VINCENT OF BEAUVAIS

(b. Beauvais, Oise, France, ca. 1190; d. Beauvais, ca. 1264), natural science, transmission of knowledge.

Vincent, known in Latin as Bellovacensis, seems to have studied at the University of Paris and to have entered the Dominican order there about 1220. Transferred to the priory in Beauvais around 1233, he became a close friend of Ralph, first abbot of the Cistercian monastery at nearby Royaumont; through Ralph he formed a lifelong friendship with Louis IX. Earlier Vincent had begun his Speculum maius, or “great mirror,” which was to make available to one and all the hitherto inaccessible wisdom of classical and ecclesiastical authors. The king, hearing of this, desired a copy for himself and supplied the funds necessary for the work’s completion. The date of composition of the Speculum is difficult to determine, since it went through a series of redactions and has several parts. The first version probably appeared in 1244, followed by a second some there years later and by a third in the 1250’s.

Three of its components are of unquestioned authenticity; the “Speculum naturale,” or “mirror of nature,” an encyclopedia of nature as created by God; the “Speculum historiale,” or “mirror of history,” giving the history, of mankind from the Creation to 1254 (in the final version); and the “Speculum doctrinale,” or “mirror of teaching,” summarizing all of the learned arts-liberal, mechanical, and medical, among others. To these an anonymous author, writing sometime between 1310 and 1325, added a fourth part, the “speculum morale,” or “mirror of morals,” drawn mainly from the writings of Thomas Aquinas. Written in Latin, the work was translated into various vernaculars and even appeared in verse. It went through seven printings; but none of these is reliable, each containing editorial interpolations and rearrangements. Besides the Speculum Vincent wrote several ascetial and theological treatieses; he is especially noteworthy for his writings and influence in education (see Gabriel).

The “Speculum naturale” reflects a theological orientation in its plan, which follows the biblical account of the six days of Creation, if not in its content, which reveals it to be “a great storehouse of medieval lore” (Thorndike, 475). Its superiority to other medieval encyclopedias of nature derives from the author’s access to larger and better libraries, and from his having the use of secretaries; its weakness is tracea?ble to its being essentially a compilation of excerpts-although made with care and usually assigned to the proper authority-that shows little or no investigative origniality, critical sense, or organic unity. Vincent draws heavily from Pliny, Isidore of Seville, Adelared of Bath, and Thomas of Cantimpré; and his work also is interspersed with references to Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas, possible added in subsequent revisions.

The “Speculum naturale” is composed of thirty-two books, most containing over one hundred chapters. As a preliminary, book 1 treats God, angels, and the original work of Creation; book 2 launches into the work of the first day, considering the material universe and digressing on the text “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3) to provide thirtyfour chapters on optics that deal with the nature of light the origin of colors, and the properties of mirrors. Books 3 and 4 devoted to the work of the second day, use the formation of the firmament and the heavens to provide treatises on astronomy and meteorology, respectively. The separation of the dry land from the waters on the third day opens a treatise on geology and mineralogy that comprises 95 chapters; similarly, the creation of plants leads to 156 chapters; on botany. The works of subsequent days occasion the presentation of all available information on the birds of the air, the fished of the sea, and the animals that inhabit the dry land, man included.

The “Speculum doctrinale,” composed of seventeen books divided into 2,374 chapters, duplicates some of the earlier material but is concerned more with practical matter. It deals with grammar, logic, husbandry, political affairs, trades, medicine, physics, mathematics, astrology, music, weights and measures, and surveying, and even includes a dictionary of some 3,200 entries. For the mathematical arts Vincent relies on Nicomachus of Gerasa, Boethius, and al-F?r?b?; his treatment is generally brief, perfunctory, and otherwise uninteresting.

The absence of a reliable text makes it difficult to characterize and evaluate Vincent’s science. His views on geography and astronomy seem to derive largely from Ibn S?n? and are akin to those of Albertus Magnus; thus his text, at least as it has come down to us, gives basically Albertus’ account of al-Bitr?j?’s theory and concludes in favor of the Ptolemaic conception of the universe. He takes his chemistry from al-R?z?’s De aluminibus et salibus, in the translation by Gerard of Cremona, and generally follows Ibn S?n?’s presentation of alchemical doctrines. Vincent’s treatment of plants seems to be based on Alfred of Sareschel’s De plantis. HIs treatise on falconry he acknowledges as being abridged from ’a letter written by Aquila, Symchus, and Theodotion to Ptolemy, king of Egypt. in which they treated of noble birds and medicines for them” (Speculum naturale, Douai ed., I, col. 1197); Sarton notes that the original text of this letter has been lost and that apart from Vincent’s excerpts it survives only in early Catalan version, to which he gives a reference (Introduction… P. 931). According to Cuvier, his descriptions of fishes are superior to those of Albertus Magnus. Generally, however, Vincent’s excerpts are taken from classical authors and do not represent the best material available to the experts of his day; he makes little attempt to be up-to-date or to integrate the new with the old. He is somewhat credulous and occasionally intermingles superstition with verified knowledge. Yet withal, Vincent’s work is truly monumental and is the best encyclopedia to come out of the Middle Ages.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works. Vincent’s works are the Speculum maius (Strasbourg, 7 vols., 1473-1476: Basel, 1481 [ “Speculum naturale” and “Speculum morale” only]; Nuremberg, 2 vols., 1473-1486; Venice, 1484, 1494, 1591; Douai, 4 vols., 1624, repr, Graz, 1964) and De eruditione filiorum nobilium, A. Steiner, ed. (Cambridge, Mass., 1938).

II. Secondary Literature. For general accounts and bibliography see W. A. Hinnebusch. The History of the Dominican Order II. Intellectual and Cultural Life to 1500 (New York, 1973), 421–428; Michel Lemoine, “L’oeuvre encyclopédique de Vincent de Beauvais,” Cahiers d’ historie mondiale IX (1966). 483–518, 571–579, repr, La pensée encyclopédique au moyen âge (Neuchatel, 1966); G. sarton, Introduction to the History of Science, II, pt, 2 (Washington, 1931), 929–932, and passim (see index); and L. Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science, II (New York, 1923), 457–476. More specialized studies are A Gabbriel, The Educational Ideas of Vincent of Beauvais, 2nd ed. (Notre Dame, 1962); G. Göler, “Vinzenz von Beauvais und sein Musiktraktat in Speculum doctrinale,” in Kölner Beiträge zur Musikforschung, 15 (1959), 29–34; and P. Duhem, Études sur Léonard de Vinci II (Paris, 1909), 318–319, and Le système du monde,, III (Paris, 1915; repr, 1958), 346–348.

William A. Wallace. O.P.