Thomas Izbicki

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey | Rutgers · Libraries

Egidio da Viterbo, or Giles of Viterbo (d. 1527), was an Augustinian friar—eventually Prior General of his order, a theologian, reformer, and cardinal. His intellectual interests included not just theology but mythology and the Cabala. In the English-speaking world, Giles is best known for his 1507 oration before Pope Julius II, expressing hope tha...

With this volume the Repertorium poenitentiariae Germanicum fully enters the sixteenth century. Following the death of Alexander VI (Borgia) on August 18, 1503, the College of Cardinals elected Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini, a nephew of Pope Pius II. He reigned for mere days, from election on September 22 to his death on October 18, 1503. The ca...

The Great Western Schism (1378–1417) began with disputed papal elections but soon erupted into pamphlet warfare. Urban VI (1378-1389), the Roman claimant, secured support from the jurists Baldus de Ubaldis and Giovanni da Legnano. An early reply on behalf of Clement VII (1378–94), the Avignon claimant, was written by Jean Le Fèvre, a Benedictine wi...

Repertorium Poenitentiariae Germanicum. Verzeichnis der in den Supplikenregistem der Pönitentiarie vorkommenden Personen, Kirchen und Orte des Deutschen Reiches. VIII. Alexanders VI. 1492–1503. 2 vols. Edited by LudwigSchmugge and AlessandraMosciatti; index volume by Hildegard Schneider-Schmugge and Ludwig Schmugge. (Deutsche Historische Institut i...

Some fifty years ago Gerhart Ladner opened a new line of research in medieval history with his “Idea of Reform,” which was intended to be a multivolume study, but the only one completed was on the early-medieval world. Now after much research and questioning by many scholars, this collection looks at Ladner’s insights and his impact. How valid was...

Juan de Torquemada und Thomas de Vio Cajetan: Zwei Protagonisten der päpstlichen Gewaltenfülle. By Ulrich Horst. [Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte des Dominikanerordens, Neue Folge, Band 19.] (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2012. Pp. ix, 195. €69,80. ISBN 978-3-05-005902-0.) Ulrich Horst has given us, over the years, several studies of Dominican th...

When Lodovico Pontano died in Basel in 1439, he was little more than thirty years old. Despite his comparative youth, Pontano was a trained jurist who had taught at universities, served in the Roman Curia, and represented King Alphonso V of Aragon at the Council of Basel (1431-49). Pontanto emerges from this study as a talented young man whose serv...

In 1459, while Pope Pius II was out of Rome, Nicholas of Cusa servedas governor of the city and attempted reform of the clergy of the city. Thesermons for his reform synod and visitations emphasize Christiformitas,conformity to Christ. No individual could attain Christ’s perfection. However,the Christian could conform more closely to Christ, attain...

Although the Holy Roman Empire did not rule Europe, ideas of Roman supremacy remained alive in the 15th century. This proved controversial in other lands. One controversy over Roman hegemony pitted two Castilian prelates against one another. Rodrigo Sanchez de Arevalo attacked the legitimacy of the Empire, but Cardinal Juan de Torquemada defended i...

Barbara Baldi’s book is a close and long-needed look at the pontificate of the Piccolomini pope Pius II (1458–64) in terms of its political issues. The book begins by examining Pius’s viewpoint on Europe. Europe appears as a cultural, not just a geographic or political entity. Furthermore, the pope is described, even before Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomi...

Le Concile de Pise. Qui travaillait à l'union de l’église d'occident en 1409? By MilletHélène. (Ecclesia militans. Histoire des hommes et des institutions de l'Èglise au Moyen Âge.) Pp. 443. Turnhout: Brepols, 2010. €60.00 (paper). 978 2 503 53198 4 - Volume 63 Issue 1 - Thomas M. Izbicki

Conciliarism was rooted in church tradition, which valued the great councils of Antiquity as defenders of true doctrine. It became a movement in reaction to the Great Western Schism (1378–1417). Theologians like Peter of Ailly and John Gerson, as well as canonists like Francesco Zabarella, argued for a general council to resolve the schism. Eventua...

Nicholas of Cusa produced, in De concordantia catholica, a synthesis of medieval ideas on hierarchy, representation, consent, and reform. He later gave up support for the Council of Basel (1431–1449) for loyalty to the pope, but without abandoning his interest in reform. His unique metaphysical ideas, especially “learned ignorance,” were developed...

Jacques Almain was one of the most prominent exponents of Conciliarism in the early sixteenth century. He studied the arts and theology at the University of Paris, receiving his doctorate in 1512. Almain wrote extensively on issues of philosophy and ethics. When the Council of Pisa met in 1512, it tried to depose Pope Julius II (1503–1513). When Ca...

John Torquemada (1388–1468) was the leading papal apologist of the mid-fifteenth century. Torquemada, a Dominican friar trained as a Thomist, attended the Council of Basel (1431–1449) to represent his order and the king of Castile. There he became concerned that conciliarism would harm the church, the papacy, and his order. He became the pope’s def...

The Church, the Councils, and Reform brings together leading authorities in the field of Church history to reflect on the importance of the late medieval councils. This is the first book in English to consider the lasting significance of the period from Constance to Trent (1414-1563) when several councils met to heal the Great Schism (1378) and ref...

The Dijon host presents a somewhat unusual version of a motif common to the Middle Ages, the unholy violence of enemies, usually Jews or witches, provoking a manifestation of holiness from the Eucharist bread. Bleeding hosts were first mentioned in the late 13th century. Although not the earliest blood relics, they were the most typical of their ti...

