Eugenius IV (1383–1447)

Pope 1431–47, Eugenius followed the example of Pope Martin V in fighting for the restoration of papal supremacy over the Church. In December 1431 he attempted to exert this authority by adjourning the Council of Basel and ordering its members to reassemble at some later date in Bologna. Many of the Council refused and in 1439, after several further clashes, deposed Eugenius and elected in his place Duke Amadeus VIII of Savoy as Anti-Pope Felix V (1439–49). In 1439 he brought about a nominal reunion between the Western and Eastern Churches.

Following his first decree dissolving the Council in 1431, the Council's counter-claim of conciliar supremacy was so strong that Eugenius gave way and in 1433 withdrew the decree. In 1434 riots in Rome compelled him to flee to Florence, which remained his headquarters for the next nine years. It was during this period that he met many leading writers and artists.

Eugenius decreed the dissolution of the council again in September 1437 and ordered its removal to Ferrara to discuss the possibility of reconciliation with the Greek Church. In the same year Eugenius succeeded in passing a short-lived act of union between Greek and Roman churches, thus increasing his prestige and undermining that of the Council. The Council lost more prestige when it deposed Eugenius.

He returned to Rome in 1443, and spent the last four years of his life there.