Proving Woman (54 page)

²⁹
John Rodington, as cited by Bruno Nardi,
Soggetto et oggetto del conoscere nella
fi
loso
fi
a
antica e medievale
(Rome: Ateneo, 1952), p. 80; Gregory, “La tromperie,” p. 188. Cf. Walter Catton (ca. 1322), “The Second Question of the Prologue
to Walter Catton’s Commentary on the Sentences,” in
Nine Medieval Thinkers: A Collection of Hitherto Unedited Texts
, ed. J. Reginald O’Donnell (Toronto: Pontifical Institute for Mediaeval Studies, 1955), p. 246; Gregory, “La tromperie,”
pp. 188–90.

³⁰
Holkot,
In quatuor libros
bk. 3, q. 1, art. 5–6, MM–ZZ.

³¹
Aquinas, quodlib. 3, q. 12 [art. 27],
sed contra
, in
Opera omnia: Quaestiones de quolibet
, ed. Ordo Fratrum Praedicatorum (Rome: Commissio Leonina, 1996), 25,1:286; cf. 3, q. 12 [art. 26], 25,1:283–85. This problem
surfaces in the quodlibetal questions of others. See Godefroid of Fontaines, quodlib. 12, q. 2,
Les Quodlibets onze
–
quatorze de Godefroid de Fontaines
, ed. J. Hoffmans (Louvain: Editions de l’Institut Supérieur de Philosophie, 1932), vol. 5, fasc. 2, pp. 83–92. Glorieux notes
that Nicolas Bar and Peter of Auvergne both have quodlibets on this subject (
Litt
è
rature quodlib
è
tique
, 1:233, 257).

³²
Aquinas, quodlib. 6, q. 4, art. 1 (6),
sed contra
and
resp.
, in
Opera omnia
25,2:301–2.

³³
See Dyan Elliott, “True Presence/False Christ: Antinomies of Embodiment in Medieval Spirituality,”
Mediaeval Studies
64 (2002): 241–65 (cf. the discussion of the trickery of God, pp. 258–68). Also see CarolineWalker Bynum’s reflections on
some of the physiological and psychological factors informing this kind of experience, in “The Woman in the Pearl Necklace,”
Common
Knowledge
8 (2002): 280–83.

³⁴
Holkot,
In quatuor libros
bk. 3, q. 1, art. 5, ad 1, 2, MM. See Genest, “Pierre de Ceffons,” p. 202.

³⁵
Holkot,
In quatuor libros
bk. 3, q. 1, art. 5, ad 1, 2–4, MM. Robert also does away with the possibility of attaching a condition such as “I worship
you if you are God” since it not only weakens the adoration but implicates him in idolatry the moment he raises it as a possibility
(ad 2, NN).

³⁶
Ibid. art. 5, ad 3, NN.

³⁷
Ibid. art 5, ad 3, 1, NN.

38 Ibid. art.5, ad 3, 2–4, NN. In this context, it was particularly alarming that mystics such as Ermine of Reims sometimes
experienced demonic harassment in the form of a “good” interior voice (John Le Graveur,
Entre Dieu et Satan: les visions d
’
Ermine de Reims (
]
1396)
, ed. Claude Arnaud-Gillet [Florence: Sismel, Edizioni del Galluzzo, 1997], p. 75). Also see n. 84, below.

³⁹
Holkot,
In quatuor libros
bk. 3, q. 1, art. 5, ad 4, RR–TT.

⁴⁰
Ibid. art. 5, UU.

⁴¹
This belief, common to the Beguins of southern France, originated with Olivi. See Gui,
Practica
5.4.5, p. 273. Dorothea of Montau’s confessor became extremely nervous when she made this slip, as did the visionary Christ
(John of Marienwerder,
Vita Dorotheae Montoviensis Magistri
Johannis Marienwerder
1.6, ed. Hans Westpfahl, Forschungen und Quellen zur Kirchenund Kulturgeschichte Ostdeutschlands, vol. 1 [Cologne and Graz:
Boïhlau, 1964], pp. 46–47).

⁴²
Holkot,
In quatuor libros
bk. 3, q. 1, art. 6, ad 5, UU.

⁴³
Ibid. art. 6, resolutio, VV.

⁴⁴
Oxford, Bodleian MS, 361, c. 8, fol. 487. It may be a stretch to call this work a medical treatise since it announces itself
as a work on female dress (
De ornamentis mulierum
, fol. 480). The pagination, however, is disturbed and the treatise interrupted by descriptions of various forms of madness.
The manuscript dates from the mid–fifteenth century.

⁴⁵
Denifle, nos. 1023, 1042; 2:485–86, 505–7. See Thijssen,
Censure and Heresy
, pp. 57–72; and William Courtenay, “The Registers of the University of Paris and the Statutes against Scientia Occiamica,”
Vivarium
1 (1991): 13–49, who raises the possibility of a lost statute. Academic heretics were generally disciplined by a commission
of theological masters of the university. In the fourteenth century, however, papal commissioners are introduced, tending
to increase the number of condemnations. See idem, “Inquiry and Inquisition,” pp. 174–77.

