The Council of Constance was a 15th-century Catholic Church council held from 1414 to 1418 in the German city of Constance. This council was significant for ending the Western Schism, where rival popes challenged the authority of one another. The council helped resolve this crisis by deposing two rival popes and electing a new consensus pope. Some key events and outcomes of the Council of Constance included:
Ending the Western Schism
At the start of the council, there were three rival popes claiming authority over the Catholic Church – Pope Gregory XII, Pope Benedict XIII, and Pope John XXIII. A major goal of the council was to end this division by deposing the rival claimants and electing one legitimate pope. In 1415, Pope John XXIII was pressured to resign, while Pope Gregory XII agreed to step down. With two popes deposed, the council elected Pope Martin V as the sole undisputed pope in 1417. This helped reunify the Western Church under one papal authority.
Condemnation and execution of Jan Hus
Jan Hus was a Bohemian priest and reformer who was influenced by the writings of John Wycliffe to criticize ecclesiastical corruption and advocate for reform. Hus was excommunicated and summoned before the Council of Constance in 1415 under promise of safe-conduct. However, he was eventually condemned as a heretic by the council and burned at the stake in 1415. His execution demonstrated the church’s response to challenges to its authority. It also contributed to resentment that fueled later uprisings like the Hussite Wars.
Suppression of conciliarism
Some church leaders at Constance advocated for conciliarism, which holds that councils have authority over popes. A decree from the council, Sacrosanct, asserted the superiority of councils over popes. However, opposition from the newly elected Pope Martin V rendered conciliarism unpopular. Martin also persuaded the council to suppress the Sacrosanct decree, defending papal supremacy. The suppression of conciliarism at Constance ensured the pope’s consolidated power over the Western Church.
Reform efforts
There were some attempts at reform made at the Council of Constance. Bishops agreed to hold more frequent councils to better administer the church. Some minor church reforms were introduced, like regulating papal finances and fee amounts for services like baptisms. There were calls to eliminate simony, prohibiting the selling of church offices and sacraments. However, the council failed to achieve more substantial reforms to address corruption and criticisms that had been raised prior to the schism.
Jan Hus’s legacy
The Council of Constance may have intended for Hus’s execution to stamp out heretical challenges to the Church’s authority. However, it ultimately made him a martyr and nationalist symbol for later Czech reformers and rebels. After the more moderate Hussite leader Jan Žižka died, the movement radicalized into the Taborites who held extreme theological views. This fueled the Hussite Wars against Catholic forces. Though the wars ended in 1434, Hussite influences persisted. Hus’s legacy remained an important part of Czech national identity.
End of conciliarism
While the Council of Constance succeeded in replacing the rival popes with Martin V, it failed to enact reforms that critics like Jan Hus had called for. The deposition of the popes was an apparent victory for conciliarism, but Martin V was able to roll back the influence of the councils and reassert papal authority. Attempts at reconciliation with the Hussites stalled. The temporary resolution of the schism at Constance secured papal supremacy at the expense of substantial changes demanded by reformers and conciliar proponents.
Controversy over safe-conduct
The fact that Jan Hus was lured to the council with promise of safe-conduct from the Holy Roman Emperor, but then condemned and executed, was hugely controversial. It was seen as a betrayal of imperial authority and integrity. There were disputes between council authorities and Emperor Sigismund over the decision to burn Hus. The controversy highlighted tensions over jurisdiction and power between church councils and secular rulers. The violation of Hus’s safe-conduct would be later cited by Martin Luther and other Protestant reformers as grounds to distrust the institutional Catholic Church.
Persecution of Wycliffites
Followers of John Wycliffe’s teachings also faced condemnation at the Council of Constance, leading many to renounce their beliefs under pressure. While Wycliffe had already died in 1384, the church exhumed and burned his remains in 1415. The council essentially tried to root out Wycliffite influences in England that paralleled those of the Hussites. This demonstrated the church’s ongoing efforts to suppress heterodoxy and dissent linked to early proto-Protestant reformers like Wycliffe and Hus.
