Nicolas de Clamanges: Spirituality, Personal Reform, and Pastoral Renewal on the Eve of the Reformations. (Reviews).

Christopher M. Bellitto, Nicolas de Clamanges: Spirituality, Personal Reform, and Pastoral Renewal on the Eve of the Reformations.

Washington, DC: The Catholic University Press of America, 2001. xii + 146 pp. $44.95. ISBN: 0-8132-0996-X.

G.H.M. Posthumus Meyjes, Jean Gerson -- Apostle of Unity: His Church Politics and Ecclesiology.

Leiden: Brill, 1999. xiii + 5 pls. + 435 Pp. $145. ISBN: 90-04-11296-0.

Jean Gerson and Nicolas de Clamanges, close acquaintances and academic colleagues, were prominent participants in the great intellectual, political and religious ferment that swirled about the University of Paris during the late-fourteenth and early-fifteenth centuries. Gerson, undoubtedly the better known of the pair, was the university's chancellor, while Clamanges was its foremost rhetorician, responsible for drafting the faculty's official correspondence. Both worked to resolve the Great Schism, promote conciliarism and, in general, cleanse a corrupt late medieval church. In addition, their activities and views on ecclesiology and church reform were closely related. Hence, these two recent studies are at once complementary and illuminating. Posthumus Meyjes concentrates on Gerson's conciliarist program, while Bellitto emphasizes Clamanges' call for personal reform.

Jean Gerson and his fellow professors at Paris had a major role and prominent voice in developments associated with the Schism that tarnished the papacy and splintered Christian allegiances from 1378 to 1415. Gerson's position as chancellor made him a pivotal figure in the controversial discussions and tense negotiations between university, the French monarchy, and various claimants to the throne of St. Peter. Much of the debate at Paris centered, not surprisingly, on the pope at Avignon and appropriate French policy. Posthumus Meyjes, in the first half of his study, offers a close account of the events and Gerson's sermons, treatises, and letters on the subject. The celebrated scholar was not simply a brilliant theologian engaged in the articulation of a solution to the Schism -- he ultimately pressed for the via concilii. Gerson also served as an active negotiator, seeking to convince rival popes at Avignon and Rome of the necessity of concessions and the value of a compromise settlement. Posthumus Meyjes guides the reader through the labyrinth of successive popes, political maneuvers, shifting positions and proposed solutions.

Although Gerson did not attend the Council of Pisa (1409), he did formulate the essential arguments for the cardinals and archbishops, bishops and abbots who sought, unsuccessfully, to depose the two existing claimants; they then elected a new, third rival pontiff. In this instance, as at the subsequent Council of Constance (1414-18), Gerson emphasized the Schism as the consequence of inadequate attention to church reform. Posthumus Meyjes, in contrast to some other scholars, argues for the positive rather than the disruptive value of the Council of Pisa. While it did not settle the Schism and, on one level, further complicated matters, it did bring church leaders together after more than thirty years of bitter division. More to the point, it suggested the eventual solution with the emergence of a conciliar movement that triumphed at Constance. Gerson was, of course, among the most articulate proponents of the authority of a general council and his activities, especially his sermons, at Constance were critic al in expounding the conciliarist position and building broad support for it.

The second portion of the study examines, in more abstract and systematic fashion, Gerson's ecclesiological views. Here, Posthumus Meyjes hits his stride. He analyzes, in turn, Gerson's critique of canon law and papal autocracy, his understanding of the hierarchical arrangement of power within the church, and his immensely important ideas on the character of conciliarism. There follows discussion of Gerson's reliance on tradition and Scripture in staking out his positions as well as his indebtedness to other medieval theologians, particularly in formulating his ideas on ecclesiology. Posthumus Meyjes concludes that Gerson, the conciliarist and "apostle of unity," was far more restrained than previous scholars have been willing to grant. Far from radical, Gerson's reaction to an inflated theory of papal power was cautious and careful.

