Aleman
Aleman LOUIS, known by the name of Cardinal d'Arles, a French prelate, was born in 1390 at the chateau of Arbent, seigniory of the country of Bugey. He was made bishop of Maguelonne; then raised to the see of Montpellier; then archbishop of Arles. In 1426 he was made cardinal by pope Martin V, who sent him to the Council of Sienna, and appointed him vice-camarlingo of the Church. In 1431 he, with cardinal Julian, presided at the Council of Basle. Eugenius IV, who succeeded in the same year Martin V, made every effort to maintain the pontifical authority, battered and broken by the Council of Constance, which had placed the authority of the councils beyond that of the pope. The Council of Basle, directed by the cardinals Aleman arid Julian, sought to widen this breach. Pope Eugenius then wished to be transferred to Bologna, that he might exercise greater influence; but the French and German prelates, sustained by the princes of the North, strongly opposed this measure. Cardinal Aleman was active against this; and, having fortified himself with the alliance of the emperor Sigismund and the duke of Milan, he hurled against the pope the sentence of deposition, and placed in 1440 the tiara upon the head of Amadius VIII, duke of Savoy, who took the name of Felix V. According to contemporary historians, Aleman delivered an address which divided the Catholics into Moderates and Ultramontanists, and stirred up a remarkable fermentation. Eugenius excommunicated the antipope, and declared Aleman removed from all his ecclesiastical honors. In order to make an end of the scandal of a schism, Felix V abdicated at the same council with Aleman. Nicholas V, who in 1447 succeeded Eugenius, restored Aleman to all his honors and sent him as legate to the Low Countries. On his return Aleman retired to his diocese, where he zealously devoted himself to the instruction of the people. He died at Salon in 1459. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.
