Conciliar Movement Flashcards
What did Watanabe argue about the nature of the decree of the Council of Constance?
“Probably the most revolutionary official document in the history of the world is the decree of the Council of Constance asserting its superiority to the Pope”
What did Nicholas de Cusa assert concerning the General Council?
The surest and the truest approximation to the truth, the rock of the church, is the General Council, which represents the Universal Church less confusedly and more truthfully, and whose judgement is always more infallible than the Pope’s alone
Who did Nicholas de Cusa point to as authorities for his assertions?
Cusa points to Liberius, Honorius (Popes) who had erred in the past - evidence of human fallacy impacting the Pope, therefore encroaching on infallibility.
What does Thompson argue about the secular use of of conciliarism in France?
It was wielded as a weapon - kings regularly threatened a council in their struggles with the Papacy - consequently, conciliarism developed a strongly Gallican character
What was damaging to the intellectual integrity of the Council of Basel?
It refused to accomodate the Greeks, costing it strong intellects.
What was the Babylonian Capitivity of the Church?
1309-1377.
The beginning of the “Babylonian Captivity of the Church.” For 70 years the papacy was in Avignon and under the thumb of the King of France. The papacy was pro-France, and Britain was at war with France
Thompson: What was the dominant mode of thought in the Council of Constance?
The dominant mode of thought was that restoring unity in the church, with some reform, was the objective of the Council. Whilst some may have believed in the claims to supremacy of the General Council, these were in a minority.
When was the council of constance?
The Council of Constance is the 15th century ecumenical council recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, held from 1414 to 1418. The council ended the Western Schism, by deposing or accepting the resignation of the remaining papal claimants and electing Pope Martin V.
What was the conciliar movement?
- A Church movement centred on the three general councils of Pisa (1409), Constance (1414–18), and Basle (1431–49).
- Original purpose was to heal the papal schism caused by there being two, and later three, popes.
- The movement was successful, deposing or accepting the resignation of the popes concerned.
- It declared the superiority of a general council of the Church over the papacy, formulated in the decree Haec Sancta (sometimes called Sacrosancta) of 1415, and tried to make general councils a regular feature of the Western Church.
- It also dealt with various heresies, the council of Constance burning John Huss and condemning John Wyclif in 1415, and it initiated some reforms.
- The movement, in so far as it challenged papal authority, was eventually defeated by the papacy, but its long-term influence upon Christian Churches was considerable.
Who was Cesarini?
Cesarini was President of the Council of Basel, in which capacity he successfully resisted the efforts of Eugenius IV to dissolve the council, though later (1437) he withdrew, believing the majority of delegates present were more anxious to humiliate the pope than to accomplish reforms, for his first loyalty was to the idea of church unity.
What did Cesarini want, and why did he differ in approach to his colleagues?
Cesarini essentially wanted reform, but thought this could only come through discussion, rather than extreme doctrine.
Who wanted to more violently curb the power of the Pope during the council of Basel?
Caridnal of Aries, Louis d’Allemand - who had behind him the university of Paris and the French clergy behind him
Why did Basle fall apart?
People regularly ignored Cesarini - the French were set in demanding the next council to be held at Avignon, whilst Italian factoins were in favour of Florence or Udine - it had descended into secular national conflict
The Great Schism: What caused it?
- Gregory XI died within a year of returning to Rome, resulting in the election of Urban VI. Urban VI alienated his own court, and attempted to introduce an influx of Italian cardinals in order to outnumber the French, who dominated.
- College of Cardinals met in Avignon and voted for a new Pope - Clement VII - who resided there.
- In 1409, the Council of Pisa voted for the election of a new Pope, Alexander V, who was to be legitimate, though Benedict XIII of Avignon and Gregory XII of Rome, refused to accept the council’s decision.
Who followed Alexander V?
John XXIII
Who instigated the General Council of 1414?
Emperor Sigismund of Germany. He agreed to protect John XXIII only on condition that he agree to another general council.
Sigismund managed to assemble that council in 1414. They, like the previous council, rejected all the current popes, and they elected Pope Martin V.
Morrall: What does Gerson argue about the nature of Papal dominion?
Dominion is not absolute - would be lawful to oppose the Pope if he attempted unlawful aggression against the lives or proprty of the faithful
Who does Gerson channel in his works?
William of Ockham - evolving to argue that Gerson ensures to define the difference between dominium and potestas.
Morrall: What did Gerson suggest about the convention of the General Council, and what implications did this have about his understanding of the affair?
Only a Pope could convene a General Council, suggesting that Gerson did not desire a unilateral overhaul of the position
What is at the core of Gerson’s ecclesiology?
Conception of church as body incomplete without essential parts of constitution is at forefront of Gerson’s ecclesiology
What did Gerson do with the theme of the humility of the Incarnate Christ?
Taking as his theme the humility of the Incarnate Christ, as shown by His submission to the precepts of the Jewish Law, Gerson contrasts it with the worldly pomp and pride of many highly placed ecclesiastics
Why was Gerson particularly potent?
He attacked the entire ecclesiastical system. He attacked the excessive use of ecclesiastical censures and comments sharply on the Curia’s tendency to monopolize appointment to benefices.
What did Gerson do in 1409?
1409- Council of Pisa - Gerson breaches own beliefs on papal supremacy over church
Gerson provided 10 reasons for calling a GC without permission beyond heresy - “recourse to Epikeia and the purpose of law, which is peace” et al.
What did De Unitate Ecclesiastica advocate?
“the church has no less right to take extraordinary measures in its own defence than has any secular body - basis therefore not canon law, but divine and natural law”
Who was an early conciliarist?
D’Ailly - Attempted to graft onto the trunk of conciliarism the ideas deriving from the older oligarchic tradition of the Roman Curia.
What did Zabarella’s work do?
Outlined the model of a corporatist structured church
What did Figgis assert about the nature of the conciliar theorem, post-use?
It was Figgis’s great insight to see that the ideas of the fifteenth century conciliarists did not die away altogether, that they had a continuing afterlife in writings on secular constitutional theory. The conciliarists, he wrote, had formulated universal principles of politics that could be applied to any society.
What is D’Ailly often connoted with?
Strict conciliar theory
What were the ambitions of conciliarism?
- Demand for reform of the ‘head and members’ of the church, through periodic assemblies of councils
- Papacy should not be related to a nation or kingdom
- Prevention of bishops being under age/ too close to secular affairs
What was the outcome of the Council of Constance?
Outcome of Constance - Sacrosancta, which asserted that general councils, acting alone, are superior in authority to the pope, and Frequens, which provided for the assembly of such councils at frequent and regular intervals
What is the core of Figgis’ argument? (Figgis was a constitutionalist)
At its heart lay the belief that the pope was not an absolute monarch but rather in some sense a constitutional ruler
How did conciliar theory intersect with time
- Conciliar theory drew from the intellectual heritage of earlier constitutional developments.
- The later 16th and 17th century constitutional theorists would invoke conciliarism as an influential authority on certain matters.
What does Walter Ullmann argue about conciliar theory?
Conciliar theory, far from being a reaction against canonist views or a profane importation onto ecclesiastical soil, was in fact the logical outgrowth of certain strands of canonist thought itself, the outcome of the attempts of generations of canonists to rationalize the structure both of the individual churches and of the Universal Church.
What does Oakley contest about the nature of the conciliarist writers?
They did not turn to guidance to the customs of France or England, but rather, to the common law of the Universal Church
When did varying numbers of popes claim to be pope?
- 1378 - 2 people claimed to be Pope
- 1409 - 3 claimed to be Pope
What is Canning’s warning about conciliarism as a thing?
- might be more conservative than it looks
Why might it be considered conservative in nature?
- All worked on basic idea that the Clergy were superior to the Leity - not democratic
- Not Protestants before their time - were not trying to get rid of the Papacy
- Not to get rid of Pope, to control him
- Brian Tierney - Constitutional monarchy was the desire
- Alternative before the reformation
What are the key texts of the Bible which confer papal authority?
Matthew 16:18-19 - Upon this rock…
Matthew 18:15-20 - Power binding and loosening - given to Peter, not the disciples
Name some other important Biblical texts?
John 21:15-17 - feed my sheep
Luke 22-32 - prayer for Peter
What evidence of prior councils exist in antiquity?
Origins from early days of Christianity - Council of Jerusalem
Four Ecumenicals of antiquity (Ecumene - the world)
When was the last substantial Council prior to Constance?
Well, excluding Pisa! The Fourth Lateran Council, 1215 (Innocent III)
How did Baldus attempt to defend Urban VI?
