Avignon Popes Research Articles

The Avignon Popes and their Chancery: Collected Essays, by Patrick Zutshi

Patrick Zutshi’s impact on the study of the medieval papacy has been profound. In the anglophone world, he has both brought the insights of Continental scholarship to our attention, while also being a major contributor to that same tradition of European scholarship. However, much of his work is diffused throughout the many articles and chapters he has written (not to mention the books and papers of others which would not have been possible without his informal advice). This collection—which brings together twenty essays, two previously unpublished—is welcome then, as both a gathering of articles, and as a testament to Zutshi’s years of study. As Zutshi explains in his preface, there is no monograph on the Avignon papal chancery. Nevertheless, the range of articles here satisfactorily fills the gap, as well as moving beyond the chancery to the papal penitentiary. The methodological theme running through the essays—as through Zutshi’s entire career—is the importance of Diplomatic (Diplomatics, in the US), one of those skills, like palaeography, of which medievalists tend to be particularly proud. ‘[L]iterary criticism that is based on a detailed examination of documentary records’ (in Leonard Boyle’s formulation, although even this might be too narrow to contain the vibrancy and breadth of what Diplomatic offers) is a vital tool in the historian’s toolbox. It is therefore—as Zutshi notes—something to be regretted that there is now so little Diplomatic teaching in UK universities.

The Avignon Popes and Their Chancery: Collected Essays by Patrick Zutshi

Reviewed by: The Avignon Popes and Their Chancery: Collected Essays by Patrick Zutshi Blake Beattie The Avignon Popes and Their Chancery: Collected Essays. By Patrick Zutshi. (Florence: SISMEL. Edizioni del Galluzzo. 2021. Pp. xiv, 466. €68,00. ISBN: 9788892900646. Starting with John XXII (1316–34), the popes of Avignon built up a remarkably elaborate administrative machinery that generated a voluminous body of official paperwork, on which so much of the study of the Avignonese papacy rests. The essential connections between the two–that is, the institutions of the papal bureaucracy, on the one hand, and their documentary output, on the other–has long stood at the heart of Patrick Zutshi’s scholarship. In this volume Zutshi presents twenty essays, all but two of which have been previously published, here revised, updated, and organized into a cohesive (if not quite fully monographic) study of “the largest and perhaps the most complex of the various departments within the Roman curia” (p. 4) at fourteenth-century Avignon, the chancery. The result is a brightly lit window into the inner workings of the single most advanced and sophisticated administrative system of the European Middle Ages, from one of the leading scholars in the field. The essays gathered together here span much of Zutshi’s career. Chapters 13 and 19 first appeared in the late 1980s; chapters 9 (“At the Point of Death: Licences to Choose a Confessor in mortis articulo Issued by the Avignon Popes,” pp. 179–203) and 12 (“The Autograph Letters of the Avignon Popes,” pp. 241– 252) were written for the book (2021). Following a foundational first chapter (a crystalline introduction to the high and late medieval papal chancery and the different types of documents it produced), the book is thereafter divided into five thematically organized sections. The first contains five chapters—one of which (no. 3) [End Page 807] was coauthored with the late Peter Linehan–which concern themselves with “Petitions and Registers” (pp. 27–138). Chapters 7–9 pertain to “The Chancery and Its Production” (pp. 141–203); chapters 10–12, to “The Role of the Pope” in the production of chancery output (pp. 207–51). Zutshi’s long-standing interest in the Avignon papacy and England is evinced by five chapters (13–17) on “Papal Letters and English History” (pp. 255–357). Neatly, the final three chapters (18–20) address “Papal Letters for the University of Cambridge,” where Zutshi served for years as Keeper of Manuscripts and University Archives. The sometimes byzantine intricacies of the curia and its departments can be daunting, but Zutshi is a sure and steady hand. An institutional scholar in the tradition of Guillaume Mollat, he guides readers easily through the chancery, its workings, and the different types of its documentary products. Zutshi has a superb sense of the bureaucratic spirit that animated the Avignon papacy and communicates it with clarity and precision. His work is everywhere informed by meticulous textual scholarship. Zutshi is never far from the manuscripts—indeed, most chapters contain appendices in which he presents exemplars of the documentary texts he elucidates. Much more than simply a useful assemblage of previously published works, The Avignon Popes and Their Chancery stands as the first major, stand-alone, monograph-length study of its subject, in any language (p. ix); as both a supremely informative overview and an eminently informative reference work, it will long be essential reading for scholars of the later medieval papacy and of medieval institutional history more broadly. Blake Beattie University of Louisville Copyright © 2022 The Catholic University of America Press

