Conradus de EbrachoConradus de Ebraco biography
John of Retz is also an important source when it comes to establishing Conrad of Ebrach’s biography, since he wrote a tribute[1] to our Cistercian when Conrad died in Vienna in 1399. From this text we can trace Conrad’s intellectual tour through different Europeans academic contexts. According to Retz[2]: "In the time of [Ebrach's] youth he moved to the studium of Paris, next [he read] the Sentences and the Bible at the University of Bologna, after that he reigned for many years over the doctrinal chair and schools of Prague and Vienna." Conrad may be an interesting case in the tradition of the Sentences commentaries in that there is evidence that he studied or lectured on Lombard's text at four different universities[3]. From Paris to Vienna via Bologna and Prague, our Bernardine was a dynamic bachelor and master, involved in the organization of the curriculum of some of these universities. For example in Vienna, where he is first attested in 1384, our Cistercian was entrusted with another mission, participating in the redaction of the statutes of the Faculty of Theology, and together with Andrew of Heiligenkreuz Conrad belongs to the first generation of professors in the Cistercian College of St Nicholas[4].
The manuscript tradition of Conrad of Ebrach's Sentences commentary splits into three branches that probably reflect the influx of new ideas from disparate but contemporary academic worlds. We can divide them into a praeparatio parisiensis, a lectura bononiensis, and a lectura pragensis; like the seculars Henry of Langenstein and Henry Totting of Oyta, Conrad probably re-read his commentary at the new University of Vienna – a lectura viennensis[5]. We can date the so called lectura bononiensis to 1368-1369 (in some forthcoming publications we explain this in detail).[1] Iohannes de Retz, Collatio in exequiis magistri Conradi de Ebraco Ordinis Cysterciensis, ms. Rein, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. 67, f. 117r: "Nam tempore sue iuventutis ad Parysiense studium se transtulit, tandem in universitate Bononiensi Sententias et Bybliam <legit>, post hoc Prage et Wyenne kathedram doctoralem et scolas pluribus annis rexit." Cf. Kassian Lauterer, Konrad von Ebrach S.O.CIST (+1399): Lebenslauf und Schrifttum, Roma 1962, p. 23 and 32; there is an edition in Kassian Lauterer, Johannes von Retz OESA, Collatio in Exequiis Mag. Conradi de Ebraco. Ein Nachruf für Konrad von Ebrach, Cistercienser-Chronik 68, 1961, p. 23–40. On Retz, see especially Adolar Zumkeller, Der Wiener Theologieprofessor Johannes von Retz († nach. 1404) und seine Lehre von Urstand, Erbsünde, Gnade und Verdienst, Augustiniana21, 1971, p. 505–540, and22, 1972, p. 118–184 and 540–582, and Adolar Zumkeller, Johannes von Retz, Neue Deutsche Biographie 10, 1974, p. 566-567.
[2] Iohannes de Retz, Collatio in exequiis magistri Conradi de Ebraco Ordinis Cysterciensis, ms. Rein, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. 67, f. 117r: "Nam tempore sue iuventutis ad Parysiense studium se transtulit, tandem in universitate Bononiensi Sententias et Bybliam <legit>, post hoc Prage et Wyenne kathedram doctoralem et scolas pluribus annis rexit." Cf. Kassian Lauterer, Konrad von Ebrach S.O.CIST (+1399): Lebenslauf und Schrifttum, Roma 1962, p. 23 and 32; there is an edition in Kassian Lauterer, Johannes von Retz OESA, Collatio in Exequiis Mag. Conradi de Ebraco. Ein Nachruf für Konrad von Ebrach, Cistercienser-Chronik 68, 1961, p. 23–40. On Retz, see especially Adolar Zumkeller, Der Wiener Theologieprofessor Johannes von Retz († nach. 1404) und seine Lehre von Urstand, Erbsünde, Gnade und Verdienst, Augustiniana21, 1971, p. 505–540, and22, 1972, p. 118–184 and 540–582, and Adolar Zumkeller, Johannes von Retz, Neue Deutsche Biographie 10, 1974, p. 566-567.
[3] Lauterer 1962, pp. 27-9, and Brinzei – Schabel 2014.
[4] Schachenmayr 2012, pp. 152 and 155.
[5] For Langenstein and Oyta at Vienna, see Shank 1988, pp. 89 and 127-9.