Nicholas V Elected as Pope in Rome
Richard Cavendish explores the circumstances surrounding the election of Tommaso Parentucelli as Pope, on March 6th, 1447.
The election of the Bishop of Bologna, Tommaso Parentucelli, as Pope in succession to Eugenius IV in March 1447, came at a time when the Catholic Church in the West was still recovering from the traumas of a divided Christendom under the Great Schism (1378-1417).
Despite the ending of the latter by the Council of Constance, there remained tensions and unfinished business between the College of Cardinals and the papacy over the balance of power to be struck, and Nicholas V had to face at his election a continuing rival 'anti pope', Felix V, who had been elected in opposition to Nicholas' predecessor Eugenius V by the Council of Basle in 1439.
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