William of Conches

Illustration in medieval manuscript of Dragmaticon, with William of Conches at lower right

William of Conches (Latin: Gulielmus de Conchis; French: Guillaume de Conches; c. 1100–1155) was a medieval Norman-French 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 Chartrain, a 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 his former teacher Bernard of Chartres.

Life

William was born around 1100 in Conches-en-Ouche, Normandy, then still uneasily controlled by Norman England although notionally in homage to France. He studied under Bernard of Chartres in Chartres, Blois, and became a leading member of the School of Chartres, early Scholastics who formed part of the 12th-Century Renaissance.

William's teaching activity in Paris and Chartres extended from c. 1120 to 1154. Around the year 1145, following the conquest of Normandy by Geoffrey Plantagenet, count of Anjou, William became the personal tutor of Geoffrey's son Henry, later King Henry II of England. It is possible, but uncertain, that he was teaching at Chartres before that, where he studied under Bernard of Chartres. William of St. Thierry, who had encouraged Bernard of Clairvaux to prosecute Abelard, wrote another letter "on the errors of William of Conches" (De Erroribus Guillelmi de Conchis) to the same cleric attacking William of Conches for the modalist view of the Holy Trinity implicit in his De Philosophia Mundi. He consequently revised some controversial passages of his Dragmaticon. Similarly 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 science using the Latin translations produced by Constantine the African. He was among the first medieval Christian philosophers to do so.

He died in 1155.

Works

A large number of works have been attributed to William. Given his royal connections and reputation for learning and esoterism, the true attribution of those works is a matter of scholarly debate. It seems probable, however, that he wrote the encyclopedic De Philosophia Mundi ("On the Philosophy of the World") and the related dialogue Dragmaticon, whose neological name probably intended something like "A Dramatization". (Others emend the title to the Pragmaticon Philosophiae, "The Business of Philosophy".) He likely also wrote glosses on Plato's Timaeus, on Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, on Priscian's Institutes of Grammar, and on Macrobius's Commentary on The Dream of Scipio and was the author of a lost treatise entitled Magna de Naturis Philosophia ("The Great Philosophy of Nature"). He is also sometimes still credited as the author of Moralium Dogma Philosophorum ("Philosophers' Moral Teachings"), the first medieval treatise on philosophical ethics, although this attribution is more suspect.

William's generally credited works are marked by special attention to cosmology and psychology. They also display the humanism, Platonism, and affinity for the natural sciences of other members of the School of Chartres and are among the first works of medieval Christian philosophy to devote considerable attention to Islamic physical and physiological lore.

De Philosophia Mundi

The De Philosophia Mundi ("On the Philosophy of the World") is divided into four books, covering physics, astronomy, geography, meteorology, and medicine.

William glosses the composition of the world as rooted in the four elements but follows Constantine the African in considering an element "the simplest and minimum part of any body—simple in quality, minimum in quantity". Therefore, he does not identify elemental fire, air, water, or earth with any of the composite forms in which they are experienced by humans. He argues that the pure forms of the elements cannot be perceived but only grasped by reason applied to abstracted division of sensible forms. He considers that these pure elements are defined by their intrinsic temperature and moistness: earth was cold and dry, water cold and moist, air hot and moist, and fire hot and dry.

The work's section on meteorology includes discussion of air becoming less dense and colder as altitude increases. It also draws parallels between atmospheric circulation and ocean currents. 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.

Editions

• 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.
• Jeauneau, Édouard, ed. (1965), Glosae super Platonem [Glosses on Plato] (in Latin), Paris: Vrin, ISBN 2-7116-0336-9.
• Maurach, Gregor, ed. (1974), Philosophia Mundi [Philosophy of the World] (in Latin), Pretoria: University of South Africa Press.
• Wilson, Bradford, ed. (1980), Glosae in Iuvenalem [Glosses on Juvenal] (in Latin), Paris: Vrin.
• Ronca, Italo, ed. (1997), Guillelmi de Conchis Dragmaticon [William of Conches's Dragmaticon], Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis, Vol. 152 (in Latin), Turnhout: Brepols, ISBN 2-503-04522-7.
• Ronca, Italo; et al., eds. (1997), A Dialogue on Natural Philosophy (Dragmaticon Philosophiae), Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
• Nauta, Lodi, ed. (1999), Guillelmi de Conchis Glosae super Boetium [William of Conches's Glosses on Boethius], Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis, Vol. 158 (in Latin), Turnhout: Brepols, ISBN 2-503-04582-0.
• Jeauneau, Édouard, ed. (2006), Glosae super Platonem [Glosses on Plato], Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis, Vol. 203 (in Latin) (Rev. ed.), Turnhout: Brepols.
• Albertazzi, Marco, ed. (2010), Philosophia [Philosophy] (in Latin), Lavis: La Finestra, ISBN 978-88-95925-13-4.

See also

• Renaissance of the 12th century

References

Bibliography

• "William of Conches", Britannica, Chicago: Britannica Group, 2024.
• Turner, William (1913). "William of Conches". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• Bateson, Mary (1885–1900). "William of Conches". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

Further reading

• Ellard, Peter (2007), The Sacred Cosmos: Theological, Philosophical, and Scientific Conversations in the Twelfth Century School of Chartres, Scranton: University of Scranton Press.

External links

• Etexts of De philosophia mundi and Moralium dogma philosophorum at The Latin Library
• Facsimile of ljs384, a late-12th-century manuscript of De philosophia mundi