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BOOK II.
THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE
1414 — 1418.
CHAPTER VIII.
MARTIN V AND THE REFORMATION AT CONSTANCE—END OF THE
COUNCIL.
1417-1418.
Whatever hopes had been entertained that Martin V
might favor the work of reformation received a shock from his first pontifical
act. Instead of regarding his position as somewhat exceptional, of instead of
awaiting the results of further deliberation of the Council, he followed the
custom of his predecessor, and on the day after his election approved and
edited the rules of the Papal Chancery. The moment that the officials of the
Curia had obtained a head, they felt themselves strong enough to fight for the
abuses on which they throve. The Vice-Chancellor, the Cardinal of Ostia, who
had published the Chancery regulations of John XXIII, hastened to lay them
before Martin V, with a demand that he should maintain the rights of his
office; and the new Pope at once complied. This act of Martin V struck at the
root of the reforming efforts of the Council. The abuses which after long
deliberation had been selected as the most crying were organized and protected
in the rules of the Papal Chancery.
The Chancery itself was a necessary branch of the
administrative department of the Papacy, and was concerned with the care of the
Papal archives, and the Papal the preparation and execution of all the official
documents of the Pope. Such a department necessarily had rules, and these rules
were revised and republished by each Pope on his accession. They regulated the
dispatch of business by the Chancery, and during the period of the Avignonese Papacy had been largely increased so as to cover
the growth of the system of Papal reservations and the extension of the Papal
jurisdiction. John XXII and Benedict XII greatly enlarged their scope, but the
earliest edition of them that we possess is that of John XXIII, which Martin V
now confirmed in its integrity. The rules thus established as part of the
constitution of the Church reserved to the Pope all the chief dignities in
cathedral, collegiate and conventual churches
provided for the issue of expectative graces, or promises of next appointment
to benefices, and fixed the payments due for such grants. They regulated Papal
dispensations from ecclesiastical disqualifications, from residence at benefices,
from the need of ordination by holders of benefices who were employed in the
service of the Curia or in study. They provided for pluralities, indulgences,
and the conduct of appeals before the Curia. In short, they set forth the
system by which the Papacy had managed to divert to itself the revenues of
the Church; they were the code on which rested the abuses of the Papal power
which the Council hoped to eradicate.
Perhaps this act of Martin V was not at once divulged,
Corona as the Chancery regulations were not formally published till February
26, 1418. If it was known, men did not in their first flush of joy appreciate
its full significance. It might be urged that the act was merely formal, that a
Pope must have a Chancery, and the Chancery must have its rules; their
publication in no way hindered their subsequent reformation. However that might
be, nothing disturbed the harmony at Constance. On November 13 Martin V, who
was only a Cardinal-deacon, was ordained priest, and next day was consecrated
bishop. The next few days were spent in receiving homage from all the clergy
and nobles in Constance. On November 21 all was ready for the Pope’s
coronation, which was carried out with great splendor. At midnight he was
anointed in the cathedral. At eight in the morning the coronation took place on
a raised platform in the courtyard of the Bishop’s palace. The tow was burned
before the Pope, with the admonition, “Sic transit gloria mundi”. Then Martin V mounted a horse and went in stately procession through
the town, Sigismund and Frederick of Brandenburg holding the reins of his
steed. The Jews met him, according to custom, bearing the volume of the law,
and begging him to confirm their privileges. Martin, perhaps not at once
understanding the ceremony, refused the volume; but Sigismund took it and said:
“The law of Moses is just and good, nor do we reject
it, but you do not keep it as you ought”. Then he gave them back the volume,
and Martin, who had now his cue, said: “Almighty God remove the veil from your
eyes, and make you see the light of everlasting life”. It is impossible not to
feel that Sigismund was excellently fitted to discharge the duties of
a Pope with punctilious decorum.
It would seem that Sigismund was so satisfied with the
election of Martin V that he did not raise the question of proceeding with the
reformation before the coronation of the Pope, according to the agreement which
he had made with the Cardinals. But immediately after the coronation, a new
Reform Commission was formed of six Cardinals and as many deputies from each
nation. The Commissioners did not, however, proceed rapidly with their work.
The old difficulties at once revived. The Germans and the French prelates
wished to abolish Papal provisions; the representatives of the French Universities
joined with the Italians and Spaniards to maintain in their own interests the
rights of the Pope. The English, who by the statutes against Provisors had settled the matter for themselves, were
indifferent. The previous quarrels of the nations in the Council were a
hindrance to joint action. The French besought Sigismund to use his influence
to further the reformation. Sigismund answered: “When I was urgent that the
reformation should be undertaken before the election of a Pope, you would not consent.
