''Frequens'' (''Frequent'') is the name for the

decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used ...

passed at the Council of Constance on October 9, 1417; it was supposed to ensure that the Pope convened

councils A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

regularly. With this decree, the council participants determined that church meetings should be held "forever". It was stipulated that five years after the Council of Constance another one and the second after seven years would have to take place. From then on, further councils must take place at least every ten years. In fact, the Council of Pavia followed in 1423 and the

Council of Basel The Council of Florence is the seventeenth ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held between 1431 and 1449. It was convoked as the Council of Basel by Pope Martin V shortly before his death in February 1431 and took place in ...

began in 1431. The Pope should also announce the date for the next meeting at the end of a council. This continuity was also intended to reinforce the "supremacy" of the decisions of the council over the pope called for in the decree '' Haec sancta'' of the Council of Constance, because only regular councils could control the office of the pope. However, only five councils have taken place since the edict was issued.

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External links

* {{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304065055/http://ahc.usc.urbe.it/lexikon/Hinweise.LexKon.html, date=4 March 2016, title=Konstanz. Allgemeines Konzil. 5.11.1414 - 22.4.1418., in:

Walter Brandmüller Walter Brandmüller (born 5 January 1929) is a German prelate of the Catholic Church, a cardinal since 2010. He was president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences from 1998 to 2009. Early life Brandmüller was born in 1929 in An ...

: ''Lexikon der Konzilien.'' * Fordham University
Paul Halsall: ''Medieval Sourcebook: Council of Constance: Frequens, 1417''
15th-century Christianity 1417 in Europe History of the Catholic Church 1417 works Western Schism

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