BASEL, Council of, a council announced at the Council of Constance, and convoked by Pope Martin V and his successor, Eugcnius IV. It commenced its sittings 14 Dec. 1431 under the presidency of the cardinal legate, Juliana Ciesarini of Saint Angelo. The objects of its deliberations were to extirpate heresies (that of the Hussites in particular), to unite all Christian nations under the Roman Catholic Church, to put a stop to wars between Chris tian princes and to' reform the Church. The Pope, having learned that 'the Fathers were about to reopen a discussion upon Hussite doc trines already definitely pronounced upon, and also because of the expressed wish of the Greek bishops to reopen negotiations for reunion at a council to be held on Italian soil,,instructed the cardinal legate to dissolve the Council. That body opposed the claims of the Pope, with severe animadversions on his neglect of the welfare of the Church, and, notwithstanding his repeated orders to remove to Italy, con tinued its deliberations under the protection of the Emperor Sigismund, of the German princes and of France.
In order to secure itself against the attacks of Eugenius IV it re-enacted the decrees of the Council of Constance concerning the power of a general council (in matters of faith, of schism and of reformation) to command the Pope, as well as all Christendom, and to punish the disobedience of the clergy, and even of the Pope, by virtue of its judicial character as the representative of the universal Church. It like wise pronounced all the doings and remon strances of the Pope against its proceedings of no force, and began a formal process against him after he had issued a bull for its dissolu - tion; summoned him, term after term, to appear before its tribunal, and exercised as much as possible the papal prerogatives in France and Germany.
Meanwhile it concluded, in the name of the Church, a peace with the Hussites (whose dep uties appeared 6 Jan. 1433, with 300 horse, in Basel), by which the use of the cup in the com munion was granted to them. This peace was ratified 20 Nov. 1433, by the Calixtines, the most powerful and finally prevailing party of the Hussites. The Council deviated on this
point, indeed, from the decrees of the Council of Constance, hut was obliged to do so in order to assist its most faithful protector, the Em peror Sigismund, to the acquisition of Bohemia by this compromise with the Hussites, who were not to be subdued by force. Eugenius IV revoked in 1433 his decree of dissolution, and at the 16th session, 5 Feb. 1434, was' read a document subscribed to by the Pope, in which it was declared that the Council had been law fully convened. In return the Fathers recalled everything that had been said against the per son of the Pope or the dignity of his office. The Council, proud of its victory over the Pope, then attempted to interfere in the quar rels of the German princes, but was reminded by Sigismund, who protested against its inter meddling in the affairs of the Crown, of its proper point —the reformation of the Church. Toward the limitation of the power of the Pope, a proceeding which naturally evoked papal opposition, it had already made an im portant step by depriving him of the disposal of the prebends of cathedral and collegiate churches, which had been obtained by his pre decessors; by restoring to the chapters the free election of their officers, and by obliging the Pope to confirm them gratuitously. It pro ceeded to the reformation of the by ordaining that the excommunicated should not incur the penalties of their sentence before its publication; that interdicts should never be granted at the request of single individuals, and that repeated appeals should not be allowed on account of their complaints (20th session, 22 Jan. 1435); that the annates (q.v), the sums paid for the paltia., etc., should be regarded as simoniacal, and should not, under any pretext, be demanded or paid in future; that the divine service, the mass, and the canonical hours should be regularly observed by the clergy, of each class; that disturbances of public worship should be prevented by a good ecclesiastical police; that the Feast of Fools and all irrever ent celebrations customary in the Church about Christmas should be abolished (21st session, 9 June 1435).