But how bitterly
the war of words was waged in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries! And
it was not only a war of words; one who witnessed the contests wrote that
"when the contending parties had exhausted their stock of verbal abuse,
they often came to blows; and it was not uncommon in their quarrels about
_universals_, to see the combatants engaged not only with their fists, but
with clubs and swords, so that many have been wounded and some killed."
These controversies have passed away, upon which, says John of Salisbury,
more time had been wasted than the Caesars had employed in making
themselves masters of the world; and it is unnecessary here to revive
them. Ockham's principal works are: _Quaestiones et decisiones in quatuor
libros sententiarum cum centilogio theologico_ (Lyons, 1495), [Footnote: I
have met with a copy of this work amongst the incunabula in the possession
of M. Olschki, of Venice. The printer's name is John Trechsel, who is
described as _vir hujus artis solertissimus_.] _Summa logicae_ (Paris,
1483), _Quodlibeta_ (Paris, 1487), _Super potestate summi pontifia_
(1496). He died at Munich in 1343.
The _Introductio ad Theologiam_ of the famous Abelard, another schoolman,
was fatal to him. Abelard's name is more generally known on account of the
golden haze of romance which surrounded him and the fair Heloise; and
their loving letters have been often read and mourned over by thousands
who have never heard of his theological writings.
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