Felix
V
Anti-Pope
(1383–1451)
Other names: Amédée VIII
the Pacific
Biographical
Anti-pope 1439–49 abd
1st Duc de Savoie 1416–39 abd (HRE)
19th Comte de Savoie 1391–1439 abd
Principe di Piemonte 1418–39 abd
Titular Prince of Achaia 1418–1439 abd
Duc de Chablais 1391–1439 abd
Duca d'Aosta 1391–1439 abd
Marchese
di Susa 1391–1439
abd
Marchese in Italia 1391–1439 abd
Marchese di Ivrea 1391–1439 abd
Comte de Maurienne 1391–1439 abd
Conte d'Asti 1391–1439 abd
Comte de Genevois 1401
–34
Comte de Nice 1391–1439 abd
Conte di Ventimiglia 1391–1439
Comte de Forcalquier
Comte de Valentinois
Comte de Diois
Baron de Faucigny 1427–39
Baron de Vaud 1391–1439
Baron de Gex 1391–1439
Seigneur de Romont 1391–1439
Seigneur de Baugè 1391–1439
Signore
di Vercelli 1427–39
Signore di Pinerolo 1418–39
Seigneur de Bresse 1391–1439
Seigneur de Bugey 1391–1439
Seigneur de Valromey 1391–1439
Seigneur
de Virieu-le-Grand 1418
Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina 1449–51†
Bishop of Geneva (administrator) 1444–51†
Dean of the Sacred College
As he was just eight years old when he succeeded his father, Amadeus was placed
under the guardianship of his grandmother, Bonne of Bourbon. After he
came of age, he added, in 1401, to his hereditary dominions the county
of the Genevois, the line of whose counts had become extinct. Amadeus
VIII, who had hereditary claims upon the county, paid to Oddo of Villars,
a relative of the house of the Genevois, 40,000 livres for the renunciation
of his claims, and he afterwards received the formal investiture of the
county from the Emperor Sigismund. By this acquisition, Amadeus, besides
the possession of the extensive territory still called the Genevois, obtained
over the municipal and imperial town of Geneva that share of authority
which the former counts exercised within its walls, in conjunction with,
and often in opposition to, its bishops. Amadeus purchased also the valley
of the Ossola at the foot of the Simplon, and other districts. North of
the Alps, he was possessed of all Savoy, the Pays de Vaud, as far as the
lake of Yverdun or Neuchâtel, the lower Valais as far as Martigny, and
the districts of Gex, la Bresse, and Bugey. He had also the district of
Dombes, the county of Valence, Die, and other fiefs in Dauphiny.
In 1416, the Emperor Sigismund went to Chambéry, and with public solemnity
created Amadeus first duke of Savoy, and renewed at the same tune the
investiture of his other territories as duke of the Chablais and Aosta,
count of Piedmont and of the Genevois, and marquis in Italy. In 1418,
Louis of Savoy, of a collateral branch, prince of Morea and Achaia and
lord of Piedmont, died without issue, and his dominions reverted to the
Duke of Savoy. These dominions, besides Piedmont proper, included Chieri,
Fossano, Savigliano, Mondovi, and other districts, forming a line of communication
with the county of Nice. In 1427, the duke of Milan gave up the city of
Vercelli to Amadeus, and married his daughter Maria. The Duke of Savoy
now began to figure among the great powers of Europe.
In 1434, Amadeus, now a widower, retired into the Augustine monastery
of Ripaille, which he had founded, and in which he remained for five years,
until the Council of Basle, having quarrelled with and deposed Pope Eugenius
IV, elected Amadeus in his place. They sent the Cardinal of Aries and
several bishops to Ripaille to communicate to Amadeus his election. Amadeus,
both while on the ducal throne and in the retirement of Ripaille, enjoyed
a great reputation for wisdom, and was called the Solomon of his age.
When he received the intimation of his exaltation to the pontifical throne,
he objected to it, being unwilling to encourage a schism in the church,
but the schism existed already, and the envoys of the council so worked
upon him by their remonstrances and persuasions, that they prevailed upon
him to accept the tiara. Amadeus was clothed in the pontifical robes in
the church of Ripaille, and was proclaimed pope by the name of Felix V.
He was acknowledged by France, England, Castile, Milan, the Swiss cantons,
Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Bavaria, Savoy, and Piedmont, and by the knights
of the Teutonic order. In June, 1440, Felix repaired to Basle, accompanied
by thousands on horseback, and was there solemnly crowned. He took up
his residence first at Basle, and afterwards at Geneva.
This schism lasted nine years and when Nicholas V was elected at Rome
after the death of Eugenius in 1447, he was acknowledged by most states
of Christendom, and Felix, wishing to put an end to the schism, entered
into negotiations with Nicholas. It was agreed that Felix should renounce
the papacy and be made bishop of Sabina and perpetual legate a latere
in Lombardy, Savoy, Germany, and Switzerland, and that Nicholas should
acknowledge the cardinals created by Felix. Felix then appeared before
the prelates of his party, who were assembled at Lausanne, in 1449, and
publicly renounced the papacy, after which, resuming his name of Amadeus
of Savoy, he returned to his convent of Ripaille.
Place of birth: Chambéry
Place of marriage: Arras
Place of death: Castle of Thonon-les-Bains
Place of burial: Hautecombe Abbey, Savoy
Son of Amédée VII de Savoie and Bonne de Berry (Valois).
He married Marie of Burgundy (Valois), and had issue.
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