Pope Eugene IV (; ; 1383 – 23 February 1447), born Gabriele Condulmer, was head of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and ruler of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...

from 11 March 1431 to his death, in February 1447. Condulmer was a Venetian, and a nephew of

Pope Gregory XII Pope Gregory XII (; ; – 18 October 1417), born Angelo Corraro, Corario," or Correr, was head of the Catholic Church from 30 November 1406 to 4 July 1415. Reigning during the Western Schism, he was opposed by the Avignon claimant Benedi ...

. In 1431, he was elected

pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

. His tenure was marked by conflict first with the Colonna, relatives of his predecessor

Pope Martin V Pope Martin V (; ; January/February 1369 – 20 February 1431), born Oddone Colonna, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 November 1417 to his death in February 1431. His election effectively ended the We ...

, and later with the

Conciliar movement Conciliarism was a movement in the 14th-, 15th- and 16th-century Catholic Church which held that supreme authority in the Church resided with an ecumenical council, apart from, or even against, the pope. The movement emerged in response to the We ...

. In 1434, due to a complaint by Fernando Calvetos, bishop of the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

, Eugene IV issued the bull " Creator Omnium", rescinding any recognition of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

's right to conquer those islands, rescinding any right to Christianize the natives of the island. He

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in communion with other members of the con ...

anyone who enslaved newly 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 the early modern era, European Jews were confined to ghettos and placed under strict regulations as well as restrictions in many European cities.Castile and Portugal and regarding rights claimed along the coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. He is the most recent pope to take the

pontifical name A papal name or pontifical name is the regnal name taken by a pope. Both the head of the Catholic Church, usually known as the pope, and the pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria (Coptic pope) choose papal names. , Leo XIV is the Cat ...

"Eugene".

Early life

Condulmer was born in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

to a rich merchant family. His father was Angelo Condulmer, who founded the Ospizio di Sant'Agnesina for orphaned girls in 1383 and his mother was Bariola

Correr The House of Correr or Corraro was a major Patrician (post-Roman Europe), patrician family in the history of the Republic of Venice. The family belonged to the Venetian nobility. History Said to have originated in Torcello, the family moved t ...

. He had a sister, Polissena, mother of the future

Pope Paul II Pope Paul II (; ; 23 February 1417 – 26 July 1471), born Pietro Barbo, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 August 1464 to his death in 1471. When his maternal uncle became Pope Eugene IV, Barbo switched fr ...

. Gabriel is said to have received his earliest education under the supervision of his maternal uncle, Angelo Correr, Bishop of Castello (1380–1390). 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. On 30 December 1407, at the age of twenty-four, Gabriel was appointed

Bishop of Siena A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

by his maternal uncle,

. 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. In

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

, 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 protonotary apostolic. He was named a cardinal by Pope Gregory XII in the consistory of 9 May 1408, and appointed

Cardinal Priest A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Ca ...

of the

titular church In the Catholic Church, a titular church () is a Churches in Rome, church in Rome that is assigned to a member of the Holy orders in the Catholic Church, clergy who is created a Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal. These are Catholic churches in ...

San Clemente San Clemente (; Spanish for " St. Clement" ) is a coastal city in southern Orange County, California, United States. It was named in 1925 after the Spanish colonial island (which was named after a Pope from the first century). Located in the O ...

."Pope Eugene IV, augnet
On 7 February 1420, Condulmer was named papal legate at Picenum in the March of Ancona. He was transferred to Bologna in August 1423.

named him Cardinal Priest of the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere in 1427.

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 Santa Maria sopra Minerva is one of the major Church (building), churches of the Order of Preachers (also known as the Dominicans) in Rome, Italy. The church's name derives from the fact that the first Christian church structure on the site was b ...

, and began on 1 March 1431. Fourteen cardinals, led by Giordano Orsini, Bishop of Albano, participated. Condulmer was quickly elected to succeed Martin V in the papal conclave of 1431; he chose the name Eugene IV. He was crowned on the steps of

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (), or simply St. Peter's Basilica (; ), is a church of the Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the city of Rome, Italy. It was initiall ...

