Michael Moore, c. 1639-1726: Provost of Trinity, Rector of Paris (Irish in Europe Monographs)

Liam Chambers

ISBN 10: 1851828095 / ISBN 13: 9781851828098

Published by Four Courts Press, 2005

About this Item

Hardcover, 160 pages, NOT ex-library. Book is clean and bright with unmarked text, free of inscriptions and stamps, firmly bound. Minor handling wear. Bright dust jacket with scuffed tips of outer corners and faint shelfwear. -- Tracing the remarkable career (1650s-1720s) of a banished provost who became rector of a major European university, this work examines the intellectual and political networks of Irish Catholic scholars abroad. -- This biography follows a Dublin-born priest and scholar through a remarkable career across Ireland, France, and Italy. Educated in Nantes, he returned home to become vicar general of his native archdiocese and, in 1689, the first Catholic head of Trinity College. His tenure was brief; a clash with the king over ecclesiastical policy led to his banishment. In exile, he led a seminary in Montefiascone, implementing significant educational reforms. His subsequent career in Paris was distinguished, holding appointments as principal at the College de Navarre, professor at the prestigious College de France, and rector of the entire university. Throughout these roles, he was a staunch defender of Aristotelian philosophy against the rising influence of Cartesian thought, a position articulated in three published works. The narrative details his involvement in the Jansenist crisis, his preservation of valuable manuscripts, and his administrative and academic achievements within the Irish émigré community until his death. -- The book provides a significant case study of Irish clerical migration in the early modern period, moving beyond a simple biographical narrative. By drawing on previously underused institutional records, personal correspondence, and the subject's own philosophical publications, it reconstructs a career that bridged religious administration, university politics, and scholastic debate. This integration of intellectual history with political and institutional contexts offers a nuanced exploration of how émigré scholars navigated complex European networks. The work serves as a valuable resource for understanding the dynamics of the Irish diaspora, the resilience of Aristotelian thought in an age of scientific change, and the shifting boundaries between Church authority and State power.

Seller Inventory # 012091

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Michael Moore, c. 1639-1726: Provost of Trinity, Rector of Paris (Irish in Europe Monographs)
• Publisher: Four Courts Press
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1851828095
• ISBN 13: 9781851828098
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

Michael Moore, priest, philosopher and educationalist, was one of the most prominent Irish émigré scholars of the 17th and early 18th centuries. His education and career took him from Dublin to Nantes, Paris, Rome and Montefiascone. Moore rose to prominence when he returned to Dublin in the late 1680s and is known to Irish historians as the first Catholic provost of Trinity College. He clashed dramatically with James II over his ecclesiastical policies and was banished as a result. During a successful career in France and Italy, Moore became the only Irish rector of the University of Paris in 1701, undertook extensive reform of educational institutions in Montefiascone and Paris, and maintained close links with the Irish community abroad. He also published three works of philosophy in which he engaged with a defining intellectual battle of the period, defending Aristotle against the 'new philosophy' of Descartes and the Cartesians. This book offers a significant case study of the experience of Irish clerical and student migrants in early modern Europe. --- Liam Chambers lectures in the Department of History at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick.