Objekt 8001
A Pope from Basel
Description
The Council Pope Felix V
In the ecclesiastical struggle for power, the Council of Basel elected the Savoyard duke Amadeus VIII as the new pope to succeed Eugene IV. Amadeus was installed as Felix V in Basel on 24 July 1440. Since Felix V was unable to prevail against the Roman pope, there are very few objects that relate to the hapless antipope. The only items to bear his emblem are a die from the Basel imperial mint used for striking gold florins and the fragment of a re-cast church bell cast in his honour.
Object description
Fragment of church bell with the arms of the Basel Council antipope Felix V, recast of 1493
Above and below the arms there are reproductions of contemporary pennies of Basel.
Cast-bronze
Inv. 1873.55.
Basel, royal mint under Antipope Felix V (1440-1449) and King Albrecht II (1438-1439)
Upper: florin die with the papal arms and lower florin die with the image of the Virgin,
Below: contemporary gold florin of Basel
Steel, engraved and struck gold coin
Inv. 1905.3596., 1905.3615., 1947.237.