“Iidem Episcopus et Ecclesia, quos speciali affectione prosequimur”. Pope John XXII and Iohannes Grothonis, bishop of Cracow (1326-1347)

The article presents a study on the relations between John XXII, one of the most prominent Avignon popes, and Iohannes Grothonis, one of the prelates with the strongest character in the 14th-century Polish episcopacy. Sources from pontifical archives show that Grothonis often addressed the pope, requesting help with local matters, both ecclesiastical and political. John XXII’s answers to the issues he was asked to solve help in reconstructing the nature of the problems (often jurisdictional ones) that led the bishop to address the highest ecclesiastical authority. Most of the pope’s answers to the episcopal letters were positive. The author analyses the problems of the 14th-century Polish bishop in light of the relevant papal documents.

Curialists and Hungarian Church Benefices in the 14th Century

The papal government was characterized by centralization in the 14th century in which the tax system and the papal beneficial policy were two main factors. The Avignon popes strived to extend their influence on every stratum of the ecclesiastical hierarchy by rewarding the members of the curia’s dévéloping administrativé systém with bénéficés in thé local churchés. Thé changés in thé functioning of the papal curia offered a great opportunity for a growing number of qualified clerics to build successful careers in the papal service. The process briefly described above had an impact on the contemporary ecclesiastical structure of the Hungarian Kingdom, as more and more clerics tried to obtain benefices with papal protection, especially in the second half of the 14th century. Soon not only papal officers, but cardinals and the members of their entourage held Hungarian ecclesiastical titles as well. The main aim of the present paper is to analyse the lifepath of a curialist, Petrus Begonis. First procurator of cardinal Guillaume de la Jugie, later papal chaplain, Petrus Begonis was granted various church offices – also in the Hungarian Kingdom – and charged with diverse diplomatic tasks in different parts of Europe (Hungary, Holy Roman Empire, Italy). His ecclesiastical career – spanning from the reign of Clement VI to that of Urban VI – gives an insight in the functioning of the papal curia in Avignon and helps us comprehend the administrational changes in the 14th century.

A pápai Kúria tagjai és a magyar javadalmak a 14. században: Petrus Begonis életpályája

The papal government was characterized by centralisation in the 14th century in which the tax system and the papal beneficial policy were two main factors. The Avignon popes strived to extend their influence on every stratum of the ecclesiastical hierarchy by rewarding the members of the Curia’s developing administrative system with benefices in the local churches. The changes in the functioning of the papal curia offered a great opportunity for a growing number of qualified clerics to build successful careers in the papal service. The process briefly described above had an impact on the contemporary ecclesiastical structure of the Hungarian Kingdom, as more and more clerics tried to obtain benefices with papal protection, especially in the second half of the 14th century. Soon not only papal officers, but cardinals and the members of their entourage held Hungarian ecclesiastical titles as well. The main aim of the present paper is to analyse the lifepath of a curialist, Petrus Begonis. First procurator of cardinal Guillaume de la Jugie, later papal chaplain, Petrus Begonis was granted various church offices – also in the Hungarian Kingdom – and charged with diverse diplomatic tasks in different parts of Europe (Hungary, Holy Roman Empire, Italy). His ecclesiastical career – spanning from the reign of Clement VI to that of Urban VI – gives an insight in the functioning of the papal curia in Avignon and helps us comprehend the administrational changes in the 14th century.

