Liber Ricardi Pratellensis abbatis. Versus Theodorici. Tractatus de creatione et anima. Liber de etymologia. Liber ex dictis plurimorum. Porphyrius cum aliis. Porphyrius. Elenchis. Porphyrius, Brit'. Comenta super Topica Tullii. Glose super Porphyrium et Topica Tullii. Comentum Boecii super Predicamenta Ari- Comentum Boecii super Porphyrium. Glose super Periermenias (2 copies). Glose in librum divisionum. 1 The names in Italics appear to be those of the original owners of the volumes, who probably gave them to Christchurch. 51 =241 CHAP. L held to restore the balance. The educational activity of Christchurch is indicated by its numerous Priscians; five copies, that is to say, of the entire work, and, for those who might despair of traversing, like Odo of Cluny, 'so vast an ocean', the same number of the portion on Constructions. Plato, whose name appears in both lists, means nothing more than the translation of part of the Timæus by Chalcidius. Boethius the philosopher and Boethius the theologian stand side by side as one personality. Bec, rejoicing in the munificence of Philip, the bishop of Bayeux, exhibits a noteworthy array of the writings of Cicero, for which Canterbury can shew only the De Senectute and the De Amicitia, but boasts, on the other hand, eight Sallusts, three Virgils, four Juvenals, and nine Persiuses,-names wanting in the Norman library. Macrobius, endeared to the Middle Ages by his gossip and the fragmentary character of his lore, is possessed by both foundations, and at Christchurch is more numerous than any other author. The absence from the English catalogue of any of Anselm's writings is remarkable, more especially when taken in conjunction with the presence of his disciple and editor, Richard, abbat of Preaux'. No Greek author appears in the library at Bec, a fact from which M. Rémusat is probably justified in inferring that neither Lanfranc nor Anselm possessed any acquaintance with the language; nor will the presence of a Greek grammar (Donatus grece) at Canterbury tend much to modify such a conclusion. The Nova Logica* appears in the English catalogue in the Topica and the Elenchi Sophistici, but is wanting in the Norman. The Institutes of Justinian appear in both, but the single Codex and Infortiatum shew that the study of the civil law is still 1 Immensum Prisciani transiit transnatando pelagus.' Bibl. Cluny, col. 18. Richardus, abbat of Pratellum in the Provincia Rotomagensis, died 1131. He edited Anselm's commentaries, and himself wrote allegorical interpretations of the prophets, a commentary on Deuteronomy, etc. See Gallia Christiana, x1 837, 838. 3 On dit bien que Lanfranc savait le grec, mais on n'en donne aucune preuve; et quoique, alors, on passât pour savoir cette langue, quand on en lisait les caractères, nous ne voyons nulle raison de faire d'Anselme même le plus faible des hellénistes, parce qu'il croit quelque part que latitude se dit en grec λáτos, et donne le mot altéré d'anagogen comme synonyme de contemplatio.' Anselme de Cantorbéry, p. 457. 4 See p. 29, and p. 72 note 3. SCANTINESS OF THE EXISTING LITERATURE. 105 in its infancy at Bec, and their entire absence at Canterbury CHAP. I. suggests that it had not yet found favour in this country. The absence again of the Decretum of Gratian would lead us to surmise that the English catalogues could not have been drawn up many years after the half century. On the whole, it would be difficult to select fairer or more favorable specimens of the literary resources of western Europe in the interval from between the earlier part of the eleventh and the thirteenth century; and as we glance through the scanty array we begin to realise more clearly the position of the scholar at that period, and to understand how little he would be disposed to reject, how eagerly he would welcome, whatever offered itself as an accession to these slender stores, especially when such accessions bore the name of the highest authority that could be found in pagan literature. The catalogue of Christchurch, again, is especially worthy of Catalogue of note, as offering a striking contrast to the extensive catalogue tery of Christconsisting of no less than 698 volumes, each volume com- century later. prising on the average some ten or twelve distinct works,which we find representing the library of the same foundation. little more than a hundred years later1; that is to say, after the introduction of the new learning which we have already described, and the consequent awakening of that literary activity which we must now proceed to trace. the Monas church a the Mendicants favourable to the The increasing desire for what gratified either the imagi- Activity of nation or the understanding, and the scantiness of the existing resources, were not the only circumstances that favoured the new learning. introduction of the new learning. It is round the university of Paris that the earlier history both of the mendicant orders and of the new Aristotle mainly revolves, and it was but