Bonagratia of Bergamo

Bonagratia von Bergamo (* around 1265 in Bergamo ; † June 19, 1340 in Munich ) was a late medieval Franciscan lay brother and lawyer.

Bonagratia joined the Franciscan order in 1309/10. Due to his excellent legal training, he rose quickly and finally became procurator of his order at the Curia in Avignon (see Avignon Papacy ). He filled this position with great expertise and skill. In connection with the theoretical poverty dispute, Bonagratia, who was regarded as a controversial spirit and played an important role in this dispute, initially sharply opposed the so-called spirituals (see Ubertino da Casale ) who postulated the poverty of Christ and the apostles and also for them Church demanded. He was exiled to Valcabrère for a short time in 1312 because he opposed the reconciliation policy of the then Pope Clement V with the spirituals, but was able to return after Clemens' death. For this reason he also wrote a legally conceived Questio in which he examined the legality of the papal exile order.

When the spirituals were then led by Pope John XXII. were persecuted, Bonagratia supported his order general Michael von Cesena , who had taken a position against the Pope. Bonagratia was arrested for some time in January 1323 because he had protested against the papal bull Ad conditorem published in early December 1322 , which was rejected by a majority by the Franciscans. Michael, Bonagratia and other Franciscans, including Wilhelm von Ockham , fled Avignon in May 1328 and went to Pisa , where the Roman-German King Ludwig IV was staying at the time, who himself was in conflict with the Pope.

Ludwig granted the Franciscans protection, the rest of the time they spent in Munich, where they tried to enforce their position vis-à-vis the Curia through their scholarly support for Ludwig. The dissidents' concern to emphasize the poverty of Christ was brought into line with Ludwig's goal of maintaining an empire that was independent of the papacy. However, the departure of the Franciscans around Michael von Cesena led to a split in the order, which only ended with his death. Pope John excommunicated them in June 1328, after which Bonagratia helped draft anti-papal pamphlets and supported Ludwig's policies until his death.

literature

• Raoul Manselli: Bonagratia of Bergamo . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Vol. 2, Col. 400f.
• Heinz Thomas: Ludwig the Bavarian . Regensburg 1993.
• Eva Luise Wittneben: Bonagratia von Bergamo: Franciscan lawyer and spokesman for his order in a dispute with Pope Johannes XXII . Brill, Leiden-Boston 2003 (Studies in medieval and reformation thought 90); Zugl .: Diss. Heidelberg 2001/2002, ISBN 90-04-12817-4 . (Important and detailed presentation.)

Web links

• Literature by and about Bonagratia von Bergamo in the catalog of the German National Library