The Regulation of “Sodomy” in the Latin East and West

The Regulation of “Sodomy” in the Latin East and West

A Treasure Trove of Medieval Prophecy: The Origin of Vaticanus Latinus 3819 Reconsidered

Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. lat. 3819 is an important anthology of medieval prophetic texts that has appeared frequently in scholarship ever since Herbert Grundmann first drew attention to it in the 1920s. Grundmann argued that the manuscript was produced during the pontificate of John XXII (r. 1316-34) and that it must have been of Italian or southern French origin. These parameters have shaped virtually all subsequent discourse concerning Vat. lat. 3819. However, scholars have long overlooked the final item in the manuscript, an extract from a major prophetic work of the thirteenth century, the Super prophetas of pseudo-Joachim of Fiore, traditionally known as Super Esaiam prophetam. I argue that this extract must have been copied at Avignon underpapal auspices sometime between 1375 and 1407, during the height of the GreatSchism of the Western Church, and that it was probably copied with the explicitintention of appending it to the rest of this prophetic compilation. I derive my evidence for this assertion from the manuscript’s repeated appearances in medieval library inventories and from a rigorous codicological examination that reveals subtle differences between this extract and the rest of the manuscript in script, decoration, and layout. The significance of this finding is twofold. First, it helps elucidate the transmission of Joachite material across Europe and the special role that Languedoc, particularly Avignon, played in this process. Second, it serves as another indicator of how Joachim’s influence reached the highest levels of the Church, suggesting that the Avignon popes engaged with the prophetic future during a critical moment of the Church’s history, which underscores in turn the centrality that Joachim of Fiore and his influence ought to have in our understanding of the Middle Ages. This study concludes with a detailed description of Vat. lat. 3819, paying special attention to this final extract.

Vague Idea of Studium: Petitions and Bulls of the Portuguese University at the Beginning of the Great Schism (137771380)

The article analyzes argumentation that was used by the Papal curia and the University of Lisbon in the bulls and petitions during the short period when the kingdom of Portugal supported Anti-Pope Clement VII (1380–1381). Rhetoric of observed sources includes legal concepts and images borrowed from earlier theoretical texts and academic privileges. In the Curial practice the main legal conception of medieval university, the Studium generale, could be interpreted in the different ways, as it is demonstrated by the case of the Gregory XII’s bulls addressed to the Portuguese university in 1377. In 1380 the Portuguese academic corporation expected some grants and authorization of its status in exchange for support of the Avignon Pope. But controversial formulas and concepts of Clement VII’s bull In Superne dignitatis (that de jure founded a new Studium generale in Lisbon) rather strengthen his authority in Portugal than favoured realization of proclaimed university privileges.

The Last Crusade in the West: Castile and the Conquest of Granada

The Last Crusade in the West: Castile and the Conquest of Granada

Saint Vincent Ferrer, His World and Life: Religion and Society in Late Medieval Europe by Philip Daileader

Saint Vincent Ferrer, His World and Life: Religion and Society in Late Medieval Europe. By Philip Daileader. [The New Middle Ages Series]. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2016. Pp. 282. $99.00. ISBN 978-1-137-54041-6.)The medieval Dominican saint Vincent Ferrer, who conducted a twenty-year preaching campaign throughout continental Europe and played a decisive role in contemporary ecclesiastical and political affairs, has long attracted scholarly attention, particularly in his native Iberia. Scholars have consequently produced a relatively large collection of edited primary sources by and about the saint as well as a plethora of geographically and topically specific studies about various aspects of the saint's activities and thought. What has been notably lacking from this wealth of published materials, however, has been a single cohesive and comprehensive survey of the charismatic preacher revealed by these sources. Philip Daileader's wellresearched study of Ferrer's life fills this scholarly lacuna.The monograph recreates the events of Ferrer's life and presents them chronologically, beginning with his childhood in plague-ridden Valencia, intellectual training in the Dominican Order, and his eventual ascent through the ecclesiastical hierarchy in the service of the Avignon papacy before turning to his preaching campaign. Daileader spends the majority of the study analyzing the complex social issues surrounding his preaching, which inspired enthralled audiences to act upon several issues important to the Dominican friar, namely, moral reform, the segregation of Jews, and acceptance of the Ferdinand of Castile as the Valencian monarch, ultimately linking these ideas to Ferrer's apocalyptic thought. Finally, Daileader argues that the saint left Iberia amidst waning popularity among Valencian audiences due to his involvement in the council of constance, which placed him between the Spanish monarch and the Valencian pope Benedict XIII, preaching in France until his death.It is, however, in the highly contextualized recreation of Ferrer's worldview, motivations, and intentions that this study particularly shines. Interpreting published sources by and about Ferrer through the lens of political, ecclesiastical, and intellectual history, Daileader vivifies long-standing historiographic debates about the extent of the friar's apocalyptic thought, intentions toward Jewish communities, and relationship to Iberian monarchs and Avignon popes. …

