Article contents
Michael Scot in Toledo: Natura naturans and the Hierarchy of Being
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 July 2016
Extract
Michael Scot was a central figure both for the transmission of Arabic philosophy to the Latin West and for the development of medieval science and astrology, yet much still remains unknown about his life and career. In part of a longer article dedicated to teasing out some of the strands of Michael Scot's influences and impact, Charles Burnett poses intriguing questions about the importance of his early sojourn in Toledo. He shows that Michael, along with Salio of Padua and Mark of Toledo, continued the translating activity begun in the twelfth century in Toledo, and he wonders whether Michael — like the twelfth-century translators Dominicus Gundissalinus, Gerard of Cremona, and John Hispanus — was closely associated with the cathedral of Toledo. Burnett hypothesizes that Toledo could have been the place where Michael first came across the works of Aristotle, Avicenna, and Averroes that he is credited with translating from the Arabic, and he notes that many of Michael's sources for his astrological treatise, the Liber introductorius (hereafter LI), were available in Toledo. Burnett suggests that by Michael's final departure from Spain to Italy, around 1220, he may have already made considerable headway in both his translating and astrological activities.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Fordham University Press
References
1 Previous general studies of Michael Scot's career include Haskins, Charles Homer, Studies in Medieval Science (Cambridge, Mass., 1924), 272–98; Thorndike, Lynn, A History of Magic and Experimental Science, 8 vols. (New York, 1923–58), 2:307–37; idem, , Michael Scot (London, 1965); Minio-Paluello, L., “Michael Scot,” Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 18 vols. (1974), 11:361–65.Google Scholar
The research and writing of the paper was undertaken with the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library. I would also like to thank Deborah Black, Sherrie Hall, Claude Lafleur, Evelyn Mackie, Rega Wood, and the anonymous readers of Traditio for bibliographical suggestions. Michael I. Allen was a keen and helpful critic, as always. Greatest thanks are due to Édouard Jeauneau for encouraging this project in every stage of its evolution.Google Scholar
The following abbreviations will be employed:Google Scholar
AHDL = Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littéraire du Moyen Âge Google Scholar
BCT = Biblioteca Capitular de Toledo Google Scholar
RSPT = Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques. Google Scholar
2 Burnett, Charles, “Michael Scot and the Transmission of Scientific Culture from Toledo to Bologna via the Court of Frederick II Hohenstaufen,” Micrologus 2 (1994): 101–11. David Abulafia likewise places great weight on Michael Scot's early and ongoing contacts with Castile in his critical evaluation of cultural life at the court of Frederick II: Frederick II (Oxford, 1988), 254–57.Google Scholar
Earlier studies of Michael Scot's LI include Thorndike, Lynn, “Manuscripts of Michael Scot's Liber introductorius,” Didascaliae (New York, 1961), 427–47; Edwards's, Glenn M. edition of Michael Scot's long prologue to the LI in “The Liber introductorius of Michael Scot,” Ph.D. Diss., University of Southern California, 1978 (hereafter, citations to this edition will be LI followed by the page number); idem, “The Two Redactions of Michael Scot's Liber introductorius,” Traditio 41 (1985): 329–40; Morpurgo, Piero, “Il ‘Liber introductorius’ di Michele Scoto: prime indicazioni interpretative,” Rendic. Accad. Lincei series 8, 34 (1979): 149–61; idem, “Fonti di Michele Scoto,” Rendic. Accad. Lincei series 8, 38 (1983): 59–71; idem, “II ‘Sermo suasionis in bono,’ de Michele Scoto a Federico Il,” ibid., 287–300; idem, “Il concetto di natura in Michele Scoto,” Clio 22 (1986): 5–21.Google Scholar
3 Morpurgo, , “Prime indicazioni interpretative,” 149–51.Google Scholar
4 Ibid., 152–53.Google Scholar
5 Ibid., 153.Google Scholar
6 Morpurgo, , “Fonti,” 63–69.Google Scholar
Michael Scot in Toledo Google Scholar
7 “Michel Scot et la ‘Theorica planetarum Gerardi,’ ” Early Science and Medicine 1 (1996): 272–82.Google Scholar
