Henry Denifle
Encyclopedia
Henry Denifle, in German
Heinrich Seuse Denifle (January 16, 1844, Imst
, Austrian Tyrol - June 10, 1905, Munich
), was an Austria
n paleographer and historian
.
. On his reception, at Graz
, 22 September 1861, into the Dominican Order
, he took the name of Heinrich (he was baptized Joseph). His studies of Aristotle
and Thomas Aquinas
were begun in Graz and continued in Rome
and Marseilles. After his return to Graz, Denifle taught philosophy
and theology
for ten years (1870–1880), and during this period also he was recognized as one of the best preacher
s in Austria. A course of apologetic sermon
s delivered in Graz cathedral Die katholische Kirche und das Ziel der Menschheit (The Catholic Church and the goal of mankind) was printed in 1872. Denifle, who had loved music from his boyhood and composed pieces at fifteen, also published in 1872, as his first literary essay, an article on the Gregorian chant
: Schönheit und Würde des Chorals (The beauty and value of choirs). That even then his mind was occupied with a subject about which his last and perhaps his greatest work was destined to be written, is evident from a series of articles entitled Tetzel
und Luther
(Tetzel and Luther), which appeared in 1873. From that time onward, though he preached occasionally, the biography of Denifle is the description of his literary achievements. His life therefore may be divided into four periods characterized respectively by work on theology and mysticism
, medieval universities
, the Hundred Years' War
between France
and England
with its consequences to the Church, and Luther and Lutheranism
.
theology and medieval mysticism. It was comparatively unknown, and had in fact been grossly misrepresented by some flippant writers according to whom the German mystics were the precursors of the German Reformers. Denifle's researches put the matter in its true light. He discovered in various libraries of Austria, Germany, and Switzerland
copious materials in 14th century manuscripts, and a selection of 2500 texts was given to the public in his book Das geistliche Leben. Eine Blumenlese as den deutschen Mystikern des 14. Jahrhunderts (The spiritual life. A flower vintage from the German mystics of the 14th century) (Graz, 1873). He also began a critical edition of Henry Suso
's works (the only volume of Denifle's edition appeared in 1888—another edition is in progress 1908), and on Suso and other mystics he wrote several articles (fifteen in all with appendices) published in various periodicals from 1873 to 1889. His fame as a paleographer, German philologist
, and textual critic arose from these investigations and especially from his studies on Johannes Tauler
, Meister Eckhart
, and Suso. Up to 1875 the most disputed problem in the history of German mysticism was that of the Gottesfreund (Friend of God from the Oberland) and his marvellous influence. Denifle solved it simply by showing that the Gottesfreund was a myth. This discovery, which created quite a sensation, and several others brought him into controversy with Wilhelm Preger and Carl Wilhelm Schmidt
, who had till then been looked up to as authorities on the history of mysticism, and also into controversy with Auguste Jundt. He proved and demonstrated that Catholic
mysticism rests on scientific theology. Denifle's remarks were often sharp, but there could be no doubt that his arguments and his destructive criticism were unanswerable.