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. Pope Eugene made his first appointments of cardinals on 19 September 1431. They were his nephew, the Venetian Francesco Condulmer, who was granted the

; and the Roman Angelotto Fusco, the bishop of Cava and longtime friend of Eugene, who was granted the title of

San Marco San Marco is one of the six sestiere (Venice), sestieri of Venice, lying in the heart of the city as the main place of Venice. San Marco also includes the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Although the district includes Piazza San Marco, Saint Mar ...

. 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. Upon assuming the papal chair, Eugene IV took violent measures against the numerous 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 Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

against the interests of the Papacy. A truce was soon arranged.

Conciliar reform

By far the most important feature of Eugene IV's pontificate was the great struggle between the Pope and the

Council of Basel The Council of Florence is the seventeenth ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held between 1431 and 1445. It was convened in territories under the Holy Roman Empire. Italy became a venue of a Catholic ecumenical council aft ...

(1431–1439), the final embodiment of the

. On 23 July 1431, his legate Giuliano Cesarini opened the council, which had been convoked by Martin V. Canon Beaupère of Besançon, 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. 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 Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

. He gave as his reason that it would be easier for the delegates from the eastern churches to assemble there with the European prelates. The council resisted this expression of papal prerogative. Eugene IV's action gave some weight to the contention that the

Curia Curia (: curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of the original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally probably had wider powers, they came to meet ...

was opposed to any authentic measures of reform. The council refused to dissolve; instead they renewed the resolutions by which the

Council of Constance The Council of Constance (; ) was an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church that was held from 1414 to 1418 in the Bishopric of Constance (Konstanz) in present-day Germany. This was the first time that an ecumenical council was convened in ...

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 The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

Sigismund Sigismund (variants: Sigmund, Siegmund) is a German proper name, meaning "protection through victory", from Old High German ''sigu'' "victory" + ''munt'' "hand, protection". Tacitus latinises it ''Segimundus''. There appears to be an older form of ...

, 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. By its terms, the Pope recalled his

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not Castration, castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e. cows proper), bulls have long been an important symbol cattle in r ...

of dissolution, and, reserving all the rights of the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

, acknowledged the council as

ecumenical Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...

; in the emended version, signed on 15 December 1433, he withheld his approval of the initial decrees of the Council that contained canons which exalted conciliar authority above that of the pope.

Problems in the Papal States and Rome

These concessions also were due to the invasion of the

by the former Papal

condottiero Condottieri (; singular: ''condottiero'' or ''condottiere'') were Italian military leaders active during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The term originally referred specifically to commanders of mercenary companies, derived from the ...

Niccolò Fortebraccio Niccolò Fortebraccio (1375–1435), also known as Niccolò della Stella, was an Italian condottiero. Born in Sant'Angelo in Vado, he was the son of Stella, sister of Braccio da Montone. His half-brother Oddo and his cousin Carlo were also condo ...

and the troops of

Filippo Maria Visconti Filippo Maria Visconti (3 September 1392 – 13 August 1447) was the duke of Duchy of Milan, Milan from 1412 to 1447. Reports stated that he was "paranoid", but "shrewd as a ruler." He went to war in the 1420s with Romagna, Republic of Florenc ...

led by

Niccolò Piccinino Niccolò Piccinino (1386 – 15 October 1444) was an Italian condottiero. He began his career in the mercenary company of Braccio da Montone, reaching the rank of commander of the company after Braccios death in 1424. He spent most of his career ...

in retaliation for Eugene's support of Florence and Venice against Milan (see also

Wars in Lombardy The Wars in Lombardy were a series of conflicts between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan and their respective allies, fought in four campaigns in a struggle for hegemony in Northern Italy that ravaged the economy of Lombardy. They ...

). This situation led also to establishment of an insurrectionary

republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

at Rome controlled by the

Colonna family The House of Colonna is an Italian noble family, forming part of the papal nobility. It played a pivotal role in Middle Ages, medieval and Roman Renaissance, Renaissance Rome, supplying one pope (Pope Martin V, Martin V), 23 cardinals and many ot ...

