Jean de Gerson

Jean Charlier de Gerson (December 14, 1363 – July 12, 1429), French scholar and divine, chancellor of the university of Paris, a guiding light of the conciliar movement and the one of most the prominent theologians at the Council of Constance, was born at the village of Gerson, in the bishopric of Reims in Champagne. Image File history File links Jean_de_gerson. ... Image File history File links Jean_de_gerson. ... Jump to: navigation, search December 14 is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Centuries: 13th century - 14th century - 15th century Decades: 1310s 1320s 1330s 1340s 1350s - 1360s - 1370s 1380s 1390s 1400s 1410s Years: 1358 1359 1360 1361 1362 - 1363 - 1364 1365 1366 1367 1368 See also: 1363 state leaders Events Magnus II, King of Sweden, is deposed by Albert of Mecklenburg. ... Jump to: navigation, search July 12 is the 193rd day (194th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 172 days remaining. ... Events January 10 - Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, founds the European Order of the Golden Fleece February 12 - Battle of Rouvray (or of the Herrings). English Forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy carrying rations to the Earl of Suffolks army at Orleans from attack by... The Sorbonne, Paris, in a 17th century engraving The historic University of Paris (French: Université de Paris) first appeared in the second half of the 12th century, but was in 1970 reorganized as 13 autonomous universities (University of Paris I–XIII). ... The Council of Constance was an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, called by the Emperor Sigismund, a supporter of Antipope John XXIII, the pope recently elected at Pisa. ... Founded in 1999 by Mark Gerson and Thomas Lehrman, Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) is a research services firm, based in New York, New York, primarily serving the institutional investment community. ... Location within France Reims (English traditionally Rheims) (pronounced in French) is a city of northern France, 144 km (89 miles) east-northeast of Paris. ... Champagne is one of the traditional provinces of France, a region of France that is best known for the production of the sparkling white wine that bears the regions name. ...

His parents, Arnulph Charlier and Elizabeth de la Chardeniêre, "a second Monica," were pious peasants, and seven of their twelve children, four daughters and three sons, devoted themselves to a religious life. Young Gerson was sent to Paris to the famous college of Navarre when fourteen years of age. After a five years' course he obtained the degree of licentiate of arts, and then began his theological studies under two very celebrated teachers, Gilles des Champs (Aegidius Campensis) and Pierre d'Ailly (Petrus de Alliaco), rector of the college of Navarre, chancellor of the university, and afterwards bishop of Puy, archbishop of Cambrai and cardinal. Pierre d'Ailly remained his life-long friend, and in later life the pupil seems to have become the teacher (see preface to Liber de vita Spir. Animae). Saint Monica of Hippo (333 - 387) is a Christian saint and mother of Saint Augustine. ... The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... The College of Navarre was founded by Johanna, queen of Navarre, 1304, who provided for 3 departments, the arts with 20 students, philosophy with 30 and theology with 20 students. ... Pierre dAilly (1350-1420), French theologian and cardinal of the Catholic Church, was chancellor of the University of Paris from 1385 to 1395. ... A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking just below the Pope and appointed by him as a member of the College of Cardinals during a consistory. ...

Gerson and the University of Paris

Gerson very soon attracted the notice of the university. He was elected procurator for the French 'nation' (the French-born Francophone students at the University) in 1383, and again in 1384, in which year he graduated bachelor of theology. Three years later a still higher honour was bestowed upon him; he was sent along with the chancellor and others to represent the university in a case of appeal taken to the pope. John of Montson (Monzon de Montesono), an Aragonese Dominican who had recently graduated as doctor of theology at Paris, had in 1387 been condemned by the faculty of theology because he had taught that the Virgin Mary, like other ordinary descendants of Adam, was born in original sin; and the Dominicans, who were fierce opponents of the doctrine of the immaculate conception, were expelled the university. One of the most influential doctrines in history is that all humans are divided into groups called nations. ... Events End of the reign of Emperor Chokei of Japan Emperor Go-Kameyama ascends to the throne of Japan Births Pope Eugenius IV Deaths March 1 - Amadeus VI of Savoy, Count of Savoy (b. ... Events May / September 3 - Siege of Lisbon by the Castilian army, during the 1383-1385 Crisis Births Antoine, Duke of Brabant (died 1415) St Frances of Rome (died 1440) Khalil Sultan, ruler of Transoxiana (died 1411) Deaths August 20 - Geert Groote, Dutch founder of the Brethren of the Common Life... Theology is reasoned discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, word or reason). It also refers to the study of other religious topics. ... Jump to: navigation, search Capital Zaragoza Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 4th  47 719 km²  9,4% Population  â€“ Total (2003)  â€“ % of Spain  â€“ Density Ranked 11th  1 217 514  2,9%  25,51/km² Demonym  â€“ English  â€“ Spanish  Aragonese  aragonés Statute of Autonomy August 16, 1982 ISO 3166-2 AR Parliamentary... Jump to: navigation, search Saint Mary redirects here. ... This article is about the biblical Adam and Eve. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Immaculate Conception is a Roman Catholic doctrine which asserts that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was preserved by God from the stain of original sin at the time of her own conception. ...

John of Montson appealed to Pope Clement VII at Avignon, and Pierre d'Ailly, Gerson and the other university delegates, while they personally supported the doctrine of the immaculate conception, were content to rest their case upon. the legal rights of the university to test in its own way its theological teachers. Gerson's biographers have compared his journey to Avignon with Luther's visit to Rome. It is certain that from this time onwards he was zealous in his endeavours to spiritualize the universities, to reform the morals of the clergy, and to put an end to the schism which then divided the church. For the antipope (1378-1394) see Antipope Clement VII. Clement VII, né Giulio di Giuliano de Medici (May 26, 1478 – September 25, 1534) was pope from 1523 to 1534. ... Coat of arms of Avignon Avignon (pronounced in IPA, Provençal: Avignoun) is a commune in southern France with some 88,300 inhabitants in the city itself and 155,500 in the Greater Avignon area. ... Jump to: navigation, search Luther at age 46 (Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1529) The Luther seal Martin Luther (November 10, 1483–February 18, 1546) was a German theologian, an Augustinian monk, and an ecclesiastical reformer whose teachings inspired the Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines and culture of the Lutheran... Jump to: navigation, search City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni (Left-Wing Democrats) Area  - City Proper  1290 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,546,807 almost... Historical map of the Western Schism The Western Schism or Papal Schism (Also known as the Great Schism of Western Christianity) was a split within the Catholic Church in 1378. ...

In 1392 Gerson became doctor of theology; and in 1395, when Pierre d'Ailly was made bishop of Puy, he was, at the early age of thirty-two, elected chancellor of the university of Paris, and made a canon of Notre Dame. The university was then at the height of its fame, and its chancellor was necessarily a man prominent not only in France but in Europe, sworn to maintain the rights of his university against both king and pope, and entrusted with the conduct and studies of a vast crowd of students attracted from almost every country in Europe. Gerson's writings bear witness to his deep sense of the responsibilities, anxieties and troubles of his position. He was all his days a man of letters, and an analysis of his writings is his best biography. His work has three periods, in which he was engaged in reforming the university studies, maturing plans for overcoming the schism (a task which after 1404 absorbed all his energies), and in the evening of his life writing books of devotion. Events Korean founder of the Joseon Dynasty General Yi Seonggye leads a coup détat, overthrowing the kingdom of Goryeo and founding the kingdom of Joseon Afyonkarahisar in western Turkey is conquered by Sultan Beyazid I Louis de Valois is created the 1st Duke of Orléans, the second time... This article is about the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris. ... Events June 14 - Owain Glyndwr of Wales allies with the French against the English and the Henry of Lancaster. ...

