantees. The authority of the cardinals, who were the only persons judicially invested with the right of electing the pope, emerged from the crisis through which the church had just passed in far too feeble and contested a See also:condition to carry by its own See also:weight the general assent. It was therefore decided that with the cardinals each nation should See also:associate six delegates, and that the successful See also:candidate should be required to See also:poll two-thirds of the suffrages, not only in the Sacred College, but also in each of these five groups. The See also:advantage of this arrangement was that the choice of the future pope would depend, not only on the See also:vote of the cardinals, thus safeguarding tradition, but at the same time on the unanimous consent of the various nations, by which the See also:adhesion of the whole Catholic world to the election would be guaranteed. There was, indeed, a danger lest the rivalries in the See also:assembly might render it exceedingly difficult, not to say impossible, to obtain such unanimity. But at the end of three days the See also:conclave resulted in the election of Cardinal See also:Otto See also:Colonna, who took the name of See also:Martin V. (11th of November 1417), and the Great Schism of the West was at an end. To conform to the decrees of the council, the new pope drew up a project of reform with the concurrence of the fathers still remaining at Constance, and subsequently made various reforming See also:treaties or concordats with the nations of the council, which finally See also:broke up after the 45th session, held on the nand of April 1418. To all seeming the pope had admitted the canonicity of several of the decrees of Constance—for instance, he had submitted to the See also:necessity of the periodical convocation of other councils; but from his reticence on some points, as well as from his general attitude and some of his constitutions, it appeared that the whole of the decrees of Constance did not receive his unqualified approval, and without any definite pronouncement he made some reservations in the See also:case of decrees which were detrimental to the rights and pre-See also:eminence of the See also:Holy See. See H, von der See also:Hardt, Magnum oecumenicum Constantiense concilium (See also:Frankfort, 1700) ; See also:Ulrich von Richental, Das Conciliumbuck zu Constanz, ed. by See also:Buck in the Bibliothek See also:des liter. Vereins (See also:Stuttgart, 1882); H.

Finke, Forschungen and Quellen zur Gesch. des Konstanzer Konzils (See also:

Paderborn, 1889), and Acta concilii Constantiensis, vol. i. (See also:Munster, 1896) ; N. See also:Valois, La France et le See also:grand schisme d'Occident, vol. iv. (See also:Paris, 1902). (N.

End of Article: CONSTANCE, COUNCIL OF

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