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Preaching against the powerful ? The sermones curiales of Juan Gil de Zamora, OFM (c. 1251 – c. 1306)

Iason Thiele, University of Heidelberg / École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris)

Zusammenfassung: Dieser Artikel stellt eine Forschungsarbeit zu den Kurialpredigten des leonesischen Franziskaners Juan Gil de Zamora vor, womit es sich in das neu entdeckte Interesse der Forschung für homiletische Quellen einreiht. Die Untersuchung stellt die Annahme infrage, dass diese Modellpredigten ein Medium zur Kommunikation von Kritik gegenüber realen Umständen gewesen seien, und geht der Frage nach, in welchem Umfang Topoi aus anderen Herrscherdidaxen und Fürstenspiegeln den Inhalt bestimmen. Somit schlägt das Projekt einen methodischen Ansatz zur Arbeit mit einer Quellengattung zwischen normativem Charakter und scholastischer Prägung vor.

Abstract : As part of a renewed interest in the use of homiletic sources, this article presents a project on the curial sermons of Leonese Franciscan Juan Gil de Zamora. It questions the assumption that these model sermons were a vehicle for expressing criticism concerning real conditions, and examines the extent of use of topoi also occurring in other ruler’s didacticisms and mirrors for princes. Eventually, the project offers a methodological approach to a source genre which alternated between its normative function and a status as scholastic exercise.

My work deals with Franciscan preaching in Castile and León in the second half of the 13th century.1 I focus on moralizing and ethical precepts in a collection of model sermons by Juan Gil de Zamora (c. 1251–c. 1306), the Liber sermonum, probably written between 1279 and 1289. As a maître ès arts who had studied in Paris, Juan Gil was part of the intellectual elite of the Friars Minor in Spain. He also played an important role both within the provincial structure of Santiago, as Custodial and later Provincial Minister, and at the courts of the Castilian kings Alfonso X and Sancho IV. His work includes treatises on history and natural philosophy, as well as on grammar, hagiography and music. Among his most notable writings are De preconiis Hispaniae, a historical mirror for princes for the Infante Sancho IV, his Dictaminis epithalamium, a handbook for writing letters and official documents, and a medical treatise titled Liber contra uenena et animalia uenenosa. Elements of a didactic treatise for rulers can also be found in his Liber naturalis, the Dictaminis epithalamium, and a Breuiloqium de uitiis et uirtutibus. In quite a few cases, we encounter the reuse of ideas in slightly modified morphology. For instance, the Liber sermonum contains passages similar to those in De preconiis Hispaniae. Clarifying the chronological relationship between the two works is one of my project’s purposes.2

Within Juan Gil’s model sermons, I have chosen the category of sermones curiales to highlight the moralizations addressed to secular power. Only two of these sermons have survived, both of which deal with jurisdiction.3 My work explores the question of whether these sermons represent a statement directed at the high nobility of Castile and León and refer to perceived abuses at various levels of jurisdiction, or whether we are instead dealing with the fulfillment of topos regulations of a homiletic ruler’s didacticism. This is intended to test Adrienne Hamy-Dupont’s hypothesis, which understands these sermons as a disapproval of real circumstances.4

In the first curial sermon,5 which was edited by A. Hamy-Dupont, Juan Gil presents an ideal picture of a judge. This is largely done using antitheses. Thus, princes are denounced as blasphemers, sinners and apostates. The second curial sermon,6 which I am editing, evokes a present full of abuses. Judges are described as ‘effeminati’; luxury and corruption are presented as widespread phenomena in the judiciary. Not only the jurisdiction of the high nobility, but also that of the cities is criticized, although it seems that it focuses more on the princes’ selection of suitable judges than on the princes’ behaviour itself. Some elements of both sermons can also be found in Juan Gil’s De preconiis Hispaniae and Dictaminis epithalamium. Not least, the strict application of scholastic methods in the argumentation raises the question of the extent to which this is merely a matter of satisfying the requirements of a genre.

To examine this, I use a two-part method. First, I compare the circumstances described by Juan Gil with the actual events at various levels of jurisdiction during the reigns of Alfonso X and Sancho IV. This could also further refine the dating. Second, I compare other curial sermons and ruler’s didacticisms to identify recurring topoi that are an integral part of the genre. Examples include the sermons of Guibert de Tournais and parts of the Siete Partidas and Castigos del rey don Sancho IV. It must also be taken into account that the two assumptions are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Thus, this study of Juan Gil de Zamora’s curial sermons highlights the challenge of working with a type of source whose original normative function increasingly gave way to the value of a scholastic exercise.


Photo: British Library, Stowe, MS 17, f. 181r.

