Editing Pope Eugene IV

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 1431 to 1447}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
|type=Pope
|honorific-prefix=  [[List of popes|Pope]]
| honorific_suffix = 
|name=Eugene IV
|title=[[Pope|Bishop of Rome]]
|image=PapstEugen.jpg
|caption=Portrait by [[Cristofano dell'Altissimo]], after an original by [[Jean Fouquet]]
|birth_name=Gabriele Condulmer
|church = [[Catholic Church]]
|term_start=11 March 1431
|term_end=23 February 1447
|predecessor=[[Pope Martin V|Martin V]]
|successor=[[Pope Nicholas V|Nicholas V]]
| ordination =
| ordinated_by =
| consecration =1408
| consecrated_by = [[Pope Gregory XII|Gregory XII]]
| cardinal =9 May 1408
| created_cardinal_by = Gregory XII
|birth_date=1383
|birth_place= [[Venice]], [[Republic of Venice]]
|death_date=23 February 1447 (aged 63–64)
|death_place=[[Rome]], [[Papal States]]
|previous_post = {{Indented plainlist|
* [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Siena–Colle di Val d'Elsa–Montalcino|Bishop of Siena]] (1407–1408)
* [[San Clemente al Laterano|Cardinal-Priest of San Clemente]] (1408–1426)
* [[Santa Maria in Trastevere|Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Trastevere]] (1426–1431)
}}
|other=Eugene
|coat_of_arms=Coat of arms of Pope Eugene IV.svg}}

'''Pope Eugene IV''' ({{langx|la|Eugenius IV}}; {{langx|it|Eugenio IV}}; 1383 – 23 February 1447), born '''Gabriele Condulmer''', was head of the [[Catholic Church]] and ruler of the [[Papal States]] from 11 March 1431 to his death, in February 1447. Condulmer was a [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]], and a nephew of [[Pope Gregory XII]]. In 1431, he was elected [[pope]]. 

His tenure was marked by conflict first with the [[Colonna family|Colonna]], relatives of his predecessor [[Pope Martin V]], and later with the [[Conciliarism|Conciliar movement]]. In 1434, due to a complaint by Fernando Calvetos, bishop of the [[Canary Islands]], Eugene IV issued the bull "[[Creator Omnium]]", rescinding any recognition of [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]]'s right to conquer those islands, rescinding any right to Christianize the natives of the island. He [[Excommunication|excommunicated]] anyone who enslaved newly [[Conversion to Christianity|converted Christians]], the penalty to stand until the captives were restored to their liberty and possessions. In 1442, he promulgated the bull ''[[Dudum ad nostram audientiam]]'', which was used later as the legal basis for the creation of [[Jewish ghettos in Europe]]. In 1443, Eugene decided to take a neutral position on territorial disputes between [[Crown of Castile|Castile]] and Portugal and regarding rights claimed along the coast of [[Africa]]. He is the most recent pope to take the [[pontifical name]] "Eugene".

==Early life==
Condulmer was born in [[Republic of Venice|Venice]] to [[Condulmer family|a rich merchant family]]. His father was Angelo Condulmer, who founded the Ospizio di Sant'Agnesina for orphaned girls in 1383<ref>Patricia Fortini Brown (2004), [https://books.google.com/books?id=z74tNrZgebQC&pg=PA209 ''Private Lives in Renaissance Venice: Art, Architecture, and the Family,''] (New Haven CT: Yale University Press 2004), p. 209.</ref> and his mother was Bariola [[Correr]]. He had a sister, [[:it:Polissena Condulmer|Polissena]], mother of the future [[Pope Paul II]]. Gabriel is said to have received his earliest education under the supervision of his maternal uncle, [[Pope Gregory XII|Angelo Correr]], Bishop of Castello (1380–1390).<ref>Ferdinand Ughelli, [https://books.google.com/books?id=j6dcgJcOSzEC&pg=PA569 ''Italia sacra''], second edition Vol. 3 (Venice: Coleti), p. 569.</ref> He and several friends established a community of [[Canons Regular of San Giorgio in Alga]] in his native city in 1400, and received papal approval in November 1404.<ref>G. Cracco, "La fondazione dei canonici secolari di S. Giorgio in Alga," in: ''Rivista di storia della Chiesa in Italia'' vol. 13 (1959), pp. 70–81. J.N.D. Kelly and M.J. Walsh, ''Oxford Dictionary of Popes'', second edition (OUP 2010), p. 244.</ref> 

On 30 December 1407, at the age of twenty-four, Gabriel was appointed [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Siena–Colle di Val d'Elsa–Montalcino|Bishop of Siena]] by his maternal uncle, [[Pope Gregory XII]]. He was below the minimum age for consecration as a bishop, and therefore his uncle granted him a dispensation; next day, he was granted possession of the diocese, even before the necessary bulls had been prepared.<ref>Eubel I, p. 446.</ref> In [[Republic of Siena|Siena]], the political leaders objected to a bishop who was not only young but also a foreigner. Therefore, in 1408 he resigned the appointment, becoming instead a cleric of the Apostolic Camera (Treasury) and a [[Prothonotary#Catholic Church usage|protonotary apostolic]]. He was named a cardinal by Pope Gregory XII in the consistory of 9 May 1408, and appointed [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)#Cardinal priests|Cardinal Priest]] of the [[titular church]] of [[San Clemente al Laterano|San Clemente]].<ref>Eubel I, pp. 31, 41.</ref><ref name=augnet>[http://augnet.org/default.asp?ipageid=2043 "Pope Eugene IV, augnet] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304121248/http://augnet.org/default.asp?ipageid=2043 |date=4 March 2016 }}</ref>

