| Abstrakt: |
Discourse on last things (novissima) has been a long-standing theme of Christian preaching. Yet preachers have not always mentioned last things as four in number, namely as death, judgment, hell, and heaven. This study explores how the interpretation by Bernard of Clairvaux of the verse of Ecclesiasticus (Ben Sira) 7.40, “In all your works, remember your last things, and you will not sin forever,” as an injunction to recall death, judgment, and hell, was transformed in the early fourteenth century by the addition of a fourth element, namely beatitude. We argue that this transformation reflects a new way of thinking about ethical behavior and ultimate destiny. Two treatises in particular, both from the early fourteenth century, reveal how different traditions of thought could be combined by bringing together Franciscan ways of thinking (in particular of Bonaventure) and Aristotelian reflection. One is the De consideratione novissimorum, an anonymous treatise about the four last things. The other is the Speculum morale, an encyclopedic compilation that was printed in the fifteenth century under the name of Vincent of Beauvais, alongside his three authentic works, the Speculum naturale, Speculum doctrinale, and Speculum historiale. The Speculum moralecombines almost the entirety of the De considerationewith extended extracts from the Speculum dominarumof Durand of Champagne, Franciscan confessor to Jeanne, queen of France and Navarre (1285–1305), the Summa theologiaeof Thomas Aquinas (1225–74), and many exempla drawn from another Dominican, Stephen of Bourbon (d. 1261). While the De considerationeis more homiletic in character than the more scholastically organized Speculum morale, they both bring together Franciscan and Dominican ideas in ways that reflect the complexity of ethical discussion about intellect, will, and grace in the decades after 1274. We argue that this fusion of ideas reflects a conscious desire to overcome the factionalism that had prevailed in mendicant circles on these issues, shaped by the political circumstances of the early fourteenth century. |
