Ferrara
City in northern Italy where the council of union between the Latin and Greek churches opened in 1438, before plague moved it to Florence.
The pope’s legate declared the council open at Ferrara on 8 January 1438, and on 9 April Eugene IV decreed, with the assent of the emperor and the patriarch of Constantinople, that a universal council existed in the city, which he called free and safe for everyone (Council of Florence, Ferrara, sessions 1 and 4 (1438)). Doukas says that the Greeks travelled there overland from Venice and that a deadly plague struck after the debates had begun, so that the council left for Florence (Doukas, History 31.2 (Bekker p. 213)). See the Council of Florence Proclaims Reunion.
What happened here
- 6 July 1439, firm dateThe Council of Florence Proclaims Reunion
Pope Eugene IV and the Byzantine emperor John VIII proclaim the reunion of the Latin and Greek churches at Florence on 6 July 1439, in a decree affirming the Filioque and papal primacy. Mark of Ephesus refuses to sign, and the union finds little acceptance in Constantinople.