SEEALSO: humanism; Luther, Martin;
More, Sir Thomas; Reformation, Protes-
tant
Eugenius IV ....................................
(1383–1447)
Pope from 1431 until his death in 1447,
Eugenius was born Gabriele Condulmer,
the son of a Venetian merchant. At the age
of twenty-four, Pope Gregory XII, his
uncle, appointed him as bishop of Siena.
When the people of Siena opposed him as
an outsider, Condulmer resigned to be-
come the Vatican treasurer. He won elec-
tion as pope after the death of Martin V
in 1431. This event took place soon after
the opening of the Council of Basel, a
meeting of bishops, monks, and religious
scholars who sought to reform the church
and represented a serious challenge to the
pope’s authority. Eugenius issued a papal
bull (decree) dissolving the council in De-
cember 1431, but the council members re-
sponded by demanding that he appear be-
fore the council and recognize its authority
over him. In 1433, faced with rising oppo-
sition in northern Europe and a budding
Protestant movement in Bohemia, the
pope withdrew his bull and acknowledged
the council as valid.
Eugenius took an active role in the
wars and rivalries of northern Italy. He
supported Florence and Venice in their
struggle with Milan; to counter this, Mi-
lanese troops attacked papal territory in
central Italy. The defeat of the pope’s army
set off a violent uprising in Rome, which
Eugenius escaped by disguising himself as
a monk and having himself rowed to safety
down the Tiber River to the port of Ostia.
The pope settled in the town of Bologna
while, over the next few years, his armies
reconquered the Papal States. In 1438 Eu-
genius convened another council at Fer-
rara, where he placed a ban of excommu-
nication on the authorities meeting at
Basel. They then accused the pope of her-
esy, announced him deposed from his
throne, and elected the antipope Felix V.
The rival popes made peace in 1442, after
which Eugenius returned to Rome and
persuaded the princes of Germany to sup-
port him. After many years of bitter
struggle, he had prevailed over the con-
ciliar movement that presumed to be the
final authority in church matters.exploration.......................................
The people of medieval times knew little
of the world outside their towns and vil-
lages. The most knowledgeable people
were unaware of distant continents and
had no idea of the true size of the earth.
Sailors had no maps to guide them be-
yond the familiar coasts. Navigational tools
were of very limited use in long-distance
voyages, especially in uncharted waters.
Only a few merchants traveled any dis-
tance. Their reports from the coasts of Af-
rica and Arabia, and the overland caravan
route known as the Silk Road, made up
the limits of exploration.
In the fifteenth century, Portugal be-
gan an important era of long-distance ex-
ploration. Portuguese navigators began
maneuvering a lighter, more nimble craft
known as the caravel down the western
coasts of Africa. They sailed beyond the
capes, which experienced mariners be-
lieved lay at the edge of the world. The
craft of shipbuilding improved the carav-
els, making them larger and rigging them
to handle the varying wind conditions of
long sea voyages. With their larger holds
and ability to support crews for months at
a time, carracks came into use around the
turn of the sixteenth century and allowed
even longer voyages.exploration