  1. This article presents my master’s thesis’ project, which I am writing at the University of Heidelberg and EHESS Paris under the supervision of Professors Nikolas Jaspert and Sylvain Piron. []
  2. Important biographical assumptions can be found in : Manuel de CASTRO Y CASTRO (ed.), De preconiis Hispanie, Madrid : Universidad de Madrid, 1955 ; Olga Soledad BOHDZIEWIECZ (ed.), Iohannes Aegidii Zamorensis. Una contribución al estudio de la prosa latina en Castilla del siglo XIII. La edición crítica y estudio del Liber Mariae de Juan Gil de Zamora, Buenos Aires : Universidad de Buenos Aires, 2014 ; Adrienne HAMY-DUPONT, Système encyclopédique et prédication mariale chez Juan Gil de Zamora (OFM, + c. 1306). Les sermones virginales : édition, traduction et commentaire, PhD diss., Université Paris Cité and Paris VII Diderot, 2017. A complete bibliography and overview of Juan Gil’s works shall not be provided here due to space constraints. Please refer to the monographs by O. Bohdziewiecz and A. Hamy-Dupont. []
  3. These two curial sermons are contained in MS Assisi, Biblioteca del Sacro Convento di San Francesco, Fondo antico della Biblioteca Comunale, 414, ff. 166r-172r, and MS Cieszyn, Ksiąẓnica Cieszyńska, DD-V-7, ff. 116v-121v. []
  4. Adrienne HAMY-DUPONT, « ‘A Glance at the Music of Time’ : un sermon Pro curiis magnatorum inédit de Juan Gil de Zamora (OFM, c. 1290) », in : F. J. Hernández et al. (eds.), Medieval Studies in Honor of Peter Linehan, Florence : Sismel / Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2018, p. 225–241. []
  5. MS Assisi, 414, f. 166r-170r ; MS Cieszyn, DD-V-7, f. 116v-119v. MS Assisi, 414, f. 166r names it : « Pro curiis magnatorum, primo de iustitia ». []
  6. MS Assisi, 414, f. 170r-172v ; MS Cieszyn, DD-V-7, f. 119v-121v. MS Assisi, 414, f. 170r titles it : « Ad principis et rectores orbis terre ». []

Martin of León – Crusade preacher between the Iberian Peninsula and the Holy Land

Alexander Marx, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

Zusammenfassung: Dieser kurze Beitrag umreißt die Perspektive und Ergebnisse meines gegenwärtigen Forschungsprojekts (finanziert durch den FWF [J 4576-G]), das sich dem Augustiner Chorherren Martin von Léon widmet. Das Projekt beschäftigt sich vor allem mit Martins Tätigkeit als Kreuzzugsprediger, besonders im Dritten Kreuzzug (1187-92), sowie seiner Zugehörigkeit zum Netzwerk der entstehenden Universität von Paris. Sein umfassendes Werk, besonders sein Liber Sermonum (ca. 1300 Seiten), erlaubt eine eingehende Untersuchung seines Bildungshintergrundes, seiner Predigtagenda und seiner Kreuzzugsideen. Dies zeigt wie ein Protagonist von iberischer Herkunft in diverse signifikante Phänomene über die iberische Halbinsel hinaus involviert war.

Abstract: This short essay outlines the scope and results of my current research project, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [J 4576-G], and devoted to the Augustinian canon Martin of Léon. The project focusses on Martin’s role as a crusade preacher, specifically in the Third Crusade (1187-92), as well as his belonging to the network of the emerging university of Paris. His vast oeuvre, in particular his Liber Sermonum (c.1300 pages), permits ample examination of his educational background, preaching agenda, and crusade ideas, showing how a protagonist of Iberian origin was involved in several significant phenomena beyond the Peninsula.

Martin of León (c.1130-1203) ended his life as an Augustinian canon in San Isidoro in León – this says his Vita, penned by Lucas of Tuy (d.1249), and this shaped hitherto the modern perception of this figure when finding consideration occasionally among scholars. However, the Vita remains silent on what Martin did before the 1190s (save for three chapters on his childhood) – this is a remarkable gap for a text that claims to be a Saint’s Life. My research investigates this suspicious lacuna, and Martin’s own vast work of more than 1700 pages can tell us much about his activities and whereabouts, critically his main opus, the Liber Sermonum, counting c.1300 pages, an immense compendium of preaching material for several purposes. This work significantly sheds new light on several phenomena, including the crusade movement, Iberia’s involvement in it, preaching efforts before the Friars, and Martin’s educational background in the university of Paris. It seems likely that Martin spent the bulk of his life outside the Peninsula (probably the c.40 years that the Vita omits); his work betrays an education clearly indebted to Paris; he harvests especially the Glossa Ordinaria and Peter Lombard’s works, making it likely that he was Peter’s student in the 1150s. The Liber Sermonum betrays also much interest in the crusades and Jerusalem, announcing already in its prologue that it has the goal of providing material for preaching against four groups: pagans (understand Muslims); heretics; Jews; and philosophers (understand Scholasticism). The purpose of crusade preaching is thus made explicit; it forms an essential purpose of this vast work. However, since this figure was moving between the Peninsula and other parts of Europe (according to the Vita: Paris, Tours, Southern France, Canterbury, Rome, Constantinople, and the Holy Land), it remains a subject of ongoing research in which contexts and arenas Martin preached the crusade (and other matters), and what his work may tell us about the overall concept of crusading and its pertinence to the Iberian Peninsula.