. On 4 June 1434, disguised in the robes of a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

, Eugene was rowed down the center of the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; ; ) is the List of rivers of Italy, third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the R ...

, pelted by stones from either bank, to a Florentine vessel waiting to receive him at Ostia. Anthony F. D'Elia
''A Sudden Terror''
Harvard University Press, 2009, p. 40.

Ferdinand Gregorovius Ferdinand Gregorovius (; 19 January 1821 – 1 May 1891) was a German historian who specialized in the medieval history of Rome. Biography Gregorovius was the son of Neidenburg district justice council Ferdinand Timotheus Gregorovius and his wi ...

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. The city was restored to obedience by Giovanni Vitelleschi, the militant Bishop of Recanati, in October 1434. 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. Vitelleschi held the post until Eugenius made him a cardinal on 9 August 1437. 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

cathedral of Florence Florence Cathedral (), formally the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower ( ), is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Florence in Florence, Italy. Commenced in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed by ...

, and then, in April 1436, moved to Bologna, which had recently been conquered for the papacy. His condottieri

Francesco I Sforza Francesco I Sforza (; 23 July 1401 – 8 March 1466) was an Italian condottiero who founded the Sforza dynasty in the duchy of Milan, ruling as its (fourth) Duke of Milan, duke from 1450 until his death. In the 1420s, he participated in the ...

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 Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; , ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Prenestina. It is built upon ...

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.

Poggio Bracciolini Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini (; 11 February 1380 – 30 October 1459), usually referred to simply as Poggio Bracciolini, was an Italian scholar and an early Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. He is noted for rediscovering and recove ...

, 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."

Recovery

Meanwhile, the struggle with the council sitting at Basel broke out anew. Eugene IV at length convened a rival council at

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

on 8 January 1438, through his legate Cardinal Niccolò Albergati, Bishop of Bologna, with forty prelates in attendance.Ferdinand Gregorovius
of the city of Rome in the Middle Ages.''
(London: G Bell & Sons, 1909) pp.66-68The pope also

the

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

s assembled at Basel. On 14 January 1438, he moved the papal court to Ferrara, where he remained for a year. 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. King

Charles VII of France Charles VII (22 February 1403 – 22 July 1461), called the Victorious () or the Well-Served (), was King of France from 1422 to his death in 1461. His reign saw the end of the Hundred Years' War and a ''de facto'' end of the English claims to ...

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). 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. Castile, Aragon, Milan, and Bavaria withdrew support. The Council of Basel, in its Session XXXI, suspended Pope Eugene on 24 January 1438Stieber, Joachim W. (1978)
''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 there were 16 bishops present at the Session.Creighton, Mandell (1882)
''A History of the Papacy During the Period of the Reformation''
Volume 2. (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Company, 1882) p.165-166 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." The Council of Basel then formally deposed Eugene as a

heretic Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...

on 25 June 1439. 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. The conclave began on 30 October 1439. On 5 November, the council elected the ambitious Duke

Amadeus VIII of Savoy Amadeus VIII (4 September 1383 – 7 January 1451), nicknamed the Peaceful, was Count of Savoy from 1391 to 1416 and Duke of Savoy from 1416 to 1440. He was a claimant to the papacy from 1439 to 1449 as Felix VWhen numbering of the popes began t ...

, as

antipope An antipope () is a person who claims to be Bishop of Rome and leader of the Roman Catholic Church in opposition to the officially elected pope. Between the 3rd and mid-15th centuries, antipopes were supported by factions within the Church its ...

under the name of

Felix V Amadeus VIII (4 September 1383 – 7 January 1451), nicknamed the Peaceful, was Count of Savoy from 1391 to 1416 and Duke of Savoy from 1416 to 1440. He was a claimant to the papacy from 1439 to 1449 as Felix VWhen numbering of the popes began ...