Now we have a Pope; go to him, for I no longer have the same interest in the
matter as I had before”. Indeed, Sigismund seems to have given up reform as
hopeless, and resolved to make the best terms he could for himself. On January
23, 1418, he publicly received at the hands of the Pope a formal recognition of
his position as King of the Romans, and a few days afterwards obtained a grant
of a tenth of the ecclesiastical revenues of three German provinces, as a
recompense for the expenses which he had incurred in the Council’s behalf.
In this state of collision of interests and general
lethargy and weariness, it became clear that nothing could be done in the way
of a common scheme of reform. The Germans were the first to recognize
this and presented to the Pope in January, 1418, a series of articles of
reformation founded on the labors of the previous Commission. A clamor for
reform was directed to the Pope; and a squib published by a Spaniard, headed “A
Mass for Simony”, helped to warn Martin V that he must in some way declare
himself, for Benedict XIII still had adherents. So far Martin V had refused to
state his intentions. He saw that his wisest policy was to allow the reforming
party to involve themselves in difficulties and to bide his time. When asked to
declare his opinion, he answered with the utmost courtesy that if the nations
agreed on any point, he was desirous to do what he could for the reformation.
At last he judged it prudent to speak, and on January
18, 1418, put forward the Papal idea of reform in the shape of an answer to the
points set forward in the decree of October 30, which had been the guarantee on
which the Germans consented to the election of a Pope. On all the points
therein contained the Pope agreed to some slight surrender of his prerogatives
in favor of the Ordinaries; but one point, the definition of the “causes for
which a Pope could be admonished or deposed”, was dismissed with the remark,
“It does not seem good to us, as it did not to several nations, that on this
point anything new should be determined or decreed”. The programme of the Pope was referred to the nations for their opinion. Again there were the
old difficulties. The nations could not agree on the amendments which they
wished to make. Martin V could now urge that he had done his part, and that the
obstacles arose from the want of concord among the several nations. He kept
pressing them to quicken their deliberations; and while he awaited their
decision he continued to exercise the old powers of the Papacy, and made
numerous grants in expectancy, which no doubt gave a practical proof to many
that the Papal system after all had its advantages.
It was natural that the Council, which was before
enfeebled by its own divisions, should find itself growing still feebler before
a Pope. The influence of the Papal office was strong over men’s imaginations.
The joy felt throughout Europe at the termination of the Schism was reflected
among the Fathers at Constance. The ambassadors who came to congratulate the
new Pope on his accession could not fail to deepen the impression of his
importance. The death of Gregory XII on October 18, 1417, was an additional
security for Martin V’s position. Moreover, the prestige of the Pope was
increased by the arrival in Constance on February 19 of an embassy from the
Greek Emperor, headed by the Archbishop of Kiev, to negotiate for the union of
the Eastern and Western Churches. The luckless Greeks saw themselves day by day
more and more helpless to resist the invading Turks, and their leaders deemed
it politic to remove by union with the Latin Church the religious differences
which had done much to sunder the East and West. During the Schism it had been
hopeless to prosecute their scheme, as reconciliation with one Pope would only
have won for them the hostility of the obedience of his rival. But their desire
was known; and soon after the Council of Pisa, Gerson, preaching before the
French King, urged the convocation of another Council in three years’ time,
that the Greeks might then appear and negotiate for their union with Western
Christendom. So soon as the Council of Constance had succeeded in establishing
internal unity in the Latin Church, the Greek envoys made their appearance.
They were honorably received by Sigismund, who rode out to meet them. With
wondering eyes the Latin prelates gazed on the Greek ecclesiastics, whose long
black hair flowed down their shoulders, who wore long beards, and had nothing
but the tonsure to mark their priestly office. During their stay in Constance
the Greeks practiced their own ritual, and were courteously treated by the
Council; but it does not appear that much was done towards the object which
they had in view. The distracted state of opinion in Constance was not
calculated to inspire them with much confidence. The Council did not last long
enough for the question to be seriously discussed. We find, however, that
friendly relations were established between Martin V and the Greek Emperor, for
Martin gave his consent to a project of intermarriage between the Emperor’s
sons and Latin ladies.
