The Concordat with the German nation dealt with canonical election,
appeals to Rome, annats, indulgences, dispensations, and the
limitation of excommunication; the English Concordat insisted on the
right of England to be represented in the college of cardinals and
contained clauses dealing with indulgences and dispensations; the
Concordant with Castile regarded the number of cardinals, the
reservation and collation of benefices, annats, /commendams/, appeals,
and indulgences; by the Concordat with France it was arranged that
owing to the wars in which France was engaged the annats and other
taxes payable to the Holy See should be reduced considerably. Measures
such as these were utterly inadequate even had they been observed to
the letter, but in reality complaints were made frequently, especially
in Germany, that they were disregarded.

The Council which met in Siena (1524) was entirely unrepresentative,
and was dissolved without having accomplished anything. But great
hopes were expressed that the Council of Basle would formulate and
carry out a thorough scheme of reform. Unfortunately, however, these
hopes were doomed to disappointment. An extreme section, hostile to
the Papacy and determined to weaken its position, dominated the
Council, and made it impossible to do the work for which the assembly
had been convoked. Though the council held its first session in 1431,
nearly four years passed before any reform decrees were issued. They
dealt with concubinage, excommunication, the abuse of interdicts, and
the abolition of annats and other taxes payable to the Holy See. The
violence with which the Council assailed Eugene IV., and the fear of a
new schism alienated many who were anxious for reform, but who were
not willing to attack the essential prerogatives of the Pope. The
clergy of France met at Bourges in 1432, and with their consent the
Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges was published by the king in 1438.