SEGOVIA, JOHN OF

Spanish theologian, exponent of conciliarism; b. Segovia?, late 14th century; d. Aiton?, Savoy, after 1456. Nothing is known of him before 1432, when he was canon of Toledo, archdeacon of Villaviciosa, and professor of theology at salamanca. On Nov. 4, 1433, he joined the Council of basel as a representative of his university and of John II of Castile. He soon distinguished himself with pamphlets in which he expounded conciliarist views, arguing that the Church is the community of all believers and that it, and not the pope or a general council, is infallible. In 1434 he argued that the council should not accept the cardinals sent by eugene iv to preside over it. After an unsuccessful attempt to reconcile the Pope and the Council (1434–36), John returned to Basel to discuss and write on Hussite usages and reunion with the Orthodox, and in favor of the Immaculate Conception (1437). He played a leading part in the Council's deposition of Eugene IV, which he tried to justify in pamphlets, and in the election of the antipope felix v (Nov. 5, 1439). Felix made him a cardinal (Oct. 12, 1440) and sent him on an unsuccessful mission to seek recognition of Felix by France and Germany (1440–42). When Felix renounced his claim to the papacy, John lost his cardinalate, but was compensated in turn with the bishoprics of Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux (1449), Maurienne (1450), and the titular archbishopric of Caesarea. He retired to Aiton, where he wrote his Historia gestorum generalis synodi Basiliensis (2 v. Vienna 1873–96), which reaches the year 1444; defended the authority of bishops against clerical democracy; and translated the Qur’ān into Latin and Spanish.

See Also: conciliarism (history of).

Bibliography: j. haller et al., eds., Concilium Basiliense, 8v. (Basel 1896–1936). É. amann, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique 8.1:816–819. j. gonzÁlez, El maestro Juan de Segoviay su biblioteca (Madrid 1944). d. cabanelas rodrÍguez, Juan de Segoviay el problema islámico (Madrid 1952). u. fromherz, Johannes von Segovia als Geschichtsschreiber des Konzils von Basel (Basel 1960). j. vincke, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche ² 5:1081–82.

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