It was natural for Martin V to urge the rapid
dissolution of the Council. So long as it remained sitting unpleasant questions
were sure to be forced upon him. The condemnation of Jean Petit, which had been
deferred by the Council, was now laid before the Pope for his decision, and
there was added to it another question of like character. A Dominican friar,
John of Falkenberg, had written a libel against the
King of Poland at the instigation of his enemies, the Teutonic Knights. This
libel asserted that the King of Poland and his people were only worthy of the
hatred of all Christian men, and ought to be exterminated like pagans. It was
brought before the Commissioners in Matters of Faith early in 1417, was by them
condemned and ordered to be burned; but its formal condemnation was left for
the new Pope. Thus the Poles and the French alike called on Martin to condemn
their enemies; but Martin was too politic to wish to offend either the Duke of
Burgundy or the Teutonic Knights. The French and the Poles published a protest
setting forth the scandals that would be caused by any refusal of justice. When
this produced no effect, the Poles intimated their intention of appealing to a
future Council. Martin V thought it desirable to check, if possible, this
dangerous privilege, and in a consistory on March 10 promulgated a constitution
which asserted: “No one may appeal from the supreme judge, that is, the
apostolic seat or the Roman Pontiff, Vicar on earth of Jesus Christ, or may decline
his authority in matters of faith”. To this constitution the Poles determined
to pay no heed, and Gerson pointed out that it was destructive to the whole
theory on which the Councils of Pisa and Constance rested their authority. It
was indeed clear that if the Council remained sitting and this question were
discussed, a collision between the Pope and the Council would be inevitable.
But Martin V knew before he took this step that the
days of the Council were numbered, and that the majority of those in Constance
were anxiously awaiting its end. He had made an agreement to accept a few
general reforms in the Church, and to remedy for each nation some of the abuses
of which they complained. He also endorsed the proceedings of the Council by
issuing on Feb. 22 a Bull against the errors of Wycliffe and Huss, and drew up
twenty-four articles, which were sent to Bohemia as the Council’s prescription
for ending the religious strife. They were not couched in conciliatory
language, and matters had gone too far for reconciliation; but they expressed
Martin’s acquiescence in what had been done.
The settlement of the reformation question expresses
the weariness and incompetence of the Council. There was no sufficient
statesmanship to unite contending elements of which it was composed, and direct
them to a common end. The desire for reformation with which the Council opened
had so lost its force in the collision of national interests that even the
restricted programme embodied in the decree
of October 30, 1417, was found to be more than could be accomplished.
After much aimless discussion, it was finally agreed that a synodal decree should be passed about a few of these eighteen points on which there was
tolerable unanimity, and that all other questions should be left for the Pope
to settle with the several nations according to their grievances. On March 21
the Council approved of statutes in which the Pope withdrew exemptions and
incorporations granted since the death of Gregory XI abandoned the Papal claims
to ecclesiastical revenues during vacancies; condemned simony; withdrew
dispensations from discharging the duties of ecclesiastical offices while
receiving their revenues; promised not to impose tenths except for a real
necessity, nor specially in any kingdom or province without consulting its
bishops; and enjoined greater regularity in clerical dress and demeanor.
The rest of the eighteen points raised by the decree
of October 30, 1417, were settled by separate agreements or concordats with the
different nations. In the session of March 21, 1418, the Council gave its
separate approbation to these concordats, and solemnly declared that the synodal decrees then passed, together with the concordats,
fulfilled the requirements of the decree of October 30. The Council as a whole
accepted the decrees, the nations separately accepted
the concordats; then the Council declared that these two together fulfilled the
guarantee on the strength of which a Papal election had been agreed to. It is
true that the concordats themselves had not yet been definitely accepted, but
it would seem that they had been substantially agreed to. The difficulties in
the way of their publication lay rather in the fact that the nations could not
agree in themselves than that the Curia raised any objections. The German and
French concordats were signed on April 15, the English not till July 12. It is
remarkable that, while England and Germany made concordats each for themselves,
dealing with special points in their relations towards the Roman Church, the three
Romance peoples held together; and what is known as the French concordat
represents the alliance which the last days of the Council had brought about,
and which was the cause of the triumph of the Curia. The Spanish and Italian
nations had asked for reforms which did not materially affect the Papal
primacy; by answering their requests in common with those of the French, the
special grant of certain remissions of annates to the
French nation only would be regarded as a more signal mark of favor.
