Authorship and Publicity Before Print: Jean Gerson and the Transformation of Late Medieval Learning

Widely recognized by contemporaries as the most powerful theologian of his generation, Jean Gerson (1363—1429) dominated the stage of western Europe during a time of plague, fratricidal war, and religious schism. Yet modern scholarship has struggled to define Gerson's place in history, even as it searches for a compelling narrative to tell the story of his era.

Daniel Hobbins argues for a new understanding of Gerson as a man of letters actively managing the publication of his works in a peri...