Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/514

This page needs to be proofread.

506 MARSIGLIO OF PADUA October Ubertino of Casale, 1 Michael of Cesena, and William of Ockham. 2 His first meeting with John of Jandun, afterwards his faithful companion and collaborator, probably took place in Paris, and not, as Renan says, in Padua. 3 Born in Jandun, 4 a village in Champagne, John was educated at the university of Paris, and during the years 1300-10 obtained considerable repute, while teaching there, by his works on Greek philosophy. It is interesting to notice that it was through Marsiglio (' per dilectissimum meum magistrum Marcilium de Padua ') that John of Jandun first became acquainted with the Problems of Aristotle, 5 by Peter of Abano : this he tells us in his commentary on that work. John of Jandun was a master of arts 6 by 1315 and one of the first tutors to the college of Navarre, founded twelve years before by the wife of Philip the Fair. In the following August the cardinals, after two years' deliberation, elected the new pope Jo)m XXII at Avignon. The appointment of this aged pontiff (he was seventy when he began, and eighty-eight when he ceased, to occupy the apostolic chair) was at first a piece of good fortune for the two friends. Marsiglio was granted a canonry in his native city of Padua in the Bull 7 of 14 October 1316, in which John XXII rewards the merits of Marsiglio and satisfies the insistent pleadings of Cardinals James Stefaneschi and Francis Caetan : while John of Jandun was awarded in the Bull 8 of 13 November 1316 a canonry of the chapter of Senlis. In the subsequent Bull 9 of 5 April 1318 Marsiglio, now styled by John XXII as his dear son and canon of Padua, was entitled to the first benefice that fell vacant within the bishopric of Padua. Denifle, 10 however, is strongly of opinion that this Marsiglio de 1 Whereas John XXII generally mentions John of Jandun with Marsiglio, Mussato twice gives Ubertino of Casale (Muratori, x. 773). This Ubertino, author of the Arbor Vitae in 1305, had been called upon by John XXII in 1322 to state his opinion on the question of evangelical poverty. Later, on 16 September 1325, the pope ordered his arrest for escaping (Riezler, Vat. Aid. no. 542). 1 All educated at Paris : see Budinsky, Die Universitdt Paris, pp. 113, 198, 199, 205.

  • V Averroes et V Averrmsme, p. 339.

' Now a certainty, from the words ' Remensis dyocesis ' in Riezler, Vat. Akt. no. 1004. 6 Valois, p. 555 : copy in the Bibliotheque d' Arsenal, Paris. Renan, p. 326, says, 'Pierre d' Abano merite . . . d'etre considere comme le fondateur de 1'averroisme padouan '. The destructive effect of this philosophy on orthodox belief is notorious. Thomas, p. 451, and Du Boulay, iv. 95. 7 Riezler, Vat. Akt. no. 6. Frank, p. 119, suggests that he was a layman. It is remarkable that Marsiglio should have chosen cardinals with such unmistakable papal sympathies, for Stefaneschi was an ardent supporter, and Caetan a, nephew, of Boniface VIII. 8 Denifle, ii. 186. On the same day he addressed a letter ' omnibus praelatis ecclesiarum' requiring that benefices be awarded in particular to the masters and scholars of Paris. Riezler, Vat. Akt. no. 100. ii. 153, n.