Reform oder Papstwahl: das Konzil in der Zerreißprobe. Eine innerkonziliare Auseinandersetzung zwischen ‘Mehrheit’ und ‘Minderheit’ auf dem Konstanzer Konzil

Reform or Papal Election – the Council and its Ordeal: An Inner-Conciliar Dispute between ‘Majority’ and ‘Minority’ at the Council of Constance. The broad consensus that prevailed among the Fathers at the beginning of the Council of Constance gave way to a climate of tension, at the latest after the resurgence of the English-French conflict in mid-1415, which made the inner tensions among the participants of the Council more and more apparent. The front that arose between ‘majority’ and ‘minority’ only followed ‘national’ borders to a limited extent, and for a long time it had not been firmly established, hence shifts and overlaps were still possible. The arrival of the Spaniards – first the Aragonese, later the Castilians – and the outbreak of the conflict of nations can be interpreted as key events in this development, which led to the formation of the two blocs. The national tensions between the English and the French were overlaid by the question of how the Council should proceed further: to proceed to the election of a new Pope first or to prioritize the reform of the church. For a long time both sides were in balance, but after the Castilians’ accession to the Council in the summer of 1417, the situation changed rapidly. The predominance of a coalition of Cardinals, Italica, Gallicana and the Castilians grew, while the group assembled around Sigmund, Germanica, Anglicana and the Aragonese increasingly eroded and became a ‘minority’. A finally negotiated compromise, in which both sides were able to save face, rendered a successful conclusion of the council possible.

La questione degli schiavi còrsi al concilio di Pisa (1135)

This paper analyzes canon 3 of the council of Pisa of 1135, with which the trade in persons is prohibited, pointing out that this prohibition must be considered valid also for the sale of inhabitants of Corsica, be they men or women. After having drawn up a general overview of the council, it will focus on the text of the third canon to understand the reasons that led the council fathers to deal with the subject of slavery, firmly defending the Corsican population, considered as a “minority” victim of a political and economic system. As we will try to show, the text of this canon is a unicum of its kind and is fully inserted within the panorama of the Church’s teaching on the subject of slavery, adding a new piece to the mosaic of what was already known about the work of the ecclesiastical institution on this subject.

Synode, Katholikentage und die protestantische Minderheit im langen 19. Jahrhundert in Ungarn

The study explores how Catholic prelates, priests and politicians evaluated the connections of their Church with the Protestants. It investigates the documents of the last national synod of Hungary (1822), the provincial synod of Kalocsa (1863), and the regional and national Catholic Congresses (1893–1913). In the first part of the century, some intellectuals aimed to create a union between Catholics and Protestants to strengthen the Hungarian nation, and their ideas had some influence even on the preparation work on the synods of the period. At the end of the century, the question of the mixed marriages overshadowed the relations between the denominations, but the Catholic leaders of the People’s Party tried to preserve the opportunity of the political cooperation with the Protestants.