, Holland, England, France, Spain
, and Portugal
. Nothing seems to have escaped his eye, and while preparing for the new edition, before his return to Italy in 1883, he had also gathered abundant materials for his own special study. In the autumn of 1880 Leo XIII had opened the secret archives of the Vatican
to scholars; he had in 1879 appointed as archivist Cardinal Hergenröther. On the latter's recommendation the pope now (1 Dec., 1883) mace Denifle sub-archivist, a post which he held till his death. Since the beginning of his residence in Rome, Denifle, who found nothing there for his contemplated history of mysticism, had been investigating the career of a celebrated prophet, i.e. the Abbot Joachim of Fiore
and the reasons of the condemnation of his Evangelium Æternum by the University of Paris
. This led him to study the controversy between the university and the mendicant orders
. As he found du Boulay
's history of the university inaccurate, Denifle, who was a foe to adventurous statements and hasty generalizations, resolved to write a history based on original documents, and as an introduction to it, to commence with a volume on the origin of the medieval university system, for which he already had prepared copious transcripts and notes. His leading idea was that to appreciate the mystics one should understand not only the theology they had learned, but also the genius of the place where it was commonly taught. The only volume appeared in 1885 under the title Die Universitäten des Mittelalters bis 1400 (The university in the Middle Ages until 1400) (xlv-814). The work was everywhere applauded; it led, however, to a somewhat bitter controversy. Georg Kaufmann attacked it, but was worsted by the erudite and unsparing author. The most copious collection on the subject to be found in any archives is that possessed by the Vatican
, and this Denifle was the first to use. Munich
, Vienna
, and other centres supplied the rest. Among his discoveries two may be mentioned, namely, that the universities did not, as a rule, owe their origin to cathedral schools, and that in the majority of them at first theology was not taught. The University of Paris formed an exception. Denifle had planned four other volumes; viz. a second on the development of the organization of universities, a third on the origin of the University of Paris, a fourth on its development to the end of the 13th century, and a fifth on its controversies with the mendicant orders. But the Conseil Général des Facultés de Paris, which had in 1885 decided on publishing the Chartularium, or records of the University of Paris, resolved on 27 March 1887, to entrust the work of Denifle, with Emile Chatelain, the Sorbonne librarian, as collaborateur. This quite suited Denifle, for he had resolved not to write before he had collected all the relevant documents, so with the assistance of Chatelain he began his task.
In less than ten years four folio volumes of the Chartularium appeared as follows: 1889, volume I, A.D. 1200-1286 (xxxvi-714 pp.), 530 original documents, with fifty-five from the preparatory period, 1163–1200; 1891, volume II, 1286-1350 (xxiii-808 pp.), 661 documents; 1894, volume III, 1350-1384 (xxxvii-777 pp.), 520 documents; 1897, volume IV, 1384-1452 (xxxvi-835 pp.), 988 documents, and two volumes of the Auctarium. This monumental work, the Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis, contains invaluable information regarding its inner life, organization, famous professors and students, relations with pope
s and kings, controversies, etc., during the period when this university was the chief centre of theological learning. "With its aid", as Johann Peter Kirsch remarks, "a history of medieval theology has at last become possible." Some idea of the labour involved in its preparation may be gathered from the fact that all the great libraries and archives in Europe were visited, that Denifle travelled from Paris to Rome forty times, and that in the Vatican archives alone he examined 200,000 letters, of which he utilized 80,000 in his notes (see II, p. 17), though of course more material was found in Paris than in Rome. In order to preserve the unity of the Chartularium, any reference to the “nations” was relegated to the Auctarium. The two volumes published contain the Liber Procuratorum Nationis Anglicanæ 1333-1446. Marcel Fournier, who rashly criticized Denifle and Chatelain, fared badly at their hands. After Denifle's death the materials he had collected for another volume were entrusted to Chatelain, so that the work right be continued. Owing to the vastness and completeness of his research and to his amazing erudition, what Denifle gave to the world, even though for him it was only a preliminary study, has sufficed to make him the great authority on medieval universities. (See Merkle, Dreves, etc., or Rashdall's "Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages", Oxford, 1895.) In order to publish valuable texts which he had deciphered and the results of his studies on various subjects, together with Father Ehrle, S. J., the sub-librarian of the Vatican, he founded in 1885 the Archiv für Literatur und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters. The two friends were the only contributors. The first five years of this serial contain several articles from his pen, on various universities, on Abelard and other scholars, on religious orders, on popes, etc.
Denifle's extensive acquaintance with manuscripts and his skill in paleography were also put at the service of beginners in the art of deciphering by his annotated Specimina palæographica Regestorum Pontificum ab Innocentio III ad Urbanum V (Rome, 1888). Among its sixty-four plates, that representing the Vatican transcript of the Unam Sanctam
is especially valuable. The work was the offering of the papal archivists to Leo XIII on his golden jubilee.
(1385). Though the work was not continued the enormous amount of recondite information brought together and illustrated for the first time makes the volume indispensable to historians (see e.g., his account of the Battle of Crécy
and the Black Prince).