Baldus, revered Lawyer - CoC, like soldiers, meant to be brave - election in fear not possible
What are the basic premises of the pro-papal and pro-conciliar positons?
Pro-Papal
- Whole body of the church committed to St Peter
Pro-Conciliar
- Congregatio fidelium - authority lies with the whole body of the faithful
- All baptised - represented by a GC of the church
- Represents the body of the faith - millions cannot assemble in one place
- If necessary - can depose a Pope
- Does not remove the concept of Papal power, just affirms Pope’s ability to be checked
- Popes’ very wary of concept
- Pope’s power would therefore rest on consent
- Pope’s role of service promoted
What does Brian Tierney suggest about the idea of conciliar movement?
- Origins of the conciliar idea lay in canon law - looked at the law which concerns corporate body
- Diocese are corporate bodies
- If you analyse canon law (13th/14th C) - about the popes power
- Old canon law - supports councils
How could a Pope be deposed?
The heretical Pope - important concept - 15th C. Popes will be accused of heresy
What did Ockham argue about the Pope?
Perfectly true that the Pope should be brought to account - William of Ockham
Why was Ockham not a direct source of conciliar ideas?
- Ockham was not a source of conciliar ideas - felt the GC was fallible
- GCs can be full of mad people
- Nominalist - reality only happens in individuals, not groups, or bodies
What do the works of Marsilius suggest about the nature of the Church?
A Spiritual body - mystical
What did Henry of Langenstein and Pierre d’Ailly invoke to call Pisa?
The principle of Epikeia - hardship cannot violate natural law
How was John XXIII deposed?
Moral grounds
What did Frequens decree?
Meeting of the council every 10 years, indefinitely
What happened during the Basel convention?
Hussite revolution blew up
How was Basel structured?
- Not organised into nations, like Constance had been
- Organised into deputations/ commissions
- Form, faith, peace and common matters
What did the Hussites do in the 1430s?
Took nation of Bohemia out of obedience from Rome
Why did Conciliarism fail?
- Momentum left the movement when the great schism was solved - moment in the sun was the schism
- Failed to reform church as a whole, aimed at the Papacy. Lots of other issues - moral reforms etc.
- Esp. with Martin V at Constance - Bishoprics issued diminished interests
- Secular rulers abandoning conciliarism
- True that a really radical movement would have got rid of the nature of the Papal office, but it was not trying to remove the Pope
- Supporting the Pope - downfall
- Not popular - not grassroots movement - sort of an academic elite organisation
- Conciliar movement - argument was a conservative argument
When did the movement end, symbolically?
- Symbolic end (1460) - Pius II issued a decree - Execrabilis - forbidding future councils
Does the exist any connection to the reformation?
- Reformation has to be seen in context of conciliarism
- Shows in the late medieval period -nature and government of church - good, movement - failed
Hussite Revolt: Why should Hus be seen as different to the Hussites?
- Hus should be seen as different to Hussites
- Hussites more radical
- Umbrella of revolt
- Social and religion revolutions
- Society, church, primitive, communistic christianity
- Similar to the ideas of the peasants revolt of 1381
What did Wycliffe advocate?
About the eucharist
- Transubstantiation - Bread and Wine - body of Christ
- If in moral sin, can’t consecrate a eucharist
- Distinguish between the office and the man
- Secret sinner argument
- Lay power - undermining hierarchy of the church Hus- academic
- Executed because of his academic mind
What did Hus believe?
- Hus - Papacy had no authority - the rock line was personal to Peter
- Rock = Jesus
- Constance did not want to remove Papacy - only limit and control
What happened as a result of the burning of Hus?
- Effect of Condemnation and Burning of Hus - explosive
- Czech Rejected
- 452 nobles - seals on letter to Constance to say hus was wrongly burned
- Multifarious - social, political and religious revolt
Which three authors suggest that the conciliar movement’s legacy extended beyond the termination of Basel in 1449?
- Francis Oakley claims to see it in the Fifth Lateran Council
- Hubert Jedin believes that it empowered the institution of the state
- and Walter Ullmann proposes that it contributed to national sentiment.
What did Martin V fail to provide a clear definition on?
