Nicholas Puchnik, a Portrait of a Medieval Canonist

Abstract

Nicholas Puchnik, a Portrait of a Medieval Canonist Dominik Budský Nicholas Puchnik (†1402), a trained lawyer and practicing judge, is the author of the Processus iudiciarius secundum stilum Pragensem. His work and activity must be examined in three parallel lines, i.e. taking degrees and other activities within the University of Prague, his activities at the Archdiocese of Prague, and finally obtaining benefices and related income necessary for his subsistence. At key moments, Nicholas found himself in the middle of larger contemporary political events. Puchnik, also cited in the sources by the other varied names Pucnik, Buchnik, Buchnico, Botnig, came from a small gentry family settled at the small fortification near the South Bohemian town Horažd’ovice.1 He first appeared in written sources in the year 1373, when there is evidence that he obtained his first degree at the University of Prague-Bachelor of Arts.2 A little later, between the years 1375 to 1376, as he advanced in his university career, he is mentioned as the rector of a school in Roudnice and Labem. In 1375 he obtained the licentiate and two years later he obtained the degree Master of Arts.3 In the same year (1377) he is still mentioned as university ‘examinator’.4 A key moment in Puchnik’s biography came in 1383, when he obtained the licenciate to teach the Decretum,5 after he [End Page 123] had lectured on canon law at the University of Prague just one year before. This degree was also related to his litigation with John de Dulmen about the right to give lectures on the Liber Sextus.6 In 1383 Puchnik received his first administrative position. He was appointed as an official by Archbishop John of Jenstein.7 Both events, i.e. the licentiate and his appointment as an official, were probably closely related. Jenstein most likely chose Puchnik because he was well-educated and still skilled. He probably met Puchnik in Prague or in the school of Roudnice, where Puchnik had taught.8 Unlike Jenstein, Nicholas had not studied at foreign universities. It is important to note that for the period of his officialate, we have no evidence in the sources of Puchnik’s benefice, although the holding that office should have been financially quite demanding. In the following years we can find Puchnik mainly in the academic sources, eventually in the judgments and other documents of the officialate. His first benefices are mentioned just before the end of the 1380s. Thus Puchnik is documented in 1385 as a witness of the transfer of Charles College from Lazar’s House to the Rotlev’s house.9 From 1386 to 1389 he served as [End Page 124] Vice-Chancellor,10 and finally in 1388 he obtained his first benefice. He is mentioned as a canon in Mělník and Olomouc11 and as the real holder of both benefices.12 Unfortunately, it is not possible to determine when he received them, it might have occurred when he was appointed official in 1383. Likewise, the sources do not indicate whether Mělník was associated with a benefice and if so, what income the benefice carried. In Olomouc, a canonical benefice is recorded as late as in a charter of 1401.13 Puchnik had a good income thanks to the intercession of John of Jenstein, when he was accepted as a canon of the Prague Metropolitan Canonry. There, after the usual process, he was appointed on 15 April 1388. John of Kbel represented him during the whole process.14 The provision document, which indicates that Puchnik could keep the benefices in Olomouc and Mělník, also mentions a parish church in Hartvíkovice, over which he had a dispute with the curia.15 Simultaneously he might have obtained some benefices from the bishop of Olomouc, which can be seen as insurance if he would acquire the benefice in [End Page 125] Olomouc, because the total income of all benefices should not exceed 50 talents. In summary, we can say that Nicholas had at least a modest income in the late 1380s, and given that, it is most likely that he was tied to none of the above...