Denifle had for years been studying the history of medieval theology and mysticism, as well as the lives of saints and scholars by whom in both departments progress had been effected, on the other hand his investigations revealed the decadence of ecclesiastical life during the Hundred Years' War and caused him to amass documents (about 1200) showing the many abuses then prevalent among the clergy
both secular and regular. The contrast was marked. As was his wont he resolved to solve the problem that arose, to see what could have been the result of such moral corruption. These new researches were not confined to France, they gradually extended to Germany. Denifle found proof that in both countries, with praiseworthy exceptions, during the 14th century things went from bad to worse, but he saw that the end had not been reached yet. He traced the downward course of profligacy to the third decade of the 16th century, and there he stopped for he had found the abyss. Crimes which ecclesiastics and religious were ashamed of in the preceding era now became to one section a cause of self-glorification, and were even regarded as miracles and signs of sanctity. At the beginning of this painful investigation Denifle had not a thought about Luther, but now he saw that he could not avoid him; to estimate the new departure it was necessary to understand Luther. So Denifle devoted many years to the task of ascertaining for himself how, and why, and when Luther “fell”. The Vatican archives and various libraries supplied original documents to which this independent study was confined. As usual Denifle made a series of discoveries. His work, which is divided into three parts, if we take its second edition, is in no sense a biography. The first part is a critique of Luther's treatise on monastic vows. It examines his views on the vow of chastity in detail, and convicts him of ignorance, mendaciousness, etc. The second part which is entitled a contribution to the history of exegesis, literature and dogmatic theology in the Middle Ages, refutes Luther's assertion that his doctrine of justification by faith, i.e. his interpretation of Rom., i, 17v, was the traditional one, by giving the relevant passages from no fewer than sixty-five commentators. Of these works many exist only in manuscript. The third part claims that the year 1515 was the turning point in Luther's career, and that his own account of his early life is utterly untrustworthy.
delivered in Wittenberg
in 1515-16. “My only source for Luther,” claimed Denifle, “was Luther himself.”
Denifle, who was beloved by Leo XIII and Pius X was a conductor of the cardinalitial Commission of Studies, a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences (Vienna), and of those of Paris, Prague
, Berlin, Göttingen
, honorary doctor
of the Universities of Münster
and Innsbruck
, member of the Légion d'honneur
, of the Order of the Iron Crown
, etc. He was on his way to Cambridge
, where he was to be made Honorary Doctor of that university, when he was struck down by the hand of death.
Denifle's thesis had two main prongs: (1) "Luther was so vile that he could not possibly be an instrument of God" and (2) "this so-called reformer [Luther] made no discovery at all in the theological realm, that he was not only a liar, but an ignorant liar." According to Atkinson, while Denifle's thesis has wreaked irreparable harm on Catholicism
's understanding of Luther in general as well as its scholars in particular, it has invigorated Protestanism, particularly its scholars. By the 1920s Protestant scholars (e.g., Karl Holl
) began to show mastery of medieval scholasticism and had embarked on a Lutheran renaissance.
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Heinrich Seuse Denifle (January 16, 1844, Imst
Imst
Imst is a city in the Austrian federal state of Tyrol. It lies on the River Inn in western Tyrol, some 55 km west of Innsbruck and at an altitude of 828 m above sea-level...
, Austrian Tyrol - June 10, 1905, Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
), was an Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n paleographer and historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
.
Life and work
His father, who was the village schoolmaster and church organist, had him educated in the episcopal seminary of BrixenBrixen
Brixen is the name of two cities in the Alps:*Brixen, South Tyrol, Italy*Brixen im Thale, Tyrol, AustriaBrixen may also refer to:*Bishopric of Brixen, the former north-Italian state....