The events of the Council of Constance between 1414 and 1418 should, in the aftermath, have demanded a clear definition of the legality of a papal deposition by a General Council. However, Martin V was able to avoid providing such a definition, and so kept the relationship between pope and council in doubt, to the benefit of Rome.
When was Haec Sancta passed?
1415.
How could Haec Sancta be dismantled, esp. by Torquemada?
Torquemada declared that Constance could be divided into three phases, with only the last phase being a true convention of the general council. The passage of Haec Sancta, in 1415, was thus not done by a true General Council.
- Oration synodalis de primatu
How did the Archbishop of Spalatro, papal orator of Basel, attack Haec Sancta?
He suggested that Haec Sancta was a specific dispensation to a specific issue, and thus could not be invoked repeatedly.
How else did Papalists discredit the conciliar movement?
Papalists successfully discredited conciliarist thought by eliding its tenets with the heresies of Wyclif. They attributed to Wyclif the belief that “the pope is not the vicar immediate of Christ”, a proposition that a conciliarist was bound to accept at least with reservations.
what did Torquemada and Poggio Bracciolini do in order to bolster the papal claim?
Anthony Black argues Torquemada and Bracciolini developed a new justification for papal monarchy whose assertion of the sovereignty of the pope was cunningly designed to appeal to kings
What did the deposition of Eugenius bring about?
Conciliarism thus declined as soon as it ceased to facilitate this unity, in particular with Basel’s deposition of Eugenius in 1438 which drove away figures like Nicholas of Cusa.
What was a more straightforward argument for the failure of Basel?
For some, more straightforwardly, conciliarism simply became too radical. In general, the programme at Constance had been fairly mild, presenting General Councils not as a permanent decision-making body but as a last resort in a moment of crisis. Those who believed in a moderate form of conciliar superiority, generally held to apply to matters of heresy, schism, and Church reform, such as Cardinal Cesarini, were made uneasy by Basel’s insistence on its own autonomy and sole right to assemble and to dissolve itself; when the Council deposed Eugenius without due cause, they had no choice but to defect to the papalists
What evidence was there for the later appeal of the use of the General Council?
Girolamo Savonarola was another committed papalist who nonetheless considered calling for a General Council in 1498 to hold Alexander VI to account on grounds of heresy
What was characteristically moderate about some of the proposals of Nicholas of Cusa and Andrew of Escobar?
Nicholas of Cusa and Andrew of Escobar, both of whom had expounded conciliar superiority, to defect to the papal side and, once there, still to make a case for a General Council as a check on papal power.
What is important to note about papal hiertocratic doctrine?
Papal hierocratic doctrine contained a form of corporatism in the shape of the corpus papae, of which every Christian was a member;[1] conciliarism was probably not conceived, therefore, as a radical discontinuity so much as a minor adjustment to extant practice
[1] Wilks, p.462
Who had Basel alienated, though they once supported Constance?
The religious orders were attracted to conciliarism less because of its intellectual appeal than as a method of suppressing heresy, especially following the success of the Council of Constance in doing so
What mired the conciliar project?
The programme of reform presented at Constance became mired in conflicts between kingdoms, and between kingdoms and cardinals, prompting one delegate to opine that “it suffices that one nation wants a reform for another to refuse it.”
How did John of Segovia change his position during the council of Basel?
At first he endeavoured to mitigate the conflict between the council and Pope Eugene IV, with whom he spent some time at Florence in 1435, but afterwards he became one of the chief supporters of the revolutionary party at the council
What happened in 1438?
When the Council was moved from Basel to Ferrara in 1438, some remained at Basel, claiming to be the Council. They elected Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy, as Antipope. Driven out of Basel in 1448, they moved to Lausanne, where Felix V, the pope they had elected and the only claimant to the papal throne who ever took the oath that they had prescribed, resigned. The next year, they decreed the closure of what for them was still the Council of Basel
What success did the council of Basel have?
The Council had meanwhile successfully negotiated reunification with several Eastern Churches, reaching agreements on such matters as the Western insertion of the phrase “Filioque” to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, the definition and number of the sacraments, and the doctrine of Purgatory
Martin Luther
What did Luther reject from Roman Catholic doctrine?
Luther came to reject several teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. He strongly disputed the Catholic view on indulgences as he understood it to be, that freedom from God’s punishment for sin could be purchased with money. Luther proposed an academic discussion of the practice and efficacy of indulgences in his Ninety-five Theses of 1517. His refusal to renounce all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the Pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the Emperor.
