Medieval Encyclopedia

In due passi del De Administratione, Suger, abate di Saint-Denis, celebra le vetrate policrome
del coro della sua abbaziale, menzionando la spesa profusa per la materia saphirorum
fornita ai maestri vetrai, con riferimento al blu intenso che fortemente caratterizza
le vetrate. Questo articolo si propone di indagare i possibili significati dell’espressione
materia saphirorum, tradotta in maniera discordante e non soddisfacente nelle moderne
traduzioni esistenti e si propone, inoltre, di ricondurre il suo significato al più ampio
contesto in cui si inserisce l’opera di Suger, tenendo in considerazione il valore spirituale
che l’abate assegnava alle vetrate policrome del coro e alle pietre preziose dell’arredo
liturgico, entrambe variamente interpretate come prefigurazioni materiali della Gerusalemme
celeste. L’analisi sarà condotta nel contesto più ampio degli studi sul colore,
che coinvolge aspetti linguistici, culturali ed antropologici. Saranno inoltre considerate
le questioni relative ai cromonimi in uso nel Medioevo, la nomenclatura delle pietre
preziose e gli studi sui pigmenti per vetrate, ricorrendo all’analisi di diverse fonti scritte
medievali (testi esegetici, trattati tecnici, lapidari, enciclopedie) e ai risultati delle analisi
archeometriche eseguite su vetri da finestra risalenti al XII secolo.

This contribution focuses on the structure of the Exeter Book as a collection. While earlier scholarship has for the most part either regarded the Exeter Book as a poetic miscellany without apparent structural principles or focused on shorter thematic sequences, this paper argues that the order of poems follows late antique and medieval principles of organizing knowledge based on mnemonic and topical practices. I believe that the search for thematic coherence has biased our understanding of the manuscript’s arrangement and hindered a clearer perception of some of the structural principles behind the compilation as a whole. Instead, I argue that the poems fall into a number of formal and functional categories that are arranged and structured according to the principles of late antique and medieval topics. This topical arrangement, rather than constituting a rigid and inflexible order, in fact highlights the material’s polysemous character, which it actively employs in order to shift focus or introduce new ordering principles without having to renounce preceding ones. The collection’s seeming diversity and patchiness can thus be linked to medieval semiotic procedures, which allow for the concurrence of multiple meanings and multi-dimensional structural principles.

In the Middle Ages, elephants were represented in many art forms. They may have acted as a mere ornament or a geographical sign related to a specific part of the earth, for example in world maps, but they often refer to allegories explained in the Physiologus, bestiaries, and writings of the Church Fathers. The elephant is among the most extensively treated animals in bestiaries because of its enormous size and peculiar appearance and because of its consequently surprising gentle nature and intelligence. Elephants may have occupied a special position among wild beasts also because residual memories of them brought to Europe in the Hellenistic and Roman periods persisted. The intention of this paper is to provide an analysis of how the elephant, which could not be observed directly, was represented in the Middle Ages up to the 13 th century, and to investigate literary and iconographi-cal sources for visual descriptions of its anatomy, namely its ears, trunk, tusks, limbs, skin, etc. In the Roman period, realistic models of elephants abounded, and when the real appearance of the animal started to be forgotten, its body became a sort of patchwork of man's partial knowledge of the animal, just as the Indian story of six men and an elephant shows. When man depicts what he is not acquainted with, he tends to compensate the lack with what he knows. In the historical current in which wonders of the world started to be analyzed under the Scholastic system of knowledge, the elephant too started to be depicted fairly accurately, especially after Matthew Paris made a life sketch of the animal in 1255. However, even after that, the representation of the elephant depended much on the choice of the artist and art-work patron concerned. The body of the elephant was a vehicle of allegory and symbol (religious, political, etc.), but at the same time, it reflects man's scientific observation and experience, thus showing two different human approaches to the world. Consideration of the representations of elephant anatomy would reveal a complex of crossing points among textual, visual and oral routes of transmission of information and ideas.

This contribution aims to illustrate briefly the origin and the use of the word 'thesoro' or 'tesoro' in sixteenth-and seventeenth-century publications, in order to context-ualize the use of such word in the title of an anonymous book published under false imprint, the 'Thesoro politico' (1589).  After a short description of this volume, I shall comment on the definition given to the word 'tesoro' in Italian ('thesaurus' or 'thensaurus' in Latin, 'tresor' in French, and 'thesauro' in Spanish) in current dictionaries, and mention the use of the word 'thesoro' in the context of the projects devised by the founder of the Academia veneziana, also called Academia della Fama, or Academia Veneta. Finally, I shall look at a selection of sixteenth-century publications using the word 'thesoro' in the title. In 1589, under the false address Accademia italiana di Colonia, and with the fictitious name Alberto Coloresco as the printer of the academy, appeared a very original publication.