. On his reception, at Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
, 22 September 1861, into the Dominican Order
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
, he took the name of Heinrich (he was baptized Joseph). His studies of Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
and Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...
were begun in Graz and continued in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and Marseilles. After his return to Graz, Denifle taught philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
for ten years (1870–1880), and during this period also he was recognized as one of the best preacher
Preacher
Preacher is a term for someone who preaches sermons or gives homilies. A preacher is distinct from a theologian by focusing on the communication rather than the development of doctrine. Others see preaching and theology as being intertwined...
s in Austria. A course of apologetic sermon
Sermon
A sermon is an oration by a prophet or member of the clergy. Sermons address a Biblical, theological, religious, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law or behavior within both past and present contexts...
s delivered in Graz cathedral Die katholische Kirche und das Ziel der Menschheit (The Catholic Church and the goal of mankind) was printed in 1872. Denifle, who had loved music from his boyhood and composed pieces at fifteen, also published in 1872, as his first literary essay, an article on the Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...
: Schönheit und Würde des Chorals (The beauty and value of choirs). That even then his mind was occupied with a subject about which his last and perhaps his greatest work was destined to be written, is evident from a series of articles entitled Tetzel
Johann Tetzel
Johann Tetzel was a German Dominican preacher known for selling indulgences.-Life:Tetzel was born in Pirna, Saxony, and studied theology and philosophy at the university of his native city...
und Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
(Tetzel and Luther), which appeared in 1873. From that time onward, though he preached occasionally, the biography of Denifle is the description of his literary achievements. His life therefore may be divided into four periods characterized respectively by work on theology and mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
, medieval universities
Medieval philosophy
Medieval philosophy is the philosophy in the era now known as medieval or the Middle Ages, the period roughly extending from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century AD to the Renaissance in the sixteenth century...
, the Hundred Years' War
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
between France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
with its consequences to the Church, and Luther and Lutheranism
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
.
Work on Mysticism
A subject to which in early years he devoted much of his attention was the relation existing between scholasticScholasticism
Scholasticism is a method of critical thought which dominated teaching by the academics of medieval universities in Europe from about 1100–1500, and a program of employing that method in articulating and defending orthodoxy in an increasingly pluralistic context...
theology and medieval mysticism. It was comparatively unknown, and had in fact been grossly misrepresented by some flippant writers according to whom the German mystics were the precursors of the German Reformers. Denifle's researches put the matter in its true light. He discovered in various libraries of Austria, Germany, and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
copious materials in 14th century manuscripts, and a selection of 2500 texts was given to the public in his book Das geistliche Leben. Eine Blumenlese as den deutschen Mystikern des 14. Jahrhunderts (The spiritual life. A flower vintage from the German mystics of the 14th century) (Graz, 1873). He also began a critical edition of Henry Suso
Henry Suso
Henry Suso was a German mystic, born at Überlingen on Lake Constance on March 21, c. 1300; he died at Ulm, January 25, 1366; declared Blessed in 1831 by Gregory XVI, who assigned his feast in the Dominican Order to March 2...
's works (the only volume of Denifle's edition appeared in 1888—another edition is in progress 1908), and on Suso and other mystics he wrote several articles (fifteen in all with appendices) published in various periodicals from 1873 to 1889. His fame as a paleographer, German philologist
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
, and textual critic arose from these investigations and especially from his studies on Johannes Tauler
Johannes Tauler
Johannes Tauler was a German mystic theologian.- Life :He was born about the year 1300 in Strasbourg, and was educated at the Dominican convent in that city, where Meister Eckhart, who greatly influenced him, was professor of theology in the monastery school...
, Meister Eckhart
Meister Eckhart
Eckhart von Hochheim O.P. , commonly known as Meister Eckhart, was a German theologian, philosopher and mystic, born near Gotha, in the Landgraviate of Thuringia in the Holy Roman Empire. Meister is German for "Master", referring to the academic title Magister in theologia he obtained in Paris...
, and Suso. Up to 1875 the most disputed problem in the history of German mysticism was that of the Gottesfreund (Friend of God from the Oberland) and his marvellous influence. Denifle solved it simply by showing that the Gottesfreund was a myth. This discovery, which created quite a sensation, and several others brought him into controversy with Wilhelm Preger and Carl Wilhelm Schmidt
Carl Wilhelm Schmidt
Reverend Carl Wilhelm Schmidt , also known as Karl Schmidt, was a German missionary, and an ordained minister of the Prussian United Church. Schmidt's missionary work took him to Queensland and Samoa, where he founded a number of Lutheran institutions and settlements.-Early life:Schmidt was born...