Images du pouvoir pontifical dans les livres de Clément VII et Benoît XIII

Images of pontifical power in the books of Clement VII and Benedict XIII. If the vitality of the illuminated manuscript collection at the court of Avignon during the Great Schism is well known, one can nonetheless ask questions about the influence of political issues at the time on their iconographic content. An examination of some of the large manuscripts ordered by Clement VII and Benedict XIII indicates the identity of the pontiff being demonstrated most frequently by the heraldic system. On the other hand, the protective figure of Saint Peter is scarcely used, and the ambivalent image of God the Father as pope only appears very late in the manuscripts of Benedict XIII. A volume of the Historia ecclesiastica nova of Ptolemy of Lucca, ordered by the last Avignon pope and completed in 1401, nevertheless includes a remarkable iconographic series of the entire line of popes, from Peter to Boniface VIII. The artist Sancho Gontier created a homogeneous gallery while nonetheless emphasising the personality of each pope, thereby underlining better the continuity of the apostolic See. Such a programme is exceptional. It is rather in the manuscripts of the great prelates that one can find representations demonstrating pontifical power. It appears that this picture largely escaped the control of the Avignon curia, but contributed perhaps to its fight to defend its legitimacy.

Le schisme et la pourpre: Le cardinal Pierre d’Ailly, homme de science et de foi by Hélène Millet, Monique Maillard-Luypaert

Reviewed by: Le schisme et la pourpre: Le cardinal Pierre d’Ailly, homme de science et de foi by Hélène Millet, Monique Maillard-Luypaert Laura A. Smoller Le schisme et la pourpre: Le cardinal Pierre d’Ailly, homme de science et de foi. By Hélène Millet and Monique Maillard-Luypaert. (Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf. 2015. Pp. 350. €30,00 paperback. ISBN 978-2-204-10475-3.) Theologian, royal chaplain, university leader, bishop, and cardinal, Pierre d’Ailly (1350–1420) led a life that intersected with the major crises of his day: the Hundred Years’ War; the conflict between Burgundians and Armagnacs; and, above all, the Great Schism. And yet, his rich biography has received far less attention than various aspects of his thought. The last thorough treatment of d’Ailly’s life formed part of Bernard Guenée’s Entre l’Église et l’État (Paris, 1987; Chicago, 1991); for freestanding biographies, one must go back to the works of Paul Tschackert (1877) and Louis Salembier (1886, 1932). Millet and Maillard-Luypaert’s engaging biography, written with a popular audience in mind, is thus a welcome offering, bringing to bear upon its subject a number of important studies that have appeared since the 1980s. As the book’s epilogue makes clear, d’Ailly has gotten something of a bad rap in the past: whether from contemporaries who became his enemies, or early-modern Protestants who associated him with the burning of John Hus, or arch-Catholics who deplored his ties to conciliarism and the Avignon papacy. Even Guenée’s more balanced treatment presents d’Ailly largely as a shrewd political operator. Millet and Maillard-Luypaert go a long way toward making their subject a more sympathetic figure while not whitewashing some troubling moments in his career. The book is divided into three large sections: the first offering a biographical sketch proper, the second detailing d’Ailly’s work while bishop of Cambrai from [End Page 833] 1397 to 1411, and the third examining his scholarly output. With Millet’s much-admired expertise about the Church during the Great Schism and Maillard-Luypaert’s unparalleled knowledge of the archives in Cambrai, the authors’ discussions of the cardinal’s ecclesiology and of his time in Cambrai are especially rich. D’Ailly’s sincere dedication to church unity—and to the dignity of the papal office—comes to the fore as the authors detail his actions vis-à-vis the Schism; even his long adherence to the Avignon pope Benedict XIII is presented as showing an admirable consistency, while that pontiff, whose intransigence is often blamed for the Schism’s prolongation, comes up for praise as a man of intelligence, piety, and dignity (pp. 55, 286). As for d’Ailly’s time in Cambrai, readers encounter a bishop devoted to reform and to unifying his diocese, a prelate who could weigh in with measured judgment when confronted with heresy and miraculous bleeding hosts but who could also be vindictive and relentless, as when challenged by a female money-changer named Marie du Cavech, whose protracted battle against “chu crapaut d’evesque” (“that toad of a bishop,” p. 198) marked one of d’Ailly’s rare political defeats. D’Ailly’s close reliance on friends and family networks—particularly his tight partnership with his nephew, Raoul Le Prêtre—also are apparent throughout. As a book designed for a wider public, Le Schisme et la pourpre lacks a full scholarly apparatus. A brief bibliography points to the major works used by the authors, but, as Millet makes clear, medievalists seeking more clarification “will need to consult our articles” (p. 8). Still, as the first major synthesis to appear in nearly thirty years, the volume will be a must-read for anyone interested in d’Ailly or, for that matter, in the Church of the Schism years. With its accessible explanations, handy glossary, chronological tables, map, and helpful translation of d’Ailly’s Propositiones utiles (defending the conciliar solution to the Schism), the book would also make a wonderful introduction to the later Middle Ages for undergraduates or general readers. As the 600th anniversary of the end of the Council...

