Giles of Rome (Latin: Aegidius Romanus; Italian: Egidio Colonna; c. 1243 – 22 December 1316) was an Italian medieval philosopher and Scholastic theologian and a friar of the Order of St Augustine, who was also appointed to the positions of prior general of his order and as Archbishop of Bourges. He is famed as being a logician, who produced a commentary on the Organon by Aristotle, and as the author of two important works: De ecclesiastica potestate, a major text of early-14th-century papalism, and De regimine principum, a guide book for Christian temporal leadership. Giles was styled Doctor Fundatissimus ("Best-Grounded Teacher") by Pope Benedict XIV. Writers in 14th- and 15th-century-England such as John Trevisa and Thomas Hoccleve translated or adapted him into English.
Early life Very little is known about his early life, although the Augustinian friar Jordan of Quedlinburg claimed in his Liber Vitasfratrum that Giles belonged to the noble Colonna family of Rome. But Jordan was not a contemporary of Giles, and many scholars remain sceptical of his account of Giles' early life. Having entered the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine in Rome, he was sent by his Order to the University of Paris for his philosophical and theological studies, and there became a disciple of the Dominican Thomas Aquinas, and was later appointed to teach at the university, being the first of his Order to do so. It has been estimated that Giles was taught by Thomas Aquinas between 1269 and 1272, and in the years that followed, he produced many of his commentaries on the works of Aristotle, who had been experiencing an intellectual revival during the thirteenth century, and he also produced his commentary on Peter Lombard's Sentences. Giles remained in Paris studying and teaching theology until Bishop Étienne Tempier condemned the application of Aristotelianism within the Christian discourse, including those who had produced commentaries on Aristotle's work. Giles, whose work had been condemned, disappeared from the Parisian academic scene. There is no information remaining concerning Giles between the period of 1277 and 1281, when he returned to Italy. However, in 1281, at the Thirty-sixth Council of Paris, in which several differences between the bishops and mendicant orders were dealt with, he sided with the bishops against the mendicants. In reference to this, a contemporary philosopher, Godfrey of Fontaines mentioned Giles as the most renowned theologian of the whole city (qui modo melior de tota villa in omnibus reputatur), suggesting that he might have been in Paris during this period before going back to Rome. Philip III of France entrusted to Giles the education of his son and heir, who later, in 1285, ascended the throne as Philip IV. When the new king entered Paris after his consecration at Reims, Giles gave the welcoming address in the name of the university, insisting on justice as the most important virtue for a king to practice. In 1285 Giles' work was again called into question, but by 1287 he was allowed to continue teaching. Eight years later in 1295, Giles was appointed as the Archbishop of Bourges, which he wrote about in his work De renunciatione.
Later life Giles was involved in the condemnation of 1277 promulgated by Étienne Tempier. Several of his opinions had been found reprehensible by Archbishop Tempier, and in 1285 Pope Honorius IV asked him for a public retraction. This, however, was far from lessening his reputation, for in 1287 a decree of the general chapter of the Augustinians held in Florence, after remarking that Giles's doctrine "shines throughout the whole world" (venerabilis magistri nostri Ægidii doctrina mundum universum illustrat), commanded all members of the order to accept and defend all his opinions, written or to be written. After filling several important positions in his order he was elected superior-general/prior-general, in 1292. Three years later Pope Boniface VIII appointed him Archbishop of Bourges, France, although Jean de Savigny had already been designated for this see by Pope Celestine V. The French nobility protested on the grounds that Giles was an Italian, but his appointment was maintained and approved by the king. He was present at the Council of Vienne (1311–1312) in which the Order of Knights Templars was suppressed. He died in Avignon.
Works
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