On 7 February 1420, Condulmer was named papal legate at Picenum in the March of Ancona. He was transferred to Bologna in August 1423.<ref>Francesco Scalamonti (1996), ed. C. Mitchell and E. Bodnar, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Fx8LAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA15 ''Vita Viri Clarissimi Et Famosissimi Kyriaci Anconitani,'']  (''Transactions of the American Philosophical Society'', Volume 86, Issues 3-6) (Philadelphia 1996), p. 15.</ref> [[Pope Martin V]] named him Cardinal Priest of the [[Santa Maria in Trastevere|Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere]] in 1427.<ref>Eubel II, p. 63.</ref>

==Papacy==
Pope Martin V (Colonna) died of an apoplectic stroke on 20 February 1431. The conclave to elect his successor was held at the church and convent of [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]], and began on 1 March 1431. Fourteen cardinals, led by [[Giordano Orsini (died 1438)|Giordano Orsini]], Bishop of Albano, participated.<ref>Eubel II, p. 7.</ref>

Condulmer was quickly elected to succeed Martin V in the [[1431 papal conclave|papal conclave of 1431]]; he chose the name Eugene IV. He was crowned on the steps of [[St. Peter's Basilica]] by Cardinal Alfonso Carrillo de Albornoz, on 11 March 1431. By a written agreement made before his election, and ratified on 12 March 1431 as pope, Eugene pledged to distribute to the cardinals one-half of all the revenues of the Church and promised to consult with them on all questions of importance, both spiritual and temporal.<ref>ElectorAL Capitulations: Augustinus Theiner (Editor), ''Caesaris S. R. E. Cardinalis Baronii, Od. Raynaldi et Jac. Laderchii Annales Ecclesiastici,'' {{in lang|la}} Tomus Vigesimus Octavus 1424–1453 (Barri-Ducis: Ludovicus Guerin 1874), p. 84, no. 7. Gregorovius  VII. 1, p. 25</ref> 

Pope Eugene made his first appointments of cardinals on 19 September 1431. They were his nephew, the Venetian [[Francesco Condulmer]], who was granted the [[titular church]] of [[San Clemente al Laterano|San Clemente]]; and the Roman Angelotto Fusco, the bishop of Cava and longtime friend of Eugene, who was granted the title of [[San Marco Evangelista al Campidoglio, Rome|San Marco]].<ref>Eubel II, p. 7. Fusco became a papal diplomat, and was named Archpriest of the [[Lateran Basilica]] in 1437.</ref>

He was described as tall, thin, with a winning countenance, although many of his troubles were owing to his own want of tact, which alienated parties from him.<ref>Vespasiano (da Bisticci), [https://books.google.com/books?id=7PdAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA27 "Life of Pope Eugenius IV"], in: ''The Vespasiano Memoirs: Lives of Illustrious Men of the Xvth Century'' (tr. William George and Emily Waters) (London: Routledge & Sons, 1926), pp. 27, 29.</ref><ref name=Loughlin>{{cite web| url = http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05601a.htm| title = Loughlin, James. "Pope Eugene IV." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 23 Jul. 2014}}</ref> Upon assuming the papal chair, Eugene IV took violent measures against the numerous [[Colonna family|Colonna]] relatives of his predecessor Martin V, who had rewarded them with castles and lands. This at once involved him in a serious contest with the powerful house of Colonna that nominally supported the local rights of [[Rome]] against the interests of the Papacy.<ref name=EB1911/> A truce was soon arranged.

