Skip to main content

Michael of Massa

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy
  • 37 Accesses

Abstract

Michael of Massa (d. 1337) was an Augustinian Hermit active in Paris (and elsewhere) in the 1320s and 1330s. His voluminous philosophical writings are nearly totally unpublished, but the studies of his thought to date show a keen mind and a characteristic approach to philosophical and theological challenges. In the domain of divine foreknowledge and future contingents, Michael passed on to Gregory of Rimini the criticism leveled by Francis of Marchia at Peter Auriol. If this example is representative, then Michael had an important role in the development of Parisian thought in the second quarter of the fourteenth century.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Bibliography

Primary Sources

  • Nearly all of Michael’s works are unedited (see the main text on the manuscripts containing the works). For published editions of parts of Michael’s Sentences commentaries, see Courtenay 2003, Friedman forthcoming-a, Friedman forthcoming-c, and Schabel 1998. On Michael’s Vita Christi, see Baier 1994; for references to further exegetical works and sermons, see Trapp 1956, 163 n. 11, and Trapp 1965, 58 and 131–133.

    Google Scholar 

Secondary Sources

  • Baier W (1994) Michael von Massa OESA (†1337) – Autor einer Vita Christi. Kritik der Diskussion über ihre Zuordnung zur Vita Christi des Kartäusers Ludolf von Sachsen (†1378). In: Zumkeller A, Krümmel A (eds) Traditio Augustiniana. Studien über Augustinus und seine Rezeption. Würzburg, pp 495–524

    Google Scholar 

  • Courtenay WJ (1995) The Quaestiones in Sententias of Michael de Massa, OESA: a redating. Augustiniana 45:191–207

    Google Scholar 

  • Courtenay WJ (2003) The categories, Michael de Massa, and natural philosophy at Paris, 1335–1340. In: Biard J, Rosier-Catach I (eds) La tradition médiévale des catégories (XIIe-XVe siècles). Actes du XIIIe Symposium européen de logique et de sémantique médiévales (Avignon, 6–10 juin 2000). Peeters, Louvain-la-Neuven/Louvain/Paris, pp 243–259 (with edition of question from Michael’s II Sent. “Utrum motus sit realiter ipsummet mobile quod movetur”)

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman RL (forthcoming-a) How ‘Augustinian’ were the Augustinian Hermits regarding intellectual cognition? Gerard of Siena, Michael of Massa, and the object of the human intellect. In: Courtenay WJ, Emery K Jr (eds) Philosophy and theology in the studia of the religious orders and at the papal court. (Brepols,Turnhout, forthcoming). (with edition of Michael’s response to the question “Utrum obiectum primum occurrens intellectui nostro sit Deus” (= I Sent., d. 3, q. 1))

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman RL (forthcoming-b) Intellectual traditions in the medieval university: the use of philosophical psychology in Trinitarian theology among the Franciscans and Dominicans, 1250–1350. Brill, Leiden

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman RL (forthcoming-c) Michael of Massa on intuitive and abstractive cognition (with edition of Michael’s Prologue, q. 1 = “Utrum scientia proprie dicta et a priori possit sub lumine fidei de divina natura communicari alicui viatori”)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hödl L (1975) Studien zum nominalistischen Schöpfungsbegriff in der spätscholastischen Theologie des Michael de Massa O.E.S.A. († 1337). In: Mayer CP, Eckermann W (eds) Scientia Augustiniana. Studien über Augustinus, den Augustinismus und den Augustinerorden. Festschrift Adolar Zumkeller OSA zum 60. Geburtstag. Augustinus-Verlag, Würzburg, pp 234–256

    Google Scholar 

  • Lang A (1930) Die Wege der Glaubensbegründung bei den Scholastikern des 14. Jahrhunderts. Aschendorff, Münster i. W

    Google Scholar 

  • Schabel C (1998) Questions on future contingents by Michael of Massa, OESA. Augustiniana 48:165–229 (with edition of I Sent., d. 35, d. 36, d. 38)

    Google Scholar 

  • Schabel C (2000) Theology at Paris, 1316–1345. Peter Auriol and the problem of divine foreknowledge and future contingents. Ashgate, Aldershot

    Google Scholar 

  • Schabel C (2002) Parisian commentaries from Peter Auriol to Gregory of Rimini and the problem of predestination. In: Evans GR (ed) Mediaeval commentaries on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. Brill, Leiden, pp 221–265

    Google Scholar 

  • Schabel C, Courtenay WJ (2007) Augustinian Quodlibeta after Giles of Rome. In: Schabel C (ed) Theological Quodlibeta in the middle ages. The fourteenth century, vol 2. Brill, Leiden, pp 545–568

    Google Scholar 

  • Tachau KH (1988) Vision and certitude in the age of Ockham: optics, epistemology and the foundation of semantics, 1250–1345. Brill, Leiden

    Google Scholar 

  • Trapp D (1956) Augustinian theology of the 14th century. Notes on editions, Marginalia, Opinions and Book-Lore. Augustiniana 6:146–274

    Google Scholar 

  • Trapp D (1965) Notes on some manuscripts of the Augustinian Michael de Massa (†1337). Augustinianum 5:58–133 (with question list from Michael’s I-II Sent.)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this entry

Cite this entry

Friedman, R. (2011). Michael of Massa. In: Lagerlund, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9729-4_335

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9729-4_335

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-9728-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-9729-4

  • eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law

Publish with us

Policies and ethics