He was officially rehabilitated by Innocent VI in 1359. Ockham died (prior to the outbreak of the plague, or Black Death) either on 10 April 1347 or (more likely) on 9 April 1348 in the Franciscan convent at Munich in Bavaria. After Michael of Cesena's death in 1342, William became the leader of the small band of Franciscan dissidents living in exile with Louis IV. He spent much of the remainder of his life writing about political issues, including the relative authority and rights of the spiritual and temporal powers.
However, though Ockham was excommunicated, his philosophy was never officially condemned. For doing this Ockham was solemnly excommunicated by Pope John XXII, while Ockham believed that John XXII was himself guilty of heresy for refusing to accept the Franciscan claim. In return for protection and patronage Ockham wrote treaties that argued for King Louis to have supreme control over church and state in the Holy Roman Empire. After studying the works of John XXII and previous papal statements, Ockham agreed with the Minister General. This brought them into conflict with Pope John XXII.Įventually, fearing imprisonment and possible execution, Ockham, Michael of Cesena and other Franciscan sympathizers fled Avignon on, and eventually took refuge in the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV of Bavaria - who was also engaged in dispute with the papacy, and became Ockham's patron. (The most uncompromising Franciscans, known as spirituals, believed that Jesus and his apostles owned no personal property, and survived by begging and accepting the gifts of others ). Michael of Cesena had asked Ockham to review arguments surrounding Apostolic poverty. A theological commission had been asked to review his Commentary on the Sentences, and it was during this that Ockham found himself involved in a different debate. It was in this year that the Franciscan Minister General, Michael of Cesena, had been summoned to Avignon, to answer charges of heresy. It is generally believed that these charges were levied by Oxford chancellor John Lutterell. For two years, he was confined to a Franciscan house, until he was condemned as a heretic in 1326.Īn alternative theory, recently proposed by George Knysh, suggests that he was initially appointed in Avignon as a professor of philosophy in the Franciscan school, and that his disciplinary difficulties did not begin until 1327. In 1324, his commentary was condemned as unorthodox by a synod of bishops, and he was ordered to Avignon, France, to defend himself before a papal court.
However, Ockham’s commentary was not well received by his colleagues, or by the church authorities. William of Ockham was among these scholarly commentators. During the Middle Ages of Europe, theologian Peter Lombard’s Sentences (1150) had become a standard work of theology, and many ambitious theological scholars wrote commentaries on it. His work in this period became the subject of controversy, and many scholars have thought that Ockham was summoned before the Papal court of Avignon in 1324 under charges of heresy. He was also known as the Doctor Invincibilis or "Unconquerable Teacher." Because of this, he acquired the byname Venerabilis Inceptor, or "Worthy Beginner" (an inceptor was a student formally admitted to the ranks of teachers by the university authorities ). It is believed that he studied theology at the University of Oxford from 1309 to 1321, but never completed his master's degree (the usual undergraduate degree in those times). William of Ockham joined the Franciscan order at an early age.
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