Ep. 173: Council of Constance (1414-1418) - The End of the Schism
History of the Germans
Dirk Hoffmann-Becking
4.9 • 550 Ratings
🗓️ 5 December 2024
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We have talked about church reform for almost four years, the council of Constance talked about church reform for about the same amount of time and Luther will talk and write about church reform until he did no longer believe that the church could be reformed.
But what is church reform. Or more specifically, what did the delegates in Constance mean when they debated church reform, why did they fail to implement much even though they held off electing a pope and the voting system was set up to favour of the national churches and against central papal authority.
All this we will discuss in this episode plus we will hear some angelic voices that made even the most hardnosed church politician kneel in prayer.
Chapters:
- 00:16 - The Dawn of the Reformation
- 07:28 - Reforming the Church: Key Areas of Discussion
- 11:25 - The Council of Constance: A Turning Point in Church Authority
- 19:03 - The Election of a New Pope
- 29:59 - The Rise and Fall of the Council of Basel
Choir music by Schola Sancte Scholasticae and St. Cecilia's Abbey, UK: Veni Creator Spiritus | Gregorian Chant Hymns
The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.
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To make it easier for you to share the podcast, I have created separate playlists for some of the seasons that are set up as individual podcasts. they have the exact same episodes as in the History of the Germans, but they may be a helpful device for those who want to concentrate on only one season.
So far I have:
Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy
Fredrick Barbarossa and Early Hohenstaufen
The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356
The Reformation before the Reformation
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the History of the Germans, Episode 173, the end of the schism, which is also the Council of Constance, Part 3, and it's also episode 10 of season 9 9 the Reformation before the Reformation. |
| 0:24.5 | We have talked about church reform for almost four years. |
| 0:28.7 | The Council of Constance talked about church reform for about the same amount of time. And Luther will talk and write about church reform until he did no longer believe the church |
| 0:34.0 | could be reformed. |
| 0:35.9 | But what is church reform? More specifically, what did the delegates and Constance mean when they debated church reform? Why did they fail to implement much, even though they held off electing a pope and the voting system was very much set in favor of the national churches and against central papal authority. |
| 0:59.9 | All this we will discuss in this episode, plus we'll hear some angelic voices that made even the most heart-nosed church politician kneel in prayer. |
| 1:04.5 | Now, before we start, the usual thank yous. |
| 1:07.5 | I will be brief because Christmas is coming up and all you need to do is tell |
| 1:12.0 | your loved ones that what you really, really want is two things. First, an advertising free |
| 1:18.5 | podcast and second, another year without Dirk singing, O. Tannenbaum. And we should all be |
| 1:24.9 | eternally grateful to William M. Jen, Philip H., Thomas Tzee, |
| 1:30.3 | Linus D.P., and Bo W., who are so valiantly protecting us against these evils. |
| 1:37.3 | And with that, back to the show. |
| 1:41.3 | Now, last week we talked about what the 20 to 30,000 delegates at the General Council |
| 1:46.6 | of the Church in Constance did once they had realized there would be marooned and cramped |
| 1:51.5 | bedsits in a small German town for the foreseeable future. The week before, we discussed |
| 1:57.3 | why they had come there in the first place, and this week we will discuss |
| 2:01.5 | why they stayed there for so long. |
| 2:04.7 | Because that seems at first glance unnecessary. |
| 2:08.1 | The council's work could have been wrapped up quickly, with delegates returning home after |
| 2:12.5 | having resolved the most pressing disputes. |
| 2:15.6 | Just look at the timeline. The council started in November 1414 |
... |
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