William of Alnwick (lat.Guillelmus Alaunovicanus, c. 1275 – March 1333) was aFranciscanfriar andtheologian, and bishop ofGiovinazzo, who took his name fromAlnwick in Northumberland.
Little is known of his early life. By 1303 he was a licensed doctor of theology at Paris,[1] being then listed among the few foreign masters who sided withPhilip IV, king of France, in his dispute withPope Boniface VIII. Alnwick also lectured at other European centres of learning, includingMontpellier,Bologna andNaples. He must have returned to England sometime in the second decade of the 14th century, as he is recorded as the forty-second Franciscanregent master at Oxford University, whenHenry Harclay was chancellor of the university.
Alnwick's manuscript marginalia show that he was part of the contemporary debate which spread all over Europe, and which included the ideas of men such asThomas Aquinas,Bonaventure,Henry of Ghent,Peter Auriol,James of Ascoli,Godfrey of Fontaines,Henry Harclay andThomas Wilton. His main collaborator, however, wasDuns Scotus, and it is this that has saved him from obscurity.
He worked with Scotus in the production of his Commentary on theSentences (Ordinatio), took down one of hisCollationes, and compiled the long additions (Additiones magnae) which were meant to fill the gaps in theOrdinatio. But although Alnwick based his philosophy and theology on the fundamental starting points of Scotus's teaching, he diverged from his colleague when he disagreed.
Alnwick participated in the general chapter of the Franciscan order held atPerugia in 1322, where he joined the theologians who drew up and signed the decreeDe paupertate Christi attacking the position on the poverty of the church as promulgated byPope John XXII. In the last section of hisDeterminationes he argued that Christ and his apostles possessed nothing either personally or in common. This opposition to the papal position caused John to initiate proceedings against Alnwick, who fled to Naples, whereKing Robert protected him. In 1330, Robert had him appointed bishop ofGiovinazzo.
He died inAvignon in March 1333.
