Lentorama 2010: Two Millennia of Pointy Hats

Day 30: Eugene IV (1431-47)

An Augustinian monk, he was made bishop of Siena by his uncle, Gregory XII. The Sienese objected to a "foreigner" as their bishop, so Eugene went and worked for his uncle, moving up the curial ladder to become a trusted assistant of Martin V, whom he succeeded as pope. It didn't hurt his chances that he vowed in writing to give the cardinals half of the revenue of the church and consult them on all important matters.

Eugene would spend a major portion of his term - roughly a decade - out of Rome due to an invasion of the Papal States in one of the many wars that plagued north and central Italy. When not dealing with actual fighting, Eugene fought with the Council of Basel, a reform-minded body that argued the precedence of councils over the pope. Eugene would form his own council at Ferrara that would excommunicate the members of the council at Basel. The council at Basel would in turn declare Eugene was no longer pope, and help get the antipope Felix V to power (such as it was, he was not widely recognized as pope). This would all sort itself out along the same timeline as the actual fighting, with Eugene finally returning to Rome as superior to the councils.

On a personal note, Eugene was fairly troubled by all the strife, wishing on at least on occasion that he'd never left the monastery. Given events, he's probably not the only one.