8 Rivera, Juan Francisco, “Personajes hispanos asistentes en 1215 al IV concilio de Letrán,” Hispania sacra 4 (1951): 337, 354–55. Scholars who have cited this information are listed in Burnett, , “Transmission of Culture,” 102, n. 2. Rodrigo's presentation evidently took place on the third day of the Council, 13 November: Kuttner, Stephan and García y García, Antonio, “A New Eyewitness Account of the Fourth Lateran Council,” Traditio 20 (1964): 124.Google Scholar
9 de Vaux, R., “La première entrée d'Averroës chez les latins,” RSPT 22 (1933): 197.Google Scholar
10 Haskins, , Studies, 274 and n. 10; 277 and n. 32.Google Scholar
11 Gauthier, R. A., “Notes sur les débuts (1225–1240) du premier ‘averroïsme,’ ” RSPT 66 (1982): 333, where he names others who adopted this thesis before him.Google Scholar
12 de Vaux, R., “Entrée d'Averroës,” 198.Google Scholar
13 Haskins, , Studies, 276.Google Scholar
14 Attendentes quoque quod in ecclesia uestra decet esse uiros idoneos qui possint esse cooperatores et coadiutores archiepiscopi uestri in uerbo predicationis et penitentiis iniungendis, precepimus ut uacans canonia magistri Michaelis Scoti cum uestiario tali persone infra kalendis iulii conferatur que predicta uelit et ualeat adimplere.” Toledo, Archivo Catedral Z. 1.G. 1.4a. The document does not give the year of its publication but the date of 3 June, its author, and its place of issuance suggest that it was issued when Abbeville confirmed the constitution of the cathedral of Toledo on 3 June 1229 at Ocaña. This latter document is found in the Toledan cartulary: Hernández, Francisco J., Los cartularios de Toledo (Madrid, 1985), no. 428.Google Scholar
15 April 1208. Hernández, , Los cartularios, no. 295.Google Scholar
16 Burnett, , “Transmission of Culture,” 104–5; Thorndike, , Michael Scot, 15.Google Scholar
17 Haskins, , Studies, 280, 285. He leaves open the possibility that the LI may have existed in some earlier form prior to 1228.Google Scholar
18 “Quae iam mille CCis XIIII annis durauit, et est in perpetuum duratura.” Dialogus libri uite IV 52rb. The Dialogus libri uite is as yet unedited. My citations of it are taken from the single manuscript of the text, Salamanca, Biblioteca universitaria, MS 2089. My citation of this text will be Dialogus followed by the book, folio, and column.Google Scholar
19 “A natiuitate Domini usque ad desolationem per Titum, que fuit XLo IIo anno post passionem Domini, anni LXXa quinque; ab alia desolatione usque nunc anni mille CCti XLa tres.” Dialogus V 65va .Google Scholar
20 “Partem vero prophetiae quae dicit, a tempore cum ablatum fuit iuge sacrificium et cetera dies mille CCos et ‹L›XXXX, quidam computant a destructione facta per Titum postquam fuerunt abominanda sacrificia desolata. Et hoc fuit XL anno post Domini passionem. Et ab illa destructione computant dies istos annum pro die sicut et alibi legitur computantes, et fuerit a Tito usque nunc mille C ‹vigin›ti IIIIor anni et semis. Et dicunt ad blasphemias Antichristi restare C LXVIa annos.” Dialogus VII 74vb .Google Scholar
21 I discuss Alan's pervasive influence on Book I of the Dialogus in chapter 4 of “Christians and Jews in Thirteenth-Century Castile: The Career and Writings of Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada,” Ph.D. diss., University of Toronto, 1995. Here I consider only those borrowings common also to Michael Scot.Google Scholar
22 “Est enim in Deo memoria, ratio, et intellectus sine quibus non posset angelos et homines iudicare, et ceteras creaturas diligere uel fouere.” Rodrigo discusses how these three powers differ in God and man in Dialogus I 29ra .Google Scholar
23 “Cum ergo hec uires anime uel angeli imperfeccionis obice teneantur, non possunt diuine essencie adaptari que obiectu aliquo non tenetur. Sed si hec aliquando de diuina essencia dicta reperiantur, antropospatos [sic] est, id est humana propassio.” Dialogus I 29rb .Google Scholar
24 “Et ita in hoc est antropospatos quod uerba creature i.e. angeli attribuuntur creatori.” Häring, Nikolaus M., ed., “Magister Alanus de Insulis. Regulae caelestis iuris,” AHDL 48 (1991): 149. The expression is found in several places in Jerome, for example, to explain why God refers to his arm and his strength in Ier 34, 4, “Licet ἀνθρωποπαθὣς haec scriptura loquatur, quomodo nos homines loqui possumus et intellegere, tamen ‘fortitudo’ dei et ‘bracchium’ eius ille est, de quo et apostolus loquitur: ‘Christus dei virtus et dei sapientia,’ et Isaias: domine, quis credidit auditui nostro et bracchium domini cui reuelatum est?” Jerome, , In Hieremiam, 5.47, ed. Reiter, Siegfried, CCL 74 (Turnhout, 1960), 263.Google Scholar