===Conciliar reform===
{{Main|Council of Florence}}

By far the most important feature of Eugene IV's pontificate was the great struggle between the Pope and the [[Council of Basel]] (1431–1439), the final embodiment of the [[Conciliarism|Conciliar movement]].<ref>Nelson Minnich, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XQ3P-vWp4ngC&pg=24 ''General Councils, 1409–1517: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide,''] Oxford University Press, 2010), pp. 23–29 (annotated bibliography).</ref> On 23 July 1431, his legate [[Giuliano Cesarini]] opened the council, which had been convoked by Martin V. Canon Beaupère of Besançon,<ref name=EB1911/> who had been sent from Basel to Rome, gave the pope an unfavourable and exaggerated account of the temper of the people of Basel and its environs.<ref>{{Catholic|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06111a.htm|last=Van der Essen|first=Léon|title=The Council of Florence|volume=6|year=1909|access-date=23 February 2016|inline=1}}</ref> Distrustful of its purposes and emboldened by the small attendance, the Pope issued a bull on 18 December 1431 that dissolved the council and called a new one to meet in eighteen months at [[Bologna]]. He gave as his reason that it would be easier for the delegates from the eastern churches to assemble there with the European prelates.<ref>Georgius Hofmann (ed.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=KnQKAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA24 ''Epistolae pontificiae ad Concilium Florentinum spectantes''], {{in lang|la}}, Pars 1 (Roma: Pontifical Oriental Institute 1940), no. 31, pp. 24–25.</ref> The council resisted this expression of papal prerogative. Eugene IV's action gave some weight to the contention that the [[Curia]] was opposed to any authentic measures of reform. The council refused to dissolve; instead they renewed the resolutions by which the [[Council of Constance]] had declared a council superior to the Pope and ordered Eugene IV to appear at Basel. A compromise was arranged by the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund]], who had been crowned emperor at Rome on 31 May 1433. The first version of Eugene's recognition of the legitimacy of the council was signed on 1 August 1433, and subscribed by three cardinals.<ref>J.D. Mansi, [https://books.google.com/books?id=HgwTAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA573 ''Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio,''] editio novissima, {{in lang|la}} (Venice: A. Zatta 1788), pp. 574–575.</ref> By its terms, the Pope recalled his [[Papal bull|bull]] of dissolution, and, reserving all the rights of the [[Holy See]], acknowledged the council as [[Ecumenism|ecumenical]]; in the emended version, signed on 15 December 1433, he withheld his approval of the initial decrees of the Council that contained [[Canon law|canons]] which exalted conciliar authority above that of the pope.<ref>Nelson H. Minnich, [https://books.google.com/books?id=bHFDxRgddfAC&pg=PA36 "Councils of the Catholic Reformation: A historical Survey,"]  in: Gerald Christianson, Thomas M. Izbicki, Christopher M. Bellitto (edd.), ''The Church, the Councils, and Reform: The Legacy of the Fifteenth Century'' (Washington DC: Catholic University of America Press 2008), pp. 36–37.</ref><ref name=EB1911/>

===Problems in the Papal States and Rome===
These concessions also were due to the invasion of the [[Papal States]] by the former Papal [[condottiero]] [[Niccolò Fortebraccio]] and the troops of [[Filippo Maria Visconti]] led by [[Niccolò Piccinino]] in retaliation for Eugene's support of Florence and Venice against Milan (see also [[Wars in Lombardy]]). This situation led also to establishment of an insurrectionary [[republic]] at Rome controlled by the [[Colonna family]].<ref>Gregorovius, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SQ-uIjEZvB4C&pg=PA43 pp. 43–45.]</ref> On 4 June 1434, disguised in the robes of a [[Benedictines|Benedictine]] [[monk]], Eugene was rowed down the center of the [[Tiber]], pelted by stones from either bank, to a [[Republic of Florence|Florentine]] vessel waiting to receive him at [[Ostia Antica (archaeological site)|Ostia]].<ref name=delia> Anthony F. D'Elia, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6Wrwy1_7Ug0C&dq=pope+eugene+iv&pg=PA40 ''A Sudden Terror''], Harvard University Press, 2009, p. 40. {{ISBN|9780674053724}}</ref> [[Ferdinand Gregorovius]] remarks that "Eugenius having lost the authority of the State by his own ineptitude, resolved like so many of his predecessors, on flight." On 12 June, his ship reached Pisa, and in October he reached Florence.<ref>Gregorovius, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SQ-uIjEZvB4C&pg=PA45 pp. 45–47.]</ref> 

The city was restored to obedience by [[Giovanni Vitelleschi]], the militant [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Recanati|Bishop of Recanati]], in October 1434.<ref name=Loughlin/><ref>Gregorovius, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SQ-uIjEZvB4C&pg=PA49 pp. 49–51.]</ref> In August 1435 a peace treaty was signed at Ferrara by the various belligerents. Pope Eugenius made Vitelleschi archbishop of Florence on 12 October 1435.<ref>Eubel II, p. 154. Vitelleschi had already been made Patriarch of Alexandria by Eugene IV on 21 February 1435: Eubel II, p. 85.</ref> Vitelleschi held the post until Eugenius made him a cardinal on 9 August 1437.<ref>Eubel II, p. 7, no. 3.</ref>

The people of Rome sent a delegation to Florence in January 1436, begging the pope and the curia to return to Rome, and promising obedience and quiet. The Pope, however, rejected their overture. On 25 March 1436, Pope Eugenius consecrated the [[Florence Cathedral|cathedral of Florence]], and then, in April 1436, moved to Bologna, which had recently been conquered for the papacy.<ref>Gregorovius, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SQ-uIjEZvB4C&pg=PA43 p. 50].</ref> His condottieri [[Francesco I Sforza]] and Vitelleschi in the meantime reconquered much of the Papal States with extreme violence and destructive force. Traditional Papal enemies such as the [[Prefetti di Vico]] were destroyed, while the Colonna were reduced to obedience after the destruction of their stronghold in [[Palestrina]] in 1437. The massive fortress was preserved, however, until Lorenzo Colonna attempted to return in 1438, when it too was destroyed on orders from Vitelleschi.<ref>Gregorovius, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SQ-uIjEZvB4C&pg=PA60 pp. 60–62.]</ref>