Gerson's writings

Gerson wished to banish scholastic subtleties from the studies of the university, and at the same time to put some evangelical warmth into them, giving them a more spiritual and practical focus. He was called at this period of his life Doctor Christianissimus; later his devotional and pastoral writings brought him the title Doctor Consolatorius. His plan was to make theology plain and simple by founding it on the philosophical principles of nominalism. His method was a clear exposition of the principles of theology where clearness was possible, with a due recognition of the place of mystery in the Christian system of doctrine. Like the great nominalist William of Occam, he saved himself from rationalism by laying hold on mysticism--the Christian mysticism of Ps.-Dionysius, the school of Saint Victor, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Bonaventure. He thought that in this way he would equally guard against the folly of the old scholasticism, and the seductions of such Averroistic pantheism as was preached by heretics like Amalric of Bena. His plans for the reformation of university studies may be learned from his Epistolae de reform. theol. (i. I 21), Epistolae ad studentes Coligii Navarrae, quid et qualiter studere debeal novus ideologiae auditor, et contra curiositatem studentium (i. 106), Lectiones duae contra vanam curiositatem in negotio fidei (i. 86), and De mystica theologia, speculativa et practica. The study of the Bible and of the fathers was to supersede the idle questions of the schools, and in his Tract. contra romantiam de rosa (iii. 297) he warns young men against the evil consequences of romance-reading. He was oftentimes weary of the chancellorship--it involved him in strife and in money difficulties; he grew tired of public life, and longed for learned leisure. To obtain it he accepted the deanery of Bruges from the duke of Burgundy, but after a short sojourn he returned to Paris and to the chancellorship. William of Ockham (also Occam or any of several other spellings) (ca. ... Jump to: navigation, search Mysticism, from the Greek (mueo, to conceal), is the pursuit of achieving communion with, or conscious awareness of ultimate reality, the divine, spiritual truth, or God through direct, personal experience (intuition or insight) rather than rational thought; the belief in the existence of realities beyond perceptual... Jump to: navigation, search As a noun, Christian is an appellation and moniker deriving from the appellation Christ, which many people associate exclusively with Jesus of Nazareth. ... Saint-Victor (French for Saint Victor) may mean: Paul Bins, comte de Saint-Victor (1827-1881), French author It is also the name or part of the name of several communes in France: Saint-Victor, in the Allier département Saint-Victor, in the Ardèche département Saint-Victor, in the Cantal... Jump to: navigation, search Bernard of Clairvaux, illustrated in a medieval manuscript Bernard of Clairvaux, illustrated in A Short History of Monks and Monasteries by Alfred Wesley Wishart, 1900 Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (Fontaines, near Dijon, 1090 – August 21, 1153 in Clairvaux) was a French abbot and theologian who was... This article refers to the Italian saint. ... Jump to: navigation, search Averroes Averroës (Ibn Rushd) (1126 – December 10, 1198) was an Andalusian-Arab philosopher and physician, a master of philosophy and Islamic law, mathematics, and medicine. ... Pantheism (Greek: pan = all and Theos = God) literally means God is All and All is God. It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent God; or that the universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. ... Amalric (French Amaury) of Bena (d. ... The Roman de la Rose is a late medieval French work of fiction in allegorical dream form. ... Sometimes referred to as the Venice of the North, Bruges has many waterways that run through the city. ...

Gerson and the Great Schism

Gerson's chief work was what he did to the great schism. Gregory XI had died in 1378, one year after Gerson went to the college of Navarre, and since his death the church had had two popes, which to the medieval mind meant two churches and a divided Christ. The schism had practically been brought about by France. The popes had been under French influence so long that it appeared to France a political necessity to have her own pope, and pious Frenchmen felt themselves somewhat responsible for the sins and scandals of the schism. Hence the melancholy piety of Gerson, Pierre d'Ailly and their companions, and the energy with which they strove to bring the schism to an end. During the lifetime of Clement VII. the university of Paris, led by Pierre d'AiIly, Gerson and Nicolas of Clamenges, met in deliberation about the state of Christendom, and resolved that the schism could be ended in three ways,--by cession, if both popes renounced the tiara unconditionally, by arbitration or by a general council. Clement died. The king of France, urged by the university, sent orders that no new pope should be elected. The cardinals first elected, and then opened the letter. In the new elections, however, both at Rome and Avignon, the influence of Paris was so much felt that each of the new popes swore to cede if his rival would do so also. Historical map of the Western Schism The Western Schism or Papal Schism (Also known as the Great Schism of Western Christianity) was a split within the Catholic Church in 1378. ... Gregory XI, né Pierre Roger de Beaufort (ca. ... Events March - John Wyclif tried to gain public favour by laying his theses before parliament, and then made them public in a tract. ... For the other Clement VII who was Pope from 1523 to 1534, see Pope Clement VII. Robert of Geneva (1342-16 September 1394) was elected to the papacy by the French cardinals who opposed Urban VI, thereby becoming the first antipope of the Western Schism, as Pope Clement VII. He...

Meanwhile in 1395 the national assembly of France and the French clergy adopted the programme of the university--cession or a general council. The movement gathered strength. In 1398 most of the cardinals and most of the crowned heads in Europe had given their adhesion to the plan. During this period Gerson's literary activity was untiring, and the throb of public expectancy, of hope and fear, is revealed in his multitude of pamphlets. At first there were hopes of a settlement by way of cession. These come out in Protest. super statuni ecclesiae (ii. I), Tract. de mode kabendi Se tempore schismatis, De schismate, etc. But soon the conduct of the popes made Europe impatient, and the desire for a general council grew strong--see De concilio generali unius obedientiae (ii. 24). The council was resolved upon. It was to meet at Pisa, and Gerson poured forth tract after tract for its guidance. Events End of reign of Hungary by Capet-Anjou family. ...