, who had till then been looked up to as authorities on the history of mysticism, and also into controversy with Auguste Jundt. He proved and demonstrated that Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
mysticism rests on scientific theology. Denifle's remarks were often sharp, but there could be no doubt that his arguments and his destructive criticism were unanswerable.
Work on Medieval Philosophy
In 1880 Denifle was made socius, or assistant, to the general of his order, and summoned to Rome, where a new field of inquiry awaited him. Leo XIII had commanded that a critical edition of the works of Thomas Aquinas should be begun, and Denifle was commissioned to search for the best manuscripts. He visited the libraries in Italy, Austria, Germany, BavariaBavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, Holland, England, France, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. Nothing seems to have escaped his eye, and while preparing for the new edition, before his return to Italy in 1883, he had also gathered abundant materials for his own special study. In the autumn of 1880 Leo XIII had opened the secret archives of the Vatican
Vatican Secret Archives
The Vatican Secret Archives , located in Vatican City, is the central repository for all of the acts promulgated by the Holy See. The Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, having primal incumbency until death, owns the archives until the next appointed Papal successor...
to scholars; he had in 1879 appointed as archivist Cardinal Hergenröther. On the latter's recommendation the pope now (1 Dec., 1883) mace Denifle sub-archivist, a post which he held till his death. Since the beginning of his residence in Rome, Denifle, who found nothing there for his contemplated history of mysticism, had been investigating the career of a celebrated prophet, i.e. the Abbot Joachim of Fiore
Joachim of Fiore
Joachim of Fiore, also known as Joachim of Flora and in Italian Gioacchino da Fiore , was the founder of the monastic order of San Giovanni in Fiore . He was a mystic, a theologian and an esoterist...
and the reasons of the condemnation of his Evangelium Æternum by the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
. This led him to study the controversy between the university and the mendicant orders
Mendicant Orders
The mendicant orders are religious orders which depend directly on the charity of the people for their livelihood. In principle, they do not own property, either individually or collectively , believing that this was the most pure way of life to copy followed by Jesus Christ, in order that all...
. As he found du Boulay
César-Egasse du Boulay
César-Egasse du Boulay , known as Bulaeus, was a French historian.-Life:He was born at the beginning of the seventeenth century at Saint-Ellier, Mayenne. After teaching humanities in the College of Navarre he occupied important positions in the University of Paris, especially those of rector and...
's history of the university inaccurate, Denifle, who was a foe to adventurous statements and hasty generalizations, resolved to write a history based on original documents, and as an introduction to it, to commence with a volume on the origin of the medieval university system, for which he already had prepared copious transcripts and notes. His leading idea was that to appreciate the mystics one should understand not only the theology they had learned, but also the genius of the place where it was commonly taught. The only volume appeared in 1885 under the title Die Universitäten des Mittelalters bis 1400 (The university in the Middle Ages until 1400) (xlv-814). The work was everywhere applauded; it led, however, to a somewhat bitter controversy. Georg Kaufmann attacked it, but was worsted by the erudite and unsparing author. The most copious collection on the subject to be found in any archives is that possessed by the Vatican
Roman Curia
The Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Catholic Church, together with the Pope...
, and this Denifle was the first to use. Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, and other centres supplied the rest. Among his discoveries two may be mentioned, namely, that the universities did not, as a rule, owe their origin to cathedral schools, and that in the majority of them at first theology was not taught. The University of Paris formed an exception. Denifle had planned four other volumes; viz. a second on the development of the organization of universities, a third on the origin of the University of Paris, a fourth on its development to the end of the 13th century, and a fifth on its controversies with the mendicant orders. But the Conseil Général des Facultés de Paris, which had in 1885 decided on publishing the Chartularium, or records of the University of Paris, resolved on 27 March 1887, to entrust the work of Denifle, with Emile Chatelain, the Sorbonne librarian, as collaborateur. This quite suited Denifle, for he had resolved not to write before he had collected all the relevant documents, so with the assistance of Chatelain he began his task.