two years prior to the prohibition of Gregory IX that events, which none could have foreseen, afforded the Dominicans a long coveted opportunity. At Paris, probably, was first exhibited that sudden and surprising change in their demeanour to which we shall have occasion hereafter more 1 See Edwards' Memoirs of Libraries, 1 122-135, where the catalogue fills 113 closely printed pages. A few of the volumes of the older library are to be recognised in this catalogue, CHAP. L fully to refer. The authorities of the university soon became conscious that the efforts of the Mendicants were being directed quite as much to the aggrandizement of their order as to the common welfare. The spirit which had led St. Paul to term himself the least of the apostles, had been imitated by the Franciscans in styling themselves the Friars Minor, but their conduct already began to belie the humility The Domini of their professions, and the Dominicans were evidently at least equally intent upon the increase of their own authority and power. A special letter on their behalf was addressed to the university by pope Gregory in the year 1227, but with small avail. It became evident that a conflict was impending; when, in the following year, an unexpected turn of events secured to the Dominicans an easy triumph. cans at Paris. Conflict between the University and the Citizens in 1228. The university, like all the other universities of that age, was frequently in collision with the citizens and the civic authorities. Foreigners, young, arrogant, wanton, and imperious, harmonised ill with the native element, often cherishing sullen and unreasoning antipathies. It so happened that a body of the students in a drunken outbreak of more than ordinary licence, had fallen upon some of the townsmen and severely maltreated them. The outcry raised against the whole university was loud and fierce. Queen Blanche, herself, appears to have shared the general feeling of resentment. The city guard were authorised to take vengeance on the offenders, and executed their instructions with a barbarity which we may well believe far exceeded the royal intentions. The real offenders had been of the Picard nation, but the feeling roused was far too fierce to discriminate in its revenge. The students had assembled outside the city walls for their sports when they were suddenly attacked and compelled to take refuge in the city. They were pursued through the streets, the citizens joining in the chase; some were dragged from their places of concealment, among them two clerks of high dignity who were stripped and murdered; others were left for dead. The feelings of the whole university were roused to the highest pitch. A deputation waited on the Queen demanding im of the Uni Paris. mediate satisfaction. They were met by a haughty refusal, CHAP. I. and professors and scholars alike, stung by the injustice, resolved to quit the city. A simultaneous migration took Retirement place to Rheims, Angers, and Orleans; all lectures were sus-versity from pended; the assemblies were no longer convened'. It was at this juncture that Henry III issued a general invitation to the students to come and settle where they pleased in England. The invitation was responded to by large numbers. Many settled at Oxford, many at Cambridge; and from the narrative of these refugees Matthew Paris learned the details which we have briefly reproduced2. nity improved by the Domi nicans. The Dominicans saw their opportunity and hastened to The opportuimprove it. The secession of the students was resented both by the Crown and the ecclesiastical authorities: the former indignant that the newly constituted bodies at Orleans and Angers were daring to confer degrees without the royal sanction; the archbishop aggrieved that the university should have withdrawn from the sphere of his jurisdiction. The Dominicans were warmly welcomed and were empowered to open two schools of theology where, under the leadership of Jordanus, the general of their order, a man eminent alike for his virtues and his talents, their numbers rapidly increased. Such were the circumstances under which Albertus Albertus Magnus first began to teach in the neighbourhood of the d 1280. street that still bears his name. He had already taught with success at Cologne, where Thomas Aquinas had been among his hearers, and his fame, as an expounder of Aristotle, soon drew around him numerous audiences at Paris. It is only when we consider in their true connexion the events that combined at this crisis, the general craving for fresh learning, the simultaneous introduction of the new philosophy 1 Scholares dispersi vagabantur, nulla amplius comitia, nullus Magistratus in Academiæ solis.' Bulæus, III 138. 2 Ibid, 1 132. 3 Hocce tempore Albertus Magnus summa celebritate docebat in platea quæ hodie etiam M. Alberti nomen præfert (still known as the Rue de Maitre-Albert) missus quippe Lutetiam, anno 1236, Doctoratus apicem consecutus fuit, et per triennium Magnus, b. 1193. |