Bonaventure O.F.M. (c. 1217–July 15, 1274) was a quintessential theologian of the thirteenth century and highly respected church leader, first serving as the Minister General of the Franciscan Order, then , he was named the Cardinal-bishop of Albano. In his ardent search for wisdom (sapientia), Bonaventure blended classical theologians (e.g., Augustine), ancient philosophers (e.g., Aristotle), and mysticism (e.g., Desert Fathers) within an indelible scholastic frame- work throughout his diverse range of writings that included theological treatises, many sermons, exegetical contributions, teachings on the mystical and spiritual life, numerous letters, and the authoritative biography on Francis of Assisi. Formed by classical Augustinianism, Bonaventure had privileged faith and theology over reason and philosophy albeit these two poles of enquiry coalesced within his impassioned pursuit of knowledge, beauty, and truth, wherever it was to be discovered. Bonaventure was at once a traditional and original thinker, steeped in theology (e.g., Augustinianism, Pseudo-Dionysian) and philosophy (e.g., Aristotle, Neoplatonism), both from the received teachings of Late Antiq- uity and the translated texts of the res novae, thereby engendering a blended and textured approach of faith seeking understanding. Among his contributions, Bonaventure was the first theologian to critically reinterpret Anselm of Canterbury’s (1033–1109) celebrated ontologi- cal argument. In one of his significant writings, Disputed Questions on the Mystery of the Trinity, Bonaventure provided a compelling argument for the existence of God whereby he concluded that there are three ways (or proofs) toward the existence of God, which were correlated with the soul, being, and truth or goodness. When the three ways have been explicated and understood, Bonaventure taught that the faithful seeker would arrive at the indubitable truth of God. In addition to many contributions in the fields of theology, philosophy, and mysticism, Bonaventure was heavily involved, both as leader of the Franciscans and as a cardinal in the Church, in the efforts at reconciliation during the divisive and contentious thirteenth century. Bonaventure was convinced that all truth, beauty, and wisdom was from God, which liberated him to place classical theology in conversation with emergent philosophical models of enquiry in order to encourage reflection upon the life of faith and reason that leads to the mystical ascent to God.

The Antiochene occultist, littérateur, and professional court intellectual ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Bisṭāmī (d. 858/1454) is best known as someone whose writings influenced Ottoman thought and ideologies of rule during and beyond his lifetime. It is argued here that al-Bisṭāmī’s writings shed important light on Mamlūk intellectual history as well, particularly regarding the rising interest in occultism in the Mamlūk cities of the late-fourteenth and fifteenth centuries—including at the court of the sultan al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Barqūq. Attention is paid to al-Bisṭāmī’s major work on the occult “science of letters and names” (ʿilm al-ḥurūf wa-al-asmāʾ), Shams al-afaq fī ʿilm al-ḥurūf wa-al-awfāq, which is approached as an “encyclopedic” work structurally reflective of major trends in Mamlūk thought and literature despite its seemingly obscure topic. The focus is on al-Bisṭāmī’s account of his initiation into the science of letters and names among various teachers in Cairo, Damascus, and Alexandria, and what this account reveals not only of the bustling occult scene in these cities, but also of broader changes that were afoot in Mamlūk learned society, especially with regard to issues of manuscript culture.

Il Liber glossarum è un misterioso glossario enciclopedico compilato entro il secolo VIII, che comprende circa 56.000 voci tratte da fonti lessicografiche, grammaticali, tecnico-scientifiche, geografiche, esegetiche, omiletiche e molto altro. Il volume offre una sistematica analisi della relazione tra questa monumentale enciclopedia e la tradizione altomedievale di Agostino, da cui sono ricavate circa 350 delle voci incorporate nel Liber. L’indagine filologica consente da un lato di chiarire alcuni aspetti della controversa origine del glossario e dall’altro di illuminare certe dinamiche di trasmissione delle opere agostiniane, fornendo anche nuovi spunti per la loro ricostruzione testuale.

In this blog post, I plot a network using the data from the Innovating Knowledge project. The network consist of 279 nodes corresponding to manuscripts transmitting the most important medieval encyclopaedia, the Etymologiae, and 1047 edges corresponding to innovative features shared by these manuscripts. The resulting graph shows how widespread certain innovations were, and how particular clusters of manuscripts sharing a specific innovation (coloured in the graph) do or do not overlap. The graph consist of 40 separate components, of which one is central.

