1414-1418 · Constance, Germany
Council of Constance
With three men all claiming to be pope, the council deposed two of them, accepted the resignation of the third, and elected a new pope to end forty years of chaos.
By 1414, the Western Schism had metastasized. There were now three rival popes — one in Rome, one in Avignon, and one elected by the Council of Pisa, which had tried to fix the problem in 1409 and only made it worse. The Church was an international embarrassment. Kings, bishops, and ordinary Catholics had to pick a pope the way you pick a team, and nobody was sure who was valid. Emperor Sigismund pressured Pope John XXIII (the Pisan claimant) into calling a council at Constance in modern-day Germany. The council ran from 1414 to 1418. It deposed John XXIII, who had fled the city disguised as a postman. It convinced the Roman pope, Gregory XII, to resign voluntarily. The Avignon claimant, Benedict XIII, refused to step down and was deposed in absentia. In November 1417, the council elected Martin V, and the schism was over. But the council also did something the Church would rather forget. It burned Jan Hus at the stake, a Czech reformer who had been promised safe conduct. That broken promise would fuel Czech resentment for centuries and foreshadow the Protestant Reformation a hundred years later.
Why it matters
Ended the Western Schism by deposing rival popes and electing Martin V, but its burning of Jan Hus despite a promise of safe conduct remains a moral stain.
What Happened
Emperor Sigismund convened the council to end the scandal of three rival popes. Thousands of clergy and diplomats descended on the small German city. The council organized voting by nations rather than by individual bishops, giving reformers more influence. It deposed two claimants, accepted one resignation, and elected Cardinal Oddone Colonna as Pope Martin V on November 11, 1417. It also tried and executed the Czech reformer Jan Hus for heresy on July 6, 1415, despite having granted him safe conduct.
Why It Still Matters
Constance resolved the worst institutional crisis in Catholic history, but it did so at a cost. The execution of Hus, after a guarantee of his safety, haunted the Church's credibility. The Hussite Wars that followed devastated Bohemia. The council also raised unresolved questions about whether a council has authority over a pope, a debate that continued at Vatican I and still stirs discussion. Constance showed that the Church could fix even catastrophic problems — and that the fixes sometimes created new ones.