John Picardi of Lichtenberg – A German Thomist. A Historiographical Assessment

Abstract

John Picardi of Lichtenberg was a lecturer at the Dominican Studium in Cologne in the early 14th century. The result of his lectures were some Quaestiones, which were identified by Landgraff in 1922, and which attracted the interest of the Neo-Thomists in the first half of the 20th century, including Martin Grabmann. Renewed interest in Picardi’s work has emerged in recent years, and a print edition of the Quaestiones will soon be published. The present article collects and summarises the main studies on Picardi, highlighting the main points raised by scholars, and proposes possible lines of research. The categorisation of Picardi as a ‘Thomist’ is based on his views on the relationship between being and essence, form and matter, will and intellect, as well as in consideration of his relationship with the other ‘German Dominicans’ from the ‘Cologne school’ in the 13th and early 14th centuries.