The questions dealt with in the concordats were not of
much importance. They consisted chiefly of such of the points of the reform programme of Martin V as each nation thought to be
necessary or desirable for its own good. The English concordat was very short,
and provided only for the proper organization of the Cardinal College, the due
admission of Englishmen to office in the Curia, the check of Papal indulgences,
of unions of benefices and dispensations from canonical disabilities, and the
somewhat curious revocation of permissions granted to bishops of wearing any
part of the pontifical attire. It is clear that on all essential points the
English preferred to rest on their own national laws rather than entrust
themselves to grants and privileges given by the Pope. The English concordat is
entirely trivial, but is in the form of a perpetual grant or charter. The other
two were only a temporary compromise, restricted in their operation to five
years. The payment of annates was reluctantly
submitted to, with some restrictions, by the Germans and the French as a
necessary means, under existing circumstances, of supplying the Pope with
revenues. But in a few years’ time, when he was established in Rome and had won
back the possessions of the Roman Church, he might fairly be required to live
off his own. They bargained that in five years the question of annates should be again considered; and the Pope, being
obliged to give way, did so on condition that the grants which he was making on
other points should be similarly limited in time. As several of these grants
concerned questions of organic reform, such as the reorganization of the
College of Cardinals, a limitation of time was absurd in their case. Still more
absurd was it that the articles about the Cardinals were established in
perpetuity by the English Concordat and only for five years by the French and
German concordats. That such conditions should have been admitted as
satisfactory by the Council is only a sign how entirely its members were
overcome by weariness, and how helpless they felt to grapple with the practical
questions raised by the cry for reform.
In fact, everyone wanted to get away from Constance,
and the most sanguine hoped that, after a few years of rest, the next General
Council would find greater unanimity among the nations. As soon as the decree
of March 21 had been passed the reforming work of the Council of Constance was
virtually at an end; but before it separated a trivial matter was brought
forward which involved principles more important for future reform than any
contained in the concordats. A complaint was made to the Pope of the irregular
institution within the Church of a new ideal of Christian life.
A spirit of refined pietism had for some time
prevailed in the Netherlands, till it received a definite organization from the
fervor of Gerhard Groot, a mission preacher whose eloquence produced great
results in the province of Utrecht. But Gerhard Groot was not merely a
preacher; he was also a theological student, and a man whose beautiful
character attracted a number of young men to follow him. Some were his friends,
some his scholars, and others were employed by him to copy manuscripts, which
he was fond of collecting and disseminating. From these various elements a
small society gradually sprang up around him, which took an organized shape
under the name of the Brotherhood of Common Life. The Brethren lived in common,
devoted to good works, and especially to the cause of popular education.
Gerhard Groot died at Deventer, which was the centre of his labors, in 1384; but his system lived under the guidance of Florentius Radewins, and the
spirit which inspired the Brotherhood is still vocal to Christendom in the
pages of Thomas a Kempis.
It was, however, only natural that the old monastic orders
Position should look with suspicion on the rise of a rival. The Brethren of the
Common Life were fiercely attacked by the Friars, and at last the question of
the legality of their position was brought before the decision of assembled
Christendom. Matthias Grabow, a Dominican of
Groningen, wrote a book against the Brotherhood, and when reproved by the
Bishop of Utrecht, appealed to the Pope. His position was that worldly
possessions are inseparable from a life in the world, and that those only who
enter an established religious order can meritoriously practice the three
ascetic duties of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The monastic life claimed
for itself, not only an unquestioned superiority, but also the exclusive right
of practicing its fundamental virtues. The recognized monastic orders would
allow no extension of their principles, and would admit of no middle term
between themselves and the ordinary life of man.
Martin V submitted the question to a commission of
theologians. D'Ailly and Gerson had a last opportunity of showing that their
reforming views still had a meaning. D'Ailly attacked the phrase “verae religions”, and Grabow declared it to be heresy to assert that there was no true religion, save
amongst monks. Gerson, on April 3, 1418, presented an examination of Grabow’s propositions. He laid down that there was one
religion only, the religion of Christ, which can be practiced without vows and
needs nothing to add to its perfection. The monastic orders are wrongly called
“states of perfection”; they are only assemblies of those striving towards
perfection. The opinions of Grabow would exclude from
true religion popes and prelates, who had not taken monastic vows—nay, even
Christ Himself. The obligations undertaken by monks were many of them equally
adapted for laymen also, and ought to be brought home to them. He pronounced
the opinions of Grabow to be erroneous, even
heretical and worthy of condemnation. His opinion was followed, and Grabow retracted. The Brethren of the Common Life were thenceforth
unmolested and enjoyed papal recognition. The mediaeval notion of the
perfection of monastic life received a severe blow; and though the reformers of
Constance could not agree to sweep away the abuses of the existing system of
the Church, they resisted an attempt to check the free development of
Christian zeal.