Une épée pour saint Pierre ? Les princes Valois d’Anjou et le Grand Schisme d’Occident

At the time of the Great Western Schism, the dukes of Valois d’Anjou tried several times to establish themselves in the Kingdom of Naples, vassal to the Holy See. With the support of the Avignon popes, they received regular financial aid in addition to the concession of the royal title. If this recognition allowed them to legitimize their war of conquest and thereby reconcile the backing of many Neapolitan feudal lords, it came with the duty of throwing the pope in Rome under the throne of Saint Peter. However, in spite of promises made in this guise, the Dukes of Anjou showed little inclination to direct its army toward Lazio. In sum, if the justification at the basis of all of the Angevine military campaigns was indispensable for their existence, it was of little factual consequence.

The Saint and the Chopped-Up Baby: The Cult of Vincent Ferrer in Medieval and Early Modern Europe by Laura Ackerman Smoller (review)

Reviewed by: The Saint and the Chopped-Up Baby: The Cult of Vincent Ferrer in Medieval and Early Modern Europe by Laura Ackerman Smoller Michael Vargas The Saint and the Chopped-Up Baby: The Cult of Vincent Ferrer in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. By Laura Ackerman Smoller. (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. 2014. Pp. xx, 343. $45.00. ISBN 978-0-8014-5217-8.) The Dominican preacher Vincent Ferrer was an ardent critic of the Great Schism who nonetheless remained close to the Avignon pope, Benedict XIII, until nearly all others had abandoned him. A confidant of the count-kings of the Crown of Aragon, he (after Martin I died without an heir) helped shape the Compromise of Caspe that moved Catalonia into the Castilian orbit. Born in 1350, he died in 1419 in Vannes, where he was preaching at the invitation of the duke of Brittany. [End Page 819] In old age his fiery preaching and apocalyptic message attracted crowds of self-mutilating followers and caused riots that led to forced conversions and deaths. Despite all of this, Laura Ackerman Smoller turns our basic assumption of Ferrer’s profound importance on its head; perhaps his lasting influence is due not to his own achievements but to the powerful persons who promoted his saintliness to advance their own agendas. This book is not a biography but rather an assessment of the uses of recollection. Much of the book treats the politics and processes that led to Ferrer’s canonization in 1455, concentrating foremost on the canonization inquest at Vannes. The single “cult” of the book’s subtitle should be read in the plural, since it is one of Smoller’s central assertions—one for which she presents ample evidence—that there were a number of ways to read Ferrer’s sanctity after his death as well as various ways of promoting and acting upon the many readings. Smoller argues that Ferrer’s cause succeeded because powerful persons who had the money and political capacity to pursue their agendas saw that Ferrer’s canonization would serve them well. The canonization in 1450 of the Franciscan Bernardino of Siena lit a fire under the Dominicans that moved them to make claims for a new saint of their own; once they put their institutional muscle behind it, the canonization process moved along quickly. The dukes of Brittany similarly attached themselves to Ferrer in competition against French kings who quite usefully rode the coattails of St. Louis. The papacy and the Catalan count-kings had their own reasons for advancing Ferrer’s sainthood and their own stories to tell about why his saintliness mattered. Even ordinary people found ways of benefiting from the canonization fervor. Given the complexity of voices and interests, it seems no surprise to find evidence of “whitewashing” of Ferrer’s record, of leading witnesses along a preapproved script, and of a vita written to redress and obscure. The ample nuance and complexity here may leave some readers feeling that the book is disjointed or that they have occasionally lost the main line of argument. Others might want more or less substance in this or that citation or wish that some really good material was not relegated to sparse notes, as for example, in the story of the man who lost his intestines after murmuring against Ferrer. Smoller brings odd humor to her work when she describes the cooking of the chopped-up baby as Valencian paella and when she implies that Ferrer, after death, found several occasions to tell his supporters that he would do them some good once they succeeded in having him canonized. Quibbles and curiosities aside, the author has done well to let facts, legends, and evidentiary threads open one onto another into nets of questions and resources for future Ferrer studies. There is much to learn from this exemplary study of Ferrer’s afterlife. [End Page 820] Michael Vargas State University of New York at New Paltz Copyright © 2014 The Catholic University of America Press

