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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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