[[Poggio Bracciolini]], the Tuscan humanist, wrote: "Seldom has the rule of any other pope produced equal devastation in the provinces of the Roman Church. The country scourged by war, the depopulated and ruined towns, the devastated fields, the roads infested by robbers, more than fifty places partly destroyed, partly sacked by soldiery, have suffered from every species of revenge."<ref>Poggio, cited by Gregorovius, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SQ-uIjEZvB4C&pg=PA61 pp. 61–62.]</ref>

===Recovery===
Meanwhile, the struggle with the council sitting at Basel broke out anew. Eugene IV at length convened a rival council at [[Ferrara]] on 8 January 1438, through his legate Cardinal Niccolò Albergati, Bishop of Bologna, with forty prelates in attendance.<ref name=Gregorovius>Ferdinand Gregorovius, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SQ-uIjEZvB4C&pg=PA66|''History of the city of Rome in the Middle Ages.''] (London: G Bell & Sons, 1909) pp.66-68</ref>The pope also [[Excommunication|excommunicated]] the [[prelate]]s assembled at Basel.<ref name=Stieber/> On 14 January 1438, he moved the papal court to Ferrara, where he remained for a year.<ref>Pope Eugene left Ferrara for Florence on 19 January 1439. Eubel II, p. 7, note 4.</ref> On 15 February 1438, he issued the bull "Cum In Sacro", declaring the council at Ferrara an ecumenical council, and commanding the prelates at Basel to appear at Ferrara within a month.<ref name=Gregorovius/><ref>Georgius Hofmann (ed.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=KnQKAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA6 ''Epistolae pontificiae ad Concilium Florentinum spectantes''], {{in lang|la}}, Pars 2 (Roma: Pontifical Oriental Institute 1944), no. 121, pp. 6–10. The correct title of the bull is "Exposcit debitum".</ref>

King [[Charles VII of France]] had forbidden members of the clergy in his kingdom from attending the counsel in Ferrara, and introduced the decrees of the Council of Basel, with slight changes, into France through the [[Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges]] (7 July 1438).<ref>W.H. Jervis, [https://books.google.com/books?id=lXIaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA97 ''The Gallican Church: A History of the Church of France from the Concordat of Bologna, A.D. 1516, to the Revolution''], Volume 1 (London: John Murray, 1872), pp. 97–100</ref><ref>Noël Valois, [https://books.google.com/books?id=elMOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA87 ''Histoire de la Pragmatique Sanction de Bourges sous Charles VII,''] {{in lang|fr|la}}, (Paris: A. Picard, 1906), ''passim,'' esp. pp. lxxxvii–xcii and 87–88</ref> The King of England and the Duke of Burgundy, who felt that the council was partial to France, decided not to recognize the council at Basel.<ref name=Stieber/><ref>Noël Valois, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=15sSanQ4vKYC&pg=PA129 Le Pape et le Concile: 1418– 1450],'' {{in lang|fr}}, Volume 2 (Paris: Picard, 1909), pp. 129–135.</ref> Castile, Aragon, Milan, and Bavaria withdrew support.<ref name=MacCaffrey>{{cite web| url = http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02334b.htm| title = MacCaffrey, James. "Council of Basle." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 24 Jul. 2014}}</ref>

The Council of Basel, in its Session XXXI, suspended Pope Eugene on 24 January 1438<ref name=Stieber>Stieber, Joachim W. (1978). [https://books.google.com/books?id=5R%202clxgcr4C ''Pope Eugene IV, the council of Basel, and the secular and ecclesiastical authorities in the Empire: the conflict over supreme authority and power in the Church.''] (Leiden: Brill, 1978) pp.49-58 {{ISBN|9789004052406}}</ref><ref>J.D. Mansi (ed.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=HgwTAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA165 ''Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio,''] editio novissima, {{in lang|la}}, Vol. 29 (Venice: A. Zatta 1788), pp. 165–169</ref> there were 16 bishops present at the Session.<ref name=Creighton>Creighton, Mandell (1882). [https://books.google.com/books?id=PfdJAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA61 ''A History of the Papacy During the Period of the Reformation'']. Volume 2. (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Company, 1882) p.165-166</ref> Of the 16, nine were Savoyards, six Aragonese, and one Frenchman. Several secular powers, seeing the advantage to their own interests in having a weak pope and an unsteady council at odds with each other, wrote to the council, advising them to go no further in their efforts to depose Eugene. Mandell Creighton remarks, "The quarrel of the Pope and the Council now ceased to attract the attention of Europe; it had degenerated into a squabble in which both parties were regarded with something approaching contempt."<ref name=Creighton/>

