William Of Alnwick

William of Alnwick (lat. Guillelmus Alaunovicanus, c. 1275 – March 1333) was a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...

and

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

, and bishop of

Giovinazzo Giovinazzo ( Barese: ) is a town, ''comune'' (municipality) and former bishopric within the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia region, southeastern Italy. History It was a small fortified centre of the Romans, who called it Natolium, maybe buil ...

, who took his name from

Alnwick Alnwick ( ) is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116. The town is on the south bank of the River Aln, south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish bor ...

in Northumberland. Little is known of his early life. By 1303 he was a licensed doctor of theology at Paris, being then listed among the few foreign masters who sided with Philip IV, king of France, in his dispute with

Pope Boniface VIII Pope Boniface VIII ( la, Bonifatius PP. VIII; born Benedetto Caetani, c. 1230 – 11 October 1303) was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 December 1294 to his death in 1303. The Caetani, Caetani family was of b ...

. Alnwick also lectured at other European centres of learning, including

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

and

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. He must have returned to England sometime in the second decade of the 14th century, as he is recorded as the forty-second Franciscan

regent master Regent master (''Magister regens'') was a title conferred in the medieval universities upon a student who had acquired a master's degree. The degree meant simply the right to teach, the ''Licentia docendi'', a right which could be granted, in the ...

at Oxford University, when

Henry Harclay Henry (of) Harclay ( la, Henricus Harcleius, also Harcla or Harcley; c. 1270 – 25 June 1317) was an English medieval philosopher and university chancellor. Biography Harclay was born in the Diocese of Carlisle near the English and Scottish bo ...

was chancellor of the university. Alnwick's manuscript marginalia show that he was part of the contemporary debate which spread all over Europe, and which included the ideas of men such as

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...

Bonaventure Bonaventure ( ; it, Bonaventura ; la, Bonaventura de Balneoregio; 1221 – 15 July 1274), born Giovanni di Fidanza, was an Italian Catholic Franciscan, bishop, cardinal, scholastic theologian and philosopher. The seventh Minister G ...

Henry of Ghent Henry of Ghent (c. 1217 – 29 June 1293) was a scholastic philosopher, known as '' Doctor Solemnis'' (the "Solemn Doctor"), and also as Henricus de Gandavo and Henricus Gandavensis. Life Henry was born in the district of Mude, near Ghent. He ...

, Peter Auriol,

James of Ascoli James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

Godfrey of Fontaines Godfrey of Fontaines (born sometime before 1250, died 29 October 1306 or 1309), in Latin Godefridus de Fontibus, was a scholastic philosopher and theologian, designated by the title Doctor Venerandus. He made contributions to a diverse range of sub ...

and

Thomas Wilton Thomas Wilton (active from 1288 to 1322) was an English theologian and scholastic philosopher, a pupil of Duns Scotus,Harjeet Singh Gill, ''Signification in language and culture'', Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 2002, p. 109. a teacher at the ...

. His main collaborator, however, was

Duns Scotus John Duns Scotus ( – 8 November 1308), commonly called Duns Scotus ( ; ; "Duns the Scot"), was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher, and theologian. He is one of the four most important ...

, and it is this that has saved him from obscurity. He worked with Scotus in the production of his Commentary on the ''Sentences'' (''Ordinatio''), took down one of his ''Collationes'', and compiled the long additions (''Additiones magnae'') which were meant to fill the gaps in the ''Ordinatio''. But although Alnwick based his philosophy and theology on the fundamental starting points of Scotus's teaching, he diverged from his colleague when he disagreed. Alnwick participated in the general chapter of the Franciscan order held at

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

in 1322, where he joined the theologians who drew up and signed the decree ''De paupertate Christi'' attacking the position on the poverty of the church as promulgated by

Pope John XXII Pope John XXII ( la, Ioannes PP. XXII; 1244 – 4 December 1334), born Jacques Duèze (or d'Euse), was head of the Catholic Church from 7 August 1316 to his death in December 1334. He was the second and longest-reigning Avignon Pope, elected by ...

. In the last section of his ''Determinationes'' he argued that Christ and his apostles possessed nothing either personally or in common. This opposition to the papal position caused John to initiate proceedings against Alnwick, who fled to Naples, where King Robert protected him. In 1330, Robert had him appointed bishop of

. He died in

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

in March 1333. {{authority control 1270s births 1333 deaths 14th-century English Roman Catholic theologians Scholastic philosophers English Franciscans People from Alnwick Year of birth uncertain English philosophers