WALEY'S, THOMAS. - Dominican theologian, born in England in the second half of the 13th century, died after 21 Feb. 1349.
Master in theology, professor at Oxford (1314) and Bologna (1327), he took a stand against the Spirituals in the question of poverty. In the issue of the beatific vision, he declared himself opposed to the opinions of John XXII. For this reason, his adversaries accused him before the inquisitor William of Montrond, who gathered from a discourse he delivered at Avignon on 3 Jan. 1333 six erroneous propositions. These, examined in light of the doctrine of Durand of St-Pourçain by a commission of theologians, were declared suspect of heresy. Waley, dissatisfied because he had not been allowed to defend his position, appealed to the Holy See (12 Oct.), accusing the inquisitor of acting against the law. The appeal was accepted through the intervention of the King of France, and Waley was almost released, when his adversaries circulated a *libellus famosus* composed specifically against his *De instantibus et momentis*, which Waley had written in prison and in which he maintained that the Resurrection and the Last Judgment would occur at the same moment. The trial resumed before a commission of cardinals (28 Feb. 1334), and Waley, perhaps weakened by imprisonment, appeared much more compliant, but the matter was not resolved, and it seems that Waley died in prison without having been condemned.
He left many writings; besides the *De instantibus et momentis* (ed. in Th. Käppeli, *Le Procès*, see bibliography), mention is made of a *Commentary* on the Sentences, *Moral commentaries* on various books of Holy Scripture, *Metamorphosis Ovidiana moraliter explana* (Paris 1599, 1521), and *In decem primos libros de Civitate Dei* (Mainz 1473, Freiburg 1494, Lyon 1520).