The Council of Basel then formally deposed Eugene as a [[heresy|heretic]] on 25 June 1439.<ref name=Stieber/> The business of electing a new pope was complicated by the fact that there was only one cardinal at Basel, [[Louis Aleman]]. The Council decided to appoint an electoral committee, composed of thirty-two electors, who were selected by a nominating committee.<ref name=Creighton/><ref>Max Bruchet, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZTE%20AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA209 ''Le château de Ripaille,''] {{in lang|fr}} (Paris: C. Delagrave, 1907), p. 120, note 1, lists the electors; they included one cardinal, one archbishop, and ten bishops.</ref> The conclave began on 30 October 1439. On 5 November, the council elected the ambitious Duke [[Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy|Amadeus VIII of Savoy]],<ref name=EB1911/> as [[antipope]] under the name of [[Felix V]].<ref>Hugo Manger (1901), [https://books.google.com/books?id=DfTpe0nRz1oC&pg=PA5 ''Die Wahl Amadeo's von Savoyen zum Papste durch das Basler Konzil (1439)''], {{in lang|de}}, (Marburg: R. Friedrich, 1901).</ref><ref name=MacCaffrey/> The Diet of Mainz was summoned by the new Emperor Frederick III to hear the claims of both Eugene and Felix. Eugene was represented by [[Nicholas of Cusa]] and [[Juan de Torquemada (cardinal)|Juan de Torquemada]]. The diet was not impressed by the ecclesiastical claims of either party, and announced that it would support whichever party would summon a new general council to enact much needed reforms in the church; it deprived the Pope of most of his rights in the Empire (26 March 1439), and announced a new diet to meet in Frankfurt in 1440.<ref name=Creighton217>Creighton, Mandell, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xWENAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA217 pp. 217–220]</ref><ref>Cesare Baronio, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=IVhAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA294 Annales ecclesiastici]: A. D. 1–1571 denuo excusi et ad nostra usque tempora perducti ab Augustino Theiner'', {{in lang|la}}, Volume 28 (Bar-le-Duc: Ludovici Guerin, 1874), pp. 294–295</ref><ref>Christophe Guillaume Koch, [https://books.google.com/books?id=f1sOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA1 ''Sanctio pragmatica Germanorum illustrata,''] {{in lang|la}} (Strasburg: Rolandus, 1789), ''passim''</ref>

The council of Ferrara was transferred to Florence on 10 January 1439, as a result of an outbreak of the plague.<ref>Gregorovius, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SQ-uIjEZvB4C&pg=PA69 p. 69–70.]</ref> A union with the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] was effected on 6 July 1439, with the bull "Laetentur caeli",<ref>Joseph Gill, [https://books.google.com/books?id=8RE9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA413 ''The Council of Florence''] (Cambridge University Press 1959), pp. 412–415.</ref> which, as the result of political necessities, proved but a temporary bolster to the papacy's prestige.<ref name=Stieber/> This union was followed by others of even less stability. Eugene IV signed an agreement with the [[Armenian Apostolic Church|Armenia]]ns on 22 November 1439,<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=ZkzyEAAAQBAJ&pli=1 |title =Laetentur Caeli: Bulls of Union with the Greeks, Armenians, Coptic, and Ethiopian Churches |isbn = 9798869171504 |last1 = Curtin|first1 = D. P.|date = January 2007|publisher =Dalcassian Press }}
</ref> and with a part of the [[Syriac Orthodox Church|Jacobites]] of Syria in 1443, and in 1445 he received some of the [[Church of the East|Nestorians]] and the [[Maronites]].<ref>{{Cite Catholic Encyclopedia|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06111a.htm|last=Van der Essen|first=Léon|title=The Council of Florence|volume=6|year=1909|access-date=23 February 2016}}</ref><ref name=EB1911/> He did his best to stem the [[Ottoman Empire|Turkish]] advance, pledging one-fifth of the papal income to a [[crusade]] which set out in 1443, but which met with overwhelming defeat at the [[Battle of Varna]].<ref name=EB1911/> Cardinal Cesarini, the papal legate, perished in the rout.

In Florence, on 18 December 1439, Pope Eugene held a consistory for the appointment of new cardinals, his third. Seventeen cardinals were named, and they received their titles on 8 January 1440.<ref>Eubel II, pp. 7–8.</ref>

Pope Eugene decreed on 26 April 1441 that his Council was to be transferred from Florence to Rome.<ref name=Creighton217/>

Eugene's rival Felix V in the meantime obtained scant recognition, even in the Empire. Eventually Holy Roman Emperor [[Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick III]] moved toward acceptance of Eugene. One of the king's ablest advisers, the humanist Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, who was later to be [[Pope Pius II]], made peace with Eugene in 1442. The Pope's recognition of the claim to [[Naples]] of King [[Alfonso V of Aragon]] (in the treaty of [[Terracina]], approved by Eugene at Siena somewhat later) withdrew the last important support in Italy from the Council of Basel.<ref name=EB1911/> In 1442 Eugene, Alfonso and Visconti sent [[Niccolò Piccinino]] to reconquer the March of [[Ancona]] from Francesco Sforza; but the defeat of the allied army at the Battle of Montolmo pushed the Pope to reconcile with Sforza.

