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Freebase (0.00 / 0 votes) Rate this definition:.Council of ConstanceThe Council of Constance is the 16th ecumenical council recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, held from 1414 to 1418. The council ended the Three-Popes Controversy, by deposing or accepting the resignation of the remaining Papal claimants and electing Pope Martin V.The Council also condemned and executed Jan Hus and ruled on issues of national sovereignty, the rights of pagans, and just war in response to a conflict between the Kingdom of Poland and the Order of the Teutonic Knights. The Council is important for its relationship to ecclesial Conciliarism and Papal supremacy.
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Constance, Council of, 1414–18, council of the Roman Catholic Church, some of its sessions being reckoned as the 16th ecumenical council. It was summoned.
Council of ConstanceFrom 1414 to 1418, a Church Council took place in Constance. It was the only council, that ever took place north of the Alps. It ended the Great Schism of Western Christianity. From 1378 on, the catholic church was divided.From 1378 to 1409 there were two competing popes in Rome and Avignon. A first attempt of reunification failed in 1409 in Pisa.
The result of the Pisa council was, that there were even three rival popes between 1409 and 1415.In 1417, during the Council of Constance, the cardinal Oddo di Colonna was elected as pope Martin Vth and the (catholic) church was reunited.And what was the fate of the three rival popes? The pope John XXIII (Pisa), hoped to be elected pope by the Council of Constanceand therefore he travelled to the council. When he recognised, that his chances were small, he fled in 1415, disguised as a simple priest. But he was arrested outside Constance and heldin prison for three years. After he was released from prison, he died soon. The Roman antipope Georg XII resigned in 1415. Benedikt XII, who resided in Avignon had to step down in 1417.
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