always had the possibility to say the criticism did not
apply to him or her. The way to make his criticism in-
direct is fi ction. Willem uses dissociating elements: he
wraps his criticism in exempla, allegories, or (animal)
fables, for example.
Further Reading
Bisschop, Willem, and Eelco Verwijs, eds. Gedichten van Willem
van Hildegaersberch. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1870.
Hogenelst, Dini. Sproken en sprekers. Inleiding op en reperto-
rium van de Middelnederlandse sproke. 2 vols. Amsterdam:
Prometheus, 1997.
Meder, Theo. Sprookspreker in Holland. Leven en werk van
Willem van Hildegaersberch (circa 1400). Amsterdam: Pro-
metheus, 1991 [German summary].
van Oostrom, Frits P. Court and Culture: Dutch Literature,
1350–1450. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
An Faems
WILLIAM DURANDUS
(c. 1230 or 1231–1 November 1296)
William Durandus (Guillelmus Duranti, Guillaume
Durand) is called the Elder to distinguish him from a
nephew with the same name. The elder “William Duran-
dus was born in Puimisson, near Béziers in Provence.
We know practically nothing about his family or early
life before his ordination as subdeacon in the cathedral
of Narbonne c. 1254 and his enrollment in the list of
canons at the cathedral of Maguelonne at about the
same time. Not long after taking clerical orders, Wil-
liam began formal legal studies at the University of
Bologna; he earned a doctorate in canon law there c.
- He may have lectured at the university before he
became a papal chaplain and “general auditor” under
Pope Urban IV (r. 1261–1264). Early in his long and
increasingly diffi cult career in the service of the papal
curia, William befriended the best-known canonist in
Europe, Cardinal Henricus de Segusia (Henry of Susa),
known as Hostiensis.
Under Pope Clement IV (1265–1268), William con-
tinued his service as papal chaplain and auditor. He also
fi nished the fi rst edition of his fi rst publication, Aureum
repertorium (c. 1264–1270), a short index and com-
mentary on Gratian’s Decretum (c. 1140) and on Pope
Gregory IX’s Liber extra (1234). Aureum repertorium
was soon followed by William’s massive and—during
the medieval period—defi nitive textbook on procedural
law, Speculum Iudiciale (c. 1271–1276). The endur-
ing fame of this work earned William the nickname
Speculator, by which he was commonly known during
and after his lifetime.
In the summer of 1274, William attended the Second
Council of Lyon and held the offi cial title of peritus
(theologian) for Pope Gregory X (1271–1276). William
later assisted in the post-conciliar editing of the canons
of the council, and some twenty years afterward he pub-
lished the fi nal version of In sacrosanctum Lugdunese
concilium commentarius (c. 1293–1294), his long com-
mentary on the council’s decrees.
By 1279, William was ordained a priest and was made
dean of the cathedral of Chartres by Pope Nicholas III
(r. 1277–1280). In 1280, Nicholas appointed him rector
et capitaneus generalis of a portion of the papal states
(including a part of Tuscany and the diocese of Rieti).
In 1281, the new pope, Martin IV (r. 1281–1285),
added to William’s offi cial duties rule of the turbulent
Romagna. From 1282 to 1286, William coordinated the
war efforts of the papacy in the Romagna, leading the
pro-papal Guelfs to a precarious interim victory over
the Ghibellines.
In 1285, William submitted his resignation from
the papal service to Pope Honorius IV (r. 1285–1287).
Within a month, William was elected bishop of Mende
in his native Provence by the cathedral chapter. He was
consecrated bishop by the archbishop of Ravenna in
1286 but (inexplicably) remained in Rome for another
fi ve years before taking up residence in Mende in July
1291.
William’s prolifi c literary production during his epis-
copacy demonstrates his conscientious application of his
learning to pastoral care (not to mention his capability as
an encyclopedic polymath). The works he published in
this period include the following: Constitutiones syno-
dales (c. 1292), a collection of statutes and instructions
for the reform of the clergy of his diocese; Ordinarium
(c. 1291–1293), a book regulating the liturgical services
of the cathedral of Mende; his commentary on the Sec-
ond Council of Lyon; Rationale divinorum ojfi ciorum (c.
1291–1296), a long allegorical commentary on the entire
liturgy (including the mass, divine offi ce, and church
year); and Pontifi cale (Bishop’s Book, c. 1293–1295),
which provided rubrics and prayers for liturgical ser-
vices performed only by a bishop. Modern scholarship
has revealed that William’s Rationale and Pontifi cale
were two of the most important liturgical texts of the
entire medieval period in Europe.
William had been a resident bishop for only four
years when he succumbed to the persistent entreaties
of his friend Benedict Gaetani, now Pope Boniface VIII
(r. 1294–1303), to return to Rome and assume offi cial
duties in the papal states. In September 1295, William
was appointed rector of the Anconian March and the
Romagna, territories that were in a state of near-anar-
chy since the Ghibelline faction had mobilized itself
for war with the Guelfs. William’s command of the
papacy’s war effort failed, however, when he lost the
city of Imola to the Ghibellines and presided over the
defeat of a pro-papal Bolognese army in April 1296. By
the end of the summer of 1296, William, who was byWILLEM OF HILDEGAERSBERCH