Argument: “The most revolutionary official document in the history of the world is the
decree of the Council of Constance” (Oakley, Francis pg.369). The decree is the Haec
Sancta. The Haec Sancta was originally established by the Conciliarist Theorist also
known as Council of Constance/Basel to protect the church from heresy. It can be argued
that the Conciliarist brought forward a Conciliar Movement that was later influential to
secular politics. Resistant Theorist gave credit to Conciliarist for the influential doctrines
that were later used in secular politics.
Haec Sancta
Conciliar Movement
Politics
Conciliar Theory
Conciliar Theorist
Defied the authority of the
pope. Often used the doctrine
of the council’s superiority
over the pope to prove their
own doctrines of the
supremacy of the estates of
the king.
Resistant Theorist
Found it easy to make use of
arguments in their own
discussions of secular politics.
Their argument was that the
people have the same right to
depose kings that are tyrants,
which a general council had to
replace a pope that is
heretique.
The Conciliar Movement is
regarded as “medieval rather
than modern in spirit and
having helped forward
modern constitutional
tendencies” (Oakley, Francis
pg.369).
The Council of Constance’s
decree Haec Sancta was the
opening theory to Conciliar
Movement. Their principles
were express in a form that
can be applied to politics and
they were.
The Conciliar theory was a
form of constitutionalism.
Conciliarism was taken as a
political document.
The Conciliar Movement also
known as the Conciliar theory
had influenced the
constitutionalist and the
resistant theorists of the 16th
and 17th century.
“Resistance theory found it
easy to make use of conciliar
arguments in their own
discussion of secular politics”
(Oakley, Francis pg. 373).
Resistant Theorists of the 16th
and 17th century have drawn
ideas from the papist doctrine
that was set forward from the
conciliar theory.
Implication: The Conciliarist Movement was considered to be constitutional as well as
political. The council met together and made church decisions, as one body they
presented documents of conduct that were voted into action. The Haec Sancta was
popularized because it was powerful and secular politics took ideas from the decree,
because of its power.