Frances (if I may),
There's a great deal of concern about false prophets in the fourteenth
century, as I'm sure you realize. Throughout the century, some
representatives of the Spiritual Franciscan movement and of the _devotio
moderna_ (especially as these interfaced with the so-called "Heresy of the
Free Spirit") claimed revelations from the Spirit which were contested by
Church authorities. The issue was exacerbated in the last decades of the
fourteenth century, after the prophetic exhortations of Catherine of Siena
and Bridget of Sweden had served (in the minds of many) to create the Great
Schism.
I'm writing a dissertation on the discernment of spirits during the late
Middle Ages. Therefore, I can tell you that the various Scriptural
warnings against false prophecy are commonly used as a springboard to
discuss which revelations are true or false. There is also an ongoing
dialogue about the theory of prophecy: could demons inspire true prophecy?
Did a prophet have to be a morally good person? Was prophecy a constant
state (Amos 7:14 was a particular problem here) or a singular event? What
were the signs of a true prophet or true prophecy? How could the prophetic
figures of the Old and New Testament be compared to one another? Could
women prophesy as well as men? In addition to the standard Latin
_pseudoprophetae_, I would check for _divinatores_ and _habentes visiones_
(of course, anti-visionary rhetoric is another can of worms).
At the end of the fourteenth century, the French cardinal Pierre d'Ailly
wrote two Latin treatises entitled _De falsis prophetis_; these have been
published at the back of t.1 of Louis Ellies du Pin's _Joannes Gersonii
Opera Omnia_ (Antwerp: Sumptibus Societatis, 1706; reprinted Hildesheim,
NY: Olms, 1987). D'Ailly's work is convenient in that he reproduces -- at
some length -- all the standard Scriptural and patristic citations on
prophecy; you might also find some more Latin synonyms in there. Gerson
also wrote extensively on prophecy and the discernment of spirits, but most
of his writings date from the fifteenth century; I'm not sure how exact you
want to be about chronology. (If you are willing to move out of the
century in the other direction, I would also recommend a look at Aquinas ST
IIaIIae, qq. 171-4.)
I'm not aware of any secondary work specifically about *false* prophecy --
I'd love to hear of some! -- but there is a good, short discussion of
prophecy and mysticism in Andre Vauchez's collection of translated
articles, _The Laity in the Middle Ages_ (Notre Dame, 1993), "The Reaction
of the Church to Late-Medieval Mysticism and Prophecy." The classic work
on prophecy is, of course, Marjorie Reeves' _The Influence of Prophecy in
the Later Middle Ages: A Study in Joachimism_ (Oxford, 1969; recently
reprinted by Notre Dame and currently in print).
If you could give me more detail about the context of your project, either
on the list or privately, I'd be happy to suggest some more primary or
secondary material. I'm also looking forward to seeing what other
listmembers might have to suggest! Hope this helps.
Wendy Love Anderson home phone: (773)924-0553
The Divinity School e-mail: [log in to unmask]
The University of Chicago URL: http://home.uchicago.edu/~wlanders/
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