Martin Luther
When did Luther formulate his doctrines, what did they extol?
From 1510 to 1520, Luther lectured on the Psalms, and on the books of Hebrews, Romans, and Galatians. As he studied these portions of the Bible, he came to view the use of terms such as penance and righteousness by the Catholic Church in new ways. He became convinced that the church was corrupt in its ways and had lost sight of what he saw as several of the central truths of Christianity. The most important for Luther was the doctrine of justification – God’s act of declaring a sinner righteous – by faith alone through God’s grace. He began to teach that salvation or redemption is a gift of God’s grace, attainable only through faith in Jesus as the Messiah
What new conditions faced the papacy after the great schism?
- Growth in confidence of secular rulers to control their territorial churches
- Pope chose to accomodate jurisdictional overreach of national leaders, contributing to the growth of absolutism
- Brittany, Aragon-Sicily, Burgundy greatly enhanced their authority and power by means of papal privileges which were incorporated into the concordants negotiated in the 1440s - at the time the Pope was facing off against Basel.
How did the concordats of 1418 differ from the concordats of the 1440s?
The papacy deliberately bypassed the major clergy in order to seek an accommodation directly with secular princes.
Name a significant conciliarist who departed the council of Basel on the command of his lord, who had struck a deal with Eugenius IV
Panormitanus - Panormitanus promptly left Basel when his prince, Alfonso of Aragon, ordered his prelates to leave the council, having struck a beneficial deal with Eugenius in 1443
What is it that the Lollards found erroneous in Roman Catholicism?
The Twelve Conclusions reveal certain basic Lollard ideas. The first Conclusion rejects the acquisition of temporal wealth by Church leaders as accumulating wealth leads them away from religious concerns and toward greed. The fourth Conclusion deals with the Lollard view that the Sacrament of Eucharist is a contradictory topic that is not clearly defined in the Bible. Whether the bread remains bread or becomes the literal body of Christ is not specified uniformly in the gospels. The sixth Conclusion states that officials of the Church should not concern themselves with secular matters when they hold a position of power within the Church because this constitutes a conflict of interest between matters of the spirit and matters of the State. The eighth Conclusion points out the ludicrousness, in the minds of Lollards, of the reverence that is directed toward images of Christ’s suffering. “If the cross of Christ, the nails, spear, and crown of thorns are to be honoured, then why not honour Judas’s lips, if only they could be found?”
According to Lollards, how had the church been corrupted?
The Lollards stated that the Catholic Church had been corrupted by temporal matters and that its claim to be the true church was not justified by its heredity. Part of this corruption involved prayers for the dead and chantries. These were seen as corrupt since they distracted priests from other work and that all should be prayed for equally. Lollards also had a tendency toward iconoclasm. Expensive church artwork was seen as an excess; they believed effort should be placed on helping the needy and preaching rather than working on expensive decorations. Icons were also seen as dangerous since many seemed to be worshiping the icons more than God.
What was the Lollard position towards the clergy?
Believing in a universal priesthood, the Lollards challenged the Church’s authority to invest or deny the divine authority to make a man a priest. Denying any special status to the priesthood, Lollards thought confession to a priest was unnecessary since according to them priests did not have the ability to forgive sins. Lollards challenged the practice of clerical celibacy and believed priests should not hold government positions as such temporal matters would likely interfere with their spiritual mission.
What did Hus attack?
Hus attacked the Church by denouncing the moral failings of clergy, bishops, and even the papacy from his pulpit.
Hus greatly opposed indulgences. What were they?
an indulgence is “a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins”. It may reduce the temporal punishment after death, in the state or process of purification called Purgatory.
Nicholas de Cusa
- Central problem in politics is the legitimation of authority
- Nature of man via the CC is central to C political thought (CC - Catholic Church, C- Catholic)
- If man is image of God - supreme and profound dignity emerges
- Rational basis for political authority - dev. by Thom -overlooks origin stories
- Nicholas’ recognition of the natural origin of political authority and of the existing inequality of man are based on Aristotelian ideas
A.J. Black
The conciliar reform-movement was a constitutionalist reaction to the centralisation of church government, which had itself - paradoxically - been the (only partly intentional) result of the eleventh-century reform-movement against secular domination over the church in feudal conditions.
