Pope Eugene IV

Pope Eugene IV (Latin: Eugenius IV ; 1383 – 23 Febru-ary 1447), born Gabriele Condulmer, was Pope from 3March 1431 to his death in 1447. He is the last pope totake the name “Eugene” upon his election.

1 Biography

1.1 Early life

Condulmer was born in Venice to a rich merchant family.He entered a community of Canons Regular of San Gior-gio in Alga in his native city. At the age of twenty-fourhe was appointed by his maternal uncle, Pope GregoryXII, as Bishop of Siena. In Siena, the political leadersobjected to a bishop who was not only 24, but also a for-eigner. Therefore, he resigned the appointment, becom-ing instead his uncle’s papal treasurer, protonotary andCardinal Priest of the Basilica of San Clemente. PopeMartin V named him Cardinal Priest of the Basilica diSanta Maria in Trastevere.

1.2 Papacy

Condulmer made himself useful to Pope Martin as legatein Picenum and was quickly elected to succeed him in thepapal conclave of 1431. He was crowned as Eugene IVat St. Peter’s Basilica on 11 March 1431. By a writtenagreement made before his election he pledged to dis-tribute to the cardinals one-half of all the revenues of theChurch and promised to consult with them on all ques-tions of importance, both spiritual and temporal. He isdescribed as tall, thin, with a winning countenance, al-though many of his troubles were owing to his own wantof tact, which alienated parties from him.[1] Upon as-suming the papal chair, Eugene IV took violent measuresagainst the numerous Colonna relatives of his predeces-sor Martin V, who had rewarded them with castles andlands. This at once involved him in a serious contest withthe powerful house of Colonna that nominally supportedthe local rights of Rome against the interests of the Pa-pacy. A truce was soon arranged.

1.2.1 Conciliar reform and papal misfortunes

Main article: The Council of Florence

By far the most important feature of Eugene IV’s pon-tificate was the great struggle between the Pope and theCouncil of Basel (1431–39), the final embodiment ofthe Conciliar movement. On 23 July 1431, his legateGiuliano Cesarini opened the council, which had beenconvoked byMartin V, but, distrustful of its purposes andemboldened by the small attendance, the Pope issued abull on 18 December 1431 that dissolved the council andcalled a new one to meet in eighteen months at Bologna.The council resisted this expression of papal prerogative.Eugene IV’s action gave some weight to the contentionthat the Curia was opposed to any authentic measuresof reform. The council refused to dissolve; instead theyrenewed the resolutions by which the Council of Con-stance had declared a council superior to the Pope and or-dered Eugene IV to appear at Basel. A compromise wasarranged by the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, whohad been crowned emperor at Rome on 31 May 1433.By its terms, the Pope recalled his bull of dissolution,and, reserving all the rights of the Holy See, acknowl-edged the council as ecumenical on 15 December 1433except for the initial unapproved sessions that containedcanons which exalted conciliar authority above that of thepope.[1]

Painting of Pope Eugene rowing down the Tiber escaping Rome

These concessions also were due to the invasion of thePapal States by the former Papal condottiero Niccolò For-tebraccio and the troops of Filippo Maria Visconti ledby Niccolò Piccinino in retaliation for Eugene’s supportof Florence and Venice against Milan (see also Wars inLombardy). This situation led also to establishment ofan insurrectionary republic at Rome controlled by theColonna family. In early June 1434, disguised in therobes of a Benedictine monk, Eugene was rowed downthe center of the Tiber, pelted by stones from eitherbank, to a Florentine vessel waiting to pick him up atOstia. The city was restored to obedience by GiovanniVitelleschi, themilitant Bishop of Recanati, in the follow-ing October.[1] In August 1435 a peace treaty was signed

1

2 2 EUGENIUS ON SLAVERY

at Ferrara by the various belligerents. The Pope moved toBologna in April 1436. His condottieri Francesco Sforzaand Vitelleschi in the meantime reconquered much ofthe Papal States. Traditional Papal enemies such asthe Prefetti di Vico were destroyed, while the Colonnawere reduced to obedience after the destruction of theirstronghold in Palestrina in August 1436.

Portrait of Pope Eugenius IV, after Jean Fouquet.

