while at the same time, the authority of the citv, by puroliase and conquest, was extended over a broad stretch of territory. Basel fought with the Swiss confederates against the Haps- burgs in 1444, and formally joined the Confed- eracy in 1501. The Reformation made rapid progress in Basel. The government of the city became thoroughly democratic, but toward the inliabitants of the rural districts of Basel a policy of consistent selfishness was followed, in that they were allowed no share in the political life of the comnnuiity for nearly three centuries. Under the impulse of the French Revolution equality of rights was established, but the city became' supreme again after 1814. Civil war broke out as a result in 1831, and continued until 1S33, when the Federal Government in- tervened and brought about the division of the canton into Bascl-Stadt and Basel-Land. The latter innnediately established democratic insti- tutions, but Basel-Stadt maintained its reac- tionary character till well into the second half of the" Nineteenth Century. Consult Guide to Bnsle and Environs (Basel, 1895).
BASEL, Confession of. ( 1 ) Written by Os-
wald JIveonius (q.v.), in 1534, and the one
still used in Basel. (2) The First Helvetic Con-
fession (1530), also called The Second Confes-
sion of Basel, because there drawn u]). It was
too Lutheran, and so was supplanted by the Sec-
ond Helvetic Confession ( 1504 ) .
BASEL, Council of. A memorable and important ecclesiastical council, held in the city
of Basel from 1431 to 1440. It was summoned
by Pope Martin V., by a bull dated February
1. 1431, and constituted after a fashion on February '27, but after the Cardinal legate, Julian Cesarini of Sant' Angelo, who had been charged with the conduct of the Council, arrived, September !), 1431, more life was put into it. Its chief business being to conciliate the Hussites, it at once opened negotiations with them. But
the new Pope, Eugenius IV., disliked the pro-
ceedings, and requested Cesarini on November
12 to dissolve the Council and call another a
little later at Bologna. Ere the letter came
the Council had formally constituted itself (De-
cember 14). and when the Pope's letter arrived
it flatly refused to dissolve, and reaffirmed the
decree "of the Council of Constance, asserting
the right of a general council to exercise au-
thority over the Pope himself, and on his per-
severing to issue bulls for its dissolution, caused
a formal process to be commenced against him,
and cited him to appear at its bar. It assumed
the Papal powers, and exercised them in France
and Gennany, where its authority was ac-
knowledged. It concluded a peace, in the name of
the Cluu'ch, with the Calixtines, the most pow-
erful section of the Hussites, by the so-called
Conijiactata of Prague of November 30, 1433,
granting them the use of the cup in the Lord's
Supper. By this, the Emperor Sigismund was
greatly aided in recovering possession of Bohe-
mia: and he ia return sought to reconcile the
Council with Eugenius IV., who, being hard
pressed by insurrections in the States of the
Church, and, afraid of losing his whole influence
in France and Germany, came to a temporary
agreement with the Council August 1, 1433. Desir-
ous, however, of limiting the Papal i)reroga-
tives, the Council restored to the chapters of
cathedrals and collegiate churches the free right
of election to stalls and benefices, of which the
Pope had assumed the right of disposing; and
with a view to the reformation of gross abuses,
restricted the practice of appeals to Rome, and
prohibited aiinats and other grievous exactions.
It left the Pope the right to dispose of those
benefices only which belonged to the diocese of
Rome, and prohibited the bestowal of reversions
to ecclesiastical offices. It also appointed punish-
ments for certain immoralities in the clergy; and
prohibited 'festivals of fools,' and all the inde-
cencies which had been commonly practiced in
churches at Christmas. It adopted decrees con-
cerning the election of Popes, and for the regu-
lation of the College of Cardinals.
Eugenius, exasperated to the utmost, com- plained loudly to all sovereign princes. At this time the prospect was opened uj) of the union of the distressed Greeks with the Church of Rome, and both the Pope and the Council en- deavored to make use of this for the advance- ment of their own interests and influence. Both dispatched galleys for the Greek deputies; but through the intrigues of his agents, the Pope was successful and brought the Greek deputies to Ferrara. The Archbisliop of Taranto, a Papal legate at Basel, circulated an ordinance in the name of the Council, and scaled with its seal, recommending Udine or Florence as the place of conference. This was a high-handed proceed- ing, as not the Council, but only a minority of the Council, desired such a transfer, and the use of the seal was unauthorized. The Archbishop of Taranto was arrested, but he escaped. Yet tne Pope followed the minority, and issued a bull calling a council at Florence.
This proceeding put an end to forbearance on the part of the Council, which, on July 31, 1437, again summoned the Pope to its bar. and on his failing to appear, not only declared him con- tumacious (October 11, 1437), but on his trans- ferring the Council to Ferrara, went so far as (on January 24, 1438) to decree his suspension from the functions of the Papacy. His party was, however, so strong that this decree could not be carried into effect; while some of those who had been among the more influential members of the Council, the Cardinal legate .Julian himself, and the greater number of the Italians, had shortly before left Basel and gone over to the Pope's side. All the more resolutely did Cardi- nal Louis d'Allemand, Archbishop of Aries, a man of most superior understanding, courage, and eloquence, now guide the proceedings. On May 16, 1439, the Council declared the Pope a heretic for his obstinate disobedience to its decrees; and on June 25, 1439, formally deposed him for simony, perjury, and other offenses, and elected Amadeus VIII. of Savoy in his stead. He called himself Felix V. (q.v.).
In the latter part of 1443 Felix V. left Basel and went to Lausanne. On May 18, 1448, Frederick III. forbade the city of Basel longer to harbor the Council. So, on June 25, it decreed its transfer to Lausanne; and there, on April 25, 1449, it decreed its dissolution. The Council had shown itself powerless to effect the reforms in the Papal Curia with which it had set out, and was on the whole a failure. Its reforming decrees are held to be invalid by the Roman Catholic canonists; but extreme Galileans, such as Richer, recognize it as ecumenical all through,