The study is methodical and comprehensive. At the same time, it is lengthy and perhaps overly detailed. The book began as a dissertation written in Dutch nearly forty years ago and, though the original was a prize-winning effort, the current English edition retains the focused and erudite character frequently associated with doctoral dissertations. The author might have fruitfully drawn upon the experience of the intervening decades to distill and enliven the work. It is a valuable contribution that with reflective reconsideration, careful editing and more attention to the translation could have been fur more concise and accessible.

Bellitto's examination of Nicolas de Clamanges' career is by contrast remarkably succinct. The context is, once again, the Avignon papacy, disaster of the Schism, and pressing need for reform. Clamanges never rose to become a prominent ecclesiastical statesman such as Gerson or Pierre d'Ailly, the other eminent conciliarist at the Council of Constance. Nonetheless, Bellitto insists that they formed a "troika," united by friendship, intellectual purpose, and a strong desire for renewal of the Christian church.

When, in the mid-1390s, the university faculty at Paris proposed three possible solutions to the Schism -- a general council, negotiation, and abdication -- Clamanges had responsibility for preparing a judicious letter that outlined these positions to the French crown. A few years later, he became secretary to Pope Benedict XIII at Avignon. Though a professional advancement, the move created tensions with his former colleagues at the university and with the Valois monarch, who by now had withdrawn French obedience to Avignon. At the same time, Clamanges' relationship with his new patron was delicate. The rampant corruption within the Avignon curia offended him, yet he urged the French monarchy to reestablish allegiance to Avignon in the interests of religious stability and the maintenance of the church's independence. Reconciliation of pope at Avignon and king at Paris eventually proved impossible. The pope's absolute refusal to settle the Schism so frustrated Clamanges that in 1408 he effectively retreated from public life and spent the next decade composing a series of treatises exploring individual piety and religious reform. He was present at Constance for at least a few of the council's session and penned several letters reminding the delegates of the desperate needs of ordinary Christians and the prelates' fundamental pastoral obligations. Around 1423, Clamanges returned to Paris where he taught and wrote until his death in 1437.

The image of a troubled church in want of restoration pervaded Clamanges' writings. The tone was bleak and pessimistic. The root problems were greed, vice, and the absence of pastoral concern. Balancing this gloomy perspective was Clamanges' belief in humanity's ability to correct the church's imperfections. Bellitto ascribes this latter optimism to a "medieval scholastic humanism" that Clamanges shared with others throughout western Christianity. The human and divine acted in concert toward the improvement of the church. Clamanges' correspondence and other writings suggest that he felt enormous personal responsibility for advancing this process. He arduously lobbied d'Ailly and Gerson, the French king and Avignon pope.

Reform, if it was to be effective and lasting, must take place, according to Bellitto's reading of Clamanges, within three specific contexts: the personal, pastoral, and educational. Reformatio personalis with well-defined spiritual goals was the foundation for rehabilitation of institutional structures. Here, he drew, in Bellitro's opinion, heavily upon the Church Fathers. Pastoral renewal in "head and members," from papal circles to local parishes, flowed from individual interior spiritual progress. Finally, theological training for parish priests completed the ensemble and, as such, anticipated the Council of Trent's insistence upon an educated clergy The good pastor must preach, administer the sacraments and, in general, serve the faithful.

Altogether, Bellitto's portrait of Clamanges' career and approach to reform is precise and informative. His conclusions follow from the discussion, even if they remain guarded. The assessment of Clamanges influence might have been bolder and more expansive. Certainly, the notion that Clamanges foreshadowed Catholic reform of the sixteenth century warrants fuller explanation.

Taken together, these studies by Posthumus Meyjes and Bellitto offer valuable insight into two distinct yet interdependent approaches to the leadership crisis of the late medieval church. Gerson argued for a top-down approach; Clamanges asserted the primacy of personal reform. Both were influential and representative, yet neither proved entirely successful in resolving ongoing difficulties.