The Representation of the universitas fidelium in the councils of the conciliar period

Joseph Gill

doi:10.1017/S0424208400016521

The Representation of the universitas fidelium in the councils of the conciliar period

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016

Joseph Gill

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Joseph Gill*: Affiliation:
Campion Hall, Oxford

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The Council of Pisa was the fruit of a long period of gestation. Intermittently over centuries canonists had discussed where in various contingencies the supreme authority in the Church lay—with the pope, the cardinals, the universitas fidelium in a general council. Twice in the fourteenth century theory was nearly tested by practice, when Philip the Fair opposed Boniface VIII and when Louis of Bavaria faced John XXII. The final challenge was given by the Great Schism. Begun in 1378 it dragged on for decades, causing irreparable damage to Christian Europe. Neither of the rival ‘popes’ showed any genuine goodwill to end it. So others, particularly in France, lent a hand. When Benedict XIII in Avignon refused the via cessionis (abdication) and paid only lip-service to the via discussionis, the court of Paris withdrew its obedience and the theologians of the French universities justified the royal action.

Type: Research Article
Information: Studies in Church History , Volume 7: Councils and Assemblies , 1971 , pp. 177 - 195

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0424208400016521 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1971

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^{Page No 178 Note 1} Quoted by Přerovský, O., L’elezione di Urbano VI e l’insorgere dello Scisma d’Occidente, Rome 1960, 81 Google Scholar.

^{Page No 178 Note 2} Mansi, 27, 171 B.

^{Page No 178 Note 3} Mansi, 27, 361 B. Cf. also 116A.

^{Page No 179 Note 1} Mansi, 27, 125 D.

^{Page No 179 Note 2} Mansi, 27, 362A.

^{Page No 179 Note 3} Mansi, 27, 5E-6A.

^{Page No 179 Note 4} Mansi, 27, 7E-8A.

^{Page No 179 Note 5} 17 May: Mansi, 27, 9B.

^{Page No 179 Note 6} Mansi, 27, 404 E.

^{Page No 180 Note 1} Vincke, J., Schriftstücke zum Pisaner Konzil. Beiträge zur Kirchen- und Rechtsgeschichte, 111, Bonn 1942, 177–205 Google Scholar. Dr M. Harvey very kindly sent me photographs of these pages, for which I am very grateful. (For further discussion of Rishton’s part in the council, see Dr Harvey’s paper which follows.—Ed.)

^{Page No 181 Note 1} 15 April; Mansi, 27, 123A.

^{Page No 181 Note 2} Mansi, 27, 3D.

^{Page No 181 Note 3} 10 May, VIII session; Mansi, 27, 126E.

^{Page No 181 Note 4} Mansi, 27, 7E-8A; Cf. above.

^{Page No 181 Note 5} Mansi, 27, 8 A.

^{Page No 181 Note 6} Mansi, 27, 127 c.

^{Page No 182 Note 1} Domini cardinales, quasi presidentes, ibidem.. .miserunt notarios ad singulas sedes aliorum prelatorum..., 15 April, IV session, Mansi, 27, 362 A.

^{Page No 182 Note 2} The Council of Constance, trans. Loomis, L. R., New York & London 1961, 214, 215 Google Scholar.

^{Page No 182 Note 3} Mansi, 27, 400AB.

^{Page No 183 Note 1} It should, however, be noted that d’Ailly stipulated: ‘ To begin with, a distinction should be drawn between the subjects to be treated in the Council. They may be either such as relate solely to the Catholic faith, the sacraments, and purely spiritual aspects of the Church, with which the holy fathers of old dealt in their general councils. In such a case the canon law has much to say and what I am now writing nothing at all. Or else they may relate to the ending of the present Schism and the establishment of unbroken unity and peace. In which case the following remarks are pertinent.’

Fillastre seemingly went further. Having spoken of anyone with a cure of souls or learning as suitable for the council, he proceeds: ‘As for ambassadors of kings and princes, clearly they should be given a voice in matters that concern the Universal Church, such as church union and faith ’ ( Loomis, , The Council of Constance, 213, 216 Google Scholar).

^{Page No 184 Note 1} H. Finkę, Acta Concila Constanciensis, n, Münster im W. 1923,13-170. Eng. trans., Loomis, The Council of Constance, 200-465.