. 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 Nicholas of Cusa (1401 – 11 August 1464), also referred to as Nicholas of Kues and Nicolaus Cusanus (), was a German Catholic bishop and polymath active as a philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and astronomer. One of the first Ger ...

and 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.Creighton, Mandell
pp. 217–220
/ref> The council of Ferrara was transferred to Florence on 10 January 1439, as a result of an outbreak of the plague. A union with the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

was effected on 6 July 1439, with the bull "Laetentur caeli", which, as the result of political necessities, proved but a temporary bolster to the papacy's prestige. This union was followed by others of even less stability. Eugene IV signed an agreement with the

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

ns on 22 November 1439, and with a part of the Jacobites of Syria in 1443, and in 1445 he received some of the

Nestorians Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinary, doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian t ...

and the

Maronites Maronites (; ) are a Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally resided near Mount ...

. He did his best to stem the Turkish advance, pledging one-fifth of the papal income to a

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

which set out in 1443, but which met with overwhelming defeat at the

Battle of Varna The Battle of Varna took place on 10 November 1444 near Varna in what is today eastern Bulgaria. The Ottoman army under Sultan Murad II (who did not actually rule the sultanate at the time) defeated the Crusaders commanded by King Władysła ...

. 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. Pope Eugene decreed on 26 April 1441 that his Council was to be transferred from Florence to Rome. Eugene's rival Felix V in the meantime obtained scant recognition, even in the Empire. Eventually 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 Pope Pius II (, ), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini (; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August 1458 to his death in 1464. Aeneas Silvius was an author, diplomat, ...

, made peace with Eugene in 1442. The Pope's recognition of the claim to

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

of King

Alfonso V of Aragon Alfonso the Magnanimous (Alfons el Magnànim in Catalan language, Catalan) (139627 June 1458) was King of Aragon and King of Sicily (as Alfons V) and the ruler of the Crown of Aragon from 1416 and King of Naples (as Alfons I) from 1442 until his ...

(in the treaty of

Terracina Terracina is an Italian city and ''comune'' of the province of Latina, located on the coast southeast of Rome on the Via Appia ( by rail). The site has been continuously occupied since antiquity. History Ancient times Terracina appears in anci ...

, approved by Eugene at Siena somewhat later) withdrew the last important support in Italy from the Council of Basel. In 1442 Eugene, Alfonso and Visconti sent

to reconquer the March of

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

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." His protests against the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges were ineffectual, but by means of the

Concordat of the Princes The Princes' Concordat () was an agreement concluded in January 1447 between Pope Eugenius IV and the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. It outlined generous concessions on the part of the Pope, particularly covering the appointment of Chur ...

, negotiated by Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, the secretary of Frederick III, with the electors in February 1447, the whole of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

declared against the antipope. This agreement was completed only after Eugene's death.

Slavery

Christianity had gained many

converts Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''The Convert'', a 2023 film produced by Jump Film & Television and Brouhaha Entertainment * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * ...

in the

by the early 1430s. However, the ownership of the lands had been the subject of dispute between the

Crown of Castile The Crown of Castile was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Castile, Castile and Kingd ...

and the

Kingdom of Portugal The Kingdom of Portugal was a Portuguese monarchy, monarchy in the western Iberian Peninsula and the predecessor of the modern Portuguese Republic. Existing to various extents between 1139 and 1910, it was also known as the Kingdom of Portugal a ...

. 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. Acting on a complaint by Fernando Calvetos, bishop of the islands,Norman Housley
''Religious Warfare in Europe 1400–1536''
Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 184. Pope Eugene IV issued a papal bull, " Creator Omnium", 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.Richard Raiswell
"Eugene IV, Papal bulls of"
in: ''The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery'', Junius P. Rodriguez ed., ABC-CLIO, 1997, pp. 260. In 1434, Eugene issued the bull ''Regimini Gregis Dominici'', 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. Portuguese soldiers continued to raid the islands in 1435, and Eugene issued a further edict "

Sicut Dudum (from Latin: "Just as Long Ago") was a papal bull promulgated by Pope Eugene IV in Florence on January 13, 1435, which forbade the enslavement of Guanches, the Indigenous Guanches people of the Canary Islands who had Conversion to Christianity, c ...

