Principia on the Sentences in the Faculty of Theology of Bologna: The Case of Augustinus Favaroni of Rome, OESA (†1443)

The Faculty of Theology of Bologna, founded in 1364, presents a paradox when we investigate its custom of performing principia on the Sentences prior to 1400. Although we are fortunate to have from Bologna the most complete surviving documentation concerning the organization of a medieval theology faculty, only two complete sets of principia have been identified so far from the matricula of 450 known scholastics. The situation hinders any comparative investigation that intends to test how what is depicted in the statutes is reflected in practice. The two surviving sets of principia from Bologna are those of the Cistercian Conrad of Ebrach, from 1368–1369, and the Augustinian Augustinus Favaroni of Rome, dating to 1388–1389. This study uses Augustinus Favaroni's principia to illustrate how this academic exercise functioned at the University of Bologna. It begins with a biographical sketch of Augustinus Favaroni of Rome followed by a short description of the principia as mirrored in the statutes of Bologna. It continues with a brief summary of each of the four principia of Favaroni reporting the philosophical and theological topics developed in his text, with an emphasis on the debates in which he engaged to defend his theses, and concludes with an appendix containing an edition of the four principia.