This is the written record of a conference on the Emperor Constantine the Great (r. 306–37). It is concerned more with the Constantine of legend than the historical emperor, best known for extending toleration to Christianity and calling the First Council of Nicaea (325 AD). In most of these studies the supposed baptism of the emperor by Pope Sylve...

Pope Innocent VIII (1484–92) is one of the less noted Roman pontiffs of the pre-Reformation era. Reigning after Sixtus IV (della Rovere), the founder of the Sistine Chapel, and before the Borgia pope Alexander VI, Innocent is best known for supporting witch hunting in Germany and the heresy hunting of the Spanish Inquisition. Throughout his pontifi...

The Sienese humanist Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini spent his later life, including his pontificate as Pope Pius II (1458-1464), explaining away the errors of his youth. He had, as a young cleric, adhered to the Council of Basel (1431-1449) and its antipope, Felix V. Aeneas self-consciously changed his interpretation of Felix, the former Duke Amadeus V...

-

German relations with the Roman Curia in the fifteenth century most often are considered in terms of proposals for reform of the Church in "head and members" together with the related issue of papal versus conciliar power. These issues are political, large scale, and easy to document. Other approaches, however, are possible. The German community in...

Students of the thought of Nicholas of Cusa (1401–64) know that he used the Greek term theosis and identified it with the Latin filiatio, becoming a "son." Nancy Hudson has given us in this volume a thoughtful, well-written study of what Cusanus meant by the term and how this enters into his thought on God and humanity. The book covers the Greek ba...

For many years Ulrich Horst has published enlightening studies of historical ecclesiology. We are fortunate that he delivered the 2002 Conway Lectures in Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame and that they have been published in English. Like all public lectures, these are brief, depending on cross references and annotations to address r...

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Bereits im 15.Jahrhundert lehnten die Dominikaner die Lehre von der Unbefleckten Empfängnis entschieden ab. Als das Konzil von Basel (1431-1449) versuchte, diese Lehre zu verkünden, nahm der dominikanische Widerstand zu. Die Position der Dominikaner wurde jedoch untergraben, als Papst Sixtus IV. (1471-1484) sich in mehreren Dekreten...

Reading Cusanus. Metaphor and dialectic in a conjectural universe. By Clyde Lee Miller. (Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy, 37.) Pp. ix+276. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2003(2). $64.95. 0 8132 1098 4 - - Volume 55 Issue 1 - THOMAS M. IZBICKI

MLN 119.1 Supplement (2004) S142-S161 Some time in 1439, on an unspecified date, a Bolognese tailor was denied absolution by a Franciscan Observant because he made clothing that seemed vain and sinful to his confessor. This must have sat badly with the tailor or troubled the friars themselves. Eventually the guardian of the convent at San Paolo in...

The Catholic Historical Review 90.3 (2004) 535-536 In this book Robert Gramsch focuses on the University of Erfurt as a nexus in professional careers. This does not occur in a vacuum. Gramsch looks at the larger university scene, especially the University of Cologne, to give the book a comparative dimension. Moreover, he looks at the connections of...

The Catholic Historical Review 88.1 (2002) 116 Recent study of the medieval West has emphasized, in the words of Robert I. Moore's title, The Formation of a Persecuting Society. Cary Nederman has undertaken the bold effort of arguing for a greater degree of toleration in medieval thought than might be expected. His examination of this theme is brie...

The Catholic Historical Review 86.3 (2000) 502-503 Francis Oakley writes with both learning and commitment. He refuses, moreover, to be confined within tightly-drawn boundaries of chronology or methodology. This collection encompasses reflections on both the spiritual and temporal powers, and it crosses the artificial boundary between the Middle Ag...

Beyond the written word. Preaching and theology in the Florence of Archbishop Antoninus, 1427–1459. By Peter Francis Howard. (Istituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento. Quaderni di ‘Rinascimento’, 28.) Pp. xi+299. Florence: Olschki, 1995. L. 60,000. 88 222 4378 1; 0394 4387 - - Volume 49 Issue 2 - Thomas M. Izbicki

In late 1433, after two years of intrigue and negotiations, Pope Eugenius IV agreed to acknowledge the legitimate existence of the Council of Basel. The recently crowned Emperor Sigismund had gone to Basel, and numberous clerics, including many cardinals, had abandoned the curia for the council. An obstreperous duke of Milan threatened the papal st...

The Council of Constance has presented a problem to propapal historians since its close. On the one hand, the council ended the Great Western Schism, establishing an accepted line of popes while condemning doctrinal errors attributed to John Wyclille and John Hus. On the other hand, its decrees, llaec Santa and Freqnens , issued to safeguard the wo...

At his trial Socrates described himself as attached to Athens “as a gadfly to a horse.” In Sixteenth Century Spain the Order of Preachers played a similar role. Dominican friars freely criticized royal officials, conquistadors and fellow churchmen. At times their meddling in affairs of state drew down on them the wrath of the authorities. Charles V...

Thomas M. Izbicki, Johns Hopkins University

Thomas M. Izbicki, Johns Hopkins University

Thomas Izbicki, Archibald S. Alexander Library Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, tizbicki@rci.rutgers.edu

Thomas Izbicki, Eisenhower Library, John Hopkins University, izbicki@jhu.edu

Thomas Izbicki, Johns Hopkins University, izbicki@jhu.edu

Thomas Izbicki, Johns Hopkins University, izbicki@jhu.edu

Thomas Izbicki, Johns Hopkins University, izbicki@jhu.edu

Thomas M. Izbicki, Johns Hopkins University, izbicki@jhu.edu