Amalrich of Bena

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Amalrich von Bena at the University of Paris. Illumination in a manuscript from the Grandes Chroniques de France , London, British Library , Ms. Royal 16 G VI, fol. 368v (14th century)

Amalrich von Bena ( Latin Amalricus de Bena , vulgar Latin Amauricus , French Amaury de Bène , also Amalrich von Chartres ; * probably around 1140/1150 in Bène near Chartres ; † 1205 or 1206 in Paris) was a scholar who worked at the University of Paris Gave lessons in the " seven liberal arts ". He was also active in the field of theology and came out with an unconventional theological concept. His followers, the Amalricans , spread his teachings in the years after his death. This led to his posthumous condemnation as a heretic in 1210 ; the Amalricans were partly executed and partly sentenced to life imprisonment.

Life

Amalrich probably received his first training in Chartres. At the University of Paris, he obtained a master's degree and thus the qualification to teach at the Faculty of Fine Arts. He also studied theology and was ordained a priest. King Philip II Augustus apparently made him the tutor of his eldest son, who was born in 1187, who later became King Louis VIII. In any case, Amalrich was at least temporarily close to the Crown Prince. As a teacher, he was valued at the university for his acumen, and he gathered a large group of students. However, with his bold theological theses and his spirit of contradiction, he offended his colleagues.

The contemporary historian Guillelmus Brito reports that the ecclesiastical teaching office intervened against his theology even before the master's death. However, the credibility of this message is controversial. Ludwig Hödl thinks that in reality Amalrich remained unmolested until his death. Other researchers, however, consider the traditional teaching objection procedure to be a historical fact. Guillelmus Brito claims that Amalrich encountered the contradiction of all other theologians with his theses. Since he did not give in, the case of Pope Innocent III. has been presented. Amalrich had traveled to Rome to defend his teaching there, but the Pope had passed his judgment against him. After his return, Amalrich was forced by the university to withdraw, but he only pretended to turn away from his convictions. The defeat hit him hard, and soon afterwards he was fatally ill. Since Amalrich died in 1205 or 1206, the conflict, if it actually did occur, would have broken out around 1204/1205.

Teaching

Amalrich apparently left no writings; the claim of the late medieval chronicler Martin von Troppau that he wrote a book is based on a mix-up. Therefore, his teachings are only known from information that comes from his opponents and was given after his death. The pamphlet Contra Amaurianos (“Against the Amalricans”) , created anonymously in 1210, offers a detailed description . Its author is very likely Garnier de Rochefort, the abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Clairvaux . It is unclear, however, to what extent the theses that the Amalricans spread after the death of their inspirer correspond to his authentic doctrine. The sources indicate that his thoughts were further developed by the Amalricans, but the details are unclear, because his own theses are usually not clearly identified as such and are not separated from what was added later. There were manuals in which his teaching was systematically presented (summe de doctrina Amalrici) , but nothing of this literature has survived, as it fell victim to ecclesiastical censorship.

According to Amalrican theology, the generally recognized principle of the omnipresence of God shows that everything that exists - especially every individual human being - is divine with regard to its being and is not different from God. From this it was concluded that the ecclesiastical sacraments , especially baptism and penance , were not needed for the attainment of salvation . A non-Christian who has seen the truth does not need to be baptized. Whoever is in possession of the knowledge that everything that exists as such forms a divine unity can do without the resources of the church, because only this knowledge is important. Since God does all things together, He causes both good and evil . All events are attributable to him. Therefore there is no sin for those who have understood this . The insight into this truth is the real resurrection ; another - the future resurrection of the dead promised by the Church - was not to be expected, and Christ was not physically risen . Those who have recognized the truth are already living in paradise , and hell is nothing other than ignorance. Faith and hope - two main virtues of Christians according to church teaching - are superfluous, only knowledge counts.

The Amalrican doctrine partly agrees with the ideas of the early medieval thinker Johannes Scottus Eriugena , but it is unclear to what extent a historical context can be assumed. Some of Eriugena's theses had already been condemned by the church during his lifetime in the 9th century. Some of his utterances are formulated in such a way that they can be interpreted in a pantheistic sense or that pantheistic consequences can be derived from them. The Amalricans were accused of having tread the path to a pantheistic equation of God and the world, which from the point of view of the church's magisterium led to a false belief.

In modern times, the Amalrican worldview is commonly referred to as pantheism. In reference works, Amalrich is described as a consistent pantheist. This assessment agrees with that of his medieval opponents. However, the philosopher and historian of philosophy Karl Albert opposes this . He sees this as an inadmissible simplification. Albert thinks that Amalrich and his students did not assume an absolute identity of the individual being with God. Rather, they would have only emphasized the unity of beings and the immanence of God. According to medieval Catholic doctrine, this is not necessarily heretical, because such ideas were also represented by a current within the theology accepted by the church. Amalrich did not deny the difference between being as such (God) and individual things. Therefore his worldview can only be described as pantheistic with reservation; it is not a question of an "immediate" but only an indirect pantheism.