Este artículo analiza el relato de viajes de John Mandeville y su carácter enciclopédico, es decir, de qué manera su narración de viaje se torna un medio de transmisión de conocimiento. En primer lugar, se estudia el concepto de enciclopedia en la Edad Media y las categorías que componen este compendio del saber. Posteriormente, se revisa los principales recursos del relato enciclopédico en la obra de John Mandeville, analizando el catálogo de monstruos y maravillas de Oriente

During the twelfth century, Honorius Augustodunensis wrote a number of encyclopaedic works. In Imago mundi (circa 1110) he presents the system of the cosmos based on the traditional authorities of the early Middle Ages. By contrast, in De animae exsilio et patria (circa 1140), he proposes an updated educational curriculum for his time, influenced greatly by the arrival of the Greco-Arab knowledge in Europe. An analysis of these works reveals the evolution of Honorius' thinking, with two particular points of interest emerging: 1) that Honorius, rather than reacting to the twelfth century Renaissance, in fact contributed to it through his divulgation works, and 2) that new knowledge was already beginning to spread across the Holy Roman Empire during the first half of the century.

This article is concerned with the introduction of the Rasa’il Ikhwan al-Safa’ to al-Andalus, and the implication this question has for the history of Arabic science and philosophy. More specifically, it focuses on the impact of the encyclopaedia of the Brethren of Purity on the Rutbat al-hakim and the Ghayat al-hakim, two important works of the literature of al-Andalus in the field of occult sciences. The article revisits the issue of authorship and chronology of the three works, highlighting the fact that the corpus of the Rasa’il is the product of a historically long process of composition and confirming with some new clues the identification of the author of the Rutba and the Ghaya with Maslama al-Qurtubi (d. 964). The textual comparison of these three works and, in particular, the study of the still unedited Rutba enables one to identify Maslama al-Qurtubi as the genuine transmitter of the Ikhwanian corpus to al-Andalus.

L'enciclopedia isidoriana rappresenta un modello conosciuto e interessante per i letterati a venire che intendano impegnarsi nel genere enciclopedico e che variamente considerano l'opera del vescovo di Siviglia come un precedente di cui tenere senz'altro conto a seconda dei tempi e delle circostanze in cui si trovano a operare. Si argomenta l'assunto citando i casi di Rabano Mauro, Ugo e Riccardo di San Vittore, Giorgio Valla.

This essay considers what might first appear to be a minor theological problem in the major work of Dante’s mentor, and shows that it indeed poses a conundrum and a riddle to be solved. Taking up Augustine’s commentary on Christ’s three resurrection miracles – in the house, outside the gate, and in the sepulchre – I note that in his Tresor Brunetto retains the first of these locations but revises the second to “in the doorway of the house” and the third to “in the street.” Ruling out a traditional “source” for these deviations, I ask: Are these changes of scenery significant – a trivial memory lapse, subtly subversive, or ringing a change? Ultimately, I propose an underlying shift in perspective: from Augustinian biblical topography to a contemporary urban setting – an “update” from a late Classical to a medieval scene, from Hippo to Florence – an “urbanization” of the Augustinian “stages of sin” that gestures towards the streetscape of the Vita nuova.

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02139436
Au Moyen Âge, la connaissance de la faune étrangère exotique (africaine et indienne) doit beaucoup à la transmission des auteurs antiques (Aristote, Pline, Solin) et des premiers auteurs chrétiens (Physiologus, Isidore de Séville, Pères de l’église). Pourtant on observe, notamment au XIIIe siècle, l’apparition de nouveaux savoirs dans les encyclopédies et autres textes d’histoire naturelle apparentés. Ces nouveaux savoirs doivent peu aux autorités anciennes et sont le fruit d’apports nouveaux, liés à l’observation directe (animaux de ménageries) ou à des savoirs vernaculaires (voyageurs, marchands, chasseurs, pêcheurs, marins, etc.). C’est particulièrement le cas pour les animaux mal connus du Nord de l’Europe, mettant en lumière un exotisme venu du froid, dans le cadre d’échanges accrus avec le monde scandinave. L’exposé tentera de mettre en valeur ces apports, notamment dans l’introduction de nouvelles espèces ou de nouveaux zoonymes dans l’inventaire du monde vivant, mais aussi dans les compléments d’informations apportés sur les savoirs anciens. Notre enquête portera principalement sur Thomas de Cantimpré et Albert le Grand, avec des compléments tirés de Barthélemy l’Anglais, Vincent de Beauvais et Alexandre Neckam. Nous essayerons de mettre en avant l’apport fondamental de Thomas de Cantimpré dans cet enrichissement du monde animal exotique médiéval, en le comparant avec l’approche de ses contemporains.

