fficulties of all kinds against
which Eugenius had to contend, the insurrection at Rome, which forced him
to escape by the Tiber, lying in the bottom of a boat, left him at first
little chance of resisting the enterprises of the council. Emboldened by
their success, the fathers approached the subject of reform, their
principal object being to curtail the power and resources of the papacy.
This is why, besides the disciplinary [v.03 p.0464] measures which
regulated the elections, the celebration of divine service, the periodical
holding of diocesan synods and provincial councils, are found also decrees
aimed at some of the "rights" by which the popes had extended their power,
and helped out their finances at the expense of the local churches. Thus
annates (_q.v._) were abolished, the abuse of "reservation" of the
patronage of benefices by the pope was much limited, and the right claimed
by the pope of "next presentation" to benefices not yet vacant (known as
_gratiae expectativae_) was done away with altogether. By other decrees the
jurisdiction of the court of Rome was much limited, and rules were even
made for the election of popes and the constitution of the Sacred College.
The fathers continued to devote themselves to the subjugation of the
Hussites; they also intervened, in rivalry with the pope, in the
negotiations between France and England which led only to the treaty of
Arras, concluded by Charles VII. with the duke of Burgundy; finally, they
investigated and judged numbers of private cases, lawsuits between
prelates, members of religious orders and holders of benefices, thus
themselves falling into one of the serious abuses for which they had most
blamed the court of Rome.

The democratic character of the assembly of Basel was the result both of
its composition and of its organization; not only was the number of
prelates in it always small in comparison with that of the doctors,
masters, representatives of chapters, monks or clerks of inferior orders,
but the influence of the superior clergy had all the less weight because,
instead of being separated into "nations," as at Constance, the fathers
divided themselves according to their tastes or aptitudes into four large
committees or "deputations" (_deputationes_), one concerned with questions
of faith (_fidei_), another with negotiations for peace (_pacis_), the
third with reform (_reformatorii_), the fourth with what they called
"common concerns" (_pro communibus