Nothing now remained for the Council except formally
to separate. Martin V celebrated with great ecclesiastical pomp the festivities
of Easter, while the Council prepared for its dissolution. On April 19 he fixed
Pavia as the seat of the next Council, which was to be held in seven years’
time. On April 22 was held the last general session; but the Council did not
part in peace, as the ambassadors of Poland rose and demanded from Pope and Council
the condemnation of the writings of Falkenberg,
otherwise they would appeal to the future Council. There was some confusion,
and Martin V answered that all the decrees passed by the Council in matters of
faith he would ratify, but nothing more. The Polish envoy would have proceeded
to read his protest and appeal, but Martin forbade him. The Bishop of Catania
preached a farewell sermon on the text, “Now ye have sorrow, but I shall see
you again and your heart shall rejoice”. The decree of the dissolution of the
Council was read, and indulgences were granted to those who had been present at
it. Then rose Doctor Ardecin of Novara, and in the
name of Sigismund declared the trouble and expense which the Council had caused
him, which, however, he did not regret, seeing that it had wrought the unity of
the Church; if anything had been done amiss it had not been by his fault. He
thanked all the members of the Council for their presence, and declared himself
ready to support the Church until death.
The Council was now over; but Sigismund was anxious to
keep Martin V in Germany. It was not entirely beyond his hopes that the Papacy
might now for a time be in the hands of Germany, as before it had been in the
hands of France. He besought Martin to remain at least till the next Easter,
and offered him Basel, Strasburg, or Mainz as his place of residence; but
Martin answered that the miserable condition of the States of the Church needed
a ruler’s hand, and that his place was in Rome. Sigismund had already had
reason to discover that Martin was not likely to be a tool in his hands. He
reluctantly saw his preparations for departure, and at last, on May 16,
escorted him to Gottlieben, where Martin took ship to
Schaffhausen, whence he journeyed to Geneva.
Sigismund did not find it so easy to leave Constance.
The attendants of the needy monarch received scanty pay from their master, and
were most of them deeply indebted to the burghers of Constance, who were not
willing to let them go till they had paid their debts. In vain Sigismund tried
to negotiate through the city magistrates for an extension of credit. He was
forced as a last resource to call a meeting of creditors in the Exchange of the
city and trust to his own eloquence. He spoke at length of his good offices to
the citizens of Constance in summoning the Council to their city and
maintaining it there so long; he dwelt upon the profit they had made thereby,
and the glory they had gained throughout the world; then he turned to pleasing
flattery and praised them for the way in which they had more than justified by
their behavior all his anticipations. “With such words”, says Reichenthal, “he caused the poor folk to think that all he
said was true, and rested on good grounds”. When he saw that he had gained the
people’s hearts, he proposed to leave in pledge for the debt his gold and
silver plate. The creditors relented and accepted his offer. Then Sigismund
thanked them warmly for their confidence, and went on to say that it would be a
great disgrace to him if he robbed his table of its plate; he begged them
instead to take his fine linen and hangings, which he could more easily
dispense with for a time. The luckless creditors could not avoid consenting.
The linen was handed over, and no pains were spared in entering the various
debts in ledgers. Then, on May 21, Sigismund and his needy followers rode away;
but the pledges were never redeemed, and when the creditors came to examine
them they found them to be unsalable, as they were all embroidered with
Sigismund’s arms. Many of the citizens of Constance were reduced to poverty
through their trust in Sigismund’s words; and the plausible and shifty king
left behind him a mixed legacy of misery and grandeur as the record of his long
sojourn in the walls of Constance.
The members of the Council quickly dispersed to their
homes. During the long period of the session many eminent men had died in
Constance. Manuel Gerson. Chrysoloras, a learned
Greek who by his teaching had done much to further the knowledge of Greek
letters in Italy, died in April, 1415, to the grief of all his learned friends.
That such a man as John XXIII should have brought a Greek scholar in his train
is a curious testimony of the advance of the new learning to political
importance. The death of Robert Hallam, Bishop of Salisbury, in September,
1417, was followed by that of Cardinal Zabarella, and
the Council lost thereby two of its most distinguished members. With the
dissolution of the Council the other men who had been eminent at its beginning
sank into insignificance. Peter d'Ailly went back to
France as Papal legate, and died in 1420. Gerson’s attitude in the affair of
Jean Petit had raised him such determined enemies in France that he dared not
return, but found shelter first in Bavaria and afterwards at Vienna. After the
murder of the Duke of Burgundy in September, 1419, he went back to Lyons, where
in the monastery of S. Paul he ended his days in works of piety and devotion,
and died in 1429. We can best picture the disastrous results of the Council of
Constance when we see how entirely it destroyed the great reforming party of
the University of Paris, and condemned its learned and eloquent leader to end
his days in banishment and obscurity.