Un ours blanc nommé Blanchart apparaît à plusieurs reprises dans Renart le Nouvel, la continuation satirique du Roman de Renart que Jacquemart Gielée écrivit aux alentours de 1288. Les caractéristiques comportementales que Gielée attribue à son personnage animal, et dont il tire habilement profit tout au long de son récit, frappent par leur vérité zoologique: comme un véritable ours polaire, Blanchart se nourrit principalement de “poisson de mer” et il sait plonger aussi bien que nager sous l’eau. Nous passons en revue les sources qui ont pu être celles de l’auteur de Renart le Nouvel. Si l’ours polaire est absent des textes antiques comme des bestiaires médiévaux et qu’il est confiné à la seule Scandinavie jusqu’au XIIe siècle, il fait ensuite une apparition remarquable dans l’Europe du XIIIe siècle: on le retrouve tant dans les encyclopédies d’Alexandre Nequam (Neckam), de Thomas de Cantimpré, de Barthélémy l’Anglais et d’Albert le Grand que dans les ménageries de l’empereur Frédéric II, d’Henri III d’Angleterre et de Philippe le Bel dont les animaux, probablement d’origine groenlandaise, constituent des cadeaux diplomatiques des souverains norvégiens

Dans l’article, l’auteur inventorie, identifie et compare les sources alchimiques citées dans le Speculum naturale et le Speculum doctrinale de Vincent de Beauvais. Outre les traités spécifiquement alchimiques, généralement d’origine arabe, Vincent de Beauvais utilise également les passages consacrés à l’alchimie dans un certain nombre de textes dont l’art de la transmutation n’est pas le sujet principal. En annexe de l’article, on trouvera une comparaison exhaustive des citations sur l’alchimie identifiées avec le texte du Speculum maius de l’édition de Douai.

Le Etimologie di Isidoro di Siviglia rappresentano un'importante operazione di cerniera fra antichità e medioevo. Il contributo illustra la personalità di Isidoro enciclopedista, volendo coglierne le peculiarità nell'ambito della sua complessa opera letteraria dal punto di vista della teoria del genere e della pratica di scrittura.

Un petit groupe de gloses réunies dans le Liber Glossarum sous l‟étiquette Augustini présentent dans l‟interpretamentum un passage d‟une oeuvre d‟Isidore de Séville. Ce passage dépend à son tour dans la majorité des cas d‟une oeuvre d‟Augustin. Cet état de choses peut conduire à penser que l‟auteur du LG a collationné avec soin les textes d‟Isidore avec ceux d‟Augustin employés comme sources par Isidore, ou bien que ce travail a été réalisé par d‟autres sources qu‟il avait à disposition et que l‟on n‟arrive pas encore à identifier. Dans l‟interpretamentum de quelques gloses, on trouve aussi de possibles traces d‟une réédition du texte d‟Isidore contaminé avec sa source. Quoi qu‟il en soit, il apparaît qu‟Isidore a été employé par le compilateur du LG comme un point de référence pour la classification et l‟organisation des connaissances.

"This paper raises two questions in particular: why, out of all the biblical books, did Ælfric restrict his choice of biblical commentary
to one on Genesis? And secondly, why, of all the many commentaries on Genesis available to him, did Ælfric decide to translate Alcuin’s tract?"

The compilations of Bartholomew the Englishman, Thomas of Cantimpré, and Vincent of Beauvais (Speculum naturale) offer a vantage point from which we may examine the culture of knowledge during the first half of the 13th century. In particular, their views on perception shed light on the contemporary discussions in medicine and philosophy. All encyclopedias present some version of the ventricular theory of the brain. This theory relates typically to the medical pneuma theory and to an active view of perception. Nevertheless, the ventricular theory in its philosophical version, which is associated with a passive account of perception, is clearly recognisable in the Speculum naturale. Interestingly, the spiritus animalis seems to be important for both views.

Le texte de la Compilatio de libris naturalibus Aristotelis ou Compendium philosophie nous est
transmis aujourd’hui par 37 manuscrits connus, dont sept sont conservés sur le sol anglais. Parmi ces
sept, trois sont les témoins d’une version du texte que nous qualifions d’« anglaise », car elle se trouve
exclusivement de main anglaise et dans des témoins conservés en Angleterre. Cet article entend
étudier les rapports de cette version anglaise avec les autres versions du texte, au nombre de trois,
ainsi que l’apport de l’un de ses témoins pour la connaissance des pratiques de lecture et d’annotation.

