The making of a Doctor Dulcifluus...
Marek Gensler, Uniwersytet Lodzki
Introduction
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The turning of the 13th and 14th century saw the emergence of a bright new star on the firmament of philosophy -the man who rein-vented scholasticism after the Condemnation of 1277: John Duns Scotus. The light of his thought soon lit up inspiration in many adepts of the Liberal Arts and the gravity of his doctrine had caught, for some time at least, a number of young thinkers, who later became most influential phi-losophers of 14th century, like Francis Mayron, Ockham and Peter Auriol, to name a few. For most of them, however, the contact with the doctrine of the Subtle Doctor was only an inspiring episode early in their careers and it would be difficult to call them advocates of scotism, much less "true" scotists. And still, despite the fact that so many of Scotus’ best pupils later turned their backs on his teaching, despite Scotus’ early death that had left his work unfinished, the doctrine of John Duns not only survived but started flourishing and gradually became one of the most vital and powerful philosophical schools of later middle ages, whose influence was still felt at the universities even in the 18th century. How was it possible that the ideas so subtle and so sketchy won minds and hearts of so many lovers of wisdom?
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Propagation of Scotus’ views required devout fol-lowers, skilful interpreters and commentators and, last but not least, good thinkers who, accepting the opinions of John Duns for their own, would de-velop them into a comprehensive doctrine covering the whole spec-trum of philosophical inquiry of the time, in a word: transform them into scotism. Such a man was Antonius Andreae, whom posterity honoured with a telling title Doctor dulcifluus and an even more unambiguous nickname: Scotellus. It is only recently, after years of neglect that we discover how rightly were those names deserved. The "Little Scot", contrary to his nickname, was born far away from the North Sea coast and almost thousand miles to the south of the river Tweed. Native of Aragon, he spent most of his life in Cata-lonia; we do not know whether his mother tongue was Spanish or Catalan. His works, however, written in Latin, the then lingua franca of the educated people, had thus become a part of the common heritage of Latin Christendom and were widely read throughout Europe. It is then not merely a funny coincidence that a visitor from the East talks to you about the philosopher form the South, who developed the ideas conceived in the North -this too tes-tifies to the lasting influence of common tradition, in shaping of which Antonius Andreae also had his share. Let me, therefore, offer these few comments on his life and philosophical output as a recog-nition of his contribution to what is the civilisation of us all.
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The life of Antonius Andreae
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Very little is known about the life of Antonius Andreae. Only a few fact and dates are certain and so most of the biographical data I am going to present are only conjectures, drawn from scanty remarks in his own works and elsewhere. According to most sources, the future Doctor dulcifluus was born around 1280 in the little town of Tauste, not far from Zaragoza, in the kingdom of Aragon. It is most likely that he joined the Order of St Francis even before the end of the 13th century, as the canonical age for putting on the habit was 15. We have no knowledge of his noviciate (beside the fact that it must have lasted a year) but it is very likely that soon afterwards he had started his education in the provincial Studium Generale in the city of Lerida. It was a rule that the friars, who were chose for advanced studies in the studia generalia affiliated at the most impor-tant universities of the time, especially in Paris, spent first two to three years learning at the studia of their native provinces. Lerida was by no means a provincial centre of learning; with its new univer-sity in the making it must have given a good opportunity for young Antonius to display his intellectual talents. The curriculum in Fran-ciscan studia contained secular subjects, including philoso-phy of nature and logic; both of them were later to become the Anto-nius Andreae's principal interests and it is possible that his inclina-tion to them had started just then. It is possible too that his studies there ended with a baccalaureate in Arts.
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If the career of Antonius Andreae was similar to that of his future teacher, John Duns Scotus -which is our good guessing, he might continue his philosophical education al-ready in the centre of the academic life of the century- in Paris. At the Parisian Studium Generale Franciscans studied the Liberal Arts for four years: first the vium grammar, rhetoric and logic) and then the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, as-tronomy and music); those who had already been bachelors of Arts did not need to take the full course and could spend only two years at the Faculty.
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Sending a young friar to Paris was a serious matter, requiring due consideration of the provincial chapter. Antonius Andreae must have already been an outstanding student, if his superiors had decided to grant him the honour of studying at Paris. It is probable that the final decision was taken by the then Father General of Friars Minor, Gon-salvus de Balboa, who used to be a professor in Paris and was the mentor of John Duns Scotus. If that was the case, then Antonius' meeting with Scotus was not a mere coincidence. Although no written testimony corroborates such hypothesis, it can be accepted in the light of the documents of the order concerning the education of the friars. Thus the first part of Antonius' life, before his meeting with Scotus, can be systematised as fol-lows: born about 1280, entered noviciate about 1295, studied phi-losophy in Lerida between 1296 and 1299 and then in Paris from 1300 to 1304, assuming that he took the full course of Arts there, or till 1302, if he had already had the baccalaureate.
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1304 is another documented date in the biography of Antonius Andreae. According to Charles Lohr, from 1304 to 1307 Antonius Andreae was a "master in Paris". Of course, it is impossible that he had already been a master of theology at that time; it follows then that he must have been a master of studies at the Franciscan studium there, teaching philosophy to his younger fellow-friars. It is difficult to say whether he had already embraced the teaching of Scotus then; still, such possibility is not excluded, for he might have had contact with Scotus during the latter's short stay in Paris form 1302 to 1303. There are two more reasons why 1304 is an important date in Antonius' career. First of all, it was the year of Scotus’ final return to Paris. Soon after his arrival Scotus received doctor's degree in theology, followed by the title of the Regent Master, which he held from 1306 to 1307, when he was summoned to take the position of Lector principalis at the Franciscan Studium generale in Cologne. There is no doubt that Antonius Andreae attended his lectures, espe-cially that -and this is the second point- he must have started study-ing theology around that date or before it.
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The course of theological studies at Paris required six years: four years for the baccalaureate and two more for master's degree. Even if we assume that Antonius Andreae had started studying theology in 1303 and went through the course without any interruptions, he would have finished it in 1309. However, the last date attesting to his stay in Paris is 1307; furthermore, we do not find him on the manu-script list of Parisian masters who disputed de quo libet before 1314 -it was not obligatory for masters of theology but most of them did it; moreover, around 1312 we find him already back in Catalonia teach-ing philosophy of nature -these two facts suggest that his academic career in Paris was broken before he managed to complete his theo-logical studies.
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It is still disputed whether he had written his commentary on the Sentences; it is highly probable that he had at least started it. What may be a proof is a tiny opusculum called Compendiosum Principium in IV libros Sententiarum, for-merly attributed to St. Bonaventure, which might have formed the preface to that commentary. The weakness of the proof is that the work has not survived in any manuscript copy and, therefore, is dif-ficult date. It might as well be the preface to Antonius' later work Abbreviatio Operis oxoniensis Scoti. Putting all the facts to-gether it may be concluded that Antonius education at Paris was cut short most probably by the very same reasons that drove Duns Scotus to Cologne: they were both collateral victims in the struggle between the French king Philip the Fair and pope Boniface VIII. When staying in Paris could no longer be reconciled with the loyalty to the pope, they had to leave.
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Scotus was ordered to go to Co-logne, where he died a year later; Antonius Andreae returned to his motherland. By 1312 he had been settled in Catalonia, presumably in the convent of Monzón, the place where he spent most of the rest of his life.
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