Those who returned home from the Council could not,
with any feeling of satisfaction, contrast the results which they brought
home with the anticipations with which they had set out for Constance. It is
true that they had restored the unity of the Church by the election of a Pope,
and that they had purged the Church of heresy by their dealings with Hus; but
the state of affairs in Bohemia was not such as to assure them that their
high-handed procedure had been entirely successful. Many must have been
inclined to admit with Gerson that there had been a strange contrast between
the determined condemnation of Hus and the indifference shown to the more
pernicious doctrines of Jean Petit and Falkenberg.
They must have admitted that the Bohemians had some grounds for
dissatisfaction, some reason for complaining of respect of persons. As regards
the reformation of the Church, the most determined optimists could not say more
than that the question remained open, and that they looked to a future Council
to carry on the work which they had begun. The representatives of the various
nations could not flatter themselves that the concordats which they took back
with them were of much importance. In France the Government determined not to
recognize the concordat; they thought it better to curb the Papal exactions by
the use of the royal power, and uphold the legislation which the pressure of
the Schism had called forth in 1406, forbidding the prelates to observe Papal
reservations and the clergy to pay undue exactions to the Pope. Before the
concordat reached France, at the end of March, 1418, royal decrees again
established the old liberties of the Gallican Church against Papal reservations
and exactions. France preferred to follow the example of England, and assert
the liberties of its Church on the basis of the royal sovereignty rather than on
the ecclesiastical basis of a Papal grant. When the concordat was presented, on
June 10, 1418, to the Parliament of Paris, to be registered among the laws of
the land, it was rejected as being contrary to the laws just enacted by the
royal authority. It is true that a few months later the Duke of Burgundy became
supreme in Paris, abolished the decrees of March, and recognized the concordat;
but a new convention was made with Martin V by the Duke of Bedford as
regent of France in 1425, and this took the place of the agreement made at
Constance. In England no notice was taken of the concordat, which indeed was
sufficiently insignificant. In Germany it was not laid before the Diet, nor was
any attempt made to secure for it legislative authority; it remained as a
compact between the Pope and the ecclesiastical authorities, and seems to have
been fairly well observed during the five years for which it was originally
granted.
Before leaving the Council of Constance it is
worthwhile to take a general view of the actual points for reform which were
there brought forward. The original desire of the reforming party for a general
reorganization of the ecclesiastical system rapidly faded away before the
difficulties of the task, and the practical proposals that were made represent
the actual grievances felt by the bishops and clergy in consequence of Papal
aggression. The aspirations of the Council did not ultimately go farther than the defence of the power of the Ordinary against Papal
interference. The proposals of the Council afford an opportunity for noting the
extent to which the Papal headship had broken down the machinery of the Church,
had destroyed its political independence, and had introduced abuses into its
system.
The first point to which naturally the Council
attached great importance was the revival of the synodal system of the Church, a primitive institution suppressed by the Papal
absolutism, but which the pressure of the Schism had again brought into
prominence. The authority of a General Council to decide in cases of a disputed
election to the Papacy was asserted as the means of avoiding the possibility of
another schism, and the periodical recurrence of General Councils was to be the
future panacea for all ills which the present was powerless to cure. An attempt
was made to limit the plenitude of the Papal absolutism, by converting the
profession of faith made by the Pope on his election into an oath to maintain
the established constitutions of the Church: but the attempt was unavailing,
and the formula drawn up by Boniface VIII remained unaltered.
The reorganization of the College of Cardinals was
regarded as necessary both for the stability of the Papacy and the relief of
the Church. It was agreed that Cardinals ought to be chosen from every nation,
so as to prevent the Papacy from falling into the hands of any one Power, to
the risk of another schism. The number of the College was fixed at eighteen, or
twenty-four at the outside, so as to lighten the burden of maintaining
Cardinals out of the revenues of the Church; amongst them was to be a good
proportion of doctors of theology, so as to deal satisfactorily with
theological questions. These points of detail were accepted by Martin V in the
concordats, which rapidly became a dead letter. But the desire on the part of
many to convert the College of Cardinals into a Council, without whose advice
and consent the Pope was not to act, found no expression in any of the acts of
the Council.
The great practical questions, however, concerned the
heavy taxation which the Papacy had gradually imposed on the Church. The
political enterprises of the Papacy in the thirteenth century, and its loss of
territorial revenues during the Avignonese captivity,
had grievously embarrassed Papal finance. The Popes set themselves to raise
money by extending their old privilege of providing for their own agents and
officials by presenting them to rich benefices. For this purpose they issued
Bulls, reserving for their own appointment certain benefices, and setting aside
the rights of the Ordinary as patron. Round this custom grew up every kind of
financial extortion. Dues were exacted from the Papal nominees, which soon rose
to the amount of the revenues of the first year on all benefices conferred in
the Consistory, and under Boniface IX to a half of the revenues of the first
year on all other benefices to which the Pope presented. To obtain these annates, which were the chief source of Papal revenue, the
power of reservation and provision was pushed to its utmost extent, and John
XXIII exacted the payment of these dues before issuing letters of institution.
