Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/520

 512 MARSIGLIO OF PADUA October before 10 April 1343. The evidence of Villani is thus clearly incorrect, in so far as the name of Marsiglio is concerned, but it would be indeed surprising if his remark contains no element of truth. It must be supposed that Villani heard a rumour which he did his best to adjust as regards time and space. On the other hand, we have a definite statement in a letter dated December 1332 from Michael of Cesena, 1 the general of the Franciscan Order. ' You falsely accuse me ', says Michael to Gerard Odo, his orthodox substitute, ' of communicating with Master John of Jandun ; he had died, as every one knows, in Todi, before I reached Pisa : now I did not set foot, nor did I even propose to set foot, in Todi.' Michael had escaped with William of Ockham from Avignon in May 1328, and arrived at Pisa on 8 June of that year. 2 There is, moreover, a letter of 1 May 1328 from the emperor to John of Jandun awarding him the bishopric of Ferrara, 3 and in view of this double evidence Riezler is of opinion 4 that John of Jandun set out in May to undertake his new duties, and died on the way northwards that same month at Todi. But there is another reference to John in a letter from Rome dated 14 July, in which the emperor accords him his friendship and takes him in the number of his court servants. Bohmer, 5 in borrowing from Waitz, spells the name John de Gelduno, which he thinks may be meant for ' Johannes de Ganduno, von Gent ', and questions the date. Riezler, 6 who appears to have seen only an abbreviated translation, further objects to the omission of the titles given in the letter of 1 May 1328, and regards the whole situation as impossible. But the letter, as printed in full, 7 is clearly dated as 14 July 1328. Though there is no mention of the bishopric, John of Jandun formally receives as ' secretarius sive consiliarius ' perpetual free commons for himself, three servants, and three horses, so long as he con- tinues in the service of the emperor. Thus the supposition that John of Jandun died during the month of May will not stand. Valois, 8 however, goes far to remove the difficulty by suggesting that Villani, in recording the death of Marsiglio at Montalto, must have meant John of Jandun. To make this possible Valois explains ' antequam Pisas venirem ' as if it were ' antequam 1868), p. 20. See also his interesting remark made in 1339, when he was a cardinal (Miiller, Der Kampf Ludwigs des Baiernju. 362) : ' Item et Marsilium de Padua et lohannem de Genduno . . . tenuit et adhuc Marsilium tenet.' 1 Preger, Der kirchenpd. Kampf (Munich, 1879), p. 65; Wadding, Annales Minorum, vii. 85 : ' Persistit usque ad mortem Michael in hac sua contumacia, retinens sibi nomen Ministri Generalis.' Cronica Sanese, in Muratori, xv. 81. Riezler, Vat. Akt. no. 1004, where he is called a doctor of theology. Lit. Wid. p. 56. Regesta Imperil, vii, no. 2708. Lit. Wid. p. 58. Monumenta Oerman. Hist., leg. iv. vi. 1, fasc. 1, p. 391. 8 p. 602.