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The Reforms of the Council* chapter 10 The Reforms of the Council* Birgit Studt 10.1 Introduction Reform was not a specific attribute or an exclusive concern of the so-called reform councils of the 15th century. The call for reform in the Late Middle Ages came from many sides. The expression ecclesia semper reformanda (the Church always must be reformed)1 in principle characterizes the entire history of the Church, even when at certain times there was more reformatory zeal than in others.2 The ecclesiastical constitution provided councils as regular organs of re- form, and since the first half of the 14th century, this task was more and more justified theoretically, often with the purpose of limiting the plenitudo potes- tatis (fullness of power) of the pope.3 Nevertheless, the pope could also make reforms by means of his jurisdictional authority, and this was expected of him. Traditionally, both of these reform institutions operated in tandem: the coun- cil formulated proposals for reforms, so-called “gravamina” (grievances), while the pope was expected to take care of their administration.4 Already in his letter of invitation to the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, Pope Innocent iii had called for thoroughly investigating necessary measures of correction and reform, and instructed that the written results be presented to * This chapter was translated from German by Daniel O’Connell (initial translation) and Mi chiel Decaluwé. 1 This phrase originated with 17th-century Dutch Calvinism and was then also used at the time of the Second Vatican Council. 2 Christopher M. Bellitto, Renewing Christianity: A History of Church Reform from Day One to Vatican ii (New York, 2001); see also the overview of Johannes Helmrath, “Reform als The- ma der Konzilien des Spätmittelalters,” in Alberigo, Christian Unity, 75–152 at 76–9; Gerald Strauss, “Ideas of Reformatio and Renovatio from the Middle Ages to the Reformation,” in Handbook of European History 1400–1600, (eds.) Thomas A. Brady, Heiko A. Oberman and James D. Tracy, vol. 2 (Leiden, 1995), 1–30. 3 Hermann Josef Sieben, Die Konzilsidee des lateinischen Mittelalters, 847–1378 (Paderborn, 1984), 351–7; Helmrath, “Reform,” 80 ff. 4 Johannes Helmrath, “Theorie und Praxis der Kirchenreform im Spätmittelalter,” Rottenburger Jahrbuch für Kirchengeschichte 11 (1992), 41–70 at 43. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi �0.��63/978900433�464_0�� <UN> The Reforms of the Council 283 the council for examination.5 In 1272, Gregory x initiated preparations for the Second Council of Lyon in a similar way, but in doing so emphasized that he was the one who would introduce the appropriate measures for correction, as well as measures for carrying out these corrections, which the council was expected to examine and offer advice.6 During the Great Western Schism this papal command of reform was ac- cepted, when at the 1409 Council of Pisa—called by the cardinals of both obe- diences together—the question regarding the unity of the church was believed to be solved by means of legal action deposing both popes. The fathers of this council brought to the newly-elected pope, Alexander v, numerous complaints and requested that he initiate their roughly outlined reform in capite et in membris (reform in head and members) with the help of a curial commission of specialists.7 In addition, however, it was requested that a general council be called within the following three years, in order that reform deliberations not be put off too long.8 It was first at the Council of Constance that an earnest attempt was made to establish the general council as a reform and regulatory body, which would meet periodically. In the decree Frequens—published on 9 October 1417 be- fore the election of the new pope—the regular meeting of general councils at required intervals was arranged in detail (the next council would meet in five years, the following council in seven, and then every ten years after that). In this way the task of reform was codified in canon law.9 The inspiration for this decision was the treatise De modo generalis conci- lii celebrandi (On the Way of Celebrating a General Council) which was com- posed by William Durant the Younger prior to the Council of Vienne which, in 1311, had pressed for the convocation of general councils every ten years. In 5 Mansi 23, 961–2. 6 Et nos nicholominus variis modis et viis sollers studium et efficacem operam dare proponimus, ut omnia et alia in examen eiusdem correctionem et directionem recipiant opportunam; Jean Guiraud, (ed.), Les régistres de Grégoire x (1272–1276) (Bibliothèque des écoles françaises d’Athènes et de Rome) 2e série 12, 1 (Paris, 1892), 53–5 at 55. 7 Regarding the formula of reformatio in capite et in membris, which became a standard trope of the rhetoric of reform during the Schism, see Karl Augustin Frech, Reform an Haupt und Gliedern: Untersuchungen zur Entwicklung und Verwendung der Formulierung im Hoch—und Spätmittelalter (Frankfurt am Main, 1992); Christopher M. Bellitto, “The Reform Context of the Great Western Schism,” in Rollo-Koster, Izbicki, Great Western Schism, 303–31. 8 Jürgen Miethke, “Kirchenreform auf den Konzilien des 15. Jahrhunderts: Motive— Methoden—Wirkungen,” in Studien zum 15. Jahrhundert: Festschrift für Erich Meuthen, (eds.) Johannes Helmrath and Heribert Müller, 2 vols. (Munich, 1994), 1, 13–42 at 22. 9 cogd 2, 1, 608–9; cod (Tanner), 438–9; Quellen Kirchenreform, 1, 485–7. <UN>.
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