BASEL, COUNCIL OF. A memorable and im portant ecclesiastical council, held in the city of Basel from 1431 to 1449. It was summoned by Pope .Martin V., by a bull dated February 1, 1431, and constituted after a fashion on Feb ruary 27, hut after the Cardinal legate, Julian Cesarini of Sant' Angelo, who had been charged with the conduct of the Council, arrived, Sep tember 9, 1431, more life was put into it. Its chief business being to conciliate the Hussite, it at once opened negotiations with them. But the new Pope. Eugenius 1V., disliked the pro eeedings, and requested Cesarini on November 12 to dissolve the Council and call another a little later at Bologna. Ere the letter came the Council had formally constituted itself (De cember 14), and when the Pope's letter arrived it flatly refused to dissolve, and reaffirmed the decree of the Council of Constance, asserting the right of a general council to exercise au thority over the Pope himself, and on his per severing to issue bulls for its dissolution, caused a formal process to be commenced against him, and cited him to appear at its bar. It. assumed the Papal powers, and exercised them in France and Germany, where its authority was ne knowledge& It concluded a peace, in the name of the Church, with the Calixtines, the most pow erful section of the Hussites, by the so-called Compaetata of Prague of November 30, 1433, granting them the use of the cup in the Lord's 1-lupper. By this, the Emperor Sigismund was greatly aided in recovering possession of Bohe mia; and he in return sought to reconcile the Council with Eugenics IV., who, being hard pressed by insurrections in the States of the Church, and, afraid of losing his whole influence in France and Germany, came to a temporary agreement with the Council August 1, 1433. Desir• ous, however, of limiting the Papal preroga tives, the Council restored to the chapters of cathedrals and collegiate churches the free right of election to stalls and benefices, of which the Pope had assumed the right of disposing; and with a view to the reformation of gross abuses, restricted the practice of appeals to Rome, and prohibited annats and other grievous exactions. It left the Pope the right to dispose of those benefices only which belonged to the diocese of Borne, and prohibited the bestowal of reversions to ecclesiastical offices. It also appointed punish ments for certain immoralities in the clergy; and prohibited 'festivals of fools,' and all the inde cencies which had been commonly practiced in churches at Christmas. It adopted decrees con cerning the election of Popes, and for the regu lation of the College of Cardinals.
Eugenius, exasperated to the utmost, com plained loudly to all sovereign princes. At this time the prospect was opened up of the union of the distressed Greeks with the Church of Rome, and both the Pope and the Council en deavored to make use of this for the adyance ment of their own interests and influence. Both
dispatched galleys for the Greek deputies; but through the intrigues of his agents, the Pope was successful and brought the Greek deputies to Ferrara. The Archbishop of Taranto, a Papal legate at Basel, circulated an ordinance in the name of the Council, and sealed with its seal, recommending Udine or Florence as the place of conference. This was a high-handed proceed ing, as not the Council, but only a minority of the Council, desired such a transfer, and the use of the seal was unauthorized. The Archbishop of Taranto was arrested, but be escaped. Vet tne Pope followed the minority, and issued a bull calling a council at Florence.
This proceeding put an end to forbearance on the part of the Council, which, on July 31, 1437, again summoned the Pope to its bar, and on his failing to appear, not only declared him con tumacious (October 11, 1437), but on his trans ferring the Council to Ferrara, went so far as (on January 24, 1438) to decree his suspension from the functions of the Papacy. his party was, however, so strong that this decree could nut be carried into effect; while some of those who had been among the more influential members of the Council, the Cardinal legate Julian himself, and the greater nnmher of the Italians, had shortly before left Basel and gone over to the Pope's side. All the more resolutely (lid Cardi nal Louis d'Allemand, Archbishop of Arles, a man of most superior understanding, courage, and eloquence, now guide the proceedings. On May 16, 1439, the Council declared the Pope a heretic for his obstinate disobedience to its decrees; and on June 25, 1439, formally deposed him for si mony, perjury, and other offenses, and elected Amadeus VIII. of Savoy in his stead. He called himself Felix V. (q.v.).
In the latter part of 1443 Felix V. left Basel and went to Lausanne. On May 18, 1448, Fred erick 111. forbade the city of Basel longer to harbor the Council. So, on June 25. it decreed its transfer to Lausanne; and there, on April 25, 1419, it decreed its dissolution. The Council had shown itself powerless to effect the reforms in the Papal Curia with which it had set out, and was on the whole a failure. Its reforming de crees are held to be invalid by the Roman Catho lic canonists; but extreme Gallicans, such as Richer, recognize it as ecumenical all through, ard the more moderate ones, with Natalis Alex ander. up to the prorogation to Ferrara.
Consult: Monumenta Conciliorum Oeneralium Sweuli Al'. (Vienna, 1857-96) ; Conelliuni Basili ease. Studien and ()Hellen zur Geschichte des Konzils von Basel, edited by von Haller (3 vols., Basel, 1896-1900) ; also C. J. Hefele, Konzilien gesehiehte, Vol. VII. (Freiburg, 1891).