⁴⁶
Denifle, no. 1147, 2:610–14. A preliminary list of some sixty-three errors was narrowed down to forty-one (see Denifle’s
discussion on 2:613, which explains discrepancies in the numbering). This shorter list was included in the
Collectio errorum
, which was drawn up for the University of Paris. John wrote two defenses on his own behalf. See Thijssen,
Censure and Heresy
, pp. 82–83; also Genest, “Pierre de Ceffons,” pp. 197–99. Courtenay, however, sees John of Mire-court’s work as much more
mainstream than is traditionally thought, arguing that John was primarily being condemned for his
subtilitas
and
aporia
as opposed to any particular doctrine (“John of Mirecourt and Gregory of Rimini on ‘Whether God Can Undo the Past,’ ”
Recherches de th
è
ologie
ancienne et m
è
di
è
vale
39 [1972]: 173); cf. idem, “Erfurt CA 127 and the Censured Articles of Mirecourt and Autrecourt,” in
Die Bibliotheca Amploniana: Ihre Bedeutung im Spannungsfeld
von Aristotelismus, Nominalismus und Humanismus
, ed. Andreas Speer (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1995), pp. 341–45.

⁴⁷
Denifle, no. 1218, 3:21–23; esp. art. 6, p. 22. See Genest, “Pierre de Ceffons,” pp. 206–7.

⁴⁸
Peter d’Ailly,
Quaestiones magistri Petri de Alliaco Cardinalis cameracensis super primum
tertium et quartum sententiarum
bk. 1, q. 12, art. 3, dubitatio 3 (Paris: Jehan Petit, 1505?), fol. 190r.

⁴⁹
Peter d’Ailly,
Quaestio: Utrum conscientia erronea excusat a culpa
, in
Joannis Gersonii
opera omnia
, ed. L. Ellies du Pin (Antwerp: Sumptibus societatis, 1706), 1:640–41; cf. Holkot,
In quatuor libros
bk. 1, q. 1, art. 5, NN. Though prepared to grant that an erroneous conscience might win merit, Peter explicitly disagrees
with Robert Holkot’s view that an intellectual act is involuntary and thus morally neutral. Peter perceives heresy as voluntary,
sinful, and impossible to exculpate (
Quaestio: Utrum conscientia erronea
, in
Joannis Gersonii opera
, 1:639).

⁵⁰
Peter is certainly familiar with Robert Holkot, summarizing his chief points (
Quaestiones
. . . super primum tertium et quartum sententiarum
bk. 1, q. 12, art. 3, dubitatio 3, fol. 187r). But the article primarily refutes the opposing view of Gregory of Rimini (d.
1358) (fols. 187r–89v). Gregory resists the implications of God’s absolute power, maintaining that the deity cannot do anything
depraved, such as lie. He is impatient with the explanations “of certain modern doctors”—clearly referring to Robert Holkot
et al.—who make subtle distinctions between degrees of deception (
Gregorii Ariminensis OESA Lectura super primum et secundum Sententiarum
bk. 1, dist. 42–44, q. 2, art. 1, conclusio 1, ed. A. Damasus Trapp [Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1984], 3:392–94).

⁵¹
D’Ailly,
Quaestiones . . . super primum tertium et quartum sententiarum
bk. 1, q. 12, art. 3, fol. 183v.

⁵²
See Zénon Kaluza, “Gerson et les querelles doctrinales,” in
Les Querelles doctrinales a`
Paris: Nominalistes et R
è
alistes aux con
fi
ns du XIVe et du XVe sie`cles
(Bergamo: Pierluigi Lubrina, 1988), p. 44. Kaluza notes that a sophistical demon occurs in Gerson’s
Collectorium super
Magni
fi
cat
, rendering him something of a stock figure. Also see Kaluza, “Les écoles doctrinales,” ibid., pp. 13–14, and Courtenay, “Was
There an Ockhamist School?” pp. 263–64 and n. 4. Also see James Connolly,
Jean Gerson: Reformer and Mystic
(Louvain: Librairie Universitaire, 1928), pp. 71–89.

⁵³
See Gerson,
Oeuvres
, 2:26–28; trans. Brian McGuire,
Jean Gerson: Early Works
(New York: Paulist Press, 1998), pp. 172–75. Gerson had only just resumed the chancellorship, having temporarily resigned,
disgusted by the university’s corruption and fatigued by the odious responsibilities associated with the post. See his letter
of 1400, probably also addressed to Peter d’Ailly, in
Oeuvres
, 2:17–23; trans. McGuire, pp. 160–68. On this episode in Gerson’s life, see Palémon Glorieux, “La vie et les oeuvres de Gerson:
essai chronologique,” in
Archives d
’
histoire doctrinale et litte
è
raire du Moyen Age
25–26 (1950–51): 159–60; Connolly,
John Gerson
, pp. 79–90.

