William of Auvergne, also known as William of Paris, was born c. 1180-1190 in Aurillac in the former Province of Auvergne, southwest of the present Clermond-Ferrand. Little is known of his early life, but after studying at Paris, he became a canon of the cathedral and was a master in theology at the University of Paris by 1223 (Marrone 1983). When Barthomaeus, bishop of Paris, died in 1227, William was displeased over the man chosen by the canons to replace him. Accordingly, William went to Rome where he persuaded Gregory IX to ordain him bishop and place him over the see of Paris in 1228; here he remained bishop until his death in 1249 (Valois 1880). Although he was strongly reprimanded by Gregory for failing to settle the strike at the University during the years 1229 to 1231, William soon returned to the good graces of the pope for whom he carried out several diplomatic missions. During the strike of the masters and students at the university, he appointed the first members of the mendicant religious orders to chairs in theology at the university, the Franciscan Alexander of Hales and the Dominican, Roland of Cremona, thus giving entree to members of these orders from which would come some of the greats of medieval philosophy and theology (Switalski 1976). William strongly opposed a plurality of benefices and condemned various theological errors in 1241 or 1244, thus setting a pattern for more significant condemnations in the future by bishops of Paris (Bianchi 2005). He also issued strong condemnations of the Talmud in 1248. William was on good terms with the royal family, first with the regent, Blanche of Castille, and then with Louis IX, the future saint. William strongly discouraged Louis against undertaking a crusade, which he vowed to do upon recovering from a fever, but to no avail. By the time Louis returned to Paris, William was dead and was buried at Saint Victor’s.
World History