Submission of Holy Roman Emperor
In order to resolve the papal schism, the Council of Constance needed cooperation from the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund to pressure the rival popes to abdicate. This demonstrated that even secular rulers were expected to submit to the church’s authority. Sigismund was unable to protect Jan Hus from execution. The concordat negotiated with Pope Martin V further codified the submission of the emperor to papal authority. This reinforced the political dimension of the Western Schism alongside its theological implications.
Imposition of Catholic orthodoxy
More broadly, the outcomes of the Council of Constance highlighted the Catholic Church’s insistence on strict orthodoxy and authority during a period of intellectual turmoil and dissent. Challenges from reformers like Jan Hus and John Wycliffe threatened the institutional church’s traditional hierarchies and practices. The council provided an opportunity for church authorities to impose Catholic orthodoxy by deposing schismatic popes, condemning heresy, and suppressing attempted reforms and limitations on papal power. The Western Schism tested the church, which responded firmly at Constance by reasserting the supremacy of its established order.
In summary, the Council of Constance from 1414-1418 aimed to resolve the crisis caused by rival popes in the Western Schism. It achieved temporary unity under Pope Martin V, but also suppressed attempts at change by condemning Jan Hus and other reformers. Execution of Hus and other dissenters demonstrated the church’s defense of orthodoxy and authority amidst intellectual challenges that foreshadowed the later Protestant Reformation. Conciliarism was defeated, leaving future reform efforts with limited options against restored papal power. The Council of Constance defended traditional Catholic hierarchy, even through controversial means like violating safe-conduct and refusing substantial reforms. This came at the expense of fully healing the divisions highlighted by the Western Schism. The outcomes at Constance shaped later conflicts like the Hussite Wars in response to ongoing calls for change.
Political Context Leading up to the Council
The Western Schism emerged in 1378, when French cardinals elected Pope Clement VII in Avignon to replace the deceased Italian Pope Gregory XI, leading Urban VI in Rome to assert his validity as pope. This produced two competing papal lines. Various attempts were made to heal the schism, like the Council of Pisa electing Alexander V as a third compromise pope in 1409. But rival popes resisted resigning, so all three papacies remained by 1414.
Emperor Sigismund of the Holy Roman Empire sought to resolve the schism by calling the Council of Constance. The Holy Roman Empire faced instability without unified papal authority. Local rulers like Sigismund also wanted to check growing papal power over secular authority. Church leaders and intellectuals like Pierre d’Ailly also saw the council as necessary to reform corruption and restore legitimacy.
On the eve of the council, Rome and Avignon supported Gregory XII and Benedict XIII respectively, while much of the rest of Europe recognized John XXIII, elected after Alexander V’s death in 1410. John XXIII agreed to convene the council in 1414 in the independent city of Constance, to ensure impartiality.
Initial Council Sessions and John XXIII
The Council of Constance opened in November 1414 with thousands of participants. John XXIII presided at the start but faced immediate challenges to his legitimacy. Emperor Sigismund arrived in December to urge resolving the schism quickly.
John XXIII hoped to control the council, but had to contend with an alliance between Sigismund and reformists seeking deeper changes. With charges of corruption raised against him in May 1415, John XXIII fled Constance but was captured on Sigismund’s orders.
Under pressure, John XXIII agreed to resign in May 1415 if the rival popes also abdicated. This resignation helped pave the way for ending the schism. However, it was a blow to John XXIII’s supporters, who continued recognizing him in opposition until his death in 1419.
Gregory XII and Benedict XIII
Gregory XII offered to resign voluntarily if allowed to officially convene the council first. He cited this as necessary to validate proceedings. Despite objections, the council agreed. Gregory XII opened the 19th ecumenical council through representatives in July 1415, before resigning.
Avignon Pope Benedict XIII proved less cooperative when pressured to resign. In July 1415, the council declared him a schismatic and heretic. The council would negotiate with Benedict XIII’s successor, Clement VIII, before finally securing his resignation as well in 1429.
With Gregory and John XXIII’s resignations in 1415, the council could now proceed to electing a consensus pope for a reunified Western Church.
