Gerson, Jean (1363–1429)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark S. Burrows
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Biblical Theology ◽  
Profound Influence ◽  
Pastoral Theologian

Gerson was one of the leading theologians of the via moderna, the ‘modern way’ of nominalism. A fervent critic of the ‘formalists’ of the via antiqua, Gerson stood in the Ockhamist tradition as a pastoral theologian opposed to strictly speculative questions. His overarching interests lay in the pastoral foundations of theology and opposed abstract and hence ‘unedifying’ metaphysical questions, as these dominated scholastic discourse in the theological faculty at Paris. He sought to mediate between increasingly polemical school disputes, arguing for the recovery of a ‘biblical’ theology that led away from speculative questions toward mystical encounter with God. Later known as doctor christianissimus (the most Christian doctor), Gerson exerted such a profound influence upon the subsequent theological horizon that one historian has aptly called the fifteenth century ‘le siècle de Gerson’.

‘For the Increase of Divine Service’: Chantries in the Parish in Late Medieval Bristol

1985 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive Burgess
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Medieval England ◽  
Common People ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Catholic Faith ◽  
Profound Influence ◽  
The Common ◽  
Late Medieval England

While it is incontrovertible that the Catholic faith exercised a profound influence on the lives of the common people of fifteenth-century England, it is equally apparent that many aspects of contemporary belief and practice will never be wholly clear. This is not simply for want of evidence but more the result of the limitations of the sources. It may, for instance, be assumed that contemporaries' religious priorities would be illuminated by close examination of their wills since these documents almost invariably deal with pious provisions intended to benefit testators' souls. But tolerably represented by surviving wills as the wealthy and town-dwelling classes of late medieval England are, analysis of these documents is treacherous. Just as the scribes who registered them certainly standardised the presentation of different testators' wishes, so probate procedures militated against even faintly unorthodox expression. Moreover, the proportion of a testator's movable or immovable estate represented in any given will is impossible to gauge, as a result of which no measure may be taken of any testator's devotion by comparison of his religious bequests with those made for other purposes. It must also be remembered that wills reveal nothing of the pious provision that testators undoubtedly made during their lifetimes for their own benefit. Neither do they convey any impression of what family or friends may have agreed to discharge for the benefit of a testator's soul. Late medieval wills are undeniably disappointing and frequently misleading.

Scots Law: Mixed from the Very Beginning? A Tale of Two Receptions

2000 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
WDH Sellar
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Common Law ◽  
General Meeting ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Mixed System ◽  
Annual General Meeting ◽  
Ius Commune ◽  
Profound Influence ◽  
Anglo Norman ◽  
Considerable Period

This article is the revised text of the lecture delivered to the Stair Society at its Annual General Meeting in November 1997. It defends the proposition that Scots law, from the time of its emergence in the Middle Ages, has been a “mixed” system, open to the influence of both the English Common Law and the Civilian tradition. It also compares and contrasts the Reception of the Anglo-Norman law with that of Roman law. The former was quite specific as regards both time and substantive legal content. The Reception of Roman law, on the other hand, took place over a considerable period of time, and its effects were complex and diffuse. Above all, the Civilian tradition and the wider ius commune provided an intellectual framework against which to measure Scots law. Both Receptions exercised a profound influence on the continuing development of Scots law.

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