Search Tips. Basel had been designated as the place for this ecumenical council by the abortive council of Pavia β Siena The prospect of re-union with the eastern church provided an opportunity to transfer the council to another city. This move was supported by the council fathers loyal to the pope, who however were in a minority, and in the 25th session they voted for the city of Ferrara.
Some historians doubt the ecumenicity of the first 25 sessions at Basel. All agree that the sessions held at Basel after the 25th session until the final one on 25 April cannot be regarded as sessions of an ecumenical council. The Greek bishops and theologians attended the council of Ferrara from 9 April The council was transferred to Florence on 10 January There, in the session on 6 July , the decree of union with the Greek church was approved.
Subsequently decrees of union with the Armenian and Coptic churches were approved. Finally the council was transferred to Rome on 24 February There other decrees of union with the Bosnians, the Syrians and finally with the Chaldeans and Maronites of Cyprus, were approved. The last session of the council was held on 7 August The decisions taken at Basel have the form of conciliar decrees. Almost all the decrees of re-union were of little effect.
The acts of the council of Basel were first published by S. This collection was subsequently published by Z. Ferreri at Milan in , and by J. Petit at Paris in A brief history of these collections was written in by H. For Basel, we have followed the edition of Msi 29 We have noted the principal variants in Dc and Mxv.
We have omitted some decrees pertaining to internal matters of the council, to the quarrel with Eugenius IV and to administration; we have always noted the titles of these decrees in footnotes.
