Jacques Almain (c. 1480-1515) attained considerable prominence during his brief academic career. He was particularly important for his critique of papal claims to sovereignty over the church.
Born c. 1480 in the diocese of Sens, Almain probably studied the arts at the College de Montaigu of the University of Paris. During the years 1503-1512, he taught the arts at the College de Montaigu, College de Sainte Barbe, and College de Coqueret. In January 1503 Jan Standonck appealed to the Parlement of Paris to prevent Almain from moving his teaching away from College de Montaigu. Almain served as rector of the university in 1507 and as proctor of the French nation the following year, but he vainly sought a good benefice during the same period. During these years, Almain published works on logic, physics, and moral philosophy. Of these, the Moralia attained the widest diffusion.
Begining in 1508, Almain studied theology with John Mair (1501-1518, 1525-1531) at the College de Navarre. He was a boursier in theology in 1508 at the college, but he still sought vainly to obtain a benefice. On January 26,1512, Almain received the license in theology, ranking second among 23 students promoted. He was made a doctor of theology on March 31 of that year, but he was admitted to the consortium of the Faculty of Theology only after apologizing for not being fulsome enough in gratitude to the senior doctors of the sacred science. Almain taught theology and participated in the affairs of the faculty until his premature death at Auvillar in the south of France, where he was visiting Jean de la Mare, bishop of Condom. Almain died poor, but he was praised by former pupils and by printers as they circulated his writings.
Almain attained prominence in 1512 as the university intervened in the fight between Pope Julius II (1503-1513) and three dissident cardinals. These cardinals, with the support of King Louis XII of France and the Emperor Maximilian, summoned a council to meet at Pisa in 1511. Pope Julius responded with a council of his own, summoned to meet at the Lateran basilica in 1512, and with a propaganda offensive. The most noted critique of the Council of Pisa and its pretensions was On the Comparison of the Power of Pope and Council by the Dominican theologian Thomas of Vio, known as Cajetan. The University of Paris, by royal command, intervened on the council’s behalf, choosing Almain as its spokesman. Almain may have been chosen because he had addressed, among other things, the power of the pope and a council in a question disputed at Vespers in March of 1512, during the promotion of Louis Ber to the doctorate in theology. Almain’s answer to Cajetan’s tract, his Book on the Authority of the Church, appeared later in 1512. Cajetan answered with his Apology in 1514. Almain never replied, but Mair, long after the failure of the Council of Pisa, defended his pupil’s opinions in a section of his commentary on the gospel of Matthew (1518). This response by Mair is contemporaneous with the posthumous publication of several of Almain’s works.
Although Almain had no outstanding pupils, as Mair did, his reputation outlived him. The Gallicans invoked him, along with John Gerson and other luminaries, in
Henrik Lagerlund (ed.), Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-9729-4, © Springer Science+Business Media B. V., 2011
Critiques of papal pretensions. The Book on the Authority of the Church, the Question at Vespers, and a critique of the Eight Questions of the Power of the Pope by William of Ockham were diffused in the appendices to editions of Gerson by Edmond Richer and Louis Ellies Du Pin. Apologists for the French monarchy, like Bishop Bossuet, and English polemicists of the Tudor and Stuart periods used Almain’s authority in their criticisms of Rome.
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