Election of Pope Martin V
The cardinals present at the council elected Pope Martin V on November 11, 1417. Martin V worked to restore confidence in the papacy, though he still faced remnants of the schism.
Benedict XIII’s supporters held out in Avignon. Some at Constance who resented Martin V backed a new claimant, Andeonicus V. But Martin asserted control by gaining recognition from European rulers like the Holy Roman Emperor.
In April 1418, Martin V dissolved the Council. The quick dissolution demonstrated limitations on conciliar power. But for the time being, the Western Schism appeared resolved under the broadly accepted Papacy of Martin V based in Rome.
Jan Hus and Conciliarism
Bohemian reformer Jan Hus was summoned to Constance by Sigismund, who promised his safe-conduct. But Hus had influential enemies and arrived amidst charges of heresy for his dissenting views as a Wycliffite. Hus hoped to get a hearing at the council, but was arrested in November 1414.
Hus refused to fully recant preaching and writings challenging ecclesiastical authority and practices like indulgences. The council condemned him as a heretic and handed him over to secular authorities to be burned at the stake in 1415. This demonstrated the church’s authority cracking down on perceived threats to orthodoxy.
Alongside Hus’s prosecution, the council debated how to address conciliarism – the idea that councils were superior to the papacy. Reformists saw conciliarism as a way to check papal power and address corruption. In April 1415 the council issued the decree Sacrosanct asserting conciliar authority over popes.
But opponents worked to suppress Sacrosanct. When elected, Martin V pursued policies reasserting papal primacy over councils. Conciliarism was dealt a major blow at Constance, though variations of the idea persisted.
Hussite Wars and Reform in Bohemia
The execution of Jan Hus outraged his followers in Bohemia. By 1419, the Hussite movement had split between moderate Utraquists and radical Taborites. When Sigismund tried conquering Bohemia, this spurred armed Hussite resistance.
From 1419-1434, crusades against Bohemian Hussites failed, indicating the limits of papal and imperial power. Conciliatory Councils of Basel and Prague in the 1430s granted some concessions like communion with wine for the laity. But Bohemia remained a center of continued reform agitation.
Though defeated militarily, Catholic forces did succeed in dividing and moderating the Hussite movement over time. However, the wars demonstrated the unintended consequences of suppressing dissenters like Hus. His martyrdom created an enduring rallying cause against Rome.
Decline of Conciliarism and Reform
The Council of Constance succeeded in replacing the rival popes with one broadly accepted candidate, Martin V. However, supporters of conciliarism and church reform saw their efforts repressed.
Martin V reversed conciliarist gains by dissolving the council in 1418 against objections. Attempts to implement decrees from Constance on limiting papal power and simony faced opposition from Martin V. The reform agenda was further undermined when Martin persuaded Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund to reverse his support for conciliarism.
The executed Jan Hus became an inspiration for continued dissent. But for the institutional church, the priority at Constance was restoring orthodox authority and suppressing challenges to traditional hierarchies. Lasting schisms and wars resulting from the council’s suppression of reform movements showed this came at a great cost for the Church.
Significance and Legacy
The Council of Constance succeeded in temporarily healing the papal schism and restoring some unity and stability to ecclesiastical authority in Western Christianity. However, it demonstrated the Catholic Church’s insistence on suppression of dissent and resistance to reforms. It also illustrated emerging contests over jurisdiction between church councils, popes, monarchs and reformers.
Jan Hus’s condemnation highlighted institutional priorities that valued order over reform. Criticisms of church corruption and absolutism would intensify in later decades, showing the failures of the council to address the roots of dissent. Within a century, these pressures would rupture Western Christendom in the Protestant Reformation and subsequent wars of religion.
While the Western Schism was resolved at Constance, the conflicts exposed by the schism continued escalating. The church reasserted its traditional authority, but its refusal to accommodate demands for reform ultimately led to more radical ruptures and rejections of its power. The Council of Constance offered an early demonstration of the Catholic Church’s struggle to maintain unity and legitimacy in a changing religious landscape.
