FELIX V, Antipope. - After the deposition of Pope Eugene IV, the Council of Basel (v.) elected, on 5 Nov. 1439, Duke Amadeus VIII of Savoy (v.). The election was carried out against the canonical norms, because to the sole cardinal of Arles were added 52 electors, chosen by a commission, of whom only 11 were bishops. The elect took the name Felix V on 5 Jan. 1440, but was not consecrated and crowned at Basel until 24 July.
Only a few powers recognized him: the dukes of Savoy and of Bavaria, part of the Swiss cantons, for a time the king of Scotland and the duke of Milan. France and England, while accepting the decrees of the Council, did not break from obedience to Eugene. Frederick III, king of the Romans, came to Basel (1442), but did not render to Felix the honors due to a Pontiff; Alfonso of Aragon, after negotiating with both the Pope and the antipope, recognized the former (1443), having obtained from him the confirmation of the Kingdom of Naples. The tithe on ecclesiastical property, which the fathers of Basel had had to impose in order to maintain the new court, made the antipope unpopular, earning him a reputation for avarice, although, to avoid expenses, from the end of 1442 he settled at Lausanne. Felix raised even distinguished men to the cardinalate, but several refused the appointment: even one of his secretaries, Enea Silvio Piccolomini, having entered the service of the king of the Romans, worked, now aware of the harm of the schism, to turn the King and the Germans back to Eugene IV. The "concordats of the princes" accepted by the dying Eugene (Feb. 1447) and that of Vienna between Frederick III and the new pope Nicholas V (17 Feb. 1448) assured the Roman Pontiff of the obedience of Germany. Having driven the fathers from Basel at the will of the king and reduced them to Lausanne (June 1448), Felix declared himself willing to relinquish his office. Nicholas V then lifted the censures against him and the Council (18 Jan. 1449); Felix confirmed his own disciplinary edicts and the graces granted, washed away the censures against the Roman obedience and laid down his authority in the hands of the Council (7 Apr. 1449). The Pope in turn confirmed the collations made by the antipope and gave Amadeus the title of cardinal bishop of Sabina, to which the Council, before dissolving, added that of legate and perpetual vicar for the duchy of Savoy, Piedmont and part of Switzerland.