affairs, so that even when peace was restored and when Martin V. was
universally recognised as the lawful Pope, he found himself deprived
of many of the rights and prerogatives, for which his predecessors
from Gregory VII. to Boniface VIII. had struggled so bravely.

Nor was this all. In their efforts to bring about a reunion, and
despairing of arriving at this happy result by an agreement among the
contending Popes, many honest theologians put forward principles,
which, however suitable to the circumstances of the schism, were
utterly subversive of the monarchical constitution of the Church. They
maintained that in case of doubtful Popes the cardinals had the right
to summon a General Council to decide the issue, and that all
Christians were bound to submit to its decrees. In accordance with
these principles the Council of Constance was convoked, and, elated
with the success of this experiment, many of the more ardent spirits
seemed determined to replace, or at least, to limit the authority of
the Popes by the authority of General Councils summoned at regular
intervals. The Pope was to be no longer supreme spiritual ruler. His
position in the Church was to be rather the position of a
constitutional sovereign in a state, the General Council being for the
Pope what modern Parliaments are for the king.

Fortunately for the Popes such a theory was completely discredited by
the excesses of its supporters at the Council of Basle, but it served
to weaken the authority of the Holy See, and to put into the hands of
its opponents a weapon which they were not slow to wield whenever
their personal interests were affected. Henceforth appeals from the
Pope to a General Council, although prohibited, were by no means
unfrequent.