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Godfrey of St Victor
Encyclopedia
Godfrey of St. Victor was a French monk and theologian, and one of the last major figures of the Victorines. He was a supporter of the study of ancient philosophy
, and the Victorine mysticism of Hugh of St. Victor and Richard of St. Victor
.
between the years 1140 and 1155, before coming to the St. Victor's Abbey, Paris, an Augustinian establishment of canons regular
. A product of the secular schools, Godfrey is thought to have entered St Victor after becoming dissatisfied with Parisian intellectual culture. Due to a difference in opinion over doctrine, Godfrey found himself forced to leave the abbey under the priorship of Walter (c.a. 1180), returning after Walter's death (c.a. 1190), and remaining until his own death circa 1194.
The central theme of Microcosmus recalls the insight of classical philosophy and of the early Church Fathers, viz., that man is a microcosm, containing in himself the material and spiritual elements of reality. Microcosmus offers one of the first attempts by a medieval Scholastic philosopher to systematize history and knowledge into a comprehensive, rational structure. Godfrey used the symbolism of a biblical framework to treat the physical, psychological, and ethical aspects of man. He affirmed man's matter-spirit unity and the basic goodness of his nature, tempering this optimism with the realization that human nature has been weakened ("fractured") by sin, but not to an intrinsically corrupted and irreparable extent. In the Microcosmus Godfrey compared sensuality, imagination, reason and intelligence to the respective four classical elements, earth, water, air and fire.
Godfrey admits four principal capabilities in man: sensation, imagination, reason, and intelligence. Man's analytic reason and power of insight have the theoretical science of philosophy for their natural fulfillment. But a supernatural fulfillment, he maintains, consists in love. To this end divine intervention is needed to confer on man the perfective graces, or gifts, of enlightenment, affectivity, and perseverance.
In his other notable work, the Fons philosophiae (c. 1176; "The Fount of Philosophy"), Godfrey, in rhymed verse, proposed a classification of learning and considered the controversy between Realists and Nominalists (who held that ideas were only names, not real things) over the problem of universal concepts. Fons philosophiae is an allegorical account of the sources of Godfrey's intellectual formation (e.g., Plato, Aristotle, and Boethius), symbolized as a flowing stream from which he drew water as a student.
Another treatise, "Anatomy of the Body of Christ," appended to Fons Philosophiae, is a leading example of medieval Christian symbolism. A long poem ascribing to each member and organ of Christ's body some aspect of man's natural and supernatural purpose, it assembled texts from the early Church Fathers and helped form medieval devotion to the humanity of Christ. Godfrey's writings have won appreciation as a prime example of 12th-century Humanism
only through relatively recent scholarship, although their fundamental concepts of the positive values of man and nature were recognized to a limited extent by the high Scholasticism of the 13th century. The works of Godfrey of Saint-Victor are contained in Patrologia Latina, J.P. Migne ed., vol. 196 (1864). A modern edition of the text with commentary by P. Delhaye appeared in 1951.
The Fons Philosophiae was a didactic poem presented to Abbot Stephen of St. Genevieve on the occasion of his appointment to the position at some point following 1173. The Fons Philosophiae was originally one of three treatises, forming a unified corpus when combined with the Anathomia Corporis Christi and the De Spirituale corpore Christi. All three were presented by Godfrey to the Abbott as a matching set of spiritual works. The poem describes an exploration of the Seven Liberal Arts as an allegorical journey through a system of rivers, in which draughts from different streams render different meanings.
The Preconium Augustini is a poem on Augustine of Hippo
of about 500 lines.
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, and the Victorine mysticism of Hugh of St. Victor and Richard of St. Victor
Richard of St. Victor
Richard of Saint Victor is known today as one of the most influential religious thinkers of his time. He was a prominent mystical theologian, and was prior of the famous Augustinian Abbey of Saint Victor in Paris from 1162 until his death in 1173....
.
Life
He had initially studied and taught the trivium at the University of ParisUniversity of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
between the years 1140 and 1155, before coming to the St. Victor's Abbey, Paris, an Augustinian establishment of canons regular
Canons Regular
Canons Regular are members of certain bodies of Canons living in community under the Augustinian Rule , and sharing their property in common...
. A product of the secular schools, Godfrey is thought to have entered St Victor after becoming dissatisfied with Parisian intellectual culture. Due to a difference in opinion over doctrine, Godfrey found himself forced to leave the abbey under the priorship of Walter (c.a. 1180), returning after Walter's death (c.a. 1190), and remaining until his own death circa 1194.
Works
- Fons Philosophiae
- Anathomia Corporis Christi
- De Spirituale corpore Christi
- Microcosmus
- Preconium Augustini
The central theme of Microcosmus recalls the insight of classical philosophy and of the early Church Fathers, viz., that man is a microcosm, containing in himself the material and spiritual elements of reality. Microcosmus offers one of the first attempts by a medieval Scholastic philosopher to systematize history and knowledge into a comprehensive, rational structure. Godfrey used the symbolism of a biblical framework to treat the physical, psychological, and ethical aspects of man. He affirmed man's matter-spirit unity and the basic goodness of his nature, tempering this optimism with the realization that human nature has been weakened ("fractured") by sin, but not to an intrinsically corrupted and irreparable extent. In the Microcosmus Godfrey compared sensuality, imagination, reason and intelligence to the respective four classical elements, earth, water, air and fire.
Godfrey admits four principal capabilities in man: sensation, imagination, reason, and intelligence. Man's analytic reason and power of insight have the theoretical science of philosophy for their natural fulfillment. But a supernatural fulfillment, he maintains, consists in love. To this end divine intervention is needed to confer on man the perfective graces, or gifts, of enlightenment, affectivity, and perseverance.
In his other notable work, the Fons philosophiae (c. 1176; "The Fount of Philosophy"), Godfrey, in rhymed verse, proposed a classification of learning and considered the controversy between Realists and Nominalists (who held that ideas were only names, not real things) over the problem of universal concepts. Fons philosophiae is an allegorical account of the sources of Godfrey's intellectual formation (e.g., Plato, Aristotle, and Boethius), symbolized as a flowing stream from which he drew water as a student.
Another treatise, "Anatomy of the Body of Christ," appended to Fons Philosophiae, is a leading example of medieval Christian symbolism. A long poem ascribing to each member and organ of Christ's body some aspect of man's natural and supernatural purpose, it assembled texts from the early Church Fathers and helped form medieval devotion to the humanity of Christ. Godfrey's writings have won appreciation as a prime example of 12th-century Humanism
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
only through relatively recent scholarship, although their fundamental concepts of the positive values of man and nature were recognized to a limited extent by the high Scholasticism of the 13th century. The works of Godfrey of Saint-Victor are contained in Patrologia Latina, J.P. Migne ed., vol. 196 (1864). A modern edition of the text with commentary by P. Delhaye appeared in 1951.
The Fons Philosophiae was a didactic poem presented to Abbot Stephen of St. Genevieve on the occasion of his appointment to the position at some point following 1173. The Fons Philosophiae was originally one of three treatises, forming a unified corpus when combined with the Anathomia Corporis Christi and the De Spirituale corpore Christi. All three were presented by Godfrey to the Abbott as a matching set of spiritual works. The poem describes an exploration of the Seven Liberal Arts as an allegorical journey through a system of rivers, in which draughts from different streams render different meanings.
The Preconium Augustini is a poem on Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
of about 500 lines.