Editing Pope Martin V (section)

===Periodic ecumenical councils===
A decree of the Council of Constance (''[[Frequens]]'') ordered that councils should be held every five years. Martin V summoned a council in 1423 that met first at [[Pavia]] and later at [[Siena]] (the "[[Council of Siena]]"). It was rather poorly attended, which gave the Pope a pretext for dissolving it, as soon as it had come to the resolution that "internal church union by reform ought to take precedence over external union". It was [[prorogued]] for seven years. The seventeenth council then met as the "[[Council of Basel]]" in February 1431 shortly before Martin's death.