EUGENE IV, POPE. - Gabriele Condulmer, born in Venice around 1383, came from a noble Venetian family and was the nephew of Gregory XII on his mother’s side. He received his spiritual formation in the fervent community that had formed in those years on the lagoon island of San Giorgio in Alga, and he remained faithful to the austerity of those early years until his death. His uncle, the pope, appointed him Bishop of Siena, and then made him a cardinal in Lucca on 12 May 1408, along with three others, in that contested creation made at the time of the cardinals’ secession.
After his uncle’s resignation from the papacy (1415), Gabriele participated in the Council of Constance and then in the election of Martin V. After the latter’s death, he was elected pope with remarkable speed and unanimity on 3 March and crowned on 12 March. Though he possessed undeniable virtues, he did not match them with the art of governance; moreover, he lacked the support of powerful and reliable family members who had contributed so much to the successes of his predecessor. Thus, he was unable to control the course of events provoked by the attitude of the Council of Basel toward the Curia, events that intersected with the conflicting interests of cities, princes, and Italian condottieri, as well as the internal strife in Rome.
The first conflicts were with the Colonna family, who had risen to excessive power under Pope Martin V; the reaction of the Orsini, who sought to regain influence, influenced the decisions of the new pope. Roman discord flared up again, keeping public life in Rome and its surroundings in turmoil. At the same time, events in Basel were maturing. Faced with unfavorable reports arriving from Basel regarding the small number of fathers in attendance, E. issued a bull on 12 November 1431 dissolving the council and proposing to reconvene it in Bologna. But the council, which had held its first solemn session on 14 December under the presidency of Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini, sent to Germany by Martin V, dared to continue, declaring itself legitimately assembled and summoning the pope and cardinals to appear before II. A conflict ensued, which Emperor Sigismund tried in vain to resolve when he came to Rome, where he was crowned emperor on 31 May 1433. E. soon found himself abandoned by many; he had enemies in Alfonso of Aragon, who sought the Kingdom of Naples, and in Filippo Maria Visconti, allied with Florence and Venice, and found himself facing the condottieri who fought for opposing factions—Niccolò Fortebracci was in Tivoli on 7 October 1433. E. therefore saw it as necessary to resume negotiations with the council, and on 15 December 1433 he yielded to its demands, recognizing its legitimacy. This resumption, however, was only apparent, for the council intended to take advantage of the difficulties in which E. found himself, assuming a reforming activity that extended even to the pope himself and his Curia.
Meanwhile, in Rome, the aspirations to reclaim what were called the ancient liberties rekindled, and preparations were made for insurrections against papal authority: on 30 May 1434, the citizens took the papal camerlengo Francesco Condulmer, the pope’s nephew, prisoner. E. himself was forced to leave Rome on 4 June, fleeing by boat to Florence, where he arrived on 23 June and soon took up residence at Santa Maria Novella. From there, he sought to overcome Rome and its states and restore order and peace, first using Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi and then Cardinal Lodovico Trevisan—both condottieri facing other condottieri—but he did not deem it opportune to return to Rome, despite entreaties, until the Treaty of Terracina (14 June 1443), in which Alfonso of Aragon was recognized as King of Naples.
Meanwhile, the urgent task of advancing negotiations for the union of the Greek Church with the West pressed forward. Such talks had already begun in the time of Martin V; but now the Byzantines refused to deal with the council. Faced with the council’s increasing intemperance and in order to achieve a result with the Greeks, on 18 September 1437 E. transferred the council to Ferrara and went there himself on 27 January 1438; on 4 March, Emperor John Palaiologos arrived, and on 7 March, Joseph, Patriarch of Constantinople. On 6 July, the famous bull (v. FLORENCE, council of) was published, marking for a moment the union between the two Churches. Subsequent similar negotiations were conducted with the other separated Eastern Churches, culminating after the council was transferred from Florence to Rome in the autumn of 1443.
Having returned to Rome on 28 September 1443, E. set about remedying the damage of the schism that had resurfaced with the election of the antipope Felix V at Basel, and particularly worked to restore relations with the princes of the Gargano region, who, together with the French, had in 1438 proclaimed their neutrality. On the eve of his death, he sanctioned the concordats with the princes (February 1447). Even while in Florence, he had not neglected the needs of Rome, its sacred and profane buildings, and the welfare of its people; a special merit of his after his return was to have restored the fortunes of the greatly depressed Papal States by promoting education and providing for its financing. E. died on 23 February 1447 and was buried in St. Peter’s Basilica. Vedi tav. LI.