Battle for Christendom by Frank Welsh

Author:Frank Welsh [WELSH, FRANK]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HIS037010 HISTORY / Europe / Medieval, HIS027230 HISTORY / Military / Medieval
ISBN: 9781468315257
Publisher: The Overlook Press
Published: 2016-12-19T16:00:00+00:00

That problem was solved by the English delegation, who suggested to the Germans the formalization of the existing national divisions – France, Italy, England and Germany, each with equal voting power. Within nations all doctors of law or theology, and all representatives of the lay rulers would be allowed to vote; in practice many others joined in. One record of the French nation listed priors, university professors, archdeacons and miscellaneous clergy and monks, including two only described as sine titulo. The English team was equally diverse, ten bishops, seven abbots, twenty-seven doctors of theology and law, twenty-five Masters of Arts, more than sixty representatives of corporate bodies and over one hundred literati, attending the Council at various times. National assemblies, it was agreed, were to be organized by a president, elected every month. Once a nation had decided on a proposal, it was to be put to a general meeting of the nations before being formally submitted to the Council. All effected rapidly and without fuss, it was an astonishing achievement, and one that ensured the Italians, and with them Pope John, would be relegated to a minority, since the three other nations were determined on a rootand-branch solution.

The Council had begun following the traditional pattern of a general council of the Western Church, presided over by a Pope, but when John XXIII was deposed, as was becoming more inevitable, there would be no Pope. It was Sigismund, as ‘Protector of the Council’, who took charge, but as a layman, and a very busy one at that, he could not be expected to oversee the detailed work. This was done, very democratically, by the deputies of the nations, elected or confirmed every month, at the same time as the nations elected their own president. At frequent intervals the deputies met in a committee chaired by a ‘President of Presidents’, who also acted, sometimes jointly with Sigismund, in issuing official conciliar letters. In 1415 this post was usually filled by Jean Mauroux, Patriarch of Antioch, and Robert Hallam of Salisbury; the following year, when the influence of those two supporters of King Sigismund was being questioned, the office was subject to an election every week.

Much of the preparation of business, of research and investigation was carried out by commissions – ad hoc sub-committees, charged with a specific task. This could be collecting evidence against popes or heretics, or proposing detailed reforms, in which deputies worked together with cardinals. These commonplace administrative arrangements were in fact revolutionary. The authority of pope and cardinals was simply excised. The Pope had no role other than that of a master of ceremonies, and the College of Cardinals had lost its corporate power. They might meet together as often as they wished, but their only part in Council affairs was as individual members of their own national delegation. Admittedly the nations at Constance were not synonymous even with the emergent nationalities of the time. The Spanish nation, for example, included three Spanish realms, and Portugal, at war with each other for a large part of the fourteenth century, as well as Sardinia and Sicily.

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