Francis Oakley

Legitimation by Consent: The Question of the Medieval Roots

Les origines de la doctrine de la legitimation politique par le consensus: la vie politique et ecclesiastique medievale (liee a une tradition de droit naturel), les notions chretiennes dautonomie morale, dindividualisme et de volontarisme.

Gerson and d'Ailly: An Admonition

IT was no mere historian but Jean Gerson himself who, in statements uch as the one above,1 first disseminated the idea of his own intellectual indebtedness to Pierre dAilly, his master in theology for many years, his close friend for life, and his predecessor, as Chancellor of the University of Paris. Subsequent writers did not need to be encouraged to take these statements at their face value. To Tritheim in the fifteenth century dAilly was Gersons praeceptor. To Pierre Bayle, two centuries later, Gerson was one of dAillys infinite de disciples.2 For more than two hundred years Gallican writers were content to lump the two men together,3 and the standard modern works on dAilly and Gerson have, by and large, allowed this traditional view of their intellectual relationship to go unquestioned.4 There are, however, two important qualifications to be made to this generalization. The first concerns mystical theology, the second, philosophical affiliations. A little over twenty years ago, Andre Combes presented a most persuasive case for believing that in the realm of mystical theology, at least, the traditional relationship was reversed and that it was Gerson who was the teacher and initiator, and dAilly the pupil.5 His arguments were many-sided, but among them was the assertion that the Annotatio doctorum aliquorum qui de contemplatione locuti sunt, a brief listing of works in mystical theology printed among the writings both of

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, 2000

The Medieval Academy of America held its seventy-fifth annual meeting in Austin, Texas, on 13-15 April 2000. The University of Texas at Austin was the host for the meeting. Meeting of the Corporation. The annual meeting of the Corporation was held on Saturday, 15 April, at 9:30 A.M. Robert Brentano, President, presided. The minutes of the seventy-fourth annual meeting were heard and approved. Reports were delivered by the Executive Director, Treasurer, Editor of Speculum, Delegate to the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Chair of the Endowment. At the conclusion of his report John E Leyerle was thanked by President Brentano for his twelve years of service as Chair of the Endowment. In recognition of Professor Leyerles unique accomplishments on the Academys behalf a jersey inscribed 10,000,000-the value of the Endowment as recorded in Professor Leyerles final report-was presented to him and officially retired. The Van Courtlandt Elliott Prize was awarded to Catherine Sanok for her article Criseyde, Cassandre, and the Thebaid: Women and the Theban Subtext of Chaucers Troilus and Criseyde, Studies in the Age of Chaucer 20 (1998), 41-71. The John Nicholas Brown Prize was awarded to David Nirenberg for his book Communities of Violence: Persecution of Minorities in the Middle Ages, published by Princeton University Press in 1996. The Haskins Medal was awarded to William Chester Jordan for his book entitled The Great Famine: Northern Europe in the Early Fourteenth Century, published by Princeton University Press in 1996. The 2000 slate chosen by mail ballot was presented to the assembled members. All present, without dissent, voted to accept the slate and elect the following: President (20002001): Joan M. Ferrante, Columbia University; First Vice President (2000-2001): Andrew Hughes, University of Toronto; Second Vice President (2000-2001): John V. Fleming, Princeton University; Councillors (2000-2003): Steven Epstein, University of Colorado; Sharon Farmer, University of California, Santa Barbara; Jaroslav Folda, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Barbara Newman, Northwestern University; Nominating Committee (2000-2002): Ralph J. Hexter, University of California, Berkeley; and M. Michele Mulchahey, Fordham University. Session sponsored by the Fellows. The session sponsored by the Fellows was held on Friday, 14 April, at 1:45 P.M. Francis Oakley, President of the Fellows, presided. In the 2000 election Teodolinda Barolini, Michael Curschmann, Sabine G. MacCormack, Lee Patterson, and Richard W. Pfaff were elected Fellows; and Janet Nelson was elected Corresponding Fellow. Professors MacCormack, Patterson, and Pfaff were present for formal induction, as was William Chester Jordan, elected a Fellow in 1997. Citations were read by the Orator, Edward Peters. The session concluded with an address by Malcolm Parkes, Keble College, Oxford, In the Margins/On the Margins. Plenary lectures. Louise Fradenburg, University of California, Santa Barbara, delivered an address entitled Absolutely Fabulous: The Beginning of Medieval Romance; the session was chaired by William W. Kibler, University of Texas, Austin. Miri Rubin, Pembroke College, Oxford, delivered an address entitled Purity and Danger in Late Medieval Europe; the session was chaired by Rebecca A. Baltzer, University of Texas, Austin. Robert Brentano, University of California, Berkeley, delivered the presidential address, Preferences in History, on Saturday afternoon; the session was chaired by Joan M. Ferrante, Columbia University. CARA session. David Staines, University of Ottawa, chaired the session sponsored by