So enabled, Eugene IV made a formal entry into Rome on 28 September 1443, after an exile of nearly ten years. At the Piazza Colonna he was greeted by the shouts of the crowd, "Long live the church! Down with the new taxes and those who invented them."<ref>Gregorovius, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SQ-uIjEZvB4C&pg=PA88 p. 88–89.]</ref>

His protests against the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges were ineffectual, but by means of the [[Concordat of the Princes]], negotiated by [[Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini]], the secretary of Frederick III, with the electors in February 1447, the whole of [[Germany]] declared against the antipope.<ref name=EB1911/> This agreement was completed only after Eugene's death.

===Slavery===
{{See also|Creator Omnium|Sicut Dudum}}

Christianity had gained many [[Conversion to Christianity|converts]] in the [[Canary Islands]] by the early 1430s. However, the ownership of the lands had been the subject of dispute between the [[Crown of Castile]] and the [[Kingdom of Portugal]]. The lack of effective control had resulted in periodic raids on the islands to procure slaves. As early as the Council of Koblenz in 922, the capture of Christians as slaves by other Christians had been condemned.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.fordham.edu/halsall//source/1171latrsale.asp| title = "Decrees on Sale of Unfree Christians", ''Medieval Sourcebook'', Fordham University| access-date = 24 July 2014| archive-date = 14 August 2014| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140814182230/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1171latrsale.asp| url-status = dead}}</ref>

Acting on a complaint by Fernando Calvetos, bishop of the islands,<ref name=Housley>Norman Housley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5qCDL94HWN8C&pg=PA184 ''Religious Warfare in Europe 1400–1536''], Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 184. {{ISBN|9780198208112}}</ref> Pope Eugene IV issued a papal bull, "[[Creator Omnium]]",<ref>Full text, in Latin, with Spanish commentary, in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=JL%20IU1hpmsIC&pg=PA118 ''Monumenta Henricina'' Volume V] (Coimbra: UC Biblioteca Geral 1, 1963), pp. 118–123, no. 52.</ref> on 17 December 1434, annulling previous permission granted to Portugal to conquer those islands rescinding any right to Christianize the natives of the island. Eugene excommunicated anyone who enslaved newly converted Christians, the penalty to stand until the captives were restored to their liberty and possessions.<ref name=Raiswell>Richard Raiswell, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ATq5_6h2AT0C&pg=PA260 "Eugene IV, Papal bulls of"], in: ''The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery'', Junius P. Rodriguez ed., ABC-CLIO, 1997, pp. 260. {{ISBN|9780874368857}}</ref> In 1434, Eugene issued the bull ''Regimini Gregis Dominici'',<ref>Full text of the Latin bull, in: Rafael Torres Campos [https://books.google.com/books?id=RiZmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA207 ''Carácter de la conquista y colonización de las islas Canarias: Discursos léidos ante la Real academia de la historia en la recepción pública de don Rafael Torres Campos el día 22 de diciembre de 1901,''] {{in lang|es|la}}, (Madrid: Impr. y litogr. del Departmentósito de la guerra, 1901), pp. 207–208.</ref> forbidding the enslavement of Christian Canarians, and followed this with an order to suspend further conquest in order to allow the Franciscans to continue their work peacefully.<ref>Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YAFzrIOrP6MC&dq=Regimini+gregis+1434&pg=PA237 ''Before Columbus: Exploration and Colonization from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, 1229–1492''], University of Pennsylvania Press, 1987, p. 237 {{ISBN|9780812214123}}</ref>

Portuguese soldiers continued to raid the islands in 1435, and Eugene issued a further edict "[[Sicut Dudum]]" that prohibited wars being waged against the islands and affirming the ban on enslavement. Eugene condemned the enslavement of the peoples of the newly colonized Canary Islands and, under pain of excommunication, ordered all such slaves to be immediately set free.<ref>Dulles, 2005</ref> Eugene went on to say that, "If this is not done when the fifteen days have passed, they incur the sentence of excommunication by the act itself, from which they cannot be absolved, except at the point of death, even by the Holy See, or by any Spanish bishop, or by the aforementioned Ferdinand, unless they have first given freedom to these captive persons and restored their goods." 

Eugene tempered "Sicut Dudum" in September 1436 with the issuance of a papal bull in response to complaints made by King [[Edward, King of Portugal|Edward of Portugal]] that allowed the Portuguese to conquer any unconverted parts of the Canary Islands.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}} According to Raiswell (1997), any Christian would be protected by the earlier edict, but the un-baptized were implicitly allowed to be enslaved.<ref>Richard Raiswell, pp. 260 & Sued-Badillo, 2007</ref>

Following the arrival of the first African captives in [[Lisbon]] in 1441, [[Henry the Navigator|Prince Henry]] asked Eugene to designate Portugal's raids along the West African coast as a crusade, a consequence of which would be the legitimization of enslavement for captives taken during the crusade. On 19 December 1442, Eugene replied by issuing the bull ''[[Illius qui se pro divini]]'',<ref>''Monumenta Henricina'', VII (Coimbra 1964), no. 228, pp. 336–337. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=WDNOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA21 Bullarium patronatus Portugalliae regum in ecclesiis Africae, Asiae atque Oceaniae]: bullas, brevia, epistolas, decreta actaque Sanctae Sedis ab Alexandro III ad hoc usque tempus amplectens'', Volume 1 (Olisponae: Ex Typographia nationali, 1868), p. 21.</ref> in which he granted full remission of sins to members of the Order of Christ and those enrolled under their banner who took part in any expeditions against the Saracens and enemies of Christianity.<ref>Raiswell, p. 261. ''Missionalia hispánica'', Volume 19 (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain). Departamento de Misionología Española, 1969), p. 22.</ref> In 1443, in the bull "Rex regum", the Pope took a neutral position on territorial disputes between Portugal and Castile regarding rights claimed in Africa.<ref>Frances Gardiner Davenport (ed.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=P9uz8nW0-qkC&pg=PA12 ''European treaties bearing on the history of the United States and its Dependencies to 1648''], p. 12.</ref>