The patronage of all important posts was taken away from the bishops; the Papal
nominees, being heavily taxed themselves, were driven to raise money by every
means from their benefices; churches and ecclesiastical buildings were allowed
to fall into decay.
Moreover, the Popes exercised most unscrupulously this
power of reservation and collation to all benefices. Bishops and clergy found
themselves translated against their will from one post to another, which they
were compelled to accept, and pay fresh dues for their collation. This point
touched all the higher clergy so closely that the Council’s decree of October
9, 1417, provided that bishops should not be translated against their will,
save for a grave reason to be approved by a majority of the Cardinals. An
extension of the power of reservation was that of making grants in
expectancy—that is, of the next presentation to a benefice already occupied.
John XXIII exacted the payment of dues on installation before issuing his
grants in expectancy, and would grant the same benefice to several candidates
at once; each would be induced to pay, though only one could obtain the prize.
Although the abuses of such a system are manifest enough, yet the Reform
Commission could not agree how to deal with them, and the matter propped
0ut of the deliberations of the Council. The whole question of Papal reservations
was so complicated by the jealousy of the Universities against the Ordinaries
that nothing was done to affect the Pope's power in this matter, though the
French and German concordats prescribed certain limitations.
The reform of the Papal law courts was another point
on which much was said but little was decided. The Papal law extension of the
jurisdiction of ecclesiastical courts in civil matters was felt to be an
increasing grievance, and a desire was expressed at Constance to see the limits
of the two jurisdictions more clearly established. The ease with which appeals
even on trivial matters were received by the Roman courts was destructive of
the power of the ordinary courts, afforded a screen to wealthy and powerful
wrongdoers, and was an intolerable hardship to poor suitors. Closely connected
with this were the exemptions from episcopal or metropolitan jurisdiction which
were largely granted to monasteries and chapters. The poor man, when wronged by
one who enjoyed such an exemption, had practically no redress, for he could not
carry his complaint before the Pope. Martin V, by the decrees of March 21,
1418, cancelled all exemptions granted during the Schism, and undertook that
for the future they should only be made on good reasons.
Other points were given up by Martin V, such as the
incorporation of benefices with monasteries, and the reservation to the Pope of
the revenues of benefices during the time of vacancy. This last had been a
right of the bishops which the Popes during the fourteenth century had wrested
from them, and which Martin V was willing to resign to save the more important
privilege of annates. The custom also of granting
offices in commendam to one who drew
their revenues without discharging their duties weighed heavily on many monasteries,
and was provided against in the French and German concordats. The freedom of
the clergy from taxation had been broken through by the crusading movement, and
during the Schism Popes had used the right of exacting tenths of ecclesiastical
revenues, partly to recruit their own finances, partly to grant them as bribes
to princes whom they wished to win over to their obedience. The decrees of
March 21, 1418, enacted that for the future tenths should only be imposed in
case of special necessity, with the consent of the Cardinals and of the
prelates of every land on which they were imposed. Before the passing of this
decree Martin V had granted to Sigismund a tenth of the ecclesiastical revenues
of Germany, to which the Germans offered a determined resistance, and which was
probably the cause of the Council’s persistence on this point.
Other abuses of the Papal power were those of
dispensations and indulgences. Dispensations were readily given by the Popes in
matrimonial cases, as well as in cases of ecclesiastical disability. An outcry
was early raised against them on the grounds of their interference with social
relationships, the injury which they did to the Church by allowing unfit
persons to hold office, and the handle which they gave to simony. The Council,
however, went no farther than to enact that Papal dispensations should not be
given to persons who were unfit to discharge the duties of benefices of which
they enjoyed the revenues. On the question of indulgences the Council did
nothing, and even the concordats did not aim at doing more than giving the
bishops a suspensory power in gross cases. Simony had been too notorious under
Boniface IX and John XXIII not to engage the attention of the Council; and the
decree of March 21, 1418, enacted that those who obtained ecclesiastical
offices by simony should be ipso facto suspended. It was easy to denounce
simony; but it is obvious that it could only be seriously attacked by showing
more decision than the Council was prepared to show in cutting off every abuse
which gave an opportunity for its exercise.