The execution of the Amalricans. Illumination by Jean Fouquet in a manuscript in the Grandes Chroniques de France , Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale , Ms. fr. 6465, fol. 236 (around 1455/1460)

reception

In 1210, a group who professed Amalrich's teachings was denounced as a sect by heretics . These “false believers”, who were called Amalricans (vulgar Latin Amauriani ), were led by clerics from Amalrich's circle; their theology found some approval among the population and spread to several dioceses. It is not known whether Amalrich himself formed such a group. Her theological theses were condemned as false doctrine at a provincial synod in Paris in 1210, presided over by the Archbishop of Sens . The leading Amalricans were executed at the stake or sentenced to life imprisonment. Amalrich was posthumously declared a heretic. His bones were dug up in the cemetery and buried in unconsecrated earth. In 1215 the Fourth Lateran Council condemned his teaching as "highly perverse". In the statutes of the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Paris University issued in 1215, the use of Amalrican scripts was forbidden.

In the 15th century, Nikolaus von Kues approved the condemnation of Amalrich's theses in his work Apologia doctae ignorantiae (1449). He believed that it was a matter of errors that arose from a wrong understanding of doctrines that were actually correct, the real meaning of which was inaccessible to simple minds.

Source edition

  • Paolo Lucentini (Ed.): Garnerii de Rupeforti Contra Amaurianos (= Corpus Christianorum . Continuatio Mediaevalis , Vol. 232). Brepols, Turnhout 2010, ISBN 978-2-503-52910-3 (authoritative critical edition with detailed introduction; in the appendix p. 49–90 Documenta Amalriciana , a compilation of 18 other source texts)

literature

Overview display

Investigations

  • Karl Albert : Amalrich von Bena and the medieval pantheism . In: Albert Zimmermann (ed.): The disputes at the Paris University in the XIII. Century . De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1976, ISBN 3-11-005986-X , pp. 193-212
  • Johannes MMH Thijssen: Master Amalric and the Amalricians: Inquisitorial Procedure and the Suppression of Heresy at the University of Paris . In: Speculum 71, 1996, pp. 43-65

Remarks

  1. ↑ Paolo Lucentini (ed.): Garnerii de Rupeforti Contra Amaurianos , Turnhout 2010, pp. XXIX f .; Ludwig Hödl: Amalrich von Bena / Amalrikaner . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie , Vol. 2, Berlin 1978, pp. 349–356, here: 350; Heinrich Fichtenau : Heretics and Professors , Munich 1992, p. 280 f.
  2. ↑ Ludwig Hödl: Amalrich von Bena / Amalrikaner . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie , Vol. 2, Berlin 1978, pp. 349–356, here: 350.
  3. ↑ Paolo Lucentini (ed.): Garnerii de Rupeforti Contra Amaurianos , Turnhout 2010, pp. XXX f .; Johannes MMH Thijssen: Master Amalric and the Amalricians: Inquisitorial Procedure and the Suppression of Heresy at the University of Paris. In: Speculum 71, 1996, pp. 43-65, here: 48 f .; Jürgen Miethke : Pope, local bishop and university in the Paris theological trials of the 13th century . In: Albert Zimmermann (ed.): The disputes at the Paris University in the XIII. Century , Berlin 1976, pp. 52–94, here: 53 f.
  4. ↑ Paolo Lucentini (ed.): Garnerii de Rupeforti Contra Amaurianos , Turnhout 2010, pp. VI – VIII, XXXIII f., LXXIII – LXXV, LXXXII.
  5. ↑ Paolo Lucentini (ed.): Garnerii de Rupeforti Contra Amaurianos , Turnhout 2010, pp. LIV – LXXVII, provides a detailed description of the teaching .
  6. ↑ Ludwig Hödl: Amalrich von Bena / Amalrikaner . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie , Vol. 2, Berlin 1978, pp. 349–356, here: 355; Roberto Plevano: Exemplarity and Essence in the Doctrine of the Divine Ideas: Some Observations on the Medieval Debate . In: Medioevo 25, 1999/2000, pp. 653-711, here: 663-675, 704-711; Paolo Lucentini (ed.): Garnerii de Rupeforti Contra Amaurianos , Turnhout 2010, pp. LXXX – LXXXV.
  7. ^ Karl Albert: Amalrich von Bena and medieval pantheism. In: Albert Zimmermann (ed.): The disputes at the Paris University in the XIII. Century , Berlin 1976, pp. 193–212, here: 195.
  8. ^ Karl Albert: Amalrich von Bena and medieval pantheism. In: Albert Zimmermann (ed.): The disputes at the Paris University in the XIII. Century , Berlin 1976, pp. 193-212.
  9. ↑ These processes are presented in detail in Paolo Lucentini (ed.): Garnerii de Rupeforti Contra Amaurianos , Turnhout 2010, pp. XXXII – LI.
  10. ↑ Nikolaus von Kues, Apologia doctae ignorantiae 43.
personal data
SURNAME Amalrich of Bena
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Amalricus de Bena; Amaury de Bène; Amauricus; Amalrich of Chartres
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French theologian
DATE OF BIRTH 12th Century
PLACE OF BIRTH Bène near Chartres
DATE OF DEATH 1206
Place of death Paris