Jean Gerson’s Legacy in Tübingen and Strasbourg

Abstract

The medieval French theologian Jean Gerson’s legacy in Germany involved several centres of learning. Among them Strasbourg and Tübingen deserve particular attention for their role in the circulation of Gerson’s works and ideas. Strasbourg, together with Vienna, belongs to the initial stage of this circulation, while Tübingen to the later one, leaping well into the 16th century. This study concerns itself with the history of the reception of all of Gerson’s ideas via his ’spiritual descendants’, understood here as both those who openly placed him in their spiritual lineage as well as those who relied on his opinions and ideas without necessarily admitting it or even being aware of it. Among those descendants are such influential and crucial figures as Gabriel Biel, Johannes von Staupitz, Johannes Eck and Philipp Melanchton.