^{Page No 185 Note 1} Cf. Mansi, 27, 606 D, 623 D, 682, etc.

^{Page No 187 Note 1} Finke, , Acta Concila Constanciensis 11, 577 Google Scholar.

^{Page No 187 Note 2} Ibid. 742-58.

^{Page No 187 Note 3} De modo suffragia aptius colligendi: von der Hardt, H., Magnum oecumenicum Constantiense concilium, Helmstadt 1697-9, iv, 190 seqGoogle Scholar.

^{Page No 188 Note 1} Mansi, 27, 817-24. The figures given by von der Hardt, op. cit., IV, 592-602, are slightly different and in general lower.

^{Page No 188 Note 2} Mansi, 28, 166 seq. Priors might also be doctors, and proxies usually had some rank or degree. Some of the bishops, abbots, and graduates not noted in the voting as proxies were also proxies; they claimed to register their proxy vote (apparently in vain) only after the threat of closure. So probably the 21 proxies noted above were only proxies with no vote pro se.

Some inquirer compiled statistics of all those present in Constance for the council. He records 3 patriarchs, 22 cardinals, 5 more patriarchs of other obediences, 17 archbishops, 33 titular bishops, 99 diocesan bishops, 110 abbots, and among the many other items noted in the 38 columns of categories and names, one finds curtesani quos reperi in domibus MD;simplices presbyteri quos reperi in domibus MDCC; and near the very end, mulieres communes ad minus DCC, without saying where he found them ( Hardt, von der, Magnum oecumemcum Constantiense, v, 12–50 Google Scholar).

^{Page No 188 Note 3} Finke, , Acta Concila Constanciencis, 11, 23 Google Scholar: Loomis, Council of Constance, 221.

^{Page No 190 Note 1} These data are taken from Monumenta conciliorum generalium saec. XV, 3 vols. and index (Vienna 1857-86), a full and accurate account written by an ardent conciliarist and participant in the council, John of Segovia, referred to hereafter as MC; and J. Haller and others, Concilium Basiliense, Studien und Documente, 8 vols., Basle 1896-1936, a collection of documents, with introductions.

^{Page No 190 Note 2} At the 17th session of 26 April 1434 there were 105 ‘mitres’, ‘quo numero in aliqua sessionum sanctae Basiliensis synodi ante vel post nunquam interfuit major’ (MC, 11, 649).

^{Page No 191 Note 1} 25 May 1433, Haller, , Concilium Basiliense, 11, 414 Google Scholar.

^{Page No 191 Note 2} 3 July 1433 ibid. 441.

^{Page No 192 Note 1} MC, 11, 580.

^{Page No 192 Note 2} Ibid. 651.

^{Page No 192 Note 3} 23 Jan. 1434, Haller, , Concilium Basiliense, 111, 11 Google Scholar; 10 Apr. 1434, ibid. 66; 2 Aug. 1434, ibid. 461; 9 Nov. 1434, ibid. 563, etc.

^{Page No 192 Note 4} Quoted by Cecconi, E., Studi storici sul Concilio di Firenze, 1, Florence 1869,151 Google Scholar.

^{Page No 192 Note 5} Fea, C., Pius II, pontiƒ, max., a calumniis vindicatus, Rome 1823, 117 Google Scholar.

^{Page No 192 Note 6} Traversari, A., Ambrosii Traversari.. .latinae epistolae, ed. Mehus, L., Florence 1759, no. 176 Google Scholar.

^{Page No 192 Note 7} Raynaldus, Annales ecclesiastici, an. 1436, viii.

^{Page No 192 Note 8} Valois, N., Le Pape et le Concile, Paris 1909,1, 313 Google Scholar.

^{Page No 193 Note 1} Haller, , Concilium Basiliense, 1, 40, n. 4 Google Scholar.

^{Page No 194 Note 1} Andreas de Santacroce, advocatus consistorialis: Acta latina Concila Florentini, ed. Hofmann, G. (= Concilium Florentinum Documenta et Scriptores, vi), Rome 1955, 256-7Google Scholar.

^{Page No 194 Note 2} Cf. above, p. 178.

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