The life and writings of Nicolas de Clamanges: A study in the repercussions of the schism and the conciliar movement

Abstract

The object of the thesis is to reconstruct the life and intellectual development of Nicolas de Clamanges (c.1360-1437), a French ecclesiastic and writer, as an illustration of the reaction of an individual to the crisis in the Church. Chapter I deals with his education and early career at the University of Paris, where he was in the forefront of the early French humanist movement, and his reputation for scholarship and latinity led to his being drawn, as a literary stylist, into an active part in the events of the schism, firstly on behalf of the University and thereafter as an official at the Avignonese (Juria. Chapter II follows his fruitless and interrupted career at Avignon and his attempt to reconcile faith in Pope Benedict XIII with obedience to King Charles VI of France, a matter of some difficulty, since the two authorities were in conflict. This position was, after an acute crisis, resolved by his abandonment of official life. Chapter III is largely concerned with his reactions to developments in the Church and State during the following period of his retirement, and Chapter IV with the last twenty years of his life, which were spent In Paris, and in particular with the uncompromising interpretation which he put upon the events of the schism, in the unpublished Commentary on the book of Isaiah. In Chapter V an examination of his conception of society shows that in reaction to contemporary anarchy, he supported the inalienable authority of the Pope in the Church and the King in the State, and reveals some important points of contact with the early Reformers.