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

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.…