Vincent of Beauvais (v. 1190 - v. 1267) is a monk Dominicain French, author of famous a Encyclopédie constituting a panorama of knowledge of the Moyen-âge.

An almost unknown life

One is unaware of his life almost very. One thinks that it belonged to the convent of Dominican of Paris, between 1215 and 1220, and of that of Beauvais, founded by Louis IX. It is about certain that he was reader with the Abbaye of Royaumont in the Val-d'Oise, also rested by Louis IX between 1228 and 1235. The king, like the queen Marguerite, his son Philippe and his brother-in-law Thibaud II of Navarre, ordered many works to him.

The major work of Vincent is his Speculum Majus , vast compilation of the knowledge of the Moyen-âge, republished many times until the Renaissance. It consists of three parts: the Mirror of nature , the Mirror of the Doctrines and the Mirror of the History .

Speculum Naturale

Speculum Naturale , or Mirror of nature , is divided into 32 pounds and 3718 chapters. It is the summary of the Natural history of its time, made up of a mosaic of quotations of authors Latin, Greek, Arab and even Hebraic, whose Vincent gives the sources. He does not hesitate to make his own remarks.

The first book speaks about Creation and constitutes a comment of the Genèse.

The second book treats components of the world: the light, the color, four elements, as well as Lucifer and fallen angels.

The third and fourth books treat heart and time, as well as atmospheric phenomena such as the sky, the rain and the thunder.

The books V to XIV treat sea and rivers, agriculture, metals, invaluable stones, plants. According to each species, Vincent, when it can it, gives information on his use in the Médecine. He adopts an alphabetical classification.

Book XV draft of the astronomical phenomena like the moon, stars, the sun and the seasons.

Books XVI and XVII approach the poultries and fish. The order is again alphabetical there and Vincent refers to the medical uses.

Books XVIII to XXII treat wild animals or servants, such as the dogs, the snakes, the bees and the insects. The last two books approach physiology more particularly.

Books XXIII to XXVIII treat psychology, physiology and anatomy of the human being, its five directions and its bodies, its sleep, its dreams, its memory, etc

The last four books complement the precedents. The last summarizes geographical and historical knowledge of the year 1250.

Speculum Doctrinal

Speculum Doctrinal , or Mirror of the Doctrines , consists of 17 pounds and 2374 chapters. It is about a kind of handbook for students which treats varied things: mechanical arts, Scholastic, Tactical military, etc It thus does not limit to the Natural history but milked also Logique, of Rhétorique, Poésie, Géométrie, of Astronomie, education or passions human, a Anatomie, a Chirurgie and a Médecine, Droit.

The first book starts by approaching the Philosophie before providing a Latin vocabulary from 6.000 to 7.000 words. Grammar, logic, rhetoric and poetry are treated in books II and III. Book III gives several well-known fables like that of the Lion and the Mouse. Books IV and V treat similar virtue and subjects.

Book VI draft of rather different subjects: one finds there councils for the construction of the houses, the gardening, the breeding and the Viticulture. It includes a kind of Almanach for each month of the year.

Books VII to IX refer to political arts and state rules for the education of the princes. They contain also elements of Civil law, canonical criminal and . Book IX draft also of trade, hunting and navigation.

Books XII to XIV treat medicine and give in particular councils to preserve its health.

Book XV can be regarded as a summary of the Speculum Naturale .

Book XVI draft of the Mathematical as well as Music, the Geometry, the Astronomy, the Astrology, weights and measures and Metaphysical . Vincent knows the Arab numerals perfectly although it does not call them by their name and prefers to use the words digitus and articulus .

Other works

Its other works are Of eruditione filiorum regalium , on the education of the princes, and Tractatus consolatorius of dead amici , letter addressed to the king after the death of the one of its sons in 1260.

See too

External bonds

  • Vincent Workshop of Beauvais: text on line of the Speculum Historiale and Doctrinal part of the Speculum .

  • musicologie.org writings of Vincent of Beauvais relating to the music

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