1.2.2 Eugenius resurgent

Meanwhile, the struggle with the council sitting atBasel broke out anew. Eugene IV at length con-vened a rival council at Ferrara on 8 January 1438 andexcommunicated the prelates assembled at Basel.[2] KingCharles VII of France had forbidden members of theclergy in his kingdom from attending the counsel in Fer-rara, and introduced the decrees of the Council of Basel,with slight changes, into France through the PragmaticSanction of Bourges (7 July 1438). The King of Englandand the Duke of Burgundy, who felt that the council waspartial to France, decided not to recognize the council atBasel.[2] Castile, Aragon, Milan, and Bavaria withdrewsupport. [3]

The Council of Basel suspended Eugene on 24 January1438, then formally deposed him as a heretic on 25 June1439. In the following November the council elected theambitious Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy, as antipope un-

der the name of Felix V.[3] The Diet of Mainz had de-prived the Pope of most of his rights in the Empire (26March 1439).At Florence, where the council of Ferrara had been trans-ferred as a result of an outbreak of the plague, a unionwith the Eastern Orthodox Church was effected in July1439, which, as the result of political necessities, provedbut a temporary bolster to the papacy’s prestige.[2] Thisunion was followed by others of even less stability. Eu-gene IV signed an agreement with the Armenians on 22November 1439, and with a part of the Jacobites of Syriain 1443, and in 1445 he received the Nestorians and theMaronites.[4] He did his best to stem the Turkish advance,pledging one-fifth of the papal income to a crusade whichset out in 1443, but which met with overwhelming de-feat at the Battle of Varna. Cardinal Cesarini, the papallegate, perished in the rout.Eugene’s rival Felix V in the meantime obtained scantrecognition, even in the Empire. Eventually Holy Ro-man Emperor Frederick III moved toward acceptance ofEugene. One of the king’s ablest advisers, the human-ist Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, who was later to be PopePius II, made peace with Eugene in 1442. The Pope’srecognition of the claim to Naples of King Alfonso V ofAragon (in the treaty of Terracina, approved by Eugeniusat Siena somewhat later) withdrew the last important sup-port in Italy from the Council of Basel. In 1442 Eugene,Alfonso and Visconti sent Niccolò Piccinino to reconquerthe March of Ancona from Francesco Sforza; but the de-feat of the allied army at the Battle of Montolmo pushedthe Pope to reconcile with Sforza.So enabled, Eugene IVmade a victorious entry into Romeon 28 September 1443 after an exile of nearly ten years.His protests against the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourgeswere ineffectual, but by means of the Concordat of thePrinces, negotiated by Piccolomini with the electors inFebruary 1447, the whole of Germany declared againstthe antipope. This agreement was completed only afterEugene’s death.

2 Eugenius on slavery

See also: Creator Omnium and Sicut Dudum

Christianity had gained many converts in the Canary Is-lands by the early 1430s. However, the ownership of thelands had been the subject of dispute between Portugaland the Kingdom of Castille. The lack of effective con-trol had resulted in periodic raids on the islands to pro-cure slaves. As early as the Council of Koblenz in 922,the capture of Christians as slaves by other Christians hadbeen condemned.[5]

Acting on a complaint by Fernando Calvetos, bishopof the islands,[6] Pope Eugene IV issued a Papal bull,

3

"Creator Omnium", on 17 December 1434, annullingprevious permission granted to Portugal to conquer thoseislands still pagan. Eugene excommunicated anyonewho enslaved newly converted Christians, the penalty tostand until the captive was restored to their liberty andpossessions.[7]

Portuguese soldiers continued to raid the islands during1435, and Eugene issued a further edict Sicut Dudum thatprohibited wars being waged against the islands and af-firming the ban on enslavement. Eugene condemned theenslavement of the peoples of the newly colonized CanaryIslands and, under pain of excommunication, ordered allsuch slaves to be immediately set free.[8]

Eugene tempered Sicut Dudum in September 1436 withthe issuance of a papal bull in response to complaintsmade by King Edward of Portugal that allowed the Por-tuguese to conquer any unconverted parts of the Ca-nary Islands. According to Raiswell (1997), any Chris-tian would be protected by the earlier edict but the un-baptized were implicitly allowed to be enslaved.[9]

Following the arrival of the first African slaves in Lisbonduring the year 1441, Prince Henry asked Eugene to des-ignate Portugal’s raids along the West African coast asa crusade, a consequence of which would be the legit-imization of enslavement for captives taken during thecrusade. On 19 December 1442, Eugene replied by issu-ing the bull Illius qui, in which he granted full remissionof sins to those who took part in any expeditions againstthe Saracens.[10] Davidson (1961) asserts that “In Chris-tianity as in Islam...the heathen was expendable”.[11]