25 Alan of Lille, Sermo de Trinitate , in Textes inédits, ed. d'Alverny, Marie Thérèse (Paris, 1965), 257. In his Summa ‘Quoniam homines,’ Alan simply notes that the human soul contains reason, memory, and intellect: Glorieux, P., “La somme ‘Quoniam homines’ d'Alain de Lille,” AHDL 28 (1953): 192.Google Scholar
26 Eriugena, Iohannes Scottus, Periphyseon 2 (568D–571A), ed. Sheldon-Williams, I. P. and Jeauneau, É., Scriptores Latini Hiberniae 7, 9, 11, 13; 4 vols. (Dublin, 1968–95) 2: 98–102.Google Scholar
27 Periphyseon 3 (658B–659A), 116, 118. Édouard Jeauneau discusses the function of this triad as a “created image of the Creating Trinity” as well as the transposition of “memoria” for “sensus interior” in Periphyseon 4: 278, n. 4. In his Commentary on John, Eriugena writes that the soul is divided into “animum, rationem, et sensum interiorem,” and subsequently replaces “sensum interiorem” with “memoria”: Commentaire sur l’évangile de Jean, 4.5 (336B), ed. Jeauneau, Édouard, Sources Chrétiennes 160 (Paris, 1972), 304–6, lines 26–36.Google Scholar
28 “Bene ut in anima rationali que probabiliter dicitur habere in se tria et differentialiter et inseparabiliter significantem veriam trinitatem rerum inseparabilium magne diversitatis; videlicet intellectum, rationem, et memoriam que tria sunt nomine ac vocis signifficatione. Set unum sunt, et una substancia esse noscuntur inseparabiliter.” LI, 77–78. Michael repeats this analogy again on p. 94. Citations from Michael Scot's LI scrupulously reproduce the text supplied by Edwards. It should be noted that, beyond the biblical extracts, Michael Scot's editor did not attempt to determine his sources for the prologue.Google Scholar
29 “Intellectus enim qui percipit comperatur Patri primo operanti. Ratio que discernit conparatur Filio discernenti qui est sapiencia Patris in celo et in terra omnia discernens suaviter. Memoria que conservat comperatur Spiritui Sancto qui omnia confirmat in bonum.” LI, 103.Google Scholar
30 On Augustine's use of analogies to describe the Trinity, see DThC 15.2, cols. 1688–92.Google Scholar
31 “Non dico substantiae sed subsistentiae quia subsistunt proprietatibus adorandis, quibus autem inuicem dinoscuntur, et hoc sunt notiones de quibus alibi facimus mentionem.” Dialogus I 27va .Google Scholar
32 “Potentia autem, sapientia, et uoluntas, id est pater et filius et spiritus sanctus, adorandis a proprietatibus dinoscuntur. Vnde et ille proprietates ‘notiones’ a catholicis appellantur, et sunt quinque, scilicet: innascibilitas, hac noscitur pater ab alio non prodire; secunda proprietasest paternitas, qua pater noscitur filium generare — et hiis duabus pater dinoscitur non esse una persona cum filio uel spiritu sancto. Tertia notio est filiado, qua a patre noscitur filius generari, et non est una persona cum illo. Quarta notio est spiratio. Hac noscuntur pater et filius eadem spiratione spiritum sanctum spirare, et non esse una persona cum spiritu sancto. Quinta notio est processio, qua dinoscitur quod spiritus sanctus a patre et filio sit procedens, et non sit cum patre et filio una persona.” Dialogus I 29rb .Google Scholar
33 “Nunc diuersis proprietatibus esse diuersos eosdem, quorum non nisi singularis ac simplex est essencia, naturalium rationibus uult demonstrare.” Gilbert of Poitiers, De trinitate 1.3.34, ed. Häring, Nikolaus M., The Commentaries on Boethius by Gilbert of Poitiers, Studies and Texts 13 (Toronto, 1966), 109, lines 17–21. Cf. Marenbon, John, “Gilbert of Poitiers,” in A History of Twelfth-Century Western Philosophy , ed. Dronke, Peter (Cambridge, 1988), 335.Google Scholar
I have not found secure evidence that Rodrigo himself read Gilbert, rather than gaining his acquaintance with Gilbert's thought through intermediaries such as Alan of Lille, but it may be significant that manuscripts of Gilbert's writings dating to the late twelfth or early thirteenth century are still preserved in the cathedral library of Toledo. BCT 9–9 contains Gilbert's Sentences and BCT 13–4 contains his commentaries on Boethius's De trinitate, De hebdomadibus, and De una Christi natura et duobus personis. Google Scholar
