Ockham on the Virtues

CHAPTER ONE: Ockham's Life

CHAPTERI O N E Ockham's Life William of Ockham was born about 1287 near London in the village ofOckham, the county ofSurrey, and the diocese ofWinchester . His date of birth is calculated on the basis of information on his probable age when he was ordained a subdeacon and when he was licensed to hear confessions and first lectured on theology. In Ockham's day, subdeacons were ordained at eighteen; at thirty priests heard confessions for the first time and Franciscans lecturedon theology. Ockham became a subdeacon in 1306 and heard confessions in 1318;1 ifhe was eighteen in 1306 and thirty in 1318, he was born in late 1287 or early 1288. We date his birth in late 1287 because his first theology lectures appear to date from 1317 (OTh V, *14-18). Ockham probably entered the Franciscan school at London at his parents' direction as a puer oblatus at the age of seven or eight,2 like many ofhis confreres from families of modest means.3 Tradition indicates that Ockham became a professed Franciscan as a youth (probably at the age of fourteen or fifteen).4 He was ordained subdeacon, a step not taken before the age of eighteen, on 26 February 1306, the second Saturday in Lent, at Southwark Cathedral in the Diocese ofWinchester.5 After receiving instruction in grammar and elementary logic, Ockham studied philosophy for eight years and theology for seven years; he probably began his Oxford theological studies when he was twenty-three, in 1310. His lectures on Peter Lombard 's Sentences were delivered between 1317 and 1319 (OTh VII, *14-18); the earliest version ofthat commentary, called a reportatio ,6 need not have been given at Oxford.7 The revised version ofbook 1, Ockham's Scriptum commentary on the Sentences, was certainly prepared at Oxford; on 18 June 1318, Ockham was I 3 4 I INTRODUCTION an Oxford priest, as we know because he needed a license to hear confessions in the diocese of Lincoln.8 Ockham's introductory lecture on the Bible, On the Connection ofthe Virtues (De connexione virtutum), was probably given in the summer or fall of 1319. De compossibilitate actus virtuosi et intellectus erronei probably followed soon thereafter (OTh VIII, *21-23). In all likelihood Ockham remained at Oxford for two years after his introductory lecture on the Bible, since the additional residence was required for anyone wishing to incept in theology at Oxford.9 It is unlikely that Ockham remained in Oxford after 1321. Instead he was at the Franciscan Studium Generale in London with Walter Chatton and Adam de Wodeham.10 Most ofOckham's important philosophical works were produced in London, where he was a philosophy professor. In his London period, between 1321 and 1324, his output was prodigious: in addition to lectures on logic (OPh II, *13-22; OPh III, *13-14) and the Physics (OPh IV, *8-9), it includes his eucharistic treatises, De quantitate and De corpore Christi (OTh X, *23-27); and his most influential work (judging from the many manuscript copies that survive), the Summa logicae. His last theological work, the Quodlibets, was begun around 1322 in London and completed in Avignon around 1325; it includes a number ofpassages in which Ockham is replying to the papal commission at Avignon, which was investigating his works (OTh IX, *36-41). - Ockham was a very controversial philosophy professor. At Oxford, the Merton College master, Walter Burley, was an early and determined opponent. Ockham even encountered opposition among the Franciscans in London; Chatton attacked Ockham at every juncture. Wodeham tells us that Chatton's attacks were motivated by a contentious spirit, not by zeal for the truth. The atmosphere in this co~vent must have been poisonous: Ockham was not the only object of attack; Chatton's students accused him of heresy as well.ll Very likely, intrigue at London led to Ockham 's being called to justify his views at a provincial chapter meeting held in 1323.12 But Ockham's troubles were not confined to England. In 1323,13 John Lutterell, a former chancellor of Oxford University, received permission to travel to Avignon, where he brought complaints about Ockham's unorthodoxy to the attention of the papacy. Ockham traveled to Avignon to defend his views not long afterward , arriving sometime between January and May 1324. His departure appears to have interrupted the completion of his Physics commentary. Numerous references indicate that he planned a full commentary on book 8 (OTh IV, 236, 353...