Other points which appeared in the programme of the reformers concerned the position of the Pope, and were meant to enforce
on him the necessity of living on his own revenues. The definition of the
circumstances under which a Pope might be admonished or deposed was set aside
by Martin, and the Papacy retired from the Council with its supremacy
unimpaired. Enactments, which had been proposed, forbidding the alienation of
the States of the Church, and suppressing nepotism by providing for the
government of the Papal territories by ecclesiastical vicars, were all allowed
to drop in the final settlement. Proposals to limit the grants made to
Cardinals of offices which they never visited were also laid aside till the
future of the States of the Church was more clearly seen.
This brief survey of the aspirations and achievements
of the Council in the way of reform will suffice to show how entire was its
failure to accomplish any permanent results. During the abeyance of the Papacy,
while Europe was smarting under the exactions which the maintenance of two
Papal courts had involved, while everyone had before his eyes the ruin wrought
in the ecclesiastical system by Papal usurpations, a splendid opportunity was
offered for a temperate and conservative reformation. The collective wisdom of
Europe after nearly four years’ labour and discussion
was found unequal to the task. The Council shrank from a consideration of the
basis of the Christian life, and mercilessly condemned Hus as a rebel
because he advocated the reformation of the Church with a view to the needs of
the individual soul. When it had thus dismissed one possible form of
reformation, it showed no capacity for devising a reformation of its own. The
decisive correction of abuses required more statesmanship and more
disinterestedness than were to be found among the fathers of Constance. There
were men of keen penetration and intelligence, men who were able to criticize
and suggest points of view, but there were none who united firmness of
character, strong moral purpose, and large patriotism to the interests of
Christendom. Gerson and D'Ailly could write and speak with fervor about the
need of reform : they came to Constance as the leaders of a powerful academic
party, which had many adherents in every land. But, when it came to the point,
D'Ailly could not prefer the interests of the Church to the privileges of the
Cardinals’ College, and was found in the hour of need to be fighting on behalf
of the rights of the Curia. Gerson threw himself into a small political
dispute, and frittered away his influence in contending bitterly for things of
no moment. The academic party grew alarmed at the prospect of an increase in
the power of the bishops, and held by the Pope as likely to do more for
learning. No uniform policy could be obtained from the Council even in matters
of detail; unanimity was only possible on the most trivial points.
The failure of the Council is partly to be attributed
to the difficulties of its composition and organization. An ecclesiastical
parliament, representative of the whole of Europe, was indeed a difficult thing
to call into being and reduce to order. The organization of the Council was
settled in a haphazard way. The qualification necessary for those who were to
take part in its deliberations was determined with a view to the existing
emergency. The conciliar division into nations, adopted with a view of
lessening the influence of the Pope, became in the end a hindrance to united
action. The nations deliberating apart had just enough contact with one another
to intensify national jealousies, and not enough to eliminate national
selfishness. Instead of uniting to reform the Papacy before electing a new
Pope, national parties were ready to struggle for the possession of the Papacy
and the consequent influence in the politics of Europe. But while the Council
thus suffered from all the evils of national and political antagonism, it was
unwilling to receive any of the benefits which it might have obtained from the
same source. It acted as a purely ecclesiastical assembly, and made no effort
to obtain the help of the State to secure effect to its decisions on Church
matters. Sigismund was useful as Protector of the Council, but when he wished
to protect Hus, when he ventured to press the question of reformation, the
Council complained loudly of undue interference, and threatened to dissolve.
Sigismund left Constance in October, 1417, that the freedom of the assembled
fathers might be secured, that they might be left to decide for themselves the
conditions on which they would proceed to the election of a Pope.
While the Council stood on this purely ecclesiastical
basis, its nations in no sense expressed the national desires of Europe. The
points brought forward for reform show clearly enough that the real question in
the Council was the struggle of the bishops to make good their position against
the Pope. The ecclesiastical aristocracy took advantage of the temporary
abasement of the Papal monarchy to increase its own powers and importance. So
soon as it was seem that this was the general upshot of the schemes of the
Reform Commissioners other interests began to cool in the matter, and
difficulties began to be felt. The Universities had no wish to see the Papacy
curbed for the benefit of the Episcopate. The increase of the power of the
ecclesiastical aristocracy was not an end which any of the reformers desired.
It were better to leave things alone rather than only secure so doubtful a
gain.
On all sides difficulties and disunion prevailed, so
that men were wearied and hopeless. The most sanguine, as he left Constance,
could only hope that at least a beginning had been made for conciliar action in
the future, and that the new Council which was to meet in five years’ time
would have the experience of the past to guide it to a more successful
issue.
On his part also Martin V left Constance thankful that
the Papal power had suffered so little at the hands of the Council, and with
the reflection that he had five years before him in which to devise means for
saving the Papacy from further interference.
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