La Practica de Plateario, maestro de la Escuela médica de Salerno a mediados del siglo XII, constituye una de las fuentes principales de algunas de las obras de compilación más célebres del siglo XIII como el Thesaurus pauperum de Pedro Hispano y el Breviarium de Pseudo-Arnaldo de Vilanova, así como de los compendios enciclopédicos De proprietatibus rerum de Bartolomeo Ánglico y Compendium medicinae de Gilberto Ánglico. A pesar de esta notable influencia son numerosos los casos en los que los autores omiten citar a Plateario, una práctica habitual en este tipo de tratados.

Por ello, el objetivo fundamental de nuestro trabajo ha sido localizar las huellas de la Practica en las obras citadas y analizar el modo en que dichos autores se sirvieron de ella para confeccionar sus respectivas compilaciones. Asimismo, hemos esclarecido algunas de las razones por las que los compiladores del siglo XIII se decantaron por la Practica y por otras obras de la Escuela salernitana como fuentes del saber médico de la época.

This article reads Dante’s dialogue with sacred authorities in Paradiso 26 as the poet’s rehabilitation of the “failed encyclopedism” that leads both to Adam’s physical and spiritual exile as well as to the destruction of the “unaccomplishable work” (26.125) of the Towel of Babel. I present a new reading of Dante’s use of botanical imagery in Canto 26, which serves to enunciate both this larger rehabilitative project as well as Dante’s newly-acquired status, at this juncture in the poem, as encyclopedic authority.

Medical compilations from the medieval Islamicate period have been
characterized as stagnant on account of their dependence on earlier
Graeco-Roman sources. As the authors of these works rarely offer
explicit criticism of past theory and practice, their contributions have
been defined in terms of their transmission of the classical medical
tradition. This paper draws attention to the ways in which medieval
medical compilers adapt their source texts to reflect current modes of
practice and even personal experiences. In so doing, it examines the
reception of Paul of Aegina’s (seventh century ce) chapter on the
extraction of arrows (Πραγματεία 6.88) in the compilations of
al-Rāzī, al-Maǧūsī, al-Zahrāwī, and Ibn Sīnā. I will argue that Paul
and his Arabic successors, working in areas of conflict, either modify
their respective sources in light of the realities of their practice or
contemporary trends in treatment.

Resum: Del poeta Simònides de Ceos s’expliquen dues anècdotes on és protegit de manera miraculosa: en un cas se salva de morir sota un palau que s’esfondra uns segons després que ell n’haja eixit per atendre dos joves que el sol·licitaven i que sovint són identificats amb els Diòscurs; en altre cas un difunt a qui Simònides havia donat sepultura se li apareix en somnis per advertir-li que no s’embarque en un vaixell que poc després acabarà naufragant. Aquests dos relats, o un dels dos, foren represos per diversos autors antics com Cal·límac, Ciceró, Fedre, Quintilià i Valeri Màxim, però també van circular a través de compilacions medievals com l' 'Speculum historiale' i el 'Liber de vita et moribus philosophorum' o a través d’al·lusions en obres d’autors com Boccaccio i Petrarca. Les dues anècdotes se sustenten en una trama argumental que fou adaptada en altres narracions que representen personatges i contextos diferents. El cas de Simònides salvat per un difunt s’ha de vincular amb el cicle rondallístic conegut com “El mort agraït”, mentre que l’anècdota del palau esfondrat podria relacionar-se amb alguns relats hagiogràfics sobre la cristianització de temples pagans.

Abstract: Two anecdotes about the poet Simonides of Ceos explain how he was miraculously protected. In the first one, he escaped alive from dying under a palace collapsed few seconds after he had left it to attend two young men, often identified with the Dioscuri, who had requested him. The second anecdote explains how a dead corpse to whom Simonides had given burial appeared to him in dreams to warn him not to embark in a ship that shortly after was wrecked. Either both, or one of the tales, were taken up by several ancient authors such as Callimachus, Cicero, Phaedrus, Quintilianus and Valerius Maximus, but they also were spread through medieval compilations such as the Speculum historiale and the Liber de vita et moribus philosophorum or through references in works by authors such as Boccaccio and Petrarch. Both anecdotes are based on a plot adapted in other tales portraying different characters and contexts. The story of Simonides saved by a deceased gets very close to the folktale’s cycle known as “The Grateful Dead”, while the anecdote of the collapsed palace could be related to some hagiographic narrations about the Christianization of pagan temples.