Demise of Oxford’s Natural Philosophy

[jonkon]

God’s Philosophers (p. 195) attributes the demise of natural philosophy at Oxford to the plague. I must remain skeptical of this proposition since Oxford survived while natural philosophy survived the collapse of the Roman Empire and the barbarian incursions. A more likely cause is the 1382 purge of Lollard beliefs following the abortive reform efforts of John Wycliffe. Oxford’s natural philosophy, with its emphasis on the mathematical analysis of optics and motion, was a Platonic-inspired reaction against Aquinas’ compromise of Christian doctrine with that of Aristotle. Of particular concern was Aristotle’s pantheism.

According to Cambridge Medieval History, Bradwardine’s assertion that the pope could go to Hell impressed upon Wycliffe the need for a translation of the Bible into vernacular English. This conviction was reinforced by Wycliffe’s horror of the Great Schism, which cost his faith in the papacy as an institution. In his On the Church (1378) Wycliffe restricts the Church to those predestined for salvation, the elect. This doctrine was derived from Thomas Bradwardine and from their common master, Augustine. His treatise On the Truth of Holy Scripture (1378) is a defense of the literal interpretation of the Bible. No form of interpretation was necessary and the Bible could safely be placed in the hands of even the most ignorant. This meant that the translation of the Bible into vernacular English was to become a concern.

Upon his elevation to the primacy in the spring of 1382, William Courtenay set out at once to eradicate Lollardy from his province with the meeting of the so-called “Earthquake Council” of May 17, 1382, at the house of the Black Friars in London. In defiance, Oxford’s chancellor, Robert Rigg chose Nicholas Hereford to preach in English in the churchyard of St. Frideswide on Ascension Day (May 15). Hereford delivered an inflammatory sermon inciting the people to rise in Wycliffe’s defense. At a new session of the Blackfriars council on June 12, Chancellor Rigg was required to answer for his contempt. Rigg made no defense and was ordered to suspend Wycliffe and Hereford from preaching and disputing at Oxford. On June 20, Hereford was found guilty of heresy. To drive home his attack, Courtenay held the next meeting of the convocation of Canterbury at Oxford to make it an occasion for asserting his right to visit and correct the university. At the first session at St. Frideswide on November 18, 1382, a committee was set up to investigate the teachings of all senior members of the university, doctors, masters, and bachelors alike, and to root out all error.

[Deleted]

Jonkon, I believe these two topics you've opened should be in the History section.

[James Hannam]

Lollardy was something else that didn't make the final cut.

But what grounds do we have for linking a decline in natural philosophy with the suppression of Wycliffe and his ideas. I don't think we can assume that Lollards would necessarily have been better at science than the Scotists who were left at Oxford. Besides, the decline is just as marked at Paris where Lollards were not an issue.

The plague was just a suggestion, of course, but I think we need rather more work before we can bring forward a hypothesis based around Wycliffe.

Best wishes

James

[jonkon]

Questioning scientific and ecclesiastical authority is essential in natural philosophy. The Lollards, under the leadership of John Wycliffe, crossed the line by encouraging this questioning among the laity. The resulting crackdown at Oxford would have impacted Paris because up to that point Oxford had relatively little ecclesiastical oversight due to its physical isolation while its faculty stayed well within the bounds of orthodoxy. The faculty of Paris, like Siger of Brabant, Peter Abelard, and Thomas Aquinas, however, tended to push the limits of orthodoxy and was therefore on a shorter leash. In the aftermath of the purge, promising students, like Paul of Venice, who otherwise might have joined the faculty at Paris or Oxford, found a more congenial atmosphere under the protection of the Republic of Venice at Padua. Frosty relations between the papacy and Venice date to the First Crusade when, as payment for transportation to the Holy Land, Venice had the crusaders attack and destroy a Christian trade rival.