Andreas De Escobar and Ecclesiastical Controversies at the Time of the Fifteenth-Century Councils
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NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Cares at the Curia: Andreas de Escobar and Ecclesiastical Controversies at the Time of the Fifteenth-Century Councils A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Field of History By Johnna L. Sturgeon EVANSTON, ILLINOIS March 2017 2 ABSTRACT Cares at the Curia: Andreas de Escobar and Ecclesiastical Controversies at the Time of the Fifteenth-Century Councils Johnna L. Sturgeon This dissertation explores the extent to which Portuguese theologian, papal penitentiary, bishop, and abbot Andreas de Escobar, O.S.B. (1348-1448) benefited from contemporary trends in manuscript culture and thereby functioned as a late-medieval public intellectual. Recent research suggests that early-fifteenth-century university-trained theology masters used their expertise and authority to intervene into current controversies by writing brief, focused tracts that were copied and distributed more widely and read by a broader audience than the theological works of previous centuries. However, this research has focused only upon theologians who remained professional academics. This dissertation examines Escobar’s career in the Church, his writings, and the success of his works via three research methodologies to evaluate the extent to which he also performed this role. Primary and secondary sources show that Escobar entered into ecclesial and other contemporary debates both orally and in writing, although the Schism-era disorder in the Church and weakening of papal authority prevented him from effectively exercising his public authority as bishop. Close reading and analysis of Escobar’s five Latin theological treatises demonstrate his overriding concern for unity of the Church, and also show that Escobar thought of his writing as a part of his preaching and teaching responsibilities. Manuscript analysis demonstrates that while one of his Latin treatises was enormously successful, surviving in over 100 copies, the other four were relatively unsuccessful. Failing to appreciate the potential advantages of brief tracts aimed at a broader audience, instead Escobar 3 instead usually wrote long treatises aimed at a small circle of readers. The most successful of his treatises was also the shortest and aimed at the widest audience: all clergy with pastoral responsibilities. The recently-formed Melk Congregation of reformed Benedictine monasteries and the relatively new audience of educated German priests were mainly responsible for the copying and transmission of Escobar’s most successful treatise. The results of this research confirm that Andreas de Escobar did function as a late-medieval public intellectual, although his modest employment of changes in contemporary manuscript culture limited his influence. 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS No work of scholarship is truly a solitary endeavor, and I am indebted not only to those scholars upon whose work I have built, but to many other individuals and groups who advised, assisted, and supported me in writing this dissertation. I have received so much generosity and kindness during my graduate career, it is difficult to both recall and thank in these pages everyone who deserves my gratitude. If I have overlooked anyone in the attempt, I offer my apologies and thanks. The members of my committee, of course, deserve my greatest thanks for their untiring support. I am deeply grateful to Dyan Elliott for taking me on as her student, and for her patience and encouragement. She has tirelessly read and commented upon the many revisions of these chapters, and I hope my writing reflects her beneficent influence. I am indebted to Robert Lerner not only for suggesting my subject, but for lending me his expertise on all manner of subjects from the calendrical to the geographic. Richard Kieckhefer has rendered me invaluable assistance with Latin and paleographic puzzles, while Ed Muir has advised me on matters regarding quattrocento Italy. All my committee members have generously recommended helpful books and articles and stimulated me to keep sight of larger historical questions. Many others at Northwestern University have given me support and assistance. David Shyovitz generously read and answered my questions on crucial Hebrew-language scholarship that would otherwise have remained inaccessible to me. Scott Sowerby and Barbara Newman arranged fellowships and research grants without which it would have been impossible to complete my dissertation. Ann Aler provided technical assistance with geographic information systems and generating maps. The inter-library loan staff at the Northwestern University Library 5 filled my every obscure request and supplied me with necessary materials while I resided away from campus. Innumerable archivists, librarians, and scholars at many other institutions have generously answered questions and offered advice. Daniel Hobbins (University of Notre Dame) was especially generous with his time and assistance in answering questions. Ruth Karras (University of Minnesota), Marco Grilli (Archivio Segreto Vaticano), Martin Morard (Institut de recherche et d'histoire des textes), Claire Allen (Trinity College Dublin) and Deeana Klepper (Boston University) also answered questions and helped me with sources. Matt Heintzelman, Julie Dietman, and Daniel Gullo at the Hill Monastic Museum and Library assisted me with their collections. Debra Cashion helped me with the collections of the Vatican Film Library at St. Louis University. Bettina Wagner (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek), Christine Sauer (Stadtbibliothek Nürnberg), Sigrid Kohlman (Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen-Nürnberg), and Gerald Raab (Staatsbibliothek Bamberg) assisted me in obtaining microfilms. The manuscript research necessary for this project would have been impossible without research and travel assistance. I deeply appreciate the research funding I received from the Committee on Research at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library and from the American Catholic Historical Association. I am also very grateful for financial assistance received, much of it via Mellon Foundation grants, from the Department of Graduate Studies, Department of History, and Medieval Studies Cluster at Northwestern University. I offer special thanks to the sisters of the Monastery of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota, Abtei Venio in Munich, and Abtei St. Walburg in Eichstätt for their kindness and hospitality during my travels. 6 Finally, I am grateful for the patience and support of my family. My parents have tolerantly borne my many absences at family events and un-returned telephone calls, and valiantly attempted to explain to friends what I do. My daughter had to endure an impecunious high school career in a strange city but seems, nevertheless, to have forgiven me. Most importantly, my long-suffering husband provided excellent coffee, constructive criticism, and unbounded sympathy and encouragement. 7 ABBREVIATIONS Arm. Armario AV Archivio Segreto Vaticano BAV Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana BL British Library BML Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana BNP Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal BSB Bayerische Staatsbibliothek CVP Codex Vindobonensis Palatinus Format. Formatarum Libri Obl. Communes Obligationes Communes Obl. et Sol. Obligationes et Solutiones ÖNB Österreichische Nationalbibliothek PL Patrologia Latina Reg. Aven. Registra Avenionensia Reg. Lat. Registra Lateranensia Reg. Suppl. Registra Supplicationum SBB Staatsbibliothek Bamberg SBKE Stiftsbibliothek des Klosters Einsideln SBN Stadtbibliothek Nürnberg 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...............................................................................................................4 ABBREVIATIONS..........................................................................................................................7 LIST OF TABLES AND MAPS....................................................................................................10 INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................11 The Changing Intellectual Landscape of the Late Middle Ages.............................................14 Purpose, Methods, and Sources of Research..........................................................................17 Limitations and Delimitations................................................................................................21 Chapter Overview...................................................................................................................22 THE LIFE AND WORKS OF MASTER ANDREAS DE ESCOBAR.........................................25 Origin and Early Life..............................................................................................................25 Escobar in the Roman Obedience...........................................................................................32 Escobar in the Obediences of Pisa and Avignon.....................................................................46 The Council of Constance......................................................................................................57 Escobar in the Curia of Martin V............................................................................................64 Portuguese “Retirement”........................................................................................................73