34 Williams, Michael E., The Teaching of Gilbert Porreta on the Trinity (Rome, 1931), 74–76. For contemporary criticism of Gilbert on the distinction between the persons and the properties by Gregory of Auxerre as well as Williams's defense of Gilbert, see ibid., 97–104.Google Scholar
35 Chenu, M.-D., “Grammaire et théologie,” La théologie au douzième siècle, Études de philosophie médiévale 45 (Paris, 1976), 106–7. For Everard of Ypres see Häring, Nikolaus M., “The Cistercian Everard of Ypres and His Appraisal of the Conflict between St. Bernard and Gilbert of Poitiers,” Mediaeval Studies 17 (1955): 143–72, esp. 162–63 where Everard lists paternity, filiation, procession, and innascibility as personal properties and defines what a notion is in a letter to Pope Urban III. For Simon of Tournai see his Disputationes, disp. 79, ed. Warichez, Joseph (Louvain, 1932), 229. For Alan of Lille, see below.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
36 Quoniam homines, 210.Google Scholar
37 “Quinque proprietates sunt Deus. Eadem ratione quinque res sunt Deus; et quinque res sunt adorande, quia quecumque res Deus est, adoranda est.” Quoniam homines, 210–11. Häring, Nikolaus, “Magister Alanus de Insulis. Regulae caelestis iuris,” AHDL 48 (1981): 158–61.Google Scholar
38 “Notitiones [sic] enim sunt V secundum traditam sentenciam sapientum; scilicet paternitas, filiatio, processio, innascibilitas, et communis spiratio.” LI, 87.Google Scholar
39 Thorndike, , History of Magic 2:317; LI, xxiv.Google Scholar
40 “Ierarchia est ordinata potestas in subditis debitum retinens principatum. Vel sic: Ierarchia est sacer principatus, id est ipse princeps sive multitudo subdita sibi. Vel sic: Ierarchia est ordo divinus, scientia, et ordo actus Dei.” LI, 131.Google Scholar
41 “Unde sciendum est quod triplex est ierarchia, id est societas vel ordo ut bonus, melior, optimus; prima quidem est supercelestis. Et hoc consistit per unitatem essencie in tribus personis, scilicet in Patre, in Filio, et in Spiritu Sancto. Secunda iararchia est celestis et hoc in angelis completur…. Tercia ierarchi est subcelestis et hec perficitur in prelatis et dominis huius mundi.” LI, 132.Google Scholar
42 “Epiphania est incalescentis affectionis incendio, altioris intellectus fastigio, libra iudicii resultatio distributa.” LI, 132, punctuation revised.Google Scholar
43 LI, 135–38.Google Scholar
44 “Secunda ierarchia angelorum continet tres ordines, scilicet Dominationes, Principatus, et Potestates. Hec autem ierarchia denominatur ypophariam, id est divina illuminatio.” LI, 138.Google Scholar
45 “Tercia ierarchia angelorum tres continet ordines, scilicet Virtutes, Archangelos, et Angelos, et secundum hec ierarchia inferior sic describitur. Inferior ierarchia est divinum participium nature legibus occurens, secreta revellans pro capacitate discreta.” LI, 141–42.Google Scholar
46 “Gerarchia est rerum rationabilium et sacrarum ordinata potestas in inferioribus debitum retinens dominatum.” Quoniam homines, 280.Google Scholar
47 “Unde gerarchia dicitur quasi sacri principatus a gera quod interpretatur sacrum et archos quod principatus dicitur.” Quoniam homines, 281.Google Scholar
48 “Ierarchia est legitimum dominice nature deiformis ordine, scientia, actione, dominium.” Alan of Lille, Hierarchia Alani , in Textes inédits, 223.Google Scholar
49 Quoniam homines, 281; Hierarchia Alani, 224–26; Expositio prosae de angelis, in Textes inédits, 202–3.Google Scholar
50 “Epiphania est incalescentis affectionis incendio alciorisque intellectus fastigio iudiciique libera resultatio distributa.” Quoniam homines, 283. Hierarchia Alani, 229 has “ministerii incalescentis affectionis altiorisque intellectus iudiciique libra resultado distributa.” Expositio, 207 has “ministeriis incalescentis affectionis, altioris intuitus, iudiciique libra manifestado distributa.” Google Scholar
51 “Ypophania est divinum participium nature legibus ocurrens, archana revelans, pro discreta capacitate.” Quoniam homines, 285. Hierarchia Alani, 234 has “archana celestia.” Expositio, 209 has “reserans” for “revelans.” Google Scholar
52 d'Alverny, M.-Th., Textes inédits, 100.Google Scholar
