William Ockham: Opera Politica IV

This volume publishes new critical editions of five polemical tracts by Ockham that are of great significance for the study of Empire, Papacy, and Church in the first half of the fourteenth century. It completes, posthumously, H.S. Offler's edition of Ockham's shorter political writings (Volumes I-III published by Manchester University Press). The five works are: Compendium errorum Ioannis Papae, Breviloquium de principatu tyrannico, De imperatorum et pontificum potestate, Allegationes de potestate imperiali, and De electione Caroli quarti. Each one is carefully evaluated in a separate introduction. These are important texts for those studying political philosophy and the quarrels between Pope John XXII, the Franciscan friar Michael of Cesena, and the Emperor Lewis of Bavaria.