Giles of Rome
Giles of Rome | |
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Kingdom of Burgundy-Arles | |
Nationality | Italian |
Education | |
Era | Medieval philosophy |
Region | Western philosophy |
School | |
Main interests |
Giles of Rome
Writers in 14th- and 15th-century-England such as John Trevisa and Thomas Hoccleve translated or adapted him into English.
Early life
Very little is known about his early life, although the
There is no information remaining concerning Giles between the period of 1277 and 1281, when he returned to Italy. However, in 1281, at the Thirty-sixth Council of Paris, in which several differences between the bishops and mendicant orders were dealt with, he sided with the bishops against the mendicants. In reference to this, a contemporary philosopher, Godfrey of Fontaines mentioned Giles as the most renowned theologian of the whole city (qui modo melior de totâ villâ in omnibus reputatur), suggesting that he might have been in Paris during this period before going back to Rome.
Controversy
Giles was involved in the
After filling several important positions in his order he was elected
He was present at the Council of Vienne (1311–1312) in which the Order of Knights Templars was suppressed. He died in Avignon.
Works
His writings cover the fields of philosophy and theology. There is no complete edition of his works, but several treatises have been published separately.
In Holy Scripture and theology he wrote commentaries on the Hexaemeron, the Canticle of Canticles, and the
In philosophy, besides commentaries on almost all the works of Aristotle, he wrote several special treatises. But his main work is the treatise De regimine principum, written for, and dedicated to, his pupil, Philip IV. It passed through many editions (the first, Augsburg, 1473) and was translated into several languages. The Roman edition of 1607 contains the life of Egidio. The work is divided into three books: the first treats the individual conduct of the king, the nature of his true happiness, the choice and acquisition of virtues, and the ruling of passions; the second deals with family life and the relations with wife, children, and servants; the third considers the State, its origin, and the proper mode of governing in times of peace and war.
Almost immediately, De regimine was translated into
His pedagogical writings have been published in German by Kaufmann (Freiburg, 1904).
His attitude in the difficulties between Pope Boniface VIII and King Philip IV was long believed to have been favourable to the king. But it has been proved that he is the author of the treatise De potestate ecclesiasticâ, in which the rights of the pope are vindicated. The similarity between this treatise and the
He had already taken an active part in ending the discussions and controversies concerning the validity of Boniface's election to the papacy. In his treatise De renunciatione Papæ sive Apologia pro Bonifacio VIII he shows the legitimacy of Celestine's resignation and consequently of Boniface's election. In philosophy and theology, he generally follows the opinions of his master, St. Thomas, whose works he quotes as scripta communia.
The Defensorium seu Correctorium corruptorii librorum Sancti Thomæ Acquinatis against the Franciscan
Giles wrote a commentary on Guido Cavalcanti's philosophical love canzone "Donna me prega" (see Enrico Fenzi, La canzone d'amore di Guido Cavalcanti e i suoi antichi commenti, Melangolo, 1999).
Aegidian school
After the decree of the general chapter of 1287, mentioned above, his opinions were generally accepted in the Augustinian Order. He thus became the founder of the Ægidian School. Among the most prominent representatives of this school must be mentioned
For some time after this other opinions prevailed in the Augustinian Order. But as late as the seventeenth century should be mentioned Raffaello Bonherba (d. 1681) who wrote Disputationes totius philosophiæ … in quibus omnes philosophicæ inter D. Thomam et Scotum controversiæ principaliter cum doctrinâ nostri Ægidii Columnæ illustrantur (Palermo, 1645, 1671); and Augustino Arpe (d. 1704) who wrote Summa totius theologiæ Ægidii Columnæ (Bologna, 1701, and Genoa, 1704).
Federico Nicolò Gavardi (d. 1715), the most important interpreter of Colonna, composed Theologia exantiquata iuxta orthodoxam S. P. Augustini doctrinam ab Ægidio Columnâ doctoræ fundatissimo expositam … (6 vols. fol., Naples and Rome, 1683–1696); this work was abridged by Anselm Hörmannseder in his Hecatombe theologica (Presburg, 1737). Benignus Sichrowsky (d. 1737) wrote also Philosophia vindicata ad erroribus philosophorum gentilium iuxta doctrinam S. Augustini et B. Ægidii Columnæ (Nuremberg, 1701).
Translations
- On ecclesiastical power: A Medieval Theory of World Government, edited and translated by RW Dyson, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004)
- Commentary on the Song of Songs and other writings, translated by J Rotelle, (Villanova, PA: Augustinian Press, 1998)
- On ecclesiastical power / by Giles of Rome = De ecclesiastica potestate / by Aegidius of Rome, translated by Arthur P. Monahan, (Lewiston, NY: E Mellen Press, 1990)
- Giles of Rome on ecclesiastical power: the De ecclesiastica potestate of Aegidius Romanus,translated by R.W. Dyson, (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1986)
- Theorems on existence and essence, translated by Michael V Murray, (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 1952)
- Errores philosophorum, translated by John O Riedl, (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 1944)
See also
References
- ^ of Rome in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- ^ Charles F. Briggs (1993), "Manuscripts of Giles of Rome's De regimine principum in England, 1300–1500: A Handlist", Scriptorium 47(1): 60–73.
- Johannes Felix Ossinger, Bibliotheca augustiniana (Ingolstadt and Vienna, 1768)
- Henry Denifle and Émile Chatelain, Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis (Paris, 1889–), I, II, see Index
- FÉRRET, La faculté de théologie de Paris et ses docteurs les plus célèbres au moyen âge (Paris, 1896), III, 459–475
- Hugo von Hurter, Nomenclator (3d ed., Innsbruck, 1906), II, 481-486 and passim for Ægidian School
- LAZARD, Gilles de Rome in Histoire littéraire de la France (Paris, 1888), XXX, 423–566
- MATTIOLO, Studio critico sopra Egidio Romano Colonna in Antologia Agostiniana (Rome, 1896), I
- SCHOLZ, Ægidius von Rom (Stuttgart, 1902)
- WERNER, Die Scholastik des spätantiken Mittelalter, III, Der Augustinismus des spätantiken Mittelalter (Vienna, 1863)
- Scheeben in Kirchenlexikon, s. v.
- CHEVALIER, Répertoire des sources historiques (2d ed., Paris, 1905), s. v. Gilles.
External links
- Roberto Lambertini. "Giles of Rome". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Del Punta, Francesco; Donati, S.; Luna, C. (1993). "EGIDIO Romano". ISBN 978-8-81200032-6.
- 10a 212 De regimine regum et principum at OPenn
- MS 482/2 De regimine principum at OPenn
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz (1975). "Ägidius von Rom". In Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 1. Hamm: Bautz. col. 43. ISBN 3-88309-013-1.