an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church that met from 1431 to 1449, at first in Basel and, beginning in 1448, in Lausanne. It was held under the circumstances of the severe decline of the papacy and the successes of the early movement for reformation. At the Council of Basel a struggle developed between the papacy and the supporters of the conciliar movement (those who advocated the idea that the ecumenical councils had more authority than the popes). At first the conciliar movement achieved certain successes. The Council of Basel confirmed the decision of the Council of Constance (1414–18) on the primacy of the ecumenical council over the pope, declared the abolition of a number of extortionate practices that served the interests of the papal curia, in particular the annates, and announced the regular convening of provincial councils and free ecclesiastical elections. The victories of the Hussites in Bohemia forced the Council of Basel to compromise with the moderate Hussites, the Calixtines, with whom the Compactata of Prague were signed in 1433. Pope Eugene IV (1431—47), refusing to recognize the decisions of the Council of Basel, tried to disperse it, and in 1438 he convened a council in Ferrara counterposed to the Council of Basel. In 1439 the Council of Ferrara was transferred to Florence. In 1439 the Council of Basel deposed Eugene IV and elected Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy, to be pope under the name of Felix V, who was later declared an antipope. After many European rulers who had earlier supported the Council of Basel went over to the side of Pope Eugene IV and with the decline in the council’s prestige, abandoned as it was by the majority of its members, the supporters of the conciliar movement suffered defeat. The council, which had been transferred in 1448 to Lausanne, recognized the new Pope Nicholas V (1447–55) and dissolved itself in 1449. The defeat of the Council of Basel undermined the authority of the Catholic Church more than ever and prepared the way for the Reformation of the 16th century.