Baldassarre Cossa was Pisan antipope as John XXIII (1410–1415) during the Western Schism. The Catholic Church today regards him as an antipope in opposition to Pope Gregory XII, whom it recognizes as the rightful successor of Saint Peter. John XXIII was also an opponent of Antipope Benedict XIII, who was recognized by the French clergy and monarchy as the legitimate Pontiff.
The Council of Trent, held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent, now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation at the time, it has been described as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation. It was the last time an ecumenical council was organised outside the city of Rome.
The Council of Constance was an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church that was held from 1414 to 1418 in the Bishopric of Constance (Konstanz) in present-day Germany. This was the first time that an ecumenical council was convened in the Holy Roman Empire. The council ended the Western Schism by deposing or accepting the resignation of the remaining papal claimants and by electing Pope Martin V. It was the last papal election to take place outside of Italy.
Jan Hus, sometimes anglicized as John Hus or John Huss, and referred to in historical texts as Iohannes Hus or Johannes Huss, was a Czech theologian and philosopher who became a Church reformer and the inspiration of Hussitism, a key predecessor to Protestantism, and a seminal figure in the Bohemian Reformation. Hus is considered to be the first Church reformer, even though some designate the theorist John Wycliffe. His teachings had a strong influence, most immediately in the approval of a reformed Bohemian religious denomination and, over a century later, on Martin Luther.
Pope Martin V, born OttoColonna, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 November 1417 to his death in February 1431. His election effectively ended the Western Schism of 1378–1417. He is the last pope to date to take on the pontifical name "Martin".
Robert Hallam was an English churchman, Bishop of Salisbury and English representative at the Council of Constance. He was Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1403 to 1405.
The Western Schism, also known as the Papal Schism, the Great Occidental Schism, the Schism of 1378, or the Great Schism, was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 20 September 1378 to 11 November 1417, in which bishops residing in Rome and Avignon simultaneously claimed to be the true pope, and were eventually joined by a third line of Pisan claimants in 1409. The event was driven by international rivalries, personalities and political allegiances, with the Avignon Papacy in particular being closely tied to the French monarchy.
Conciliarism was a movement in the 14th-, 15th- and 16th-century Catholic Church which held that supreme authority in the Church resided with an ecumenical council, apart from, or even against, the pope.
The Fifth Council of the Lateran, held between 1512 and 1517, was the eighteenth ecumenical council of the Catholic Church and was the last council before the Protestant Reformation and the Council of Trent. This was the first time since 1213 that the Papal States would host an ecumenical council. It would be the last time that Rome’s Lateran Palace would be the venue for such a event.
Imperia is a statue at the entrance of the harbour of Konstanz, Germany, commemorating the Council of Constance that took place there between 1414 and 1418. The concrete statue is 9 metres (30 ft) high, weighs 18 tonnes, and stands on a pedestal that rotates around its axis once every four minutes. It was created by Peter Lenk and clandestinely erected in 1993. The erection of the statue caused controversy, but it was on the private property of a rail company that did not object to its presence. Eventually, it became a widely-known landmark of Konstanz.
Konstanz Minster or Konstanz Cathedral is a historical building in Konstanz, southern Germany, the proto-cathedral of the former Roman Catholic diocese of Konstanz.
Pietro Donato was a Venetian Renaissance humanist and successively archbishop of Crete (1415–1425), bishop of Castello (1425–1428) and bishop of Padua (1428–1447). He was governor of Perugia from 1425 to 1430. He was also a noted bibliophile, epigraphist, collector, and patron of art.
John of Falkenberg or Johannes Falkenberg was a German Dominican theologian and writer.
According to the Catholic Church, a Church Council is ecumenical ("world-wide") if it is "a solemn congregation of the Catholic bishops of the world at the invitation of the Pope to decide on matters of the Church with him". The wider term "ecumenical council" relates to Church councils recognised by both Eastern and Western Christianity.
BeatoEnrico Scarampi was an Italian churchman from the prominent Scarampi family of the area of Asti, active at the time of the Western Schism.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Catholic Ecumenical Councils.
The Council of Pisa was a controversial council held in 1409. It attempted to end the Western Schism by deposing both Benedict XIII (Avignon) and Gregory XII (Rome) for schism and manifest heresy. The College of Cardinals, composed of members from both the Avignon Obedience and the Roman Obedience, who were recognized by each other and by the Council, then elected a third papal claimant, Alexander V, who lived only a few months. He was succeeded by John XXIII.
The Concordats of Constance were five agreements between the Catholic Church and the "nations" of England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain in the aftermath of the Council of Constance (1414–18) that ended the Western Schism. The French and German concordats were signed on 15 April 1418, the Spanish on 13 May and the English on 12 July. The Italian agreement is lost. The delegates to the council had sat as five nations—England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain—each with one vote. On 21 March 1418, the concordats were approved in advance by the council as conforming to and fulfilling the decrees of 30 October 1417.
Antoine de Challant, was a Savoyard cleric who served as Chancellor of the Count of Savoy and was coopted into the papal curia by Pope Benedict XIII of the Avignon Obedience, who created him a cardinal and named him Archbishop of Moûtiers-Tarentaise. He served principally as a diplomat for the pope in negotiations directed toward the settling of the Great Western Schism, though his efforts had to be directed mostly to keeping Benedict from being repudiated by the French government. He himself finally abandoned Benedict and joined the cardinals who called for a general council of the Church. He participated in the Council of Pisa, and was one of the electors of Pope Alexander V. He also participated in the Council of Constance, and was one of the electors of Pope Martin V.
The decree Haec sancta synodus, also called Haec sancta, was promulgated by the fifth session of the Council of Constance on April 6, 1415. It contains a section on the question of whether the Pope is above an ecumenical council or, conversely, such a council is above the Pope. The question is related to papal primacy, papal supremacy and conciliarism.
