§ 110. DUNS SCOTUS. 691
and thorough monograph on the theology of Duns Scotus, takes an entirely different view. To him Duns was not a disturber of theological thought, but the head of a new period of development and worthy of equal honor with Thomas Aquinas. Yea, he ascribes to him a more profound and extensive influence upon theology than Thomas exerted. He broke a new path, and " was a historical figure of epochmaking importance." l
By his speculative piquancy, on the one hand, Duns strengthened the desire of certain groups in Europe for a saner method of theological discussion; and on the other hand stimulated pious minds along the Rhine to search along a better way after personal piety, as did Tauler and the Ger man mystics. The succeeding generation of Schoolmen was brought by him as their leader into a disputatious attitude. What else could be expected when Duns, contrary to the fundamental principles of Thomas Aquinas, Albertus Mag nus, and other divines, did not shrink from declaring a thing might at the same time be true in philosophy and false in theology ? 2
Ockam, who shared Duns' determinism, called him " the doctor of our order." In the dispute over the immaculate conception in the fifteenth century no divine was more quoted than he. A century later Archbishop MacCaghwell and other Irish theologians warmly expatiated upon his powers, wrote his biography, and edited his works.
One of the works of the Reformation was to dethrone Duns Scotus from his seat of authority as a teacher. Richard Layton wrote to Cromwell, 1535, " We have set Dunce in Bocardo and banished him from Oxford forever, and he is now made a common servant to every man fast nailed up upon posts in all houses of common easement."3 Luther called
*pp. 33, 668, 672, 677. Eitschl was a student of Duns and praises his clearness of thought so long as he keeps free from syllogisms. He kept the Schoolman's Works constantly within reach. O. Ritschl, A. Ritschrs Leben, II. 483.
2 See the reference to the Reportata, Schwane, p. 78.
s Quoted in Diet, of Natl. Biog. XVI. 219.
692 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
him the " most arrant of sophists," and he made him respon sible for a revival of Pelagianism and exalting the consequent value of good works by emphasizing the freedom of the will and the natural powers.1 Duns had no presentiment of any other order than the papal and said nothing looking toward a reformation in doctrine.
Among the contemporaries with whom Duns had theological affinity were Henry of Ghent and the Englishman, Richard Middleton. HENRY OF GHENT, named doctor solemnis, a celebrated teacher in Paris, was born at Ghent and died, 1293, in Paris or Tournay. His Quodlibeta and Summa were published in Paris, 1518 and 1520.2 At points Henry combated Thomas Aquinas and prepared the way for Duns Scotus, who adopts some of Henry's views. Henry's discussions run far into the region of abstruse metaphysics. He leaned to Platonism and was a realist.
RICHARD MIDDLETON was supposedly a predecessor of Duns at Ox ford. Little is known of his life. He was a Franciscan, a scholar at Paris, and was appointed by the general of his order to examine into the doctrines of Peter Olivi, 1278-1288. He died about 1307. His commen tary on the Sentences of the Lombard survived him.8 Middleton was known at Paris as doctor solidus. At the council of Constance he was cited as an authority against Wyclif . His name is inscribed on the tomb of Duns Scotus at Cologne, and the tradition runs that Duns was his pu pil. In his teachings regarding the will, which he denned as the noblest of the soul's faculties, he may have influenced Duns, as Seeberg attempts to prove. Middleton compared the mind to a servant who car ries a light in front of his master and does nothing more than to show his master the way, while his master commands and directs as he pleases.