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Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Medieval and Early Modern Jurists

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Report No. r188

Fernandus de Cordoba

c.1422–1486

 

Alternative Names

Córdoba; Fernando de (LC); Ferdinandus Cordubensis

 

Biography/Description

The precise date of Fernandus’ birth is uncertain. Some documentary evidence indicates that he was born in 1426, though his tomb provides a date of 1426. In either case, Fernandus had a reputation in the fifteenth century as an intellectual ‘Wunderkind’: At some point in the 1440s, he is described as a master or doctor in each of the four faculties. By his own admission, he became a doctor of the arts by the age of nine, doctor of theology by twelve, and doctor of medicine by fourteen. Though he mentioned no degree in law, Fernandus obviously had some competence. He engaged in debates with the law faculties of Naples and Siena in 1444 and 1446 respectively. No less a figure than Marianus Socinus praised Fernandus’ performance in the Siena debate. Fernandus toured some of the major universities of Western Europe in the 1440s, putting his intellectual skill on display. By the end of the decade, Fernandus seems to have settled in Italy and entered the household of Cardinal Juan Carvajal. By 1450, he appears in the service of the papal legate Cardinal Bessarion in Bologna. Through his connections, Fernandus is named a papal subdeacon around 1467–68. Even after the death of Bessarion in 1472, Fernandus continued to cultivate favor among the cardinals. During this later period of his life, Fernandus penned several treatises of interest to the Curia. Among these are a lost treatise, De consultandi ratione, which deals with the reponsibilities of cardinals in advising the pope, and a defense and discussion of papal annates. Fernandus dies in 1486.

 

Entry by: KP rev BP 2015

 

Text(s)

 
No. 1

De iure medios exigendi fructus quos vulgo annatas dicunt et de Romani pontificis in tenporalibus auctoritate, 1481.

 
No. 2

An liceat Pontifici Maximo eiusque Cardineo Collegio beneficiorum vacantium medios fructus exigere.

 
No. 3

De pontificii pallii mysterio, c. 1472–81.

 
No. 4

Adversus haereticos qui Fraterculi dela opinione appellantur, c.1467–68.

 

Text(s) – Manuscripts

No. 1

De iure medios exigendi fructus quos vulgo annatas dicunt et de Romani pontificis in tenporalibus auctoritate, 1481.

 
Manuscript

r188Txt1Città del Vaticano, BAV Vat. lat. 1128 (According to Monfasani, this elaborately decorated manuscript was the dedication copy for Sixtus IV.)

 
 

Città del Vaticano, BAV Barb. lat. 1493

 
 

Città del Vaticano, BAV Vat. lat. 3495, fol. 76r–77r

 
No. 3

De pontificii pallii mysterio, c. 1472–81.

 
Manuscript

Città del Vaticano, BAV Vat. lat. 5739

 
 

Firenze, BN Magl. XXXI

 
No. 4

Adversus haereticos qui Fraterculi dela opinione appellantur, c.1467–68.

 
Manuscript

Città del Vaticano, BAV Vat. lat. 1127

 

Text(s) – Early Printed Editions

No. 1

De iure medios exigendi fructus quos vulgo annatas dicunt et de Romani pontificis in tenporalibus auctoritate, 1481.

 
Early Printed Editions

Roma, 1481 (Hain 5791) (GW 9797).

 
 

Roma, 1490.

 

Literature

J. Valverde Madrid, ‘Centenarios cordobeses’, Boletín de la Real Academia de Córdoba, de Ciencias, Bellas Letras y Nobles Artes, 66 (1995) 357–361.

J. Monfasani, ‘Fernando of Cordova: A Biographical and Intellectual Profile’, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 82 (1992) 1–116.

D. Douie, ‘Some treatises against the Fraticelli in the Vatican Library’, Franciscan Studies, 38 (1981) 10–80.

A. García y García, ‘La canonística española posclasica’, SG, 19 (1976) 234.

A. García y García, ‘La canonística ibérica posterior al Decreto de Graciano’, Repertorio de Historia de las Ciencias eclesiasticas en España (Salamanca 1967) 1.424.

J. von Schulte, QL 2.369–70.