GERSON, JOHN CHARLIER DE

   an eminent ecclesiastical scholar, born at Gerson, in the diocese of Rheims; in 1395 he became chancellor of his old university at Paris, and earned in that office a high reputation for learning, becoming known as Doctor Christianissimus; he was a prominent member of the councils of Pisa and Constance, advocating, as a remedy for the Western Schism, the resignation of the rival Popes; in consequence of his denunciation of the Duke of Burgundy for the murder of the Duke of Orleans he was forced to become a refugee in Germany for some time, but finally retired into the monastery of Lyons; his various works reveal an intellect of keen intelligence, but somewhat tinged with a cloudy mysticism (1363-1429).