EUGENIUS IV, Pope. - Gabriele Condulmer, b. in Venice around 1383, came from a noble Venetian family and was on his mother's side a nephew of Gregory XII. He received his spiritual formation in the fervent community that had formed in those years on the lagoon island of S. Giorgio in Alga, and to the austerity of those youthful years he remained faithful until death. By his uncle the pontiff he was named bishop of Siena, then cardinal at Lucca on 12 May 1408 along with three others in that contested creation made at the moment of the secession of the cardinals. After his uncle's renunciation of the papacy (1415) Gabriele took part in the Council of Constance and then in the election of Martin V. After the latter's death, with remarkable rapidity and concord he was elected pontiff on 3 March and crowned on the 12th. With his undeniable virtues, in E. the art of government did not keep pace; on the other hand he lacked that backing of powerful men and trustworthy familiars that had contributed so much to the successes of his predecessor. Thus he was unable to master the course of events provoked by the attitude, with regard to the Curia, of the Council of Basel, events that were compounded by those due to the conflicting interests of the Italian cities, princes and condottieri and by the intestine quarrels of Rome.
The first clashes were with the Colonna, who had risen to excessive power under Pope Martin; and the reaction of the Orsini, who aimed to regain power, had a bearing on the decisions of the new Pope; the Roman discords were rekindled and kept public life agitated in Rome and its surroundings. At the same time the events of Basel were maturing. In the face of the unfavorable reports that ar-
26. - ENCICLOPEDIA CATHOLICA. - V.
rived from there and of the small number of fathers who had gathered, E. with a bull of 12 Nov. 1431 dissolved the Council, proposing to convene it at Bologna. But the Council, which had held its first solemn session on 14 Dec. under the presidency of Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini, sent to Germany by Martin V, dared to continue, proclaiming itself legitimately assembled and summoning the Pope and the cardinals to present themselves. From this arose a conflict, which the emperor Sigismund tried in vain to repair by hastening to Rome, where he was crowned emperor on 31 May 1433. E. soon found himself abandoned by many; he had as enemies Alfonso of Aragon, who aimed at the Kingdom of Naples, and Filippo Maria Visconti because of his alliance with Florence and Venice, and he found himself facing the condottieri who fought with the opposing parties: Nicolò Fortebraccio was at Tivoli on 7 Oct. 1433. E. therefore saw it as necessary to resume negotiations with the Council and on 15 Dec. 1433 yielded to its demands, recognizing its legitimacy. This resumption was, however, only apparent, because the Council intended to take advantage of the difficulties in which E. was struggling, assuming a reforming activity that was to reach as far as the Pontiff himself and his Curia. Meanwhile in Rome too the aspirations to reclaim what were called the ancient liberties were rekindled and insurrections against the pontifical authority were being prepared: on 30 May 1434 the citizens took prisoner the camerlengo Francesco Condulmer, nephew of the Pope. E. himself was forced on 4 June to leave Rome in a small boat and take refuge in Florence, where he arrived on 23 June and took up residence at S. Maria Novella. From there he set about recovering Rome and its States and restoring order and peace there, making use first of Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi, then of Cardinal Lodovico Trevisan, themselves condottieri facing condottieri; but he did not deem it opportune to return to Rome, though he was invoked to do so, before the treaty of Terracina (14 June 1433) with Alfonso of Aragon, recognized as king of Naples. Meanwhile the task of carrying forward the negotiations for the reunion of the Greek Church with the West was pressing. It had already been discussed since the time of Martin V; but now the Byzantines did not want to have anything to do with the Council. In the face of the ever greater intemperance of the Council itself and in order to reach a result with the Greeks, on 18 Sept. 1437, E. transferred the Council to Ferrara and betook himself there on 27 Jan. 1438; on 4 March the emperor John Palaeologus arrived there and on the 7th Joseph, patriarch of Constantinople. In Jan. 1439 the Council was then transferred to Florence, where on 6 July the famous bull was published (v. FIRENZE, concilio di) that for a moment marked the union between the two Churches. Subsequent analogous negotiations were carried on with the other separated Churches of the East, which had their complement after, in the autumn of 1443, the Council was transferred from Florence to Rome.
Having returned to Rome on 28 Sept. 1443, E. set about remedying the damages of the schism that had arisen again with the election at Basel of the antipope Felix V, and particularly at re-establishing relations with the German princes who together with the French had in 1438 proclaimed their neutrality, and on the eve of his death he sanctioned the "concordats of the princes" (Febr. 1447). Ever since he was in Florence he had not failed to provide for the needs of the City, for sacred and profane buildings, for the well-being of the population; his special merit after the return was to have restored the greatly depressed fortunes of the Studium Romanum by protecting teaching and providing for its financing. E. died on 23 Febr. 1447 and was buried in the Vatican Basilica. - See plate LI.
Bibliography3 works
Pio Paschini