THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
article of faith, were as much a part of his fixed belief as that the State and the rights of the emperor were independent of pope and Church. After the unfortunate issue of Louis' visit to Rome, the Franciscans followed him to Munich (Feb., 1330) and took up their abode in a neighboring house of the order, where most of the political writings of Occam were composed. In 1342 Michael of Cesena died, transmitting the seal of the order and his claims to its headship to Occam. The death of Louis (Oct. 11, 1347) and of some of the Munich group, the reconciliation of others and of the new Emperor Charles IV with the papacy, left Occam increasingly alone, until the time came when he was the only one of the old leaders left. He was once more cited in 1349 before the papal tribunal, but the negotiations came to naught with his refusal to admit that Louis was a heretic and schismatic. Clement VI. demanded that the order should take action. A chapter held in Whitsuntide, 1349, asserted that but few brothers remained who had supported Michael of Cesena and Louis; that " William the Englishman," who was prominent among these, had sent back the seal of the order to the general, and that he and the others, while they could not conveniently appear in Rome, petitioned for release from their excommunication. The pope offered to grant this request (June 8, 1349) on condition of their subscribing a formula which was somewhat less stringent than that which had been usual since John XXII. Trithemius, Wadding, and others assert that Occam signed this and was absolved; but there is no documentary evidence to this effect, and Jacobus de Marchia says expressly that the three principal leaders " remained excommunicated heretics." This is more probably the case, whether Occam remained inflexible or death intervened too soon to allow his acceptance of the terms of peace. The date of his death is uncertain; he was undoubtedly alive in the spring of 1349, and thus the date given on his monument (of later construction) in the former Franciscan chapel at Munich — Apr. 10, 1347 — can not be right. The day and month may be accepted; the year will be either 1350, or more probably 1349, which would account for the double tradition as to the fact, on the theory that he had announced his readiness to make submission, but died before it could be accomplished.
II. Works: There is no complete edition of the works of Occam, which is a token of the disfavor into which he feU by his rebellious attitude, although the numerous manuscripts and early i. Philo- printed editions testify to the interest sophical which was felt in his writings. Under and Theo- the head of philosophical works may logical be named the Expositio aurea et ad- Writings, modum utilis super totam artem veterem, which, in the form of commentaries on Aristotle and Porphyry, contains Occam's logic, epistemology, and metaphysic; Summa logices; Qucestiones in octo libros physicorum; Summulae in libros physicorum; and two or three works still unprinted, mentioned by Little. The principal theological work is Qucestiones et decisiones in quatuor libros sententiarum; the first book is much
fuller than the other three and is frequently found in manuscripts independent of them, thus making it likely that Occam published it separately in the first place, during his teaching life at Oxford or Paris, and later did the other three on a smaller scale, perhaps from mere notes of lectures. Other theological treatises are the Centiloquium theologicum, " embracing almost the whole of speculative theology under one hundred conclusions," which gives a piquant collection of instances of what rational theology might consider possible; Quodlibeta septem, dealing with the principal problems of philosophy and theology, based probably on the disputations with which he began his Paris teaching; De sacramento altaris and De corpore Christi, two parts of one work, which was used to supply theoretical support for Luther's eucharistic doctrine; De pradestinatione et futuris contingentibus.
The Opus nonaginta dierum, so called from the time spent in its composition (probably in 1330, certainly before 1333), is a defense of the doctrine of poverty as the true perfection, in an- 2. Works swer to the bull Quia vir reprobus of on Church John XXII. The Tractatus de dogand State, matibus Johannis XXII. papa (1333) controverts the pope's assertion that the saints will not see the beatific vision until after the day of judgment; Epistola adfratres minores in capitulo apud Assisium congregatos (1334) is of special interest from the light which it throws upon its author's character; Opusculum adversus errores Johannis XXII. was written shortly after John's death, early in 1335; the Compendium errorum Johannis XXII. papce, written under Benedict XII., and Defensorium contra Johannem XXII., written under Clement VI. (though not certainly by Occam), take a similar line. The Tractatus ostendens quod Benedictus papa XII. nonnullos Johannis XXII. hmreses amplexus est et defendit, arising out of the political situation of the latter half of 1337, rebukes the pope as a heretic and an enemy of the emperor and the king of England, and proves that Louis has the right to take up arms against him. Octo quosstiones super potestate et dignitate papali (latter half of 1339) answers various questions apparently submitted by Louis as to points in controversy between the temporal and spiritual powers. The largest and most important general discussion of the theoretical questions at issue is the Dialogus inter magistrum et discipulum de imperatorum et pontificum potestate, written between 1341 and 1343. In its present form the work is far from complete; it was intended to be a thorough investigation of the whole controversy between the empire and the papacy, and at the same time to show conclusively that John XXII. was a heretic, in opposing whom both Louis and the extreme Franciscans were abundantly justified. The first division deals with the distinction between Catholic and heretical doctrine, proves that popes may be and have been heretical, admitting the same possibility of error in general councils, and contends that princes and laymen may and should, when spiritual tribunals fail, sit in judgment on a heretical pope. The second part is incomplete, and of the nine treatises promised for the third, only two seem to have been written,