England and the Avignon Popes: The Practice of Diplomacy in Late Medieval Europe. Karsten Plöger

<i>England and the Avignon Popes: The Practice of Diplomacy in Late Medieval Europe</i>. Karsten Plöger

Art and Ceremony in Papal Avignon: A Prescription for the Tomb of Clement VI

The reexamination of a protocol for the procession decorating the tomb of the Avignon pope, Clement VI, inserted in the final account of payments for the monument during the pope's lifetime, provides a new basis for visually reconstructing the monument. This enables some problems regarding the tomb's composition to be resolved, while providing new insights into the patron's participation in the creative process and the relation of the monument to the life of the curia. When compared with the coeval Ceremonial of Giacomo Gaetani Stefaneschi, and with other monuments from the period, the projected procession is seen to emphasize the pope's burial ceremony--and therefore his burial place--in the remote monastery church at La Chaise-Dieu (Auvergne), as well as the extensive family presence that has been stressed in the previous literature. Moreover, all the preserved tomb fragments can now be seen to correspond closely to the patron's directive. A comparison of the document with the sparse evidence of the esc...

Urban V. (1362-1370): Kirchenreform zwischen Kardinalkollegium, Kurie, und Klientel by Ludwig Vones

Urban V (1362-1370): Kirchenreform zudschen Kardinalkollegium, Kurie, und Klientel. By Ludwig Vones. [Papste und Papsttum, Volume 28.1 (Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann. 1998. Pp. xii, 719, DM 340.) Raised from an abbacy to the throne of St. Peter without having been either bishop or cardinal, and after a career in which his most notable role had been as a legate in Italy, Guillaume Grimoard succeeded Innocent VI as Pope Urban V in 1362. One of the succession of Avignon popes, in 1367 he led the papacy back to Italy. Ibis proved to be only a temporary shift: in 1370 he would return to Avignon, to die. A few years later the first examination began in his process of canonization, but beatification was delayed until 1870. In this massive tome, Ludwig Vones offers a detailed dissection of aspects of the pontificate, in a revised version of his Habilitationsschrift of 1994. Following a lengthy introduction, establishing a broad context (with a strong focus on reform movements and eschatology), the volume divides into three parts. The first, at just under a hundred pages, tackles the pope's family, tracing the genealogy and inheritance from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries. Here Urban himself plays only a minor part, although his early career merits some twenty pages. In the nature of genealogical studies, there is little debate or argument here, the stress being very firmly on establishing facts and tracing a succession. The second section (pp. 147-309) treats Urban V's election as pope in 1362, and his dealings with the College of Cardinals, paying particular attention to his appointments to the College mid his policy on the cardinals' benefices. The third part (pp@ 311-457) considers the personnel surrounding the pope; his involvement in monastic reform (notably at St-Victor at Marseilles and Montecassino); his fostering of universities; and preparations for the return to Rome. A final consideration (pp. 459-487) summarizes Urban's reform policy in the context of the Church as a whole. This is a major study, but by no means a full dissection of the pontificate. The focus is very much on concerns in the curia, only moving to a larger canvas when assessing particular aspects. Events in southern Italy accordingly gain prominence as they connect with factional divisions among the cardinals; England comes to the fore when considering the problem of benefices and clerical careers@ Germany and eastern Europe are important in the discussion of universities. There is, however, no comprehensive analysis of the pope's impact on international politics, for instance, in the diplomacy of the Anglo-French conflicts. …