Richard Raiswell interprets the bulls of Eugene as helping in some way the development of thought which perceived the enslavement of Africans by the Portuguese and later Europeans "as dealing a blow for Christendom".<ref>The Historical encyclopedia of world slavery", Richard Raiswell, p. 261</ref> Joel S Panzer views ''Sicut Dudum'' as a significant condemnation of slavery, issued sixty years before the Europeans found the New World.<ref>Panzer, 2008</ref>

===Jews===
Eugene initially favored the Jews, issuing decrees protecting their rights, opposing forced baptisms, and permitting wider economic activities. However, political considerations, particularly pressure from the [[Council of Basel]] and his desire to secure Spanish loyalty, led him to issue the hostile bull ''[[Dudum ad nostram]]'' in 1442, which severely restricted Jewish life. Ultimately, this bull was not enforced during his lifetime, and shortly before his death, Eugene IV reaffirmed his opposition to forced conversions in Spain, suggesting a return to his earlier, more tolerant stance.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Isaac Landman |editor-link=Isaac Landman |title=The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia |volume=8 |pages=593–594 |year=1942 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DL5tAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA593&dq=%22Eugene+IV%22&hl=en}}</ref>

==Death and legacy==
[[File:San Salvatore in Lauro Grabmal Eugen IV.JPG|right|200px|thumb|The tomb of Pope Eugene IV in [[San Salvatore in Lauro]]]]
[[File:Papa Eugenio IV.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Statue of Pope Eugene at the [[Florence Cathedral]]]]

Although his pontificate had been so stormy and unhappy that he is said to have regretted on his deathbed that he ever left his monastery,<ref name=EB1911/><ref name=Watanabe>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UAGiAgAAQBAJ&q=pope+eugene+iv&pg=PA114 |last=Watanabe |first=Morimichi |title=Nicholas of Cusa – A Companion to his Life and his Times |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |year=2013 |isbn=9781409482536}}</ref> Eugene IV's victory over the Council of Basel and his efforts on behalf of church unity nevertheless contributed greatly to the breakdown of the conciliar movement and restored the papacy to a semblance of the dominant position it had held before the [[Western Schism]] (1378–1417).<ref name=EB1911/> This victory had been gained, however, by making concessions to the princes of Europe. Thereafter, the papacy had to depend more for its revenues on the Papal States.

Eugene was dignified in demeanour, but inexperienced and vacillating in action and excitable in temper. Bitter in his hatred of [[heresy]], he nevertheless displayed great kindness to the poor. He laboured to reform the [[Monasticism|monastic]] orders, especially the [[Franciscans]], and was never guilty of [[nepotism]]. Although austere in his private life, he was a sincere friend of [[art]] and learning, and in 1431 he re-established the [[university]] at Rome.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|wstitle=Eugenius/Eugenius IV|display=Eugenius IV|inline=1}}</ref> He also consecrated [[Florence Cathedral]] on 25 March 1436.

Eugene died in Rome on 23 February 1447,<ref>Eubel II, pp. 7; 29, no. 101. Kelly and Walsh, ''Oxford Dictionary of Popes'', p. 244.</ref> and was buried at Saint Peter's by the [[list of extant papal tombs|tomb of Pope Eugene III]]. Later his tomb was transferred to [[San Salvatore in Lauro]], a parish church on the other bank of the [[Tiber River]].

==Fictional depictions==
* Eugene is portrayed by [[David Bamber]] in the 2016 television series ''[[Medici: Masters of Florence]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Medici: Masters of Florence|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5057130/|website=Internet Movie Database|access-date=24 December 2016}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Cardinals created by Eugene IV]]
* [[List of popes]]

