I. THE AUTHOR, WILLIAM OF OCKHAM
William of Ockham was born late in the thirteenth century in the village of Ockham in the county of Surrey. His name, which is spelled in various ways, was taken from the name of his birthplace which is spelled Bocheham in Doomsday book. It is, however, spelled Ockham in an inscription of the year 1483, which is on an urn in the church at Ockham. Nothing is known of his parents or his early life.
Ockham’s attention was early turned to Merton College which developed out of the “Domus Scolarium de Merton,” which was established near Ockham at Malden in Surrey in 1264 “to support twenty scholars living at Oxford or wherever else a university may chance to flourish.” In 1274 it was “moved from Malden to Oxford.”
Ockham was a student at Merton College, Oxford, most probably from about 1312 to 1320. It is likely that he then became a member of the Franciscan order; for he was a Friar Minor.
Ockham received the degree of B.D. at Oxford after the completion of his thesis on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. He taught as a bachelor at Oxford until about 1323. There is no certain proof that he was a pupil of Duns Scotus, or that he was a student or a professor at the University of Paris.
It is not certain that he ever received the degree of master or of doctor, for he is generally spoken of as the “Venerable Inceptor” (an inceptor at Oxford was one who did not go on to a Master’s degree). However, the terms, inceptor, expositor, indagator, magister, professor, and doctor are associated with the name of Ockham. Ockham is also called: Venerable Preceptor, Doctor Subtilissimus, Unparalleled Doctor, Doctor Invincible, Singular Doctor, Author of Nominalism, and Father of the Nominals.
The academic advancement of Ockham may have been stopped by his engaging in the controversy concerning evangelical poverty. He was no doubt present at the chapter of the Franciscans at Perugia in 1322; though, perhaps, not as Provincial of England, as is frequently stated. He heard there the famous speech of Michael de Cesena, the General Minister of the Franciscan order, which set forth the position of the order relative to evangelical poverty and developed the bitter controversy between Cesena and Pope John XXII. This was the beginning of the revolt of the whole order, as distinguished from the Spirituals. In 1323, Bonagratia wrote a book against Pope John XXII, which supported the position of Cesena; but it was not until 1327 that he stated that Ockham was present when Cesena spoke against Pope John XXII in a convention of Friars Minors. But in a letter in 1323, Pope John instructed the Bishops of Ferrara and Bologna to inquire about the report that in a sermon at Bologna Ockham had upheld his conception of evangelical poverty in opposition to that of the Pope. If the report was correct, the Bishops were to send Ockham “to Avignon within a month.” Sullivan believes that Ockham would never “have opposed the Pope had that question of evangelical poverty not been raised.”
In 1327, Pope John XXII issued a bull charging Ockham with having uttered “many erroneous and heretical opinions.” DeWulf cites Ehrle as asserting that the Pope issued this statement relative to Ockham in 1329 and that “the process had nothing to do with the case of the Spirituals and the quarrel over evangelical poverty.”
Ockham, Cesena, and Bonagratia did not feel safe in captivity at Avignon; therefore, on May 25th, 1328, they fled from Avignon. Ockham arrived at Pisa, where Louis IV of Bavaria received him. He accompanied Louis to his court at Munich in Bavaria. According to Trithemius, Ockham presented himself before Louis with these words: “O imperator, defende me gladio et ego defendam te verbo.” Townsend cites these words: “Tu me defendas gladio, ego te defendam calamo.” On May 28th, Pope John XXII sent a letter to all the princes and the bishops instructing them to seize Ockham and to return him for trial. On June 6th, he issued a bull telling of Ockham’s escape, cited the heresies of Ockham and excommunicated him. On June 20th, the Pope issued a bull informing the archbishop of Milan and his associate bishops that Ockham had been excommunicated. In 1328 or 1329, the Pope sent letters containing like information to the archbishops in Germany, and the letter to the archibishop of Cologne was publicly read in the cathedral on June 30th. On April 21st, 1329, the Pope published a bull similar to that of June 6th, 1328.
About June 11th, 1329, Ockham was condemned by the Minorite General Ode and the members of his order were instructed not to assist him. On April 1st, 1330, the Pope issued a bull instructing all ecclesiastics in Germany to seize Ockham. In a letter of July 31st, the Pope again charged Ockham with heresy, and submitted the writings of Ockham to certain doctors who found many heresies in them. On January 4th, 1331, John again issued a bull forbidding anyone to aid Ockham; for he was said to uphold the error of Marsiglio of Padua, who had been condemned for stating that “the emperor can depose the pope.” Ockham and others were summoned to a general council to be held on May 10th. The bull and the summons were to be nailed to the door of the church at Avignon, and the heresies were to be reviewed even if the heretics were absent. In 1331, the Minorite General Geraldus opposed the errors of Ockham.