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James of Viterbo

Italian archbishop

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ352625
Source-derived summary

James of Viterbo (Italian: Giacomo da Viterbo; c. 1255 – c. 1307), born Giacomo Capocci (nicknamed Doctor speculativus), was an Italian Roman Catholic Augustinian friar and Scholastic theologian, who later became Archbishop of Naples.

Life

James was born Giacomo Capocci in Viterbo in the Papal States around the year 1255. Little information is available regarding his early years. He joined the Order of St. Augustine around the year 1272 at the monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Viterbo. He was then sent to pursue theological studies at the Order's General House of Studies in Paris, where he studied under Giles of Rome.

Capocci is first mentioned in the surviving historical records in the year 1283 in the capitular acts of the Augustinians’ Roman province as a recently appointed lecturer in the Convent of Viterbo, meaning that he must have spent at least five years at the University of Paris, because the Augustinian Order required its lecturers to be trained in Theology in that city for a duration of five years. Giacomo returned to Paris for further studies, as his name is again mentioned in the capitular acts in 1288, where he is said to hold a Bachelor of Theology degree from the University of Paris.

Capocci received his Master of Theology degree in 1293, and taught in Paris for the next seven years, during which time his output was extensive as all of his works in the fields of speculative theology and metaphysics date from this time. In 1299 he became the Order's Regent of Studies.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “James of Viterbo” as italian archbishop. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1255, 1307, 1272, 1283—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1255. The account is most persuasive where James, Viterbo and Italian can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as italian archbishop. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q352625. VIAF identifies the subject as 288753976. The Library of Congress control number is nr94037138. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1255, 1307, 1272 and 1283.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from James of Viterbo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.