in the government of the Church by
an extensive reform. The council of Pisa (1409) separated without
effecting anything; but the council of Constance (1414-1418) did
actually put an end to the schism. The reforms begun at Constance and
continued at Basel (1431-1449) proved, however, insufficient. Above all,
the attempt to set up the general council as an ordinary institution of
the Catholic Church failed; and the Roman papacy, restored at Constance,
preserved its irresponsible and unlimited power over the government of
the Church. (See PAPACY; CONSTANCE, COUNCIL OF, and BASEL, COUNCIL OF.)

Thus the attempt to reform the Church by means of councils failed; but
this very failure led to the survival of the desire for reform. It was
kept alive by the most various circumstances; in the first instance by
the attitude of the European states. Thanks to his recognition by the
powers, Pope Eugenius IV. (1431-1447) had been victorious over the
council of Basel; but neither France nor Germany was prepared to forgo
the reforms passed by the council. France secured their validity, as far
as she herself was concerned, by the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges (July
7, 1438); Germany followed with the Acceptation of Mainz (March 26,
1439). The theory of the papal supremacy held by the Curia was thus at
least called in question.

The antagonism of the opposition parties was even more pronounced. The
tendencies which they represented had been present when the middle ages
were yet at their height; but the papacy, while at the zenith of its
power, had succeeded in crushing the attacks made upon the creed of the
Church by its most dangerous foes, the dualistic Cathari. On the other
hand it had not been able to overcome the less radical opposition of the
"Poor Man of Lyons" (Waldo, d. _c._ 1217), and even in the 15th century
stray supporters of the Waldensian teaching were to be found in Italy,
France and Germany, everywhere keeping alive mistrust of the temporal
power of the Church, of her priesthood and her hierarchy. In England the
hierarchy was attacked by John Wycliffe (d. 1384), its greatest opponent
before Luther. Starting from Augustine's conception of the Church as the
community of the elect, he protested against a church of wealth and
power, a church that had become a political institution instead of a
school of salvation, and against its head, the bishop of Rome.
Wycliffe's ideas, conveyed to the continent, precipitated the outbreak