268 CONSTANCE CONSTANS of (Ger. Bodensee ; Lat. Lacus Brigantinus), a large lake in the S. W. of Germany, on the Swiss border, forming a centre in which Switz- erland, Austria, Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, and Ba- den meet. It is about 1,300 ft. above the sea, and lies between lat. 47 28' and 47 50' N., and Ion. 8 52' and 9 42' E. ; is 40 m. long from N. "W. to S. E., about 9 m. wide, 200 sq. m. in area, and 964 ft. in maximum depth. It is divided into the upper and lower lakes, the former be- ing the larger, and the latter being subdivided into the lower lake, or Untersee, and Lake Zell, or Zellersee. The Rhine enters the lake at its S. E. end, and leaves it near Stein at the N. W. extremity, while upward of 50 other streams empty into it. Its waters are dark green, very clear, and seldom wholly frozen over, the only known instances being in the years 1695, 1830, and 1841. They are subject to sudden risings, which have never been sat- isfactorily explained. The shores are flat or gently undulating, fertile, highly cultivated, and dotted over with picturesque towns, vil- lages, and ruined castles, but are not remark- able for natural scenery. Commerce is carried on by steamers and sailing vessels on the lake, and railways touch at several points on the shores. There are submarine telegraphic ca- bles between Rorschach and Lindau, and be- tween Romanshorn and Friedrichshafen, the latter being at a depth of about 900 ft. CONSTANCE, Council of, a council of the Ro- man Catholic church, opened Nov. 5, 1414, closed April 22, 1418. The great western schism had commenced with the antipope Clement VII. (Robert de Geneve), who fixed his residence at Avignon, and obtained the countenance of the French king. Urban VI. after his election had been for nearly a year ac- knowledged as sole pope by the whole of Chris- tendom ; and he was succeeded by Boniface IX., Innocent VII., and Gregory XII. Robert de Geneve had as his successor Peter de Luna (Benedict XIII.), who maintained his claims and continued his schism until his death in 1424. The efforts made by politicians in church and state to remedy this division had failed up to the opening of the assembly in Constance. A council was held in Pisa in 1409, which took upon itself to depose both Gregory and Benedict, the pope and antipope ; and a third contestant, Alexander V., was elected in their stead. This action is held by every canonist in the Roman Catholic church as utterly null in law. The rule is that there is no truly oecumenical council except such as are convened by the head of the church, and that the acts of no council in faith and morals have a binding force on the conscience save through the sanction of the pope. The council of Pisa was not therefore acknowledged as oecumenical, and its action only increased the existing confusion. In 1410 the antipope Alexander V. died, and his place was filled by Baltassare Cossa (John XXIII.). The great powers, headed by the emperor Sigismund, sought a remedy for the scandal in a meeting of the states general of Christendom. Greg- ory XII., the lawful pope, did not call it ; and when it met, under the presidency of the anti- pope John XXIII., it only embraced a com- paratively small number of cardinals, patri- archs, archbishops, and bishops, with a multi- tude of inferior ecclesiastics and laymen. John XXIII., called upon in the very first session to abdicate his dignity, bound himself by oath to do so, and then fled secretly from Constance, lest he should be held to his promise. In the perplexity caused by his flight, it was proposed to decree the superiority of the council above persons even of papal rank, with power to de- pose all who should refuse to obey the will of the assembly. At length the antipope John was persuaded to resign (March, 1415), was subsequently deposed (May 29), and placed in confinement near Constance. Pope Gregory, who had already solemnly pledged himself to abdicate the moment the other contes- tants had done so, did not wait for the abdi- cation of Peter de Luna; but giving to the lord of Rimini, Carlo Malatesta, full power as legate, sent him to assure the assembly of Con- stance that he was ready to make a full renun- ciation of the papal dignity. This was an- nounced in the 13th session, June 15. On the acceptance of his proposition, a bull was issued by the pope convening the council from that date, and giving thenceforth to its acts a ca- nonical validity ; after which, in July, Greg- ory abdicated. Peter de Luna refusing to resign, and shutting himself up in the fortress of Pefiiscola, near Valencia, the fathers of the council, after waiting 100 days for an answer, commanded the cardinals to enter the conclave. On Nov. 11, 1417, they chose Ottone Colonna, who took the name of Martin V. Regarding him- self as the successor of Gregory XII., he issued a bull confirming the convocation, and further confirmed all that had been done concilianter (i. e., according to the canonical rules govern- ing an oecumenical council) in matters of faith and morals, from the day of lawful convoca- tion. In the earlier sessions of the council the doctrines of Wycliffe were examined and con- demned. John Huss also appeared, maintained his own tenets, and was condemned and exe- cuted (July 6, 1415). His disciple, Jerome of Prague, recanted, but having relapsed was also put to death (May 30, 1416). CONSTANS, Flavins Julins, emperor of Rome, youngest son of Constantine the Great and Fausta, born about A. D. 320, died in 350. At an early age he was appointed governor of western Illyricum, Italy, and Africa, and on the division of the empire at his father's death in 337 received those countries as his portion. His brother Constantine, having invaded his territory, was killed at the battle of Aquileia in 340, and Constans became emperor of the entire "West. He is represented as weak, prof- ligate, and rapacious. His misrule caused Magnentius, commander of the troops in Gaul,