Sick with passion

Sick with Passion Alfred Louch Opera: Desire, Disease, Death, by Linda and Michael Hutcheon; xvi & 294 pp. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996, $40.00. I Driving east from the Auvergne you may chance upon La Chaise-Dieu, a charming village where a very acceptable cafe confronts the fortress-like Abbatiale de St Robert across the village square. The church itself is an imposing monument to the ephemeral glory of the Avignon Pope Clement VI, but its most extraordinary feature is a fresco in the aisle to the left of the choir. Called the Danse Macabre, it depicts death as a sequence of skeletons, each of which beckons, pleads with, consoles, or compels its many victims—young and old, rich and poor, exalted or mean—toward their inevitable end. At times the skeleton’s posture is sinister and threatening, at others, as with children, it seems to turn away, as if to shield them from its fearful aspect. The skeletons seem to catch the movement of a single dancer as they select one partner after another, taking the life of each in a graceful though ghastly movement. The fresco depicts the Black Death—art inspired by disease and contagion. But even if you were as innocent of history as the typical American tourists you would confront in the fresco the undeniable image of death, and the caprice of its visitation, a thought contrasting strangely with the enduring granite of the church. Your experience may be enriched by history and lead you to moralize on the contrast [End Page 155] between the pomp and grandeur of the papal builder and the fresco’s depiction of the vanity of human wishes. But it would be a jarring note if some know-it-all in the company of viewers were to lecture for all to hear on the transmission and symptoms of pasteurella pestis. That is another story, and an interesting one, but not here and now. And so it is, if not so abrasively, with a recent book by Linda and Michael Hutcheon on desire, disease, and death in opera. They hope to shed new light, by combining literary analysis and the medical theory of disease and contagion, on the themes and purposes of opera, or certain operas anyway. Somehow the passages on mycobacterium tuberculosis, treponema pallidum, and vibrio cholerae, together with graphic descriptions of the symptoms caused by these micro-organisms, and an accompanying photograph of syphilitic gummæ seem intrusive, just as talk about the etiology and the pathology of the plague strikes a discordant note as we look upon the Danse Macabre in wonder and fear. The Hutcheons, a husband and wife team who practice, respectively, medicine and literary criticism, tell the reader they are opera lovers. I hope their affection is not prompted only by infection. But why shouldn’t medicine and its history be relevant to literary, artistic, or musical creation? Think here of a question Wittgenstein asks in Zettel (paragraph 610): “Why should there not be a psychological regularity to which no physiological regularity corresponds? If this upsets our concept of causality then it is high time it was upset.” He did not mean to say that it would not be surprising if someone talked and acted and looked like a person but turned out to have an empty skull. But he did mean surely that talk about human projects and emotions is complete as it stands; what is going on in the neurons and what busy microbes are doing are other stories. Literature is about human projects, the skill or clumsiness with which they are pursued, the responses to success and failure, achievement and frustration. Opera, which, ever since someone had the idea of putting story to song, raided literary invention for its subject matter, is the same. Heroes and villains may of course be expected to be vulnerable to the various vicissitudes of life. Diseases may lay them low, as well as passing trains. But disease enters their stories to delay or frustrate or put period to their projects, not as new characters on the stage. If you read about the death of Ivan Illych and come away dissatisfied because Tolstoy failed to identify the...