53 “Qui, quamuis multa preter christiane religionis regulam minus recte fecerit, tamen ante acta religiosissimo fine conclusit.” Expositio, 195.Google Scholar
54 “Et tunc omnia sic mundana reliquit et divina studuit quod per bona opera peccatis relictis Deo placuit et finivit vitam in Christo.” LI, 231.Google Scholar
55 d'Alverny, M.-Th., Textes inédits, 93.Google Scholar
56 “Est quidem Ierarchia, secundum me, ordo diuinus et scientia et actio….” Eriugena, quoting Pseudo-Dionysius, in Expositiones in ierarchiam coelestem 3, ed. Barbet, J., CCCM 31 (Turnhout, 1975), 56, lines 5–6.Google Scholar
57 d'Alverny, M.-Th., Textes inédits, 94.Google Scholar
58 Dondaine, H.-F., “Cinq citations de Jean Scot chez Simon de Tournai,” Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale 17 (1950): 303–11. d'Alverny, M.-Th., Textes inédits cites additional examples: 94, n. 97. See also Häring, Nikolaus, “John Scottus in Twelfth-Century Angelology,” The Mind of Eriugena , ed. O'Meara, John J. and Bieler, Ludwig (Dublin, 1973), 159–64.Google Scholar
59 d'Alverny, M.-Th., Textes inédits, 97–98.Google Scholar
60 “Ad hoc autem non dissonat iohannes scotus super ierarchiam dionisii. Multi enim angeli et nobis innumerabiles constituunt unam legionem. Multe legiones constituunt unum ordinem. Tres ordines constituunt unam iherarchiam. Sunt autem novem ordines angelorum quos ut descendendo computem ut matheus genealogiam christi et ysaias dona spiritus sancti. Primus ordo est seraphyn, secundus cherubyn, tercius throni, et isti tres ordines faciunt primam iherarchiam. Quartus dominationes, quintus principatus, sextus potestates, et isti faciunt secundum iherarchiam. Septimus virtutes, octavus archangeli, nonus angeli, et isti faciunt terciam iherarchiam. Prima iherarchia vocatur epiphania. Secunda hyperphania. Tercia hypophania.” García, Diego, Planeta, ed. Alonso, Manuel (Madrid, 1943), 377–78.Google Scholar
61 Rivera, , “Personajes hispanos,” 337.Google Scholar
62 “Quante siquidem dignitatis sit ordo etiam in rebus naturalibus vir sapiens non ignorat cum sine ordine mundi sensibilis machina non subsisteret etiam per momentum. In invisibilibus quoque que digniora sunt, et eternis, quantum ualeat ordo, legat qui scire voluerit librum Dionissi Magni de Celesti Ierarchia, ubi disputat mirabiliter et supermundane de novem or-dinibus celestium virtutum. Idem sanctus martir docet in libro de Ecclessiastica Ierarchia que fiunt in Ecclesia Dei sive in sacramentis sive in officiis, similitudinem quandam habere cum illis que Supremus Ierarches qui est principium omnium, divina scilicet Bonitas, in supercelesti Ierarchia ordinavit.” Serrano, Luciano, Don Mauricio, obispo de Burgos y fundador de su catedral (Madrid, 1922), 144. Cited in d'Alverny, M.-Th., “Deux traductions latines du Coran au moyen âge,” AHDL 22–23 (1947–48): 129.Google Scholar
63 “Unde qui perfecte cognoverit habitudines corporum superiorum facile poterit agnoscere conditiones et habitudines corporum inferiorum et econverso, quia corpora inferiora reguntur more naturali virtute operationis motus primi motoris per significationem corporum superiorum.” LI, 2.Google Scholar
64 d'Alverny, M.-Th., “Deux traductions,” 129–30. Also see her “Une rencontre symbolique de Jean Scot Érigène et d'Avicenne,” in The Mind of Eriugena, 175. For the prohibition against “Mauricius hyspanus” see Chartularium universitatis parisiensis , ed. Denifle, H. et al., 4 vols. (Paris, 1889–97), 1:79, no. 20.Google Scholar
65 Vicaire, M.H., “Les porrétains et l'avicennisme avant 1215,” RSPT 26 (1937): 471.Google Scholar
66 Rivera, , “Personajes hispanos,” 343–45.Google Scholar
67 Hernández, , Los cartularios, no. 305.Google Scholar
68 Dialogus IV 52rb. Rodrigo's ordering of the angels differs from that supplied by Alan and Michael Scot. The positions of the Thrones and Virtues are transposed, as are the Powers and Dominations.Google Scholar
69 Textes inédits, 90, 95–96. Cf. Lutz, Eckart Conrad, ”In niun schar insunder geordent gar. Gregorianische Angelologie, Dionysius-Rezeption und volkssprachliche Dichtungen des Mittelalters,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie 102 (1983): 367–69.Google Scholar
70 “Unde dicimus quod Deus veraciter non potest diffineri nisi per abnigationem cuiuslibet creature.” LI, 71.Google Scholar