In less than ten years four folio volumes of the Chartularium appeared as follows: 1889, volume I, A.D. 1200-1286 (xxxvi-714 pp.), 530 original documents, with fifty-five from the preparatory period, 1163–1200; 1891, volume II, 1286-1350 (xxiii-808 pp.), 661 documents; 1894, volume III, 1350-1384 (xxxvii-777 pp.), 520 documents; 1897, volume IV, 1384-1452 (xxxvi-835 pp.), 988 documents, and two volumes of the Auctarium. This monumental work, the Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis, contains invaluable information regarding its inner life, organization, famous professors and students, relations with pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
s and kings, controversies, etc., during the period when this university was the chief centre of theological learning. "With its aid", as Johann Peter Kirsch remarks, "a history of medieval theology has at last become possible." Some idea of the labour involved in its preparation may be gathered from the fact that all the great libraries and archives in Europe were visited, that Denifle travelled from Paris to Rome forty times, and that in the Vatican archives alone he examined 200,000 letters, of which he utilized 80,000 in his notes (see II, p. 17), though of course more material was found in Paris than in Rome. In order to preserve the unity of the Chartularium, any reference to the “nations” was relegated to the Auctarium. The two volumes published contain the Liber Procuratorum Nationis Anglicanæ 1333-1446. Marcel Fournier, who rashly criticized Denifle and Chatelain, fared badly at their hands. After Denifle's death the materials he had collected for another volume were entrusted to Chatelain, so that the work right be continued. Owing to the vastness and completeness of his research and to his amazing erudition, what Denifle gave to the world, even though for him it was only a preliminary study, has sufficed to make him the great authority on medieval universities. (See Merkle, Dreves, etc., or Rashdall's "Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages", Oxford, 1895.) In order to publish valuable texts which he had deciphered and the results of his studies on various subjects, together with Father Ehrle, S. J., the sub-librarian of the Vatican, he founded in 1885 the Archiv für Literatur und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters. The two friends were the only contributors. The first five years of this serial contain several articles from his pen, on various universities, on Abelard and other scholars, on religious orders, on popes, etc.
Denifle's extensive acquaintance with manuscripts and his skill in paleography were also put at the service of beginners in the art of deciphering by his annotated Specimina palæographica Regestorum Pontificum ab Innocentio III ad Urbanum V (Rome, 1888). Among its sixty-four plates, that representing the Vatican transcript of the Unam Sanctam
Unam sanctam
On 18 November 1302, Pope Boniface VIII issued the Papal bull Unam sanctam which historians consider one of the most extreme statements of Papal spiritual supremacy ever made...
is especially valuable. The work was the offering of the papal archivists to Leo XIII on his golden jubilee.
Work on the Hundred Years' War
A work of another kind suggested itself to him while gathering in the Vatican archives materials for his annotations on the Chartularium . Denifle noticed in the three hundred volumes of Registers of Petitions addressed to Clement VI and Urban V, between 1342 and 1393, that many came from France during the Hundred Years' War between that country and England. So for the sake of a change of occupation, or un travail accessoire as he called it, Denifle went again through these volumes (each about 600 pages folio). In 1897 he published: La désolation des églises, monasteres, hôpitaux, en France vers le milieu du XVe siècle. It contains a harrowing description of the state of France, based on 1063 contemporary documents, most of which were discovered in the Vatican. Then, in order to give an explanation a similar account of the cause of all these calamities, he published in 1889: La guerre de cent ans et la désolation des églises, monastères, et hôpitaux, tom. I, jusqu'à la mort de Charles VCharles V of France
Charles V , called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380 and a member of the House of Valois...
(1385). Though the work was not continued the enormous amount of recondite information brought together and illustrated for the first time makes the volume indispensable to historians (see e.g., his account of the Battle of Crécy
Battle of Crécy
The Battle of Crécy took place on 26 August 1346 near Crécy in northern France, and was one of the most important battles of the Hundred Years' War...
and the Black Prince).