            The remainder of this essay will outline the argument and scope of four articles that this project has yielded (which are either on the way or in preparation):

            (1) A first article compared Martin with other preachers of the Third Crusade (1187-92), the expedition that was probably Martin’s prime concern. It unearthed numerous parallels in ideas and imagery that substantiate Martin’s belonging to the Parisian network and that he preached this expedition alongside his colleagues (according to the Vita, at the time in Italy, where also other important preachers were sojourning), before he himself joined some crusade contingent (the Vita tells us that he was in the Holy Land at the time, for a period of two years, and serving the Knights Hospitaller). The article delivers a case study of Martin’s Sermo 22, a sermon text for Maundy Thursday, and its place in the preaching of the Third Crusade.

            (2) A second article tackles a specific branch of Paris masters, the so-called reformers, that upheld a suspicious attitude towards the new scholastic methods of the time and their use of ancient philosophy. Also Martin belongs to this branch: already his prologue announces the goal of spurning the teachings of philosophers. This article examines Martin as a case study, discussing how and why he rejects these new approaches, and how this attitude intersects with his crusade preaching, specifically via identifying philosophers with heretics. His ample concern with these new approaches substantiates his involvement in the Parisian milieu.

            (3) A third article scrutinizes the Vita, analyzing its purpose and the image it constructs of Martin, while comparing it with the insights that the Liber Sermonum provides. This article argues that Lucas of Tuy had an interest to establish a specifically Iberian or Leonese saint; this is why he omits more than half of Martin’s life – Martin was not in the Iberian Peninsula in these decades. Otherwise, the comparison of Vita and Liber Sermonum nicely corroborates Martin’s activities: for example, the Vita tells us that he encountered heretics in Southern France in the early 1190s (before entering the monastery in León), while the Liber Sermonum betrays ample interest in the issue of heretics, devoting one section specifically to the Cathars. Likewise, Martin’s ambitions are corroborated by several papal letters of the time that call for crusading in Iberia, parallel to the Eastern expeditions (especially Clement III’s letters in 1188).

            (4) A fourth article will incorporate the project’s final results, remaining currently still work-in-progress: Martin’s Liber Sermonum is an exceptional work in structure and length; it cannot be identified with any established genre, even though its paratext says throughout that this is preaching material (its title, its prologue, and its organization according to the liturgical calendar entitling sections as if they were sermons for specific feasts). However, many of these ‘sermon texts’ are way too lengthy for being just sermons ready for use and, thus, the question of these texts’ nature arises. This article investigates this question, reaching some conclusions about the purpose of the Liber Sermonum, the historical context in which it needs to be placed, its bold testimony for late twelfth century preaching, preceding the Friars in many efforts, and finally Martin’s ambitions to implement Parisian methods and ideas of crusading on the Iberian Peninsula, thus foreshadowing what several papal legates would attempt in subsequent decades.

            Martin’s work provides intriguing insights into the world of the late twelfth century, its ample concern with crusading and popular preaching, and the involvement of the Iberian Peninsula in these matters. Even though remaining perhaps marginal to the overall efforts of the Latin West, Martin’s case shows how a cleric of Iberian origin departed for Paris like so many others did from several European regions, then got quite around as a preacher, being involved in several significant phenomena, and finally ended up again at home, bringing his vast Liber Sermonum with him (its only copy was penned in San Isidoro around 1200), a fact that suggests that it was Martin’s explicit intention to implement this preaching material eventually for purposes in León, crusading and otherwise. His Vita tells us, for example, that he was involved in the destruction of the Jewish castle in León in 1196, while the Liber Sermonum holds extensive anti-Jewish material. This project established thus Martin as both a diligent crusade preacher and an important protagonist of the Iberian Peninsula, at a time when much was under development in both areas. His case study shows how worthwhile it is to move beyond classic historiographical sources and to consider the vast surviving sermon material of the Middle Ages (around 140 000 texts between 1150 and 1350 alone): the Liber Sermonumbetrays in an excellent way how such sources can provide vital but hitherto overlooked insights into several historical phenomena.


Photo: Saladin entreißt dem fliehenden König Guido von Lusignan das Heilige Kreuz, in: Chronica Maiora, URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saladin_Guy.jpg?uselang=de] (11.01.2023).