71 “Fecit enim hanc naturam angelicam variam et dissimilem in sua similitudine per magis et per minus, quoniam ex ipsa fecit 10 ordines angelorum….” LI, 14. This number was reduced to nine after the fall of the angels.Google Scholar
72 “Loquitur enim Deus angelis eterna inspiratione, hominibus vero per angelos qui sunt nuncii Dei ad homines et nuncii homini ad Deum.” LI, 32.Google Scholar
73 “Cum Deus absque initio fuerit, est credendum quod ante creationem cunctarum creaturam solitariam duxerit vitam, vel non. Antequam crearetur universus mundus sive universalis creatura, omnia et singula penitus erant Dei predestinatione ac interclusa ei ut semina sunt in pomo et cogitationes in corde.” LI, 33.Google Scholar
74 Periphyseon 2 (615D–616B), 204.Google Scholar
75 Periphyseon 2 (561B–562A), 80, 82. Gilson, Etienne, History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages (London, 1955), 117–18.Google Scholar
76 “Cum ipse Deus sit omnino lux vera et origo tocius lucis, novam lucem nobis comprobavit per maiorem ut sui.” LI, 37.Google Scholar
77 “Quando creati sunt angeli? Cum dictum est a Deo Patre: ‘Fiat lux.’ ” LI, 36.Google Scholar
78 “Igitur magna est lux angelorum super lucem celi emphirei est maxima et plusquam maxima est sole Dei regnantis in trono feliciter, que est angelica natura.” LI, 38.Google Scholar
79 “Angelus est … manifestatio oculti luminis, speculum purum….” LI, 113.Google Scholar
80 “Luna quidem illuminatur a sole, stelle celi, et aer; angeli vero a Deo qui est lux vera illuminans totum mundum.” LI, 117.Google Scholar
81 “Est sciendum quod angeli superiorum ordinum copiusus [sic] divinium lumen auriunt ceteris qui sunt infra se vinculo caritatis et secundum ordinem, scienciam, et actionem.” LI, 137.Google Scholar
82 “Sciendo quod primi illuminant, ultimi illuminantur, et medii ultimos illuminant, et ipsi a primis illuminantur.” LI, 133.Google Scholar
83 “Et est sciendum quod angeli inferioris ordinis non participant ordines superiorium illuminationum, id est cum ipsis, set ex ipsis. Nam superiores angeli primo loco divinas illuminationes suscipiunt et illas postmodum ad aliorum noticiam deferunt, qui et nuntii dicuntur. Alii autem posteriores sunt et ultimi. Sciendo [sic] quod angeli qui ultimo sunt positi procul a facie Dei in contrario ordine versus terram libera voluntate adducunt homines ad divinam cognitionem suo confortamine et eos sublevant recta conscientia ut iuste vivant.” LI, 146–47.Google Scholar
84 “Et quosdam quidem illuminari ab his qui prius diuinam participant illuminationem, quosdam illuminare eos uidelicet qui post se eamdem participant illuminationem.” Eriugena, , In ierarchiam coelestem 3, 61, lines 214–17.Google Scholar
85 “Non est, ait, alia quam ipsa prima ierarchia deiformior, hoc est Deo similior, nec adhuc tam similis et per se, absque ulla mediante gnostica uirtute, perspicacior in illuminationibus diuinis, quarum in omnibus que illuminantur et illuminant precedit operatio: illuminationes siquidem diuinitatis omnium illuminationum que ab ipsis procedunt preoperatrices sunt.” Eriugena, , In ierarchiam coelestem 6, 90, lines 140–46.Google Scholar
86 “In superiori namque capitulo exposuit angelos propterea uocari quod in seipsis primitus diuinas iluminationes ingignunt, et gradatim superiores ordines in inferiores ipsas illuminationes plane defundunt, donec ad humanos animos perueniant: et ob hanc causam angeli dicuntur nuntii quoniam diuinitatis mysteria et sibimetipsis gradatim et sanctis hominibus annuntiant.” Eriugena, , In ierarchiam coelestem 5, 83, lines 9–15.Google Scholar
87 Eriugena, , In ierarchiam coelestem 3, line 123, 59.Google Scholar
88 Chartularium universitatis parisiensis 1:106–7, no. 50.Google Scholar
89 “Nam quamdiu mundus durat materialiter angeli presunt angelis, homines hominibus, et demones demonibus.” LI, 152.Google Scholar
90 “Nam phylosophus, si in Domino moriatur, locabitur in ordine Cherubim, quod interpretatur, ‘sciencie plenitudo.’ Religiosus bene amans Deum et heremita inter Seraphym; papa, imperator, et ceteri cardinales prelatorum locabuntur in ordine Tronorum, et cetera.” LI, 109.Google Scholar
91 Hierarchia Alani, 230–32.Google Scholar
92 LI, 132.Google Scholar
93 Quoniam homines, 281.Google Scholar
94 “Item cum beatissimus Deus esset eternaliter potens … ut prepotens imperator vel rex constituit sibi pallacium summe claritudinis et magnitudinis, altitudinis et nobilitatis cui non est aliud simile.” LI, 34.Google Scholar
