FELICE V, ANTIPAPA. — After Pope Eugenio IV had been deposed, the Council of Basel (v.) elected, on 5 November 1439, Duke Amedeo VIII of Savoy (v.). The election was conducted contrary to the canonical norms, because the sole Cardinal of Arles was joined by 52 electors, chosen by a commission, of whom only 11 were bishops. The elected candidate accepted the office under the name of F. V on 5 January 1440, but he was not consecrated and crowned at Basel until 24 July.
He was recognized only by a few powers: the dukes of Savoy and Bavaria, some of the Swiss cantons, and for a time the King of Scotland and the Duke of Milan. France and England, while also accepting the decrees of the Council, did not withdraw their obedience from Eugenio. Frederick III, King of the Romans, came to Basel (1442), but did not pay F. the honors due to a Pontiff. Alfonso of Aragon, after negotiating with the Pope and the antipope, recognized the former (1443), having obtained from him confirmation of the Kingdom of Naples. The tithe on ecclesiastical property, which the Fathers of Basel had been obliged to impose in order to maintain the new court, made the antipope unpopular and earned him a reputation for avarice, although, in order to avoid expenses, he settled in Lausanne at the end of 1442. F. elevated men of distinction, among them, to the cardinalate, but several refused the appointment. Even one of his secretaries, Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who had entered the service of the King of the Romans, now aware of the harm caused by the schism, worked to turn the King and the Germans toward Eugenio IV. The “concordats of the princes” accepted by Eugenio on his deathbed (February 1447), and the Concordat of Vienna between Frederick III and the new Pope Niccolò VI (17 February 1448), secured the obedience of Germany to the Roman Pontiff. After the Fathers had been expelled from Basel at the king’s command and had withdrawn to Lausanne (June 1448), F. declared himself willing to leave office. Niccolò V then lifted the censures against him and the Council (18 January 1449). F. confirmed his own disciplinary edicts and the favors he had granted, lifted the censures against those obedient to Rome, and laid down his authority in the hands of the Council (7 April 1449). The Pope, in turn, confirmed the appointments made by the antipope and granted Amedeo the title of Cardinal Bishop of Sabina; before dissolving, the Council added to this the title of legate and perpetual vicar for the Duchy of Savoy, Piedmont, and part of Switzerland.