Giles of Rome (c. 1243/1247-1316) is known as ‘‘Blessed Doctor’’ (Doctor beatus), ‘‘Most Fundamental Doctor’’ (Doctor fundatissimus), and ‘‘Verbose Doctor’’ (Doctor verbosus). The occasional attribution of the surname Colonna to Giles is probably due to his origins in a specific district of the city of Rome, rather than to any association with the powerful family of that name (Boase 1933). At approximately the age of 15 Giles joined the newly established Augustinian Hermits, entering the order’s Roman convent. Moving to study in Paris, he completed the arts course sometime in the 1260s and became a bachelor of theology around 1270, after which he lectured on the Sentences of Peter Lombard and wrote commentaries on several of Aristotle’s works. It is probable that he attended the lectures of Thomas Aquinas between 1269 and 1272. The first period of Giles’ Parisian career was brought to an abrupt end in 1277 when he was censured as part of a more general condemnation of Aristotelian ideas by the bishop of Paris, Etienne Tempier.
Giles’ activities and location between the end of 1277 and his appearance at his order’s Chapter General held in Padua in 1281 remain unclear. Traditional assertions that he served as a tutor to the future French king, Philip IV the Fair, in the years after he was censured are not supported by any extant evidence. After a period spent in Italy, Giles was able to resume his academic career in Paris in 1285 becoming the first regent master in theology to be appointed from the Augustinian Hermits. In 1287, his opinions were declared to be the official position of his order. This was followed by a rapid series of promotions, including his election as prior general of the order in 1292 and his appointment as archbishop of Bourges in 1295.
From 1297, Giles spent much of his time in Italy in the service of Pope Boniface VIII during the latter’s conflicts with the Colonna cardinals and Philip IV. By 1304, following Boniface’s death, Giles had returned to Bourges and, in 1305, he took part in the enquiry that censured the Eucharistic views of John of Paris. In the following years Giles dedicated works to Philip IV’s uncle, Robert, count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis, and the Angevin king of Naples, Robert I. He adopted a position favorable to Philip IV in the process which led to the condemnation of the Templars at the Council of Vienne in 1311-12. Giles died at the papal curia at Avignon on December 22, 1316.
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