the feudal concept of the bond emerging from the benefit given by the
lord in a sense makes all property a sort of tenancy, the fourteenth-
century discussions on poverty and property assume new, non-feudal
kinds of ownership. The feudal bond may be more significant as a
religious metaphor representing a personal relationship with God
than as a description of later medieval property rights.^122
For the university theology of the fourteenth century, the question
of the‘knowledge of the truth’looks very different from the older
spiritual tradition. Searches of the extensive corpus of William
Ockham’s writings, for instance, do not produce results relevant for
our study. Ockham does not employ the verbsrecognosco,agnosco,or
the corresponding nouns. Neither does his terminology regarding
commendation and benefit reveal any feudal background. The aca-
demic setting and vocabulary changed in Ockham’s times at least in
some ways. Generally, the verbscognosco,scire, and, to some extent,
nosseexpress the problems of knowledge in the late medieval aca-
demic setting.^123 For these reasons, the Franciscan contribution to
our subject remains limited to Bonaventure.
We see, however, that Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure use
recognoscoto depict ‘upward’religious recognition and, to some
extent, other conceptions, such as interpersonal recognition, self-
recognition, and even some ‘downward’ acts (Jesus recognizing
Mary Magdalene, Christ recognizing the Franciscan rule). While the
older terminology ofagnoscocontinues to be employed in its patristic
senses, the mutual and interpersonal aspects of recognitive acts begin
to be more strongly present, especially in Aquinas. Although Thomas
and Bonaventure continue to use the feudal concepts, the moral and
personal features of recognition are also apparent.
2.5. Marsilio Ficino: Loving Recognition
The Italian Renaissance of thefifteenth century revived the knowledge
of classical Greek and Latin, revealing a great number of new philo-
sophical sources, in particular the writings of Plato. At the same time,
continuity with medieval theology and philosophy can often be
(^122) For these, see Lambertini 2000 and Mäkinen 2001.
(^123) Based onLLTdatabase searches.
The Latin Traditions 79