The Forge of Doctrine

The Academic Year 1330-31 and the Rise of Scotism at the University of Paris
Illustration
The Forge of Doctrine
Auteur
William O. Duba
Date de parution
2017
Lieu d'édition
Tournhout
Prix éditeur
85.00€
Langue
Anglais
Numéro dans la collection
2
Collection / Revue
Collections
Appartient à la collection/revue
ISBN
978-2-503-57327-4
Descriptif matériel
XI+444 p., 13 ill. noir et blanc, 156 x 234 mm

A rare survival provides unmatched access to the medieval classroom. In the academic year 1330-31, the Franciscan theologian, William of Brienne, lectured on Peter Lombard’s Sentences and disputed with the other theologians at the University of Paris. The original, official notes of these lectures and disputes survives in a manuscript codex at the National Library of the Czech Republic, and they constitute the oldest known original record of an entire university course. An analysis of this manuscript reconstructs the daily reality of the University of Paris in the fourteenth century, delineating the pace and organization of instruction within the school and the debates between the schools. The transcription made during William’s lectures and the later modifications and additions reveal how the major vehicle for Scholastic thought, the written Sentences commentary, relates to fourteenth-century teaching. As a teacher and a scholar, William of Brienne was a dedicated follower of the philosophy and theology of John Duns Scotus (+1308). He constructed Scotist doctrine for his students and defended it from his peers. This book shows concretely how scholastic thinkers made, communicated, and debated ideas at the medieval universities. Appendices document the entire process with critical editions of William's academic debates (principia), his promotion speech, and a selection of his lectures and sources.​

William Duba (Ph.D., The University of Iowa, 2006), manages the Fragmentarium project at the Université de Fribourg.