Byzantium and the West on the Way to the Council of Constance

This paper examines the connections of the Byzantine Empire and the Latin West on the eve of the Council of Constance. This Council has been analysed in the context of the conflict of King Sigismund of Luxembourg and the Republic of Venice. The project of the church council appeared in order to solve the conflict with the Roman pope as the mediator. Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos had the same interest as the European conflict was accompanied with Sigismund’s attempt of arranging an anti-Ottoman crusade. However, the King’s idea of an anti-Turk alliance contradicts to the interests of Byzantium which tried to keep neutrality under the current conditions. The author suggests that the Byzantine Emperor’s real aim was to assist the pope’s intermediary mission. Their contact was possible as negotiations concerning the church union. Byzantine diplomatist Manuel Chrysoloras’ visit to Constance has been analysed from the said standpoint. The situation was complicated by the fact that the prerequisites for solving the conflict of Western powers did not develop before the Council started. Therefore, the discussion of the Latin schism became topical at the Council of Constance, and the deposition of the Antipope John XXIII became inevitable. Thus, the solution of the problem facing the Greeks was postponed until the election of a new Roman pontiff.