A.J. Black - intent of discovery from conciliarism?
Response to the increased administrative power acquired by the papacy. It was at the same time an attempt to solve the theological problem of the possibility of papal error, and the location of infallibility
What had Gerson and D’Ailly attempted to do before the convention of the Council of Pisa?
Encourage the resignation of the Pope through formal Bull - this adds credibility to the notion that key conciliarists were inherently intent on restoring Papal monarchy - not installing a rival system in the form of conciliarism.
A.J. Black - The Political Ideas of Conciliarism and Papalism - 1430-1450
What was imported from Roman Law to the conciliarist debate (which had effectively been implemented centuries prior)?
- ‘Lore of Corporations’ - the application of iura universitatis (power to make rules with the force of law for members, decision making by majority, power to appoint
A.J. Black - The Political Ideas of Conciliarism and Papalism - 1430-1450
Who was a proponent of the universitas model with regards the organisation of the church?
Zabarella and Panormitanus
A.J. Black - The Political Ideas of Conciliarism and Papalism - 1430-1450
What was a key deficiency of the GC model?
The General Council assumed it was the church-universitas - for jurisdictional purposes - power was not transferred to the council, it was merely self-evident. This did not see the implementation of Bartolus’ principle of electoral representation.
A.J. Black - The Political Ideas of Conciliarism and Papalism - 1430-1450
What did Panormitanus and John of Segovia reference as a precedent for the universitas model?
The success of the City-State (Italian, Hanseatic)
A.J. Black - The Political Ideas of Conciliarism and Papalism - 1430-1450
What was the role of the Pope in Panormitanus’ writings?
To execute the council’s decrees. This mirrored the notion of an administrator or official, as stipulated by Bartolus - but was not directly a constitutional monarch.
A.J. Black - The Political Ideas of Conciliarism and Papalism - 1430-1450
How does Segovia take the universitas model further?
Suggests direct application to general secular politics - community election of a monarch
A.J. Black - The Political Ideas of Conciliarism and Papalism - 1430-1450
What papal/ canonical principles were adopted for the reinforcement of secular, monarchical rule?
Principles of plenitudo potestatis - “The ruler, we may say, has not only confiscated the legal personality of the group; more useful, he has applied it to himself. Perverted theology and vulgarised neoplatonism contributed to this outlook.
A.J. Black - The Political Ideas of Conciliarism and Papalism - 1430-1450
How did Papalists attempt to court the support of the French king?
Papalists presented, for example, their arguments to the French king in the form of universal monarchical doctrine, hoping to secure his support on political, if not on ecclesiastical, grounds.
A.J. Black - The Political Ideas of Conciliarism and Papalism - 1430-1450
What, essentially, did the conflict of Eugenius and the Council of Basel invoke?
The ideological weaponry of absolutism and constitutionalism.
John J Ryan - Apostolic Conciliarism of Jean Gerson
What is the thrust of Ryan’s argument?
Gerson was essentially attempting to champion the notion of an ‘Apostolic Council’ - a community whose chief head is Christ.
“Before the Church is a hierarchy, before it guides the mystical ascent of the individual soul, it is an apostolic council convoked by Christ and assembling in the Holy Spirit”.
It was concern for the values of apostolic management, rather than the crisis of 1378, which drove Gerson’s theories.
John J Ryan - Apostolic Conciliarism of Jean Gerson
Name two conciliarists who were not versed in canon law
- Henry of Langenstein
- John of Torquemada - supporter of Eugenius - who was compelled to learn canon law in order to refute conciliarists
Brian Tierney - Ockham, the Conciliar Theory, and the Canonists
What does Ockham invoke which Gerson later prominently adopted in the Council of Pisa?
The principle of equitable interpretation of the law in exceptional circumstances, over the direct letter of the law.
Brian Tierney - Ockham, the Conciliar Theory, and the Canonists
Who is the canonistic predecessor Ockham follows, what contributions does he make that Ockham exploits?
- Gratian’s Decretum
- When elements of the decretum contradict Ockham directly, he appealed to equity, necessity or the intention of the legislator - to undermine the validity of the point.
- Gratian establishes that the Holy See is the supreme arbiter in matters of faith, and does not suggest the pope is unerring.
- Pope’s decisions were only worthy of acceptance when they were in accordance with the existing traditions of faith.
