William of Ockham Died "impenitent" in April 1347

WILLIAM OF OCKHAM DIED "IMPENITENT" IN APRIL 1347 Lucas Wadding, in his Annales Minorum, ad annum 1347, begins his account of Ockham's death by stating categorically that the Venerable Inceptor was still alive in 1349 and that the date, April 10, 1347, engraved on his epitaph in the choir of the Munich Franciscans, is therefore certainly false.1 As proof of this statement, he publishes the letter of June 8, 1349, Petitio pro parte tua, in which Clement VI authorized the Minister General of the Friars Minor to absolve WilUam of England from all the censures. According to Petitio pro parte tua, WLUiam had sent back the ancient seal of the Order to the newly elected General at the Chapter of Verona (June 1348). He and the other friars still in Munich, who previously supported Michael of Cesena and Louis of Bavaria, were now willing to submit themselves to the authority of the Pope.2 Konrad Eubel, who pubUshed Clement's letter of June 8, 1349, in the Bullarium Franciscanum,3 also took for granted that the "Guilelmus de Anglia," mentioned in the Petitio pro parte tua four times, was to be identified with WilUam of Ockham. Both in the summary of the letter and in the footnotes, he told his readers as much. As we shall see, both L. Wadding and K. Eubel were wrong, and they misled a host of scholars who accepted their unwarranted conclusion. I became suspicious of the identifications of Guilelmus de Anglia with Guillelmus de Ockham when I realized that in no other papal document concerning William of Ockham is he called "Guillelmus de Anglia." The name Ockham, in one form or another, is always mentioned when Guillelmus de Ockham is meant. Specifically in the 9 references to Ockham in the Bullarium Franciscanum volume V, we read: 1 L. Wadding, Annales Minorum, ad an. 1347, n. 19, vol. VIII (Quaracchi 193a), p. 12. 2 Ibidem, n. 22, pp. 14s. 8 C. Eubel, Bullarium Franciscanum, vol. VI, n. 508a (Rome 1902), p. 230s. William of Ockham Died "impenitent" in April 134791 n.711, p.346Guillelmus Okam n.714, p.348quidam Anglicus vocatus Guilelmus Occham n.714, p.349quidam Anglicus vocatus Guilelmus Okam n.817, p.351Guilelmum Okam Anglicum n.783, p.380Guilelmum Okam n.784, p.380quidam Anglicus vocatus Guilelmus Okam n.850, p.465Guilelmus Okam Anglicus n.876, note 5 Guillelmum quoque Okam Anglicum n.892, p.486Guilelmum Okam If he was called by a precise name every time he was condemned, why would the very vague designation "de Anglia" be used when he was about to be absolved? "Guilelmus" was, after "Ioannes," the most common Christian name in England.4 When I expressed my doubts concerning the identification of "Guilelmus de Anglia" with "Guilelmus Okam," Cesare Cenci, the present editor of the Bullarium Franciscanum kindly and patiently searched the Registrum Supplicationum for the petition to which Clement VI was replying in Petitio pro parte tua. Clement VI's letter of June 8, 1349, Petitio pro parte tua was a reply to the Franciscan Minister General, William Farinier, who was elected at the General Chapter of Verona in June of 1348. Farinier's petition is unedited, and since Cenci cannot take time from his exacting labors to publish this important document from the Registrum Supplicationum, vol. 20, fol. 23r, of the Archivio Segreto Vaticano, I am publishing it here from the excellent copy Cenci kindly provided. Punctuation and capitalization are mine. Item, supplicat eidem sanctitati dictus generalis minister cum generali capitulo universo quod cum [quamvis sed cane] aliqui, quamvis paucissimi, fratres remanserint in Monacho qui Michaeli et Bavaro obediverunt sintque parati vestris et Ecclesiae mandatis humiliter obedire, quod reservata penitentia possint reconciliari et ab omnibus penis quas incurrerunt absolví, cum ad Curiam acceder é commode non possint; et specialiter irater Guillelmus de Anglia, s o c i u s fratris Guillelmi Ocham, qui humiliter sigillum antiquum Ordinis remisit et instanter petit absolví. - Possit fieri per ipsum generalem infra annum. .R. 4 A. B. Emden published an "Index of Christian names of Magistri (to A. D. 1400 only)." There "John" occupies 3 columns and "William" two, with not less than 412 Magistri who were called...