GERSON, JOHN otherwise JEAN CHARLIER DE GERSON, French divine, chancellor of the University of Paris, and the ruling spirit in the oecumenical councils of Pisa and Con stance, was born at Gerson on Dec. 14, 1363, the 'son of pious peasants. He was educated at the famous coilege of Navarre in Paris, studying theology under Pierre d'Ailly, who remained his life-long friend. At the university, he was elected procurator for the French "nation" in 1383, and in 1387 was sent with the chancellor and others to Clement VII. to procure the condemna tion of John of Montson, a Dominican, who had rejected the Immaculate Conception. When Pierre d'Ailly was made bishop of Puy in 1395, Gerson was elected chancellor of the university, and made a canon of Notre Dame. The university was then at the height of its fame, and its chancellor was necessarily a man prominent in Europe, sworn to maintain the rights of his uni versity against both king and pope, and entrusted with the studies of its students attracted from almost every country. Gerson's work has three periods, in which he was engaged in reforming the university studies, maturing plans for overcoming the schism, and in the evening of his life writing books of devotion.
Gerson wished to banish scholastic subtleties and make theol ogy plain and simple by founding it on the philosophical prin ciples of nominalism ; but like the great nominalist William of Occam, he saved himself from rationalism by laying hold on the mysticism of the Victorines. The study of the Bible and of the fathers was to supersede the idle'questions of the schools, and in his Tract. contra romantiam de rosa (iii. 297) he warns young men against the evil consequences of romance-reading.
Gerson's chief work was concerned with the great schism. In the new elections after the death of Clement VII., both Rome and Avignon felt the displeasure of the University of Paris so much that each of the new popes swore to "cede" if his rival would do so also. Meanwhile in 1395 the national assembly of France and the French clergy adopted the programme of the university— cession or a general council. In 1398 most of the cardinals and crowned heads in Europe had given their adhesion to the plan, which was supported by Gerson's multitude of pamphlets. Finally in 1409, a general council assembled, deposed both anti-popes, and elected Alexander V. Gerson was chosen to address the new pope on the duties of his office. He did so in his Sermo coram Alex andro Papa in die ascensions in concilio Pisano. When, however, Alexander, who had been a Franciscan, issued a bull which laid the parish clergy and the universities at the mercy of the mendicants, the university rose in revolt, headed by her chancellor, who wrote a fierce pamphlet—Censure pro f essorum in theologia circa bullant Alexandri V. The pope died soon after, and was succeeded by John XXIII.
The council of Pisa had not brought peace ; it had only added a third pope. Gerson now maintained in a series of tracts that a general council could depose a pope ; he drew up indictments against the reigning pontiffs, and reiterated the charges against Jean Petit, a theologian who had justified the treacherous murder of the duke of Orleans by the followers of the duke of Burgundy. His efforts were seconded by the emperor Sigismund, and the result was the council of Constance in 1415 (see CONSTANCE, COUNCIL oF). Gerson's influence at the council was supreme up to the election of a new pope. He dictated the form of submission and cession made by John XXIII., and directed the process against Huss. But the council became in the end the cause of his downfall. He was the prosecutor in the case of Jean Petit, and the council, overawed by the duke of Burgundy, would not affirm the censure of the university and archbishop of Paris. Petit's justi fication of murder was declared to be only a moral and philo sophical opinion, not of faith. The council would only condemn one proposition, and even this censure was annulled by the new pope, Martin V., on a formal pretext. Not daring to return to' France, because the duke of Burgundy was in power, Gerson retired to Rattenberg in Tirol, where he wrote his famous De consolatione theologise. On the death of the duke, he proceeded to Lyons, where his brother was prior of the Celestines. His last years were spent in writing books of mystical devotion and hymns. He died at Lyons on July 12, 1429.
The best editions of his works are those of Paris (3 vols., 1606) and Antwerp (5 vols., 1706) , to which is prefixed Dupin's Gersoniana, including Vita Gersoni. See C. Schmidt, Essai sur Jean Gerson (Stras bourg, 1839) ; J. B. Schwab, Johannes Gerson (Wurzburg, 1859) ; H. Jadart, Jean Gerson (Reims, 1882) ; Thomassey, Jean Gerson (2nd ed.
1872) ; Masson, Jean Gerson (Lyons, 1894) ; Lafontaine, Jehan Gerson (1906) ; P. Tschackert, Peter von Ailli (Gotha, 1877) ; Herm. v. der Hardt, Con. Constantiensis libri iv. ; L. Salembier, Le grande schisme (1900). See also Chevalier, Repertoire des sources hist. Bio bibliographie (19(35), and Uberweg, Gesch. der Philosophie, Bd. 2 (1928).