[2] He was an ally of William of Ockham and Michael of Cesena, and opponent of Pope John XXII, in the struggles of the Franciscan Spirituals, leading to his expulsion from the order in 1329.
[10] Before leaving for Avignon around 1324 to teach at a Franciscan convent, Marchia composed several scholarly commentaries, including two on Aristotle's Metaphysics and one on Physics.
[11] Marchia supported the Franciscan Minister General, Michael of Cesena, and renounced Pope John XXII's concept of poverty in 1328.
The Improbatio, a rebuttal to the Pope's Papal bull titled Quia vir reprobus, was written during this time, as well as the Allegationes Religiosorum Vivorum, co-authored by Marchia and Ockham and assembled by Michael.
In the Improbatio, Francis of Marchia focuses on determining when and where property rights originated to support the Franciscan belief that Christ lived in absolute poverty.
The dominium after the fall was caused by the first sin of Adam, making the issue of property rights distinctly human.
[15] Francis of Marchia's theory of projectile motion, referred to as virtus derelicta, is described in the sections of his commentaries on Sentences explaining the consecration of the Eucharist.
It is evident, however, that philosophers such as Jean Buridan and Gerard Odonis used Marchia's theory to refine their own concepts of virtus derelicta, confirming that the Franciscan played a key role in the evolution of philosophy on physics.