The most important are--Trilogus in materia scijismatis (ii. 83), and De unitate Ecclesiae (ii. 113), in which, following Pierre d'Ailly (see Tschackert's Peter v. Ailli, p. 153), Gerson demonstrates that the ideal unity of the church, based upon Christ, destroyed by the popes, can only be restored by a general council, supreme and legitimate, though unsummoned by a pope. The council met, deposed both antipopes, and elected Alexander V. Gerson was chosen to address the new pope on the duties of his office. He did so in his Sermo coram Alexandro Papa in die ascensionis in concilio Pisano (ii. 131). All hopes of reformation, however, were quenched by the conduct of the new pope. He had been a Franciscan, and loved his order above measure. He issued a bull which laid the parish clergy and the universities at the mercy of the mendicants. The great university of Paris rose in revolt, headed by her chancellor, who wrote a fierce pamphlet--Censura professorum in theologia circa izullam Alexandri V (ii. 442). Alexander V (also Peter of Candia or Peter Philarges, c. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Order of Friars Minor and other Franciscan movements are disciples of Saint Francis of Assisi. ...

The pope died soon after, and one of the most profligate men of that time, John XXIII (Baldassare Cossa), was elected his successor. The council of Pisa had not brought peace; it had only added a third pope. Pierre d'Ailly despaired of general councils (see his De difficultate reformationis in concilio universali), but Gerson struggled on. Another matter too had roused him. The feuds between the houses of Orleans and Burgundy had long distracted France. The duke of Orleans had been treacherously murdered by the followers of the duke of Burgundy, and a theologian. Jean Petit (c. 1360-1411), had publicly and unambiguously justified the murder. His eight verities, as he called them--his apologies for the murder--had been, mainly through the influence of Gerson, condemned by the university of Paris, and by the archbishop and grand inquisitor, and his book had been publicly burned before the cathedral of Notre Dame. Gerson wished a council to confirm this sentence. His literary labours were as untiring as ever. He maintained in a series of tracts that a general council could depose a pope; he drew up indictments against the reigning pontiffs, reiterated the charges against Jean Petit, and exposed the sin of schism--in short, he did all he could to direct the public mind towards the evils in the church and the way to heal them. Jump to: navigation, search Antipope John XXIII, antipope of the Pisan party (1410–1415), (about 1370 – November 22, 1419), was born as Baldassare Cossa. ... This article is about the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris. ...

His efforts were powerfully seconded by the emperor Sigismund, and the result was the council of Constance. Gerson's influence at the council was supreme up to the election of a new pope. It was he who dictated the form of submission and cession made by John XXIII, and directed the process against Huss. Many of Gerson's biographers have found it difficult to reconcile his proceedings against Huss with his own opinions upon the supremacy of the pope; but the difficulty has arisen partly from misunderstanding Gerson's position, partly from supposing him to be the author of a famous tract De modis uniendiae reformandi Ecclesiam in concilio universali. All Gerson's high-sounding phrases about the supremacy of a council were meant to apply to some time of emergency. He was essentially a trimmer, and can scarcely be called a reformer, and he hated Huss with all the hatred the trimmer has of the reformer. The three bold treatises, De necessitate reformationis Ecclesiae, De modis uniendiae reformandi Ecclesiain, and De difficultate reformationis in concilio universali, long ascribed to Gerson, were proved by Schwab in his Johannes Gerson not to be his work, and have since been ascribed to Abbot Andreas of Randuf, and with more reason to Dietrich of Nieheim. Sigismund (February 14/15, 1368 - December 9, 1437) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 to 1437. ... The Council of Constance was an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, called by the Emperor Sigismund, a supporter of Antipope John XXIII, the pope recently elected at Pisa. ... Jan Hus (1369 Husinec, Southern Bohemia – July 6, 1415 Constance) was a religious thinker and reformer. ... Dietrich of Nieheim (Niem or Nyem) (c. ...