The Early Development of Pierre d'Ailly's Conciliarism

CHRISTOPHER M. BELLITTO* The theologian and church statesman Pierre d'Ailly (1350-1420) has been the subject of considerable scholarly attention, as befits one of the foremost fathers of the Council of Constance (1414-1418). The prominent role d'Ailly played as a conciliarist at Constance has, however, overshadowed the earlier development of his conciliar thought. This tendency is reflected in modern studies of d'Ailly which have correspondingly overlooked the important early stages of his career.1 D'Ailly's initial service to the University of Paris, the French crown, and the Avignon papacy strongly influenced the evolution of his conciliarism. He seems to have embraced the via concil in three steps from the time he received his master's degree in theology in 1381 to his opposition in 1395 and 1396 to France's attempts to withdraw spiritual and financial obedience from the Avignon papacy.2 He appears at first to have been an enthusiastic supporter of conciliar principles, as seen in his Epistola Diaboli Leviathan and the actions he took as rector of the College de Navarre and university chancellor. Second, dismayed by contentious debates among representatives of university, papacy, and crown at the Councils of Paris about the via cessionis, d'Ailly's backing of the via concil grew cautious. The obstinacy of all involved appears to have moderated his enthusiasm for a full-scale conciliar resolution and moved an older, more circumspect d'Ailly to a third step: an oligarchic conciliarism, more properly characteristic of his ecclesiology, that assigned a mediatory role to the College of Cardinals. Especially illustrative of the latter two steps are his three cedulae of 1395 and 1396 which have not been analyzed in detail though they indicate in important ways how his conciliarism developed.3 The Context The development of d'Ailly's conciliar views cannot be understood apart from the intertwined relations among the Church, crown, and university he served during the Great Schism.4 D'Ailly began the arts curriculum at the College de Navarre about 1364 and advanced through theology. He came to royal and papal attention in 1379 when he was delegated by the university to advise Charles V (1364-1380) of its support for a general council to resolve the schism. D'Ailly received the master's degree and license in theology in 1381, but his rising career stalled when Charles VI (1380-1422) banned university discussion of the schism. D'Ailly retreated to his Noyon canonry, returning in 1384 as rector of the College de Navarre. By 1389, he was royal chaplain. That year, perhaps to curry the king's support and d'Ailly's friendship, Avignon's Clement VII (1378-1394) nominated d'Ailly as Paris chancellor In late 1394, after the election of Benedict XIII (1394-1417) as Clement's successor, Charles sent d'Ailly and others to convey greetings to Benedict, who was quick to see in d'Ailly a man he preferred as friend rather than as foe. D'Ailly resigned as chancellor when Benedict named him bishop of Puy in 1395; two years later he was made bishop of Cambrai and, in 1411, cardinal. D'Ailly's career was marked by contentious attempts to resolve the schism. There had been Valois support for the Avignon popes since the schism's beginning in 1378 until 1392.5 When the schism wore on, however, the French royal family did not wish to be labeled as schismatic. As the dukes of Berry and Burgundy won control over the unstable Charles VI, they began to move toward a unified papacy about 1392. The University of Paris, meanwhile, did not formally accept Clement as pope until 1383.6 Despite the royal ban on debating the schism, dissent continued. In 1394, written opinions were gathered, revealing that the university community supported three courses of action to resolve the schism: a general council (via concilii), negotiation (via compromissi), and abdication (via cessionis). These options were delineated in the famous letter of June 6,1394, to Charles. …

Les sermons des papes d’Avignon

Sermons of the Avignon Popes. The liturgical calendar of the apostolic Curia set the days on which the Pope was able to speak. Collections of sermons by John XXIII, Benoît XII and Clement VI have been preserved. Not only are there texts relating to various feast days, there are also ones whose echo was important : John XXII’ s stand on beatific visions, Clement VI’s speech on the imperial election of Charles of Moravia. The oratorical action of the Avignon popes in theological, spiritual and political fields has too often been neglected compared to the importance attached to their administrative work and to their temporal concerns.