95 Siebeck, H., “Über die Entstehung der Termini natura naturans und natura naturata,” Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 3 (1890): 373–75.Google Scholar
96 Lucks, Henry A., “Natura naturans — Natura naturata,” New Scholasticism 9 (1935): 17–19. Brian Tierney followed Siebeck and Lucks in attributing the terminology to the Latin translators of Averroes: “Natura id est Deus: A Case of Juristic Pantheism?” Journal of the History of Ideas 24 (1963): 317 (Cf. Padovani, Andrea, Perché chiedi il mio nome?: Dio natura e diretto nel secolo xii [Torino, 1997], 211–12). Likewise, Southern, R.W., Robert Grosseteste (Cambridge, 1986), 228.Google Scholar
97 “Necesse enim est vt initium medicinandi sit ex medicina, et non inducit ad medicinam. Et non est talis dispositio naturae apud naturam: sed naturatum ab aliquo ad aliquid venit, et naturatur aliquid. Ipsum igitur naturati aliquid non est illud, ex quo incipit, sed illud ad quod venit.” Averroes, , Physica 2, in Commentariis , 12 vols. (Venice, 1562–74), 4:f. 53b. “Dico quod numeramus duos numeros duo, et duos uiros duos uiros, et non dicimus omnes: sed hoc omne non dicitur, nisi de tribus, et per ipsum nominamus tria primo. Et hoc fuit dictum quoniam natura naturata ita fecit.” Averroes, in De caelo 1.2, in Commentariis, 5:f. 2e.Google Scholar
98 Kraus, Paul, Jābir ibn Hayyān, 2 vols. (Cairo, 1943) 2: 137, n. 2; Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines (Cambridge, Mass., 1964), 8–9; Kraemer, J. L., Philosophy in the Renaissance of Islam (Leiden, 1986), 177.Google Scholar
99 Weijers, Olga, “Contribution à l'histoire des termes ‘natura naturans’ et ‘natura naturata’ jusqu’à Spinoza,” Vivarium 16 (1978): 70. For the terminology of John of Seville and Herman of Carinthia, see Lemay, Robert, Abu Ma'shar and Latin Aristotelianism in the Twelfth Century, Oriental Studies 38 (Beirut, 1962), 72, 99, 266 n. 3, 372.Google Scholar
100 Lemay, , Abu Ma'shar, 17.Google Scholar
101 “Deinde declaravit quod istud propter quod Natura agit naturata videtur esse anima in animalibus, et non solum in animalibus, sed in omnibus rebus naturalibus.” Averroes, , Commentarium magnum in Aristotelis De anima libro, ed. Stuart Crawford, F. (Cambridge, Mass., 1953), 187.Google Scholar
102 “Cum Deus sit natura naturans et ideo superet naturam naturatam.” Weijers, , “Contribution,” 71. She quotes from a manuscript of the LI; Munich, CLM 10268 f. 141 ra. Thorndike translated the longer passage that this extract is taken from in Michael Scot, 105. See also Weijers's edition of Pseudo-Boethius, , De disciplina scholarium (Leiden, 1976), 169–70.Google Scholar
103 de Vaux, R., “Entrée d'Averroës,” 196–203, 219–21.Google Scholar
104 Gauthier, , “Débuts du premier averroïsme,” 333–34.Google Scholar
105 Minio-Paluello, , “Michael Scot,” 362.Google Scholar
106 Lucks, , “Natura naturans — Natura naturata,” 9.Google Scholar
107 “Dicendum quod natura non accipitur ita communiter, sed pro natura creata. Unde non vult dicere quod generatio Filii sit supra naturam aeternam, quae est natura naturans, sed super naturam creatam, quae consuevit dici natura naturata.” Bonaventure, , In sententiis Petri Lombardi 3.8.2, in Opera theologica selecta , 5 vols. (Florence, 1934–64), 3:189.Google Scholar
108 Weijers lists many other usages of this type in “Contribution,” 72–78. She was not aware, however, of two relatively early examples. One is found in Arnoul of Provence's discussion (ca. 1250) of the objects of natural philosophy: “Sciendum tamen quod naturalis scientia hic valde large accipitur ad omnem scientiam rerum quarum principium est tam natura naturans, que est prima causa, quam natura naturata, que sunt substantie spirituales et corporales, superiores et inferiores, et etiam quantitates de quibus sunt mathematice.” Lafleur, Claude, ed., Quatre introductions à la philosophie au xiii e siècle (Montreal, 1988), 322. The seond is in Robert Grosseteste's Chateau d'Amour: “Mult est nature enbelie, \ Kant nature naturante \ A nature est ignorante; \ Ke nature naturee \ Lores est nature puree, \ Cent tant plus ke einz ne esteit \ Einz ke Adam forfet aveit,” ed. Murray, J. (Paris, 1918), lines 865–72, 113. The passage is part of a section speaking on the Incarnation which is understood as the joining of God, nature naturante, to created nature, nature naturee (Southern, R.W., Grosseteste, 226–28). This poem, a work of pastoral theology, may be assigned to his years as bishop of Lincoln, between 1235 and 1253.Google Scholar
