What is Albertism?

Albertism is a philosophical and theological movement that was primarily active in the fifteenth century and which, in sources of the period, was called the via alherti or via alhertistarum. Its adherents were labeled alhertistae. For the most part, these terms appear in commentaries on Aristotle or in independent works dealing with issues related to the reading of Aristotle as this was practised in the arts faculties of the various universities. Occasionally, references to the via alherti or to the alhertistae can also be found in theological treatises.

Most characteristically, the Albertists defended a reading of Aristotle, which was drawn from the writings of Albert the Great and which they themselves distinguished from those of other late-medieval schools of thought, such as Thomism, Scotism, and Nominalism. This Albertist reading of Aristotle is documented in a great number of treatises written secundum viam alherti or secundum processum alhertistarum, most of which were printed in Cologne in the 1480s and 1490s, but also in the writings of numerous other authors who refer to the views of the Albertists in their writings, such as the Parisian philosopher Johannes Versor and the theologian Denys the Carthusian.

Prior to the fifteenth century, thinkers also frequently referred to the writings of Albert the Great and used them as a starting point for their philosophical and theological reflections. A good example is Ulrich of Strasbourg, who in contemporary sources was referred to as discipulus alherti. The influence of Albert the Great is also visible in the works of other thirteenth - and fourteenth-century philosophers and theologians, such as Dietrich of Freiberg and Meister Eckhart, sometimes even very prominently, not least because contemporaries considered Albert to be one of the main expositores of Aristotle. However, in none of these cases is there mention of alhertistae, in terms of members of a school of thought with a self-proclaimed identity, nor in terms of a specific reading of Aristotle that was programmatically applied in all main parts of the arts curriculum, as was the case with Albertism in the fifteenth century.