The School of Heretics

Download or read book The School of Heretics written by Andrew E. Larsen and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2011-09-09 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Academic condemnation has long been recognized as an important issue in the history of universities and the history of medieval thought. Yet few studies have examined the phenomenon in serious detail. This work is the first book-length study of academic condemnations at Oxford. It explores every known case in detail, including several never examined before, and then considers the practice of condemnation as a whole. As such, it provides a context to see John Wyclif and the Oxford Lollards not as unique figures, but as targets of a practice a century old by 1377. It argues that condemnation did not happen purely for reasons of theological purity, but reflected social and institutional pressures within the university.