Jean de Gerson was one of the most influential French intellectuals of the early fifteenth century. He studied under Pierre d'Ailly and received his doctorate in theology in 1392. He was elected the chancellor of the University of Paris in 1395. He used this key position for intense intellectual involvement in ecclesiastical politics. He was part of the University of Paris delegation to the Council of Constance and played an important role in the discussions there. After the council, he fell from political favor. Returning to France in 1419, he lived in Lyon for the rest of his life in relative obscurity. He was then engaged mainly in literary work, producing, for example, the well-known defense of Joan d'Arc.

During Gerson's lifetime, the emphasis in university work turned from research to teaching and social influence. The saying "everything necessary has already been written" was often...