JOHN LUTTERELL

English scholastic theologian and philosopher; d. Avignon, July 17, 1335. Before 1304 he obtained a papal dispensation from the impediment of illegitimacy, in view of his ordination to sacred orders, and again on Sept. 1, 1331, probably in prospect of the bishopric of Salisbury. About 1317 he acquired his doctor's degree of divinity at Oxford, was elected chancellor of the university on Oct. 10, 1317, and successfully prosecuted the dispute of the university with the Dominicans. He may be the author of many documents on this question, collected by Richard of Bury in his Liber epistolaris [Formularies which bear on the history of Oxford c. 1204–1420, ed. H.E. Salter et al. (Oxford 1942) 1.4–5, 14–66, 71–79]. When Cardinal Gaucelm de Jean visited England c. 1318, John Lutterell was appointed by the university to conduct the dispute before him. In 1322 he became the central figure in a conflict with the masters and scholars of the university; this was so serious that the chapter of Lincoln warned it could lead to a general schism. He was deposed as chancellor in September 1322. At the invitation of his friend at Avignon, Master Stephen de Kettelbergh, he was at the papal court there from late summer of 1323 to May 13, 1325, when he was recalled to England. John XXII explained his prolonged stay as attributable to papal proceedings against "a certain pestiferous doctrine." There is no doubt that the teaching of william of ock ham was meant, since Lutterell had just finished examining Ockham's commentary on the Sentences, from which he denounced 56 propositions as "against true and sane doctrine" [J. Koch, "Neue Aktenstücke zu dem gegen Wilhelm von Ockham in Avignon geführten Prozess, " Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale, 7 (1935) 353–380; 8 (1936) 79–93, 168–197]. He was also one of the masters of theology who condemned 51 articles of Ockham in 1326 [A. Pelzer, "Les 51 articles de Guillaume Occam censurés, en Avignon, en 1326, " Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique, 18 (1922) 240–70]. In 1328–29 he was again in Avignon, and in 1332–33 he was among the masters of theology who condemned theological errors of durandus of saint–pourÇain and thomas waleys.

Lutterell was esteemed for his skill as a stylist. His doctrines are known from his Libellus contra doctrinam Guilelmi Occam, written in 1323–24. Between 1327 and 1333 he wrote a treatise at Avignon, Epistola de visione beatifica, defending the singular view of John XXII. He is said to have written also In vesperies magistrorum and Praelectiones Oxonienses. He held several benefices and in the years 1325 to 1334 he received 32 papal mandates [Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Papal Letters, 2 (London 1895), passim ].

Bibliography: a. b. emden, A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500, 3 v. (Oxford 1957–59) 2:1181–82. f. hoffmann, Die erste Kritik des Ockhamismus durch den Oxforder Kanzler Johannes Lutterell (Breslau 1941) ; Die Schriften des Oxforder Kanzlers Iohannes Lutterell (Leipzig 1959). g. n. buescher, The Eucharistic Teaching of William Ockham (Washington 1950), xix–xxvii, 145–150.

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