Editing Council of Florence (section)

==Attempted dissolution==
From Italy, France and Germany, the fathers came late to Basel. Cesarini devoted all his energies to the war against the [[Hussite]]s until the [[Battle of Domažlice|disaster of Taus]] forced him to evacuate [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemia]] in haste. [[Pope Eugene IV]], Martin V's successor, lost hope that the council could be useful owing to the progress of [[heresy]], the reported troubles in [[Kingdom of Germany|Germany]], the war that had lately broken out between the [[duke]]s of [[Duke of Austria|Austria]] and [[Duchy of Burgundy|Burgundy]], and finally, the small number of fathers who had responded to the summons of Martin V. That opinion and his desire to preside over the council in person, induced him to recall the fathers from Germany, as his poor health made it difficult for him to go. He commanded the council to disperse, and appointed [[Bologna]] as their meeting place in eighteen months' time, with the intention of making the session of the council coincide with some conferences with representatives of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Church]] of the Byzantine East, scheduled to be held there with a view to [[ecumenism|ecumenical]] union (18 December 1431).{{sfn|Valois|1911|p=463}}

That order led to an outcry among the fathers and incurred the deep disapproval of the legate Cesarini. They argued that the Hussites would think the Church afraid to face them and that the [[laity]] would accuse the clergy of shirking reform, both with disastrous effects. The pope explained his reasons and yielded certain points, but the fathers were intransigent. Considerable powers had been decreed to Church councils by the [[Council of Constance]], which amid the troubles of the [[Western Schism]] had proclaimed the superiority, in certain cases, of the council over the pope, and the fathers at Basel insisted upon their right of remaining assembled. They held sessions, promulgated decrees, interfered in the government of the [[Comtat Venaissin|papal countship of Venaissin]], treated with the Hussites, and, as representatives of the universal Church, presumed to impose laws upon the sovereign pontiff himself.{{sfn|Valois|1911|p=463}}

Eugene IV resolved to resist the Council's claim of supremacy, but he did not dare openly to repudiate the conciliar [[doctrine]] considered by many to be the actual foundation of the authority of the popes before the [[schism (religion)|schism]]. He soon realized the impossibility of treating the fathers of Basel as ordinary [[rebellion|rebels]], and tried a compromise; but as time went on, the fathers became more and more intractable, and between him and them gradually arose an impassable barrier.{{sfn|Valois|1911|p=463}}

Abandoned by a number of his [[cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinals]], condemned by most of the powers, deprived of his [[dominion]]s by ''[[condottieri]]'' who shamelessly invoked the authority of the council, the pope made concession after concession and ended on 15 December 1433 with a pitiable surrender of all the points at issue in a [[papal bull]], the terms of which were dictated by the fathers of Basel, that is, by declaring his bull of dissolution null and void and recognising that the synod as legitimately assembled throughout. However, Eugene IV did not ratify all the decrees coming from Basel, nor make a definite submission to the supremacy of the council. He declined to express any forced pronouncement on this subject, and his enforced silence concealed the secret design of safeguarding the principle of [[sovereignty]].{{sfn|Valois|1911|p=463}}
[[File:Pisanello, john viii palaeiologus drawings.jpg|thumb|Sketches by [[Pisanello]] of the Byzantine delegation at the Council]]

The fathers, filled with suspicion, would allow only the legates of the pope to preside over them on condition of their recognizing the superiority of the council. The legates submitted the humiliating formality but in their own names, it was asserted only after the fact, thus reserving the final judgment of the [[Holy See]]. Furthermore, the difficulties of all kinds against which Eugene had to contend, such as the insurrection at [[Rome]], which forced him to escape by means of the [[Tiber]], lying in the bottom of a boat, left him at first little chance of resisting the enterprises of the council.{{sfn|Valois|1911|p=463}}