" 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. 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 of Portugal Edward ( ; 31 October 1391 – 9 September 1438), also called Edward the Philosopher King (''Duarte o Rei-Filósofo'') or the Eloquent (''o Eloquente''), was the King of Portugal from 1433 until his death. He was born in Viseu, the son of John I o ...

that allowed the Portuguese to conquer any unconverted parts of the Canary Islands. According to Raiswell (1997), any Christian would be protected by the earlier edict, but the un-baptized were implicitly allowed to be enslaved. Following the arrival of the first African captives in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

in 1441, 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'', 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. 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. 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". Joel S Panzer views ''Sicut Dudum'' as a significant condemnation of slavery, issued sixty years before the Europeans found the New World.

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

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.

Death and legacy

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, 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 The Western Schism, also known as the Papal Schism, the Great Occidental Schism, the Schism of 1378, or the Great Schism (), was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 20 September 1378 to 11 November 1417, in which bishops residing ...

(1378–1417). 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 Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...

, he nevertheless displayed great kindness to the poor. He laboured to reform the

monastic Monasticism (; ), also called monachism or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual activities. Monastic life plays an important role in many Christian churches, especially ...

orders, especially the

Franciscans The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest conte ...

, and was never guilty of

nepotism Nepotism is the act of granting an In-group favoritism, advantage, privilege, or position to Kinship, relatives in an occupation or field. These fields can include business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, religion or health care. In ...

. Although austere in his private life, he was a sincere friend of

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

and learning, and in 1431 he re-established the

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

at Rome. He also consecrated

Florence Cathedral Florence Cathedral (), formally the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower ( ), is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Florence in Florence, Italy. Commenced in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed b ...

on 25 March 1436. Eugene died in Rome on 23 February 1447, and was buried at Saint Peter's by the tomb of Pope Eugene III. Later his tomb was transferred to

San Salvatore in Lauro San Salvatore in Lauro is a Catholic church in central Rome, Italy. It is located on a piazza of the same name in the rione Ponte. It stands on Via Vecchiarelli, just south of the Lungotevere Tor di Nona and north of via dei Coronari. It is the ...

, a parish church on the other bank of the

Tiber River The Tiber ( ; ; ) is the List of rivers of Italy, third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the R ...

Fictional depictions

* Eugene is portrayed by

David Bamber David James Bamber (born 19 September 1954) is an English actor. His credits include '' Privates on Parade'' (1983), '' Juliet Bravo'' (1983), '' Crown Court'' (1984), '' Call Me Mister'' (1986), '' The Buddha of Suburbia'' (1993), '' Pride an ...

in the 2016 television series '' Medici: Masters of Florence''.

Notes and references

Bibliography

*Christianson, Gerald (1979). ''Cesarini, the Conciliar Cardinal: The Basel Years, 1431–1438.'' St. Ottilien: EOS-Verlag, 1979. *Creighton, Mandell (1882)
''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. .
archived

archived
* Dulles SJ, Avery
"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)
''History of the city of Rome in the Middle Ages.''
Volume 7, Part 1. London: G Bell & Sons, 1909. * Hay, Denys (1993)
"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)
''Les artes a la cour des Papes pendant le XV^e e le XVI^e siècle''
(Paris: Thorin 1878), pp. 32–67. * Panzer, Joel S. (2008)
"The Popes and Slavery", The Church In History Centre, 22 April 2008
* Pastor, Ludwig (1891)
''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) *
A Violent Evangelism
', Luis N. Rivera, Luis Rivera Pagán, Westminster John Knox Press, 1992, * Stieber, Joachim W. (1978)
''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 (

)
''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.''
. Fermo: apud Jos. Alexandrum Paccasassium, 1803. * * 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 The ''Monthly Review'' is an independent socialist magazine published monthly in New York City. Established in 1949, the publication is the longest continuously published socialist magazine in the United States. History Establishment Following ...

. 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, * Davidson, Basil (1961). ''The African Slave Trade''. James Currey Publishers, 1961.

External links

* * *
Curp, T. David. "A Necessary Bondage? When the Church Endorsed Slavery", ''Crisis'' Vol. 23, No. 8 (September 2005)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eugene 04 1383 births 1447 deaths 15th-century Venetian people Cardinal-nephews Renaissance Papacy Christians of the Crusade of Varna Correr family 15th-century popes Popes from Venice