as to elect a third pope. Pope Alexander V and his successors tried to get the other two popes to back down to, no avail. The church was in turmoil, and Europe with it. In 1415, a national council took place between the major countries of Europe- France, Italy, Spain and Germany- called the council of Constance. The clergy from across the continent decided at this meeting, themselves being the greatest Christian authority of the time- so much that even the popes must abide by their decisions- that all three popes would be deposed and a new pope would be elected. Though not immediately effective, the Council's edict eventually took hold and the other popes dropped out of popularity. This ended The Great Schism, but not the atmosphere created by it. Caught up in its own disputes, the church had lost touch with its people, and simply unifying its leadership without altering its practices did little to change this. At the Council of Constance, as well as cleaning up the papacy, the subject of John Wycliffe and John Huss was brought up. Wycliffe had died many years earlier in 1384, but his views still persisted. Wycliffe, who had been a professor at the University of Oxford, had argued for a church reform based on a return to the Scriptures- one of the most popular ideas of what was to become the Reformation movement. He argued for a downsized church because "the Church, as the assembly of all the predestined, is invisible, and hence formal membership in the external, institutional ecclesiastical body is no guarantees of salvation" (Dolan 125). He rejected the idea that the office of the pope was a divine institution, arguing that the characteristics of the person must be comparable to their originator, St. Peter, to be divine. Foremost of the needed characteristics was the love of Christ. Wycliffe most notably differed with the rest of the Protestant reformers in his views of the eucharist. Throughout this time, the eucharist had had the im...
