Search Results

This chapter discusses the Council of Basel, conciliar ecumenism and Pope Eugenius IV's excommunication, Venice to Ferrara and debate about purgatory, the Filioque, the doctrinal definition on the procession of the Spirit, as affirming both being ‘from the Father and the Son’ and being ‘from the Father’; and the reconciliation of Armenians in Poland.

This chapter explores one particular instance of radical doctrinal discontinuity and its implications for the ultimate locus of authority in the Catholic Church: the profound difference between the position affirmed by the general councils of Constance (1414–1418) and Basel (1431–1449) concerning the ultimate locus of ecclesiastical authority in the universal church and that staked out in 1870 by Vatican I in its twin definitions of papal jurisdictional primacy and papal infallibility, both of which were unambiguously reaffirmed by Vatican II. It also considers the disputed papal election of 1378 and the unfolding of events at the Council of Constance on the origins, nature, and destiny of the conciliar theory. Finally, it examines ideological repression or ecclesiological self-censorship in the wake of Vatican I and how the lessons of Constance have been reintroduced into the Catholic ecclesial consciousness.

This chapter examines the impact of the decree of the Council of Basel on the Feast of Fools. The Council of Basel was primarily concerned with questions of papal supremacy, heresy, and union with the Eastern churches, along with other matters such as the expulsion of popular culture from sacred space. On June 9, 1435, the council issued a series of decrees dealing with appropriate behavior in church. The last of the series was called “On Not Performing Spectacles in Churches,” which played an important role in the subsequent suppression of the Feast of Fools. This chapter considers the reactions of the cathedral chapters in Troyes and Sens to the Council of Basel decree.

This chapter begins with an account of the calendar-reform initiative spearheaded in 1411–17 by Cardinal Pierre d’Ailly at the Councils of Rome and Constance, followed by an in-depth look at the repeated efforts towards a new calendrical legislation made at the Council of Basel in the years 1434–40, which saw the matter debated by a specially created commission or task force. The final part continues the story into the second half of the fifteenth century, highlighting in particular the role of print technology in the dissemination of calendrical and astronomical knowledge. Special attention is given to the activities of the astronomer Johannes Regiomontanus, whose premature death in 1476 prevented him from assisting Pope Sixtus IV in preparing a reform of the ecclesiastical calendar.

This chapter examines the letter issued by the faculty of theology at the University of Paris in March 1445 denouncing the Feast of Fools. Those who issued the letter were heirs to an extended campaign against the Feast of Fools, begun in 1400 by Jean Gerson and subsequently backed by the Council of Basel and the Pragmatic Sanction. In January 1445, the Paris theologians had been petitioned by Jean Leguise, bishop of Troyes, for support in his efforts to suppress the Feast of Fools and its perceived assaults on “archiepiscopal dignity” in Troyes. This chapter analyzes the three-stage argument advanced by the Paris theologians in their letter. First, they condemn the “diabolical” and “idolatrous” character of classical Roman festivals in general. Second, they invoke the authoritative condemnation of such festivals by the New Testament writers and early church fathers, calling Saints Paul and Augustine as witnesses. Third, they identify the Kalends masquerades of January in particular as the source of the Feast of Fools.

This chapter examines concerted efforts to suppress the Feast of Fools in the French towns of Senlis, St.-Omer, and Noyon. Although Auxerre was the only cathedral chapter named by Jean Gerson, his campaign almost certainly prompted others to take action against the Feast of Fools. In Senlis, St.-Omer, and Noyon, traces of the feast lingered into the sixteenth century despite both national and local opposition. This chapter also considers two church councils—the diocesan synod of Langres and the provincial council of Tours—whose opposition to the Feast of Fools anticipated that of the Council of Basel. In particular, it discusses the rulings of the synod of Langres and the council of Tours and their impact on the Feast of Fools.

This chapter focuses on the cathedral chapters' financial and moral support for the Feast of Fools. In 1400 Jean Gerson, chancellor of the University of Paris, launched his first attack on the Feast of Fools. This was followed by the ecumenical Council of Basel in 1435, by the Pragmatic Sanction of Charles VII of France in 1438, and by the letter from the Paris faculty of theology in 1445. The rise of official opposition caused an increase in documentation of the Feast of Fools. This chapter examines continued chapter support for the Feast of Fools even amid the widespread social instability that characterized much of France during what Barbara Tuchman has called “the calamitous fourteenth century.” It also looks at churches where the Feast of Fools remained an orderly liturgical celebration, duly supported by the local chapter.