Richard Raiswell argues that the bulls of Eugene helpedin some way the development of thought which perceivedthe enslavement of Africans by the Portuguese and laterEuropeans “as dealing a blow for Christendom”.[12] Joel SPanzer views Sicut Dudum as a significant condemnationof slavery, issued sixty years before the Europeans foundthe New World.[13]

3 Death and legacy

Although his pontificate had been so stormy and un-happy that he is said to have regretted on his deathbedthat he ever left his monastery, Eugene IV’s victory overthe Council of Basel and his efforts on behalf of churchunity nevertheless contributed greatly to the breakdownof the conciliar movement and restored the papacy to asemblance of the dominant position it had held beforethe Western Schism (1378–1417). This victory had beengained, however, by making concessions to the princes ofEurope. Thereafter, the papacy had to depend more forits revenues on the Papal States.Eugene IV was dignified in demeanour, but inexperi-enced and vacillating in action and excitable in tem-per. Bitter in his hatred of heresy, he nevertheless dis-played great kindness to the poor. He laboured to reform

Statue of Pope Eugene at the Florence Cathedral

the monastic orders, especially the Franciscans, and wasnever guilty of nepotism. Although austere in his privatelife, he was a sincere friend of art and learning, and in1431 he re-established the university at Rome. He alsoconsecrated Florence Cathedral on 25 March 1436. Eu-gene was buried at Saint Peter’s by the tomb of Pope Eu-gene III. Later his tomb was transferred to San Salvatorein Lauro, a parish church on the other bank of the TiberRiver.

4 Notes

[1] Loughlin, James. “Pope Eugene IV.” The Catholic Ency-clopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company,1909. 23 Jul. 2014

[2] Stieber, Joachim W., Pope Eugenius IV, the Council ofBasel and the Secular and Ecclesiastical Authorities in theEmpire: The Conflict Over Supreme Authority and Powerin the Church, Brill, 1978 ISBN 9789004052406

[3] MacCaffrey, James. “Council of Basle.” The Catholic En-cyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Com-pany, 1907. 24 Jul. 2014

[4] Van der Essen, Léon. “The Council of Florence.” TheCatholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Ap-pleton Company, 1909. 24 Jul. 2014

[5] “Decrees on Sale of Unfree Christians”,Medieval Source-book, Fordham University

4 6 EXTERNAL LINKS

[6] Housley, Norman. Religious Warfare in Europe1400-1536, Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN9780198208112

[7] Raiswell, Richard. “Eugene IV, Papal bulls of”, TheHistorical Encyclopedia of World Slavery, Junius P. Ro-driguez ed., ABC-CLIO, 1997 ISBN 9780874368857

[8] Dulles, 2005

[9] Richard Raiswell, p. 260 & Sued-Badillo, 2007

[10] Raiswell, p. 261

[11] “The African Slave Trade”, p. 55

[12] The Historical encyclopedia of world slavery”, RichardRaiswell, p. 261

[13] Panzer, 2008

5 References• This article incorporates text from a publication nowin the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). CambridgeUniversity Press.

• Dulles, S.J., Avery. “Development or Reversal?",First Things Magazine, October 2005

• Maxwell, John Francis. Slavery and the CatholicChurch, Barry Rose Publishers, 1975

• Panzer, Joel S. “The Popes and Slavery”, TheChurch In History Centre, 22 April 2008

• Rendina, Claudio (1994). I capitani di ventura.Rome: Newton Compton. p. 355.

• The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery, Con-tributor Richard Raiswell, Editor Junius P. Ro-driguez, ABC-CLIO, 1997, ISBN 0-87436-885-5

• Christopher Columbus and the enslavement of theAmerindians in the Caribbean. (Columbus and theNew World Order 1492–1992)., Sued-Badillo, Jalil,Monthly Review. Monthly Review Foundation, Inc.1992. HighBeam Research. 10 August 2009

• A Violent Evangelism, Luis N. Rivera, Luis RiveraPagán , Westminster John Knox Press, 1992, ISBN0-664-25367-9

• The African Slave Trade, Basil Davidson, JamesCurrey Publishers, 1961, ISBN 0-85255-798-1

• A Successful Defeat. Eugenius IV’s Struggle withthe Council of Basel for Ultimate Authority in theChurch, 1431/1449, M. Decaluwe, Brepols Publish-ers, 2010, ISBN 978-90-74461-73-3

• Joseph Gill, Eugenius IV, Pope of Christian Union(Westminster, Md., Newman Press, 1961).

6 External links• Curp, T. David. “A Necessary Bondage? When theChurch Endorsed Slavery”, Crisis Vol. 23, No. 8(September 2005)

5

7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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