“Papst plus eins”. Eine kanonistische Lehre zur Verteidigung der propäpstlichen Minderheit auf dem Basler Konzil, Annales Historiae Conciliorum, 50 (2020), 49-68 Ebook PDF

In the debate about the controversial election of the location for a future Union Council
with the Greeks, legal doctrines about the modes of holding elections and the rights of the
minority experienced a particular dynamic from 1436 onwards. The most spectacular
theory was certainly the assertion that the Pope would only have to acquire one single
Council Father on his side in order to possess the Council majority – “Pope plus one”. The
article examines the genesis of this doctrine in canonical scholarship of the 13th and 14th
centuries and shows how, under the special political conditions of the Council period,
arguments that had actually long since been rejected could come to new significance and
how political polemics could stimulate the evolution of law.