Anti-Papal Profile: Anti-Pope Felix V (Duke Amadeus VIII of Savoy)
Once upon a time in Europe there was a major Catholic embarrassment
known as “the Great Schism”. It came as a result of what is known as
“the Babylonian Captivity” or the “Avignon Papacy” when the papal court
moved from Rome to Avignon in France which produced a succession of
French pontiffs who were seen as little more than the tools of the
French Crown.
That ended with Pope Gregory XI and when he died the
people of Rome were determined to have a Roman pontiff rather than a
French one. They were quite forceful about it and so the cardinals
elected a rather unpleasant fellow (not exactly a Roman but a southern
Italian deemed ‘close enough’) who took the name Pope Urban VI. The
French, however, did not like that and so declared his election invalid,
the cardinals electing another pope, a warrior-cardinal (Robert of
Geneva), who took the name Pope Clement VII. He is what is known as an
“Anti-Pope” or an invalid pope. This was the beginning of the “Great
Schism” which saw Catholic Europe split into feuding factions, at one
point with three different men all claiming to be the “true” Pope at the
same time. It was a major embarrassment and it is not surprising that
anti-Popes tend to be viewed as ‘bad guys’ in Catholic history.
 |
| Popes, popes, everywhere a pope! |
However, that is not necessarily true. Pope Urban VI, for example, while
undoubtedly the valid, legitimate pontiff, was a rather unsavory
character and most who had to deal with him found him a rather
vindictive, bullying jerk. Pope Clement VII, on the other hand, though
nicknamed “the butcher” in his earlier, military career just because of a
trifling incident involving the massacre of a few thousand people, was
widely considered the much better man, a very nice fellow who treated
people well, was forgiving toward his enemies and genuinely considered
himself the valid pontiff. Practically any Catholic history will, in
fact, relate that while Urban VI was the correct pope, Clement VII would
have made a better one. Not every anti-Pope was an ambitious usurper,
thirsty for power but rather were sometimes men of sincere piety who, in
a confusing and tumultuous time, were prevailed upon to accept the
papal crown as a duty to the Church and Christendom. The “Great Schism”
was, thankfully, mostly ended with the election of Pope Martin V in
1417, however one rival remained and there would be a couple more before
it was all over. The man regarded by history as the last of the
anti-Popes is an illustration of a good, devout man being caught up in a
situation not of his making which left him on the wrong side of Church
history but still with a good reputation.
That man was Amadeus VIII, Count and later Duke of Savoy. He was born on
September 4, 1383 to Count Amadeus VII of Savoy and Bonne of Berry
(granddaughter of King Jean II of France). His father died in 1391
leaving him Count of Savoy at an early age but his mother acted as his
regent until he was old enough to rule in his own right. As the Count of
Savoy he was quite a successful ruler. He enlarged his domains, oversaw
economic prosperity, earned a reputation for being mild-mannered and
just as well as being quite religious. With the Hundred Years War still
raging between England and France, he tried several times to arrange a
negotiated end to the conflict though to no avail. When the “Great
Schism” broke out, he was very troubled by it, more so than most because
of his pious nature. He had been such a success and had such a great
reputation that, in 1416, Sigismund of Luxembourg, the Holy Roman
(German) Emperor gave him an aristocratic promotion, raising him to the
status of Duke of Savoy. Later, he also conferred on him the title of
Count of Geneva. Earlier he had married Mary of Burgundy and had a happy
home life, fathering nine children. However, his world fell apart when
his beloved wife died in 1422 and Duke Amadeus VIII turned his back on
the world.
Related:
http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2016/02/monarch-profile-emperor-henry-vii.html
http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2015/02/monarch-profile-king-louis-xiv-of-france.html
http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2016/03/monarch-profile-king-sigismund-iii-of.html
http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2016/01/monarch-profile-king-stanislas-ii.html
http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2015/07/monarch-profile-king-alfonso-xiii-of.html#more
http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2015/06/monarch-profile-emperor-otto-great.html#more
http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2015/01/papal-profile-pope-paul-ii.html
http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2015/07/papal-profile-pope-pius-viii.html
Amadeus VIII retired, though he retained his title, handing power over
to his son Louis, to live a contemplative life as a hermit in Ripaille
on the shores of Lake Geneva. He took five knights with him to live by a
monastic code he devised as the Order of St Maurice, which, combined
with another, is still one of the senior chivalric orders of the Italian
Royal Family today. He was thus mostly out of touch from that time on
though he had kept up with the events of the Council of
Basel-Ferrara-Florence. It was this council, in opposition to Pope
Eugene IV, which elected him (Anti-)Pope on October 30, 1439. It was not
a position he had sought for himself and it took a period of
negotiations before he could be prevailed upon to accept the papal
crown. The primary motivation of the electors seems to have been the
wealth and prestige they thought Amadeus would bring with him to their
cause. He finally accepted and was duly installed as Pope Felix V on
November 5, 1439.
 |
| "Pope" Felix V |
Anti-Pope Felix V renounced his secular titles and was crowned by
Cardinal d’Allamand in 1440. For the first few years of his pontificate
his secretary was Aeneas Sylvinus Piccolomini, later Pope Pius II. The
actual pope, Eugene IV, excommunicated him of course and he found no
widespread popular support for his position beyond his own lands in
Savoy and across Switzerland. Those who did acknowledge him as the
rightful pope included the Dukes of Austria, Tyrol, Bavaria-Munich, the
Count-Palatine of Simmern, the Teutonic Order and a handful of religious
orders and universities in Germany. Most of those who appointed
cardinals refused to take their places and as Pope Eugene IV gave way to
Pope Nicholas V support for Felix V fell away further. He was also
frequently at odds with the Council of Basel over financial matters
which is the one area that tends to taint his reputation. Still, no one
could find that he had acted in bad faith or could show any evidence of
serious defects in his character. His position continued to deteriorate
though through 1442 and 1443 after which he increasingly became isolated
and ignored. Efforts to establish a papal court and control over the
Church bureaucracy ended in frustration and finally the pretense came to
an end in 1449 when he submitted to the authority of Pope Nicholas V on
April 7.
Nonetheless, it was not all that bad an end for anti-Pope Felix V.
Because of his good name and recognition that he had been misled rather
than acting purposely malicious, Pope Nicholas V was inclined to be
forgiving. He appointed Amadeus of Savoy Cardinal of St Sabina and made
him his permanent Apostolic vicar-general for the lands of the House of
Savoy as well as the dioceses of Basel, Strasbourg, Chur and others. The
papal schism had ended and there seemed to be few hard feelings about
it, so a happy ending all in all. Amadeus VIII carried on in
ecclesiastical office, under the legitimate pontiffs, until his death on
January 7, 1451 at the age of 67.