==Notes and references==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*Christianson, Gerald (1979). ''Cesarini, the Conciliar Cardinal: The Basel Years, 1431–1438.''  St. Ottilien: EOS-Verlag, 1979.
*Creighton, Mandell (1882). [https://books.google.com/books?id=PfdJAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA61 ''A History of the Papacy During the Period of the Reformation'']. Volume 2. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Company, 1882.
* Decaluwe, Michiel (2010). ''A Successful Defeat. Eugenius IV's Struggle with the Council of Basel for Ultimate Authority in the Church, 1431/1449''. Institut Historique Belge de Rome, 2009; Brepols Publishers, 2010. {{ISBN|978-90-74461-73-3}}.
*{{cite book|editor-last1=Eubel|editor-first1=Conradus |title=Hierarchia catholica|volume= 1 (Tomus I)|date=1913|publisher=Libreria Regensbergiana|location=Münster|edition=second|language=la|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lGtgAr0v2IoC&pg=PA269|pages=269–270}} [https://archive.org/details/hierarchiacathol01eubeuoft archived].  
*{{cite book|editor-last1=Eubel|editor-first1=Conradus |title=Hierarchia catholica|volume=2 (Tomus II)|date=1914|publisher=Libreria Regensbergiana|location=Münster|edition=second|language=la|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NYW76iTwFcMC&pg=PA162}} [https://archive.org/details/hierarchiacathol02eubeuoft archived] 
* [[Avery Dulles|Dulles SJ, Avery]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20100731064009/http://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/01/development-or-reversal-37  "Development or Reversal?"], ''First Things Magazine'', October 2005. (Subscription required).
* Gill, Joseph (1961). ''Eugenius IV, Pope of Christian Union''. Westminster, Md., Newman Press, 1961.
* Gregorovius, Ferdinand (1900). [https://books.google.com/books?id=SQ-uIjEZvB4C&pg=PA1 ''History of the city of Rome in the Middle Ages.''] Volume 7, Part 1. London: G Bell & Sons, 1909.
* Hay, Denys (1993). [https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/papa-eugenio-iv_(Dizionario-Biografico)/?search=EUGENIO%20IV%2C%20papa "Eugenio IV, papa,"] in: ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'', Volume 43 (1993).
* Maxwell, John Francis. ''Slavery and the Catholic Church'', Barry Rose Publishers, 1975.
* Müntz, Eugène (1878). [https://books.google.com/books?id=9-5IAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA300 ''Les artes a la cour des Papes pendant le XV<sup>e</sup> e le XVI<sup>e</sup> siècle''] (Paris: Thorin 1878), pp. 32–67. 
* Panzer, Joel S. (2008). [http://www.churchinhistory.org/pages/booklets/slavery.pdf  "The Popes and Slavery", The Church In History Centre, 22 April 2008].
* Pastor, Ludwig (1891). [https://books.google.com/books?id=luInF0tM2RkC&pg=PA282 ''The History of the Popes, from the Close of the Middle Ages: Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and Other Original Sources'']. Volume 1. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1891. (pp. 282–361)
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20110728080300/http://www.synodne.org/article.php/20070507103958523/print A Violent Evangelism]'', Luis N. Rivera, Luis Rivera Pagán, Westminster John Knox Press, 1992, {{ISBN|0-664-25367-9}}
* Stieber, Joachim W. (1978). [https://books.google.com/books?id=5R%202clxgcr4C ''Pope Eugene IV, the council of Basel, and the secular and ecclesiastical authorities in the Empire: the conflict over supreme authority and power in the Church.''] Leiden: Brill 1978.

===For further reading===
*Piccolomini, Aeneas Sylvius ([[Pope Pius II]]). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vf80feWv22sC ''Aeneae Sylvii De Picolominibus episcopi Tergestini De rebus Basileae gestis stante vel dissoluto concilio commentarius primitus e bibliotheca Vaticana in lucem editus praeposito proemio, subjectis adnotationibus cura Michaelis Catalani canonici Ecclesiae Firmanae.''] {{in lang|la}}. Fermo: apud Jos. Alexandrum Paccasassium, 1803.
* {{cite book|first=Claudio|last=Rendina|title=I capitani di ventura|publisher=Newton Compton|location=Rome|year=1994|page=355}}
* Sued-Badillo, Jalil, ''Christopher Columbus and the enslavement of the Amerindians in the Caribbean. (Columbus and the New World Order 1492–1992).'',  NYC: [[Monthly Review]]. Monthly Review Foundation, Inc. 1992. HighBeam Research. 10 August 2009.
* ''The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery'', Contributor Richard Raiswell, Editor Junius P. Rodriguez, ABC-CLIO, 1997, {{ISBN|0-87436-885-5}}
* Davidson, Basil (1961). ''The African Slave Trade''. James Currey Publishers, 1961. {{ISBN|0-85255-798-1}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
*{{Commons category-inline|Eugenius IV|Pope Eugene IV}}
*{{wikisource author-inline}}
*{{wikiquote-inline}}
* [http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/facts/fm0050.html Curp, T. David. "A Necessary Bondage? When the Church Endorsed Slavery", ''Crisis'' Vol. 23, No. 8 (September 2005)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729033034/http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/facts/fm0050.html |date=29 July 2014 }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Martin V|Martin V]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=11 March 1431 – 23 February 1447}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Nicholas V|Nicholas V]]}}
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{{Popes}}
{{Catholicism}}
{{History of the Catholic Church}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eugene 04}}
[[Category:Pope Eugene IV| ]]
[[Category:1383 births]]
[[Category:1447 deaths]]
[[Category:15th-century Venetian people]]
[[Category:Cardinal-nephews]]
[[Category:Renaissance Papacy]]
[[Category:Christians of the Crusade of Varna]]
[[Category:Correr family]]
[[Category:15th-century popes]]
[[Category:Popes from Venice]]