109 Edwards's edition of the prologue to the LI came out in 1978, the same year as Weijers's article.Google Scholar
110 “Universaliter dicimus quod due sunt nature scilicet divina et humana; divina in angelis, humana in hominibus.” LI, 12–13.Google Scholar
111 “Nam natura naturans est natura divina. Natura naturata est essentia quattuor elementorum opere quorum est motus admirabilis eo quod motu ipsorum, id est coniunxtione, diversa generantur et concipiuntur.” LI, 13.Google Scholar
112 “Si autem dices quod mouetur aliquid motu nature, dico tibi: Non habet a se natura quod ab ea aliquid moueatur nec a se aliquid operetur, cum ab alio sit existens et ab alio operatur. Perueniendum erit ad illum qui a se ipso, per se ipsum, et in se ipso, non ab alio nec ‹ad› aliquid operatur. Haec enim natura cuius studio similia a similibus generantur, non est natura naturans, sed est a primo principio naturata.” Dialogus I 26va .Google Scholar
113 “Natura naturans, quae non incepit quod sibi placuit perpetuum potuit operari.” Dialogus VIII 76vb .Google Scholar
114 “Et si natura naturans investigate agnitionis epistilium sibi reliquerit consumandum : id tamen inferioribus contulit: ut si non perficere, saltem incipere sit corona.” Planeta, 463. The presence of the, at this time, unusual natura naturans in both this epilogue and in the Dialogus argues against Peter Linehan's suggestion that the epilogue was ghostwritten by García himself: History and Historians of Medieval Spain (Oxford, 1993), 351 n. 7.Google Scholar
115 “Scribo itaque anno incarnati verbi Mo CCo XVIIIo.” García, , Planeta, 77, 182.Google Scholar
116 “Dicitur potentia rebus naturalibus indita, ex similibus procreans similia.” Alan's definitions of nature are in Distinctiones dictionum theologicarum , PL 210. 871A-D.Google Scholar
117 Raynaud de Lage, G., Alain de Lille (Montreal, 1951), 64.Google Scholar
118 “Omne enim opus est vel opus creatoris vel opus nature vel artificis imitantis naturam. Opus creatoris fuit ubi elementa omnia in principio ex nichilo creavit, vel cum agitur aliquid contra naturam ut Sedulius narrat et que sepe videmus contingere. Opus nature est quod similia nascantur ex similibus, homines ex hominibus, asini ex asinis.” Quoted from his gloss on Boethius's De consolatione philosophiae , ed. Parent, J. M. in Les doctrines de la création dans l’école de Chartres (Ottawa, 1938), 127–28. See also Parent, 91–92 and de Lage, Raynaud, Alain de Lille, 72.Google Scholar
119 William of Conches, Glosae super Platonem 28A, ed. Jeauneau, Édouard, Textes philosophiques du Moyen Âge 13 (Paris, 1965), 104. Cf. Piero Morpurgo, who suggests that Michael Scot's understanding of nature may have been influenced by his stay in Toledo or by a reading of William of Conches: “Fonti,” 71. One possibility need not exclude the other.Google Scholar
120 “In summa vero nota, quod natura primo dicitur dupliciter. Vno modo natura naturans, id est ipsa summa lex naturae, quae Deus est…. Aliter vero dicitur natura naturata, et haec multipliciter. Vno modo natura dicitur vis insita rebus, ex similibus similia procreans, et ex grano granum speciei.” Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum doctrinale 14.4 (1624; repr. Graz, 1965), cols. 1372–73.Google Scholar
121 His will is preserved in the cartulary of the monastery of Huerta: Luján, José Antonio García, ed., Cartulario del Monasterio de Santa María de Huerta (Huerta, 1981), no. 71, 113. Rodrigo's epitaph relates that he was a student during his time in that city (“Parisius studium”): Valverde, Juan Fernández, “Introducción,” De rebus hispanie, CCCM 72 (Turnhout, 1987), xii.Google Scholar
122 Serrano, , Don Mauricio, 21.Google Scholar
123 García, Diego, Planeta, 80–81.Google Scholar
124 Burnett, , “Transmission of Culture,” 121.Google Scholar
125 Ibid., 117. On Bartholemew of Parma, see 111–15.Google Scholar
126 “Early Scholastic Angelology,” Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale 62 (1995): 109.Google Scholar
127 Thorndike, , Michael Scot, 37.Google Scholar
- 1
- Cited by