⁵⁴
Gerson,
Contra curiositatem studentium
, in
Oeuvres
, 3:230, 238. A large portion of the first part of this treatise has been translated by Steven Ozment in
Jean Gerson: Selections from
“
A
Deo exivit,
” “
Contra curiositatem studentium,
”
and
“
De mystica theologia speculativa
”
(Leiden: Brill, 1969).

⁵⁵
Gerson,
Contra curiositatem studentium
, in
Oeuvres
, 3:231.

⁵⁶
Ibid., p. 238.

⁵⁷
Ibid., p. 240.

⁵⁸
Bonaventure is upheld as a model for scrutinizing and unifying various opinions into an orthodox whole (ibid., p. 241; also
see his evocation of Bonaventure on pp. 231, 237). Gerson follows this up with a critique-cum-parody of what he presents as
the different theological schools (pp. 241–46). The kind of singularity they seek makes the faculty of theology comparable
to the tower of Babel, also riven by various languages (p. 248). According to Kaluza’s assessment, however, Gerson’s characterizations
tell us precious little about the actual doctrinal quarrels of his day (“Gerson et les querelles doctrinales,” pp. 62–63).

⁵⁹
Gerson,
De examinatione doctrinarum
, in
Oeuvres
, 9:474–75.

⁶⁰
Ibid., p. 475.

⁶¹
Gerson,
De signis bonis et malis
, in
Oeuvres
, 9:164.

⁶²
Sulpicius Severus,
Vie de Saint Martin
c. 24, ed. Jacques Fontaine,
SC
, no. 133 (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1967), 1:307–9; trans. Alexander Roberts,
The Life of Saint Martin
,
LNPNF
, vol. 11 (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Eerdman’s, 1964), p. 16.

⁶³
De apibus
2.57.39, pp. 566–67. Cf. the similar experience of Ermine of Reims, in which, however, the episode is stripped of all comedic
potential (Le Graveur,
Entre Dieu et Satan
, p. 68).

⁶⁴
De apibus
2.29.15, pp. 300–303; cf. James of Vitry’s exemplum no. 303 (
The Exempla or
Illustrative Stories from the Sermones Vulgares of Jacques de Vitry
, ed. Thomas Frederick Crane, Folk-Lore Society Publications, 26 [London: Folk-Lore Society, 1878; reprint, Nendeln: Liechten-stein,
1878], p. 127). On father-daughter incest in the Middle Ages, see Elizabeth Archibald,
Incest
and the Medieval Imagination
(Oxford: Clarendon, 2001), pp. 145–91.

⁶⁵
Fortunately, the Virgin Mary had predicted this diabolical visit ahead of time and warned the boy (
De apibus
2.55.2, pp. 532–34).

⁶⁶
Ibid. 2.57.61, pp. 585–87. Cf. the demonic role assigned to the Benedictine nun by Caesarius of Heisterbach, discussed in
Elliott,
Fallen Bodies
, pp. 31–33.

⁶⁷
De apibus
2.57.23, pp. 553–55. The brother had brought a consecrated host with him, which made the whole scenario vanish.

⁶⁸
Ibid. 2.30.42, p. 346; also see the story of the entire fake cr[egrave]che scene exposed by Conrad. For women taken in by
holy-seeming incubi, see Elliott,
Fallen Bodies
, p. 54.

⁶⁹
William of Auvergne,
De universo
pt. 2, 3, c. 24, in
Opera omnia
(Paris: A. Pralard, 1674; reprint, Frankfurt am Main: Minerva, 1963), 1:1066, 68. Cf. Dyan Elliott, “The Physiology of Rapture
and Female Spirituality,” in
Medieval Theology and the Natural Body
, ed. Peter Biller and Alastair Minnis (Woodbridge, Suffolk: York Medieval Press in association with Boydell and Brewer, 1997),
p. 157.

⁷⁰
See chap. 5, n. 50, above.

⁷¹
De apibus
2.57.47, p. 575.

⁷²
Ibid. 2.57.43, p. 569. But later, Jordan will have a slightly more successful encounter with the devil (2.57.46, pp. 570–74).
There are even instances of demoniacs themselves exercising discernment. Cf. the episode of the demoniac cleric burning a
heretic in chap. 2, p. 68, above.

⁷³
De apibus
2.42.2, pp. 413–14.

⁷⁴
Albert the Great,
Quaestio de raptu
art. 2.3,
Quaestiones
, in
Opera omnia
, ed. Bernhard Geyer (Aschendorff: Monasterium Westfalorum, 1993), 25,2:93. Albert ultimately argued that grace is intrinsic
to rapture. There was also the related widespread belief that the devil could physically raise individuals into a rapture
that was more like an abduction than a spiritual experience. See Elliott, “Physiology of Rapture,” pp. 150–51.

⁷⁵
William of Auvergne,
De universo
pt. 2, 2, c. 152, in
Opera
1:1003.