Felix V
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [1]
AMADEUS (of Savoy), Pope or Anti-pope, was born Sept. 4, 1383. He succeeded his father, Amadeus VII, in the earldom of Savoy, which the emperor Sigismund raised into a duchy. In his eighteenth year he was married to Maria of Burgundy, and in those times of bloody excess was accounted a wise and just prince. He participated through an envoy in the Council of Constance, and in 1422 shared in the crusade against the Hussites. His naturally strong religious tendencies having been strengthened by his wife's death, he built a hermitage at Ripaille, on Lake Leman, in 1434, and retired to it with the intention of spending the rest of his days in retirement. After the councils of Pisa and Constance had deposed Eigenius IV, another was assembled at Basle, and Amadeus was elected pope. He accepted the nomination, adopted the title of Felix V and as such entered Rome June 24, 1440. Finally he made terms with Nicolas V, Eugenius IV's successor, and, having thus ended the schism, Felix V retired to his hermitage at Ripaille, with the rank of cardinal-legate and permanent vicar general of the papal see in Savoy, Basle, Strasburg, etc. He died at Geneva January 7, 1451. See Guichenon, Histoire generale de lairoy. maisbn de Savoye' (1660); AEn. Sylvii Commentar. de gestis Concil. (Basle. 1577). (See Council Of Basle).
