BASLE, COUNCIL OF. In accordance with decrees of the Council of Constance (A.D. 1414-1418) which recom mended the convening of a general council every five years, Pope Martin V. summoned one to meet at Pavia in 1423. Difficulties having arisen with regard to this plan, the place was altered to Basle, and the date to July, 1431. Cardinal Julian Cesarini was nominated as papal legate and president. Many French and German bishops assembled at Basle; but in the meantime, Martin V. having died and his successor Pope Eugenius IV. having decided that there were objections to the suit ability of Basle, the place of meeting was altered to Bologna. The bishops assembled at Basle under Cesarini opposed the transfer, and continued. The representa tives from France and Germany had been joined by a few from Italy, Spain, and England. In 1432 the Pope sent a legate, Christopher, Bishop of Cervia, to confer with them, and in 1433 delegated other legates to be present, who were not well received. The next year a letter from
the Pope seemed to have arranged matters, and the papal legates were admitted. In June 1435, however, the Council passed a decree for the reform of the Roman Chancery which the Pope would not sanction. A difference next arose among the members of the Council themselves on the question of removing the Council to Avignon or Ferrara, the majority deciding in favour of Avignon. The Pope, however, in October. 1437, formally transferred the Council to Ferrara. In May, 1439 those who remained at Basle under the Cardinal of Arles pro ceeded to depose Eugenius and to elect in his place Amadeus of Savoy, who became known as Felix V. In April, 1445, be abdicated, and the Council of Basle, now at Lausanne, recognised Nicholas V. See Cath. Diet.