The council of Constance, which revealed the eminence of Gerson, became in the end the cause of his downfall. He was the prosecutor in the case of Jean Petit, and the council, overawed by the duke of Burgundy, would not affirm the censure of the university and archbishop of Paris. Petit's justification of murder was declared to be only a moral and philosophical opinion, not of faith. The utmost length the council would go was to condemn one proposition, and even this censure was annulled by the new pope, Martin V, on a formal pretext. Gerson dared not return to France, where, in the disturbed state of the kingdom, the duke of Burgundy was in power. He lay hid for a time at Constance and then at Rattenberg in Tirol, where he wrote his famous book De consolatione theologiae. Martin V, né Oddone Colonna or Odo Colonna (1368 – February 20, 1431), pope from 1417 to 1431, was elected on St. ...

Retirement

On returning to France he went to Lyons, where his brother was prior of the Celestine monastery located there. Although Gerson was "retired" from active university life, the decade at Lyons was a very productive period for the exiled chancellor from a literary point of view. He produced a harmony of the gospels (the Monetesseron), works on the poems of the bible climaxing in a massive collection of twelve treatises on the Magnificat (Lk. 1:46-55), a commentary on the Song of Songs, as well as an extensive literary correspondence with members of the Carthusian order and others on mysticism and other issues of spiritual life. Shortly before his death he produced a tract in support of Joan of Arc. It is said that he taught a school of boys and girls in Lyons, and that the only fee he exacted was to make the children promise to repeat the prayer, "Lord, have mercy on thy poor servant Gerson." His later years were spent in writing books of mystical devotion and hymns. He died at Lyons on the 12th of July 1429. Tradition declares that during his sojourn there he translated or adapted from the Latin a work upon eternal consolation, which afterwards became very famous under the title of The Imitation of Christ, and was attributed to Thomas à Kempis. It has, however, been proved beyond a doubt that the famous Imitatio Christi was really written by Thomas, and not by John Gerson or the abbot Gerson. Lyons), see Lyons (disambiguation). ... Celestine may refer to: Five Popes of the Roman Catholic Church: Pope Celestine I (422–432) Pope Celestine II (1143–1144) Pope Celestine III (1191–1198) Pope Celestine IV (1241) Pope Celestine V (1294) A member of the Celestines, a branch of the Benedictine Order of monks. ... Sandro Boticelli. ... Song of Solomon is also the title of a novel by Toni Morrison. ... Jump to: navigation, search A Carthusian Monastery in Jerez, Spain The Carthusians are a Christian religious order founded by St Bruno in 1084. ... Jump to: navigation, search The tone of this article is inappropriate for an encyclopedia. ... Jump to: navigation, search Latin is an Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Thomas à Kempis (1380 - 1471) was a medieval Christian monk and author of Imitation of Christ, one of the most well-known Christian books on devotion. ...

References

The literature on Gerson is very abundant:

• Brian Patrick McGuire, Jean Gerson and the Last Medieval Reformation (University Park, PA, 2005).
• James Connolly, John Gerson: Reformer and Mystic (Louvain, 1928).
• Dupin, Gersoniana, including Vita Gersoni, prefixed to the edition of Gerson's works in 5 vols. fol., from which quotations have here been made
• Charles Schmidt, Essai sur Jean Gerson, chancelier de l'Université de Paris (Strassburg, 1839)
• JB Schwab, Johannes Gerson, 2 vols. (Wurzburg, 1859).
• H Jadart, Jean Gerson, son origine, son village natal et sa familie (Reims, 1882).

On the relations between Gerson and D'Ailly see Paul Tschackert, Peter von Ailli (Gotha, 1877). On Gerson's public life see also histories of the councils of Pisa and constance, especially Hermann von der Hardt, Con. Constantiensis libn IC. (1695-1699). Hermann von der Hardt (November 15, 1660 - February 28, 1746), was a German historian and orientalist. ...

A modern edition of Gerson's works is: Palémon Glorieux (ed.), Jean Gerson Oeuvres Complètes, 10 vols. (Paris, 1960-1973). The best older editions are those of Edmond Richer (3 vols., Paris, 1606) and Ellies Dupin (5 vols., Antwerp, 1706). For good English translations of selected early works, see Brian Patrick McGuire (tr.), Jean Gerson: Early Works, Classics of Western Spirituality (New York, 1988). See also Ulysse Chevalier, Repertoire des sources hist., Bio-bibliographie (Paris, 1905, etc.), s.v. Gerson." Ulysse Chevalier (February 24, 1841 - October 27, 1923) was a French bibliographer and historian. ...

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