Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/517

 1922 MARSIGLW OF PADUA 509 Bavaria in Nuremberg. If, as Francis of Venice maintained, it took the Parisians two months to find out the names of the authors, it gave John XXII the time to dispatch the processes r published by the bishop of Passau before 6 September of that year and containing, one supposes, the first mention of Marsiglio as a heretic. On the other hand, when in this connexion Valois believes in the agreement of all authorities that the two authors left Paris before the outcry which they had every reason to expect, one must not forget the evidence of Merula, 2 who in his history of Milan contradicts on most points the assertions of Francis of Venice. In his account the learned men at Paris condemned the authors, burned the books, and enjoined a silence, previous to the flight of the authors. There was, however, no official condemnation of the Defensor Pads at Paris 3 till 1330, so far as one can gather, but the burning of the books (if true, rather a friendly act than otherwise) is interesting, in that it would account for the lateness of John XXII in mentioning the authorship of the two heretics for the first time 4 on 3 April 1327. Moreover, as late as 23 October of the same year John XXII appears to be acting on hearsay evidence, 5 and bases his con- demnation of Marsiglio and John of Jandun on excerpts from their book sent to him by certain of the faithful. Had the authors waited for a condemnation, it is more than probable that they could never have made good their escape, in view of the hostility between Lewis and John XXII. Most probably Merula, in writing Milanese history, was misled by an erroneous passage 6 in John Villani, where Marsiglio of Padua and John of Jandun are mentioned as condemned on 13 July 1324. There is one further point. The continuator of William of Nangis goes on to say that Marsiglio and John of Jandun were welcomed by Lewis on being recognized 7 by certain of his household, who had met them in Paris. Riezler 8 suggests as one of the probable sponsors Peter of Aspelt, archbishop of Mainz since 1305 : but Peter died in 1320. This Peter, a great friend of Henry VII and Lewis of Bavaria, had like Marsiglio been educated at Padua 9 and Paris 10 in philosophy and medicine. Strangely enough, the continuator of William of Nangis speaks of a previous departure of Marsiglio and John of Jandun from Paris in the year 1318, in almost the same words as are contained in the passage under the year 1326. 1 Reinkens, Urkunden, in the Abhandlungen, Munich (1880), no. 287. The date is given as 1328 in the Neues Arch.lv, xxvi. 709, but the earlier date is more likely to be; correct in view of the uncertainty and lack of detail in the wording. 2 Muratori, xxv. 80. 3 Du Boulay, iv. 216. 4 Martene, Thesaurus, ii. 683. 5 Ibid. p. 704. 8 Muratori, xiii. 560. 7 Spicilegium, p. 85. 8 Allgemeine Deutsche Biographic, xx. 442. ' Papadopolus, p. 153. 10 Budinsky, p. 155.