Denifle had for years been studying the history of medieval theology and mysticism, as well as the lives of saints and scholars by whom in both departments progress had been effected, on the other hand his investigations revealed the decadence of ecclesiastical life during the Hundred Years' War and caused him to amass documents (about 1200) showing the many abuses then prevalent among the clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
both secular and regular. The contrast was marked. As was his wont he resolved to solve the problem that arose, to see what could have been the result of such moral corruption. These new researches were not confined to France, they gradually extended to Germany. Denifle found proof that in both countries, with praiseworthy exceptions, during the 14th century things went from bad to worse, but he saw that the end had not been reached yet. He traced the downward course of profligacy to the third decade of the 16th century, and there he stopped for he had found the abyss. Crimes which ecclesiastics and religious were ashamed of in the preceding era now became to one section a cause of self-glorification, and were even regarded as miracles and signs of sanctity. At the beginning of this painful investigation Denifle had not a thought about Luther, but now he saw that he could not avoid him; to estimate the new departure it was necessary to understand Luther. So Denifle devoted many years to the task of ascertaining for himself how, and why, and when Luther “fell”. The Vatican archives and various libraries supplied original documents to which this independent study was confined. As usual Denifle made a series of discoveries. His work, which is divided into three parts, if we take its second edition, is in no sense a biography. The first part is a critique of Luther's treatise on monastic vows. It examines his views on the vow of chastity in detail, and convicts him of ignorance, mendaciousness, etc. The second part which is entitled a contribution to the history of exegesis, literature and dogmatic theology in the Middle Ages, refutes Luther's assertion that his doctrine of justification by faith, i.e. his interpretation of Rom., i, 17v, was the traditional one, by giving the relevant passages from no fewer than sixty-five commentators. Of these works many exist only in manuscript. The third part claims that the year 1515 was the turning point in Luther's career, and that his own account of his early life is utterly untrustworthy.
Work on Luther and Lutherianism
For some time previous it had been known that Denifle was engaged on such a work, and in 1904 the first volume of 860 pages of Luthertum in der ersten Entwicklung (Luther and Lutheranism in its first development) appeared. Denifle had access to a student copy of Luther's unpublished lectures on the Epistle to the RomansEpistle to the Romans
The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, often shortened to Romans, is the sixth book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by the Apostle Paul to explain that Salvation is offered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ...
delivered in Wittenberg
Wittenberg
Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a city in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the river Elbe. It has a population of about 50,000....
in 1515-16. “My only source for Luther,” claimed Denifle, “was Luther himself.”
Denifle, who was beloved by Leo XIII and Pius X was a conductor of the cardinalitial Commission of Studies, a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences (Vienna), and of those of Paris, Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Berlin, Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
, honorary doctor
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
of the Universities of Münster
Münster
Münster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also capital of the local government region Münsterland...
and Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
, member of the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
, of the Order of the Iron Crown
Order of the Iron Crown
The Imperial Order of the Iron Crown was established June 5, 1805 by Napoleon Bonaparte . It took its name from the ancient Iron Crown of Lombardy, a medieval jewel with an iron ring, forged from what was supposed to be a nail from the True Cross as a band on the inside. This crown also gave its...
, etc. He was on his way to Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, where he was to be made Honorary Doctor of that university, when he was struck down by the hand of death.
Denifle's thesis had two main prongs: (1) "Luther was so vile that he could not possibly be an instrument of God" and (2) "this so-called reformer [Luther] made no discovery at all in the theological realm, that he was not only a liar, but an ignorant liar." According to Atkinson, while Denifle's thesis has wreaked irreparable harm on Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
's understanding of Luther in general as well as its scholars in particular, it has invigorated Protestanism, particularly its scholars. By the 1920s Protestant scholars (e.g., Karl Holl
Karl Holl
Karl Holl was a Professor of theology and church history at Tübingen and Berlin and is considered one of the most influential church historians of his era.- Life :...
) began to show mastery of medieval scholasticism and had embarked on a Lutheran renaissance.