School of Chartres
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| - | '''William of Conches''' (c. 1090 – after 1154) was a [[French people|French]] [[Scholasticism|scholastic]] [[philosopher]] who sought to expand the bounds of [[Christian humanism]] by studying secular works of the classics and fostering empirical science. He was a prominent member of the [[School of Chartres]]. [[John of Salisbury]], a [[bishop of Chartres]] and former student of William's, refers to William as the most talented grammarian after [[Bernard of Chartres]]. | ||
| - | ==Life== | + | During the [[High Middle Ages]], the [[Chartres Cathedral]] established the [[cathedral school|cathedral]] '''School of Chartres''', an important center of [[France|French]] scholarship located in [[Paris]]. It developed and reached its apex during the transitional period of the 11th and 12th centuries, at the start of the [[Latin translations of the 12th century|Latin translation movement]]. This period was also right before the spread of [[medieval university|medieval universities]], which eventually superseded cathedral schools and [[monastic school]]s as the most important institutions of higher learning in the [[Latin West#Use with regard to Christianity|Latin West]]. |
| + | ==Bibliography== | ||
| + | * Edouard Jeauneau, ''Rethinking the School of Chartres'', Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009. | ||
| - | He was born in [[Conches-en-Ouche|Conches]], [[Normandy]]. His teaching activity extended from c. 1120 to 1154, and about the year 1145 he became the tutor of [[Henry II of England|Henry Plantagenet]]. It is possible, but uncertain, that he was teaching at [[Chartres]] before that. Warned by a friend of the danger implied in his Platonic realism as he applied it to theology, he took up the study of [[Islamic philosophy]] and [[Islamic science|physical science]]. When and where he died is a matter of uncertainty. | ||
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| - | William devoted much attention to [[cosmology (metaphysics)|cosmology]] and [[psychology]]. Having been a student of Bernard of Chartres, he shows the characteristic [[Humanism]], tendency towards Platonism, and taste for natural science which distinguish the "Chartrains". He is one of the first of the medieval Christian philosophers to take advantage of Islamic physical and physiological lore, to which he had access in the translations by [[Constantine the African]]. | ||
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| - | [[William of St. Thierry]], who had encouraged [[Bernard of Clairvaux]] to prosecute [[Abelard]], in another letter to Bernard attacked William's ''De philosophia mundi'' for having a [[modalism|modalist]] view of the [[Holy Trinity]]. William in consequence revised some controversial parts in the ''Dragmaticon''. | ||
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| - | ==Works== | ||
| - | There is a good deal of discussion regarding the authorship of the works ascribed to William. It seems probable, however, that he wrote the encyclopedic ''De philosophia mundi'' (or ''Philosophia'') and the related dialogue ''Dragmaticon'', as well as glosses on [[Plato]]'s ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'', on [[Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius|Boethius]]'s ''[[Consolation of Philosophy]]'', on [[Priscian]]'s ''Institutiones grammaticae'', and on [[Macrobius]]'s ''Commentary on the [[Dream of Scipio]]''. He was probably also the author of a lost treatise ''[[Magna de naturis philosophia]]''. A work on [[ethics]], the ''[[Moralium dogma philosophorum]]'', was attributed to him in the 1920s, but his authorship is now rejected by most scholars. | ||
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| - | ==''De philosophia mundi''== | ||
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| - | The ''De philosophia mundi'' is divided into four books, covering [[physics]], [[astronomy]], [[geography]], [[meteorology]] and [[medicine]]. | ||
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| - | William explains the world as composed of elements (''elementa''), which he defines as "the simplest and minimum part[s] of any body—simple in quality, minimum in quantity". He identifies the elements with the [[classical element|traditional four elements]] (fire, air, water, earth) but (following Constantine the African) not as they are perceived, since as such they are neither simple in quality nor minimum in quantity: earth, for example, contains something hot, something cold, something dry and something wet at the same time. Pure elements are not to be perceived, says William, but to be grasped by reason, through an abstract division of the sensible bodies. Each of these pure elements has two of the four basic qualities: earth is cold and dry, water is cold and humid, air is hot and humid and fire is hot and dry. The perceivable elements, called ''elementata'', are made of pure elements: the sensible earth especially of pure earth, the sensible water especially of pure water, and so on. | ||
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| - | The discussion of meteorology includes a description of air becoming less dense and colder as the altitude increases, and William attempts to explain the circulation of the air in connection with the circulation of the oceans. The discussion of medicine deals chiefly with procreation and childbirth. This work influenced [[Jean de Meung]], the author of the second part of the ''[[Roman de la Rose]]''. | ||
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| - | ==Editions and translations== | ||
| - | *''De philosophia mundi'' is edited under the name of [[Bede]] in ''[[Patrologia Latina]]'', vol. 90, and under the name of [[Honorius Augustodunensis]] in vol. 172. | ||
| - | * Gregor Maurach, ed., ''Philosophia Mundi; Wilhelm von Conches: Ausgabe des 1. Buchs von Wilhelm von Conches Philosophia''. Pretoria: [[University of South Africa]], 1974. | ||
| - | * Marco Albertazzi, ed., ''Philosophia''. Lavis: La Finestra, 2010. {{ISBN|978-88-95925-13-4}} | ||
| - | * Édouard Jeauneau, ed., ''Glosae super Platonem''. Paris: Vrin, 1965. {{ISBN|2-7116-0336-9}} | ||
| - | * Édouard Jeauneau, ed., ''Glosae super Platonem'', Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 203. Turnhout: Brepols, 2006 (new revised edition) | ||
| - | * Lodi Nauta, ed., ''Guillelmi de Conchis Glosae super Boetium'', Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 158. Turnhout: Brepols, 1999. {{ISBN|2-503-04581-2}} (hardback); {{ISBN|2-503-04582-0}} (paperback) | ||
| - | * Bradford Wilson, ed. ''Glosae in Iuvenalem'' Paris: Vrin, 1980. | ||
| - | * Helen Rodnite Lemay, ed., ''Glosae super Macrobium'' ([[State University of New York at Stony Brook]], forthcoming) | ||
| - | * Irene Caiazzo, ed., ''Glosae super Priscianum'' (CNRS, Paris, forthcoming) | ||
| - | * Italo Ronca, ed., ''Guillelmi de Conchis Dragmaticon'', [[Corpus Christianorum]] Continuatio Mediaevalis 152. Turnhout: Brepols, 1997. {{ISBN|2-503-04521-9}} (hardback); {{ISBN|2-503-04522-7}} (paperback) | ||
| - | * William of Conches, ''A Dialogue on Natural Philosophy (Dragmaticon Philosophiae)'', translation with an introduction by Italo Ronca and Matthew Curr, Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1997 | ||
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| - | ==See also== | ||
| - | *[[Renaissance of the 12th century]] | ||
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During the High Middle Ages, the Chartres Cathedral established the cathedral School of Chartres, an important center of French scholarship located in Paris. It developed and reached its apex during the transitional period of the 11th and 12th centuries, at the start of the Latin translation movement. This period was also right before the spread of medieval universities, which eventually superseded cathedral schools and monastic schools as the most important institutions of higher learning in the Latin West.
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Bibliography
- Edouard Jeauneau, Rethinking the School of Chartres, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009.
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