Guillaume de Champeaux(c. 1070– 18 January 1121 inChâlons-en-Champagne),[1]known in English asWilliam of ChampeauxandLatinisedtoGulielmus de Campellis,was a Frenchphilosopherandtheologian.
William of Champeaux | |
|---|---|
| Guillaume de Champeaux | |
| Born | c. 1070 |
| Died | 18 January 1121 |
| Era | Medieval philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Scholasticism |
Biography
editWilliam was born atChampeauxnearMelun.After studying underAnselm of LaonandRoscellinus,he taught in the school of the cathedral ofNotre-Dame,of which he was made canon in 1103.[2]Among his pupils wasPeter Abelard,whom he had a disagreement with because Abelard challenged some of his ideas, and because William thought Abelard was too arrogant.[3]Abelard calls him the "supreme master" of dialectic after he replaced his master as the new teacher.[4]In 1108 he resigned his positions as archdeacon of Paris and master of Notre Dame, and retreated to the shrine of St Victor, outside the city walls of Paris, where, under his influence, there formed what would become theabbey of St Victor.[5]
He was a friend ofBernard of Clairvaux,having helped Bernard recuperate from ill-health; later he motivated Bernard to write some of his important works including theApologia,which was dedicated to William.[3]
William left St Victor in 1113 when he becamebishop of Châlons-en-Champagne,at which time he took part in the dispute concerninginvestituresas a supporter ofPope Callixtus II,whom he represented at theconference of Mousson.[2]In 1114, he issued theGrande charte champenoise(Great Champagne Chart) which defined the agricultural and viticultural possessions of the Abbey ofSaint-Pierre-aux-Monts,thus giving rise to the modern-dayChampagne wine region.After relinquishing his Benedictine Abbacy, he moved to aCistercianmonastery inRheims,where he also composed a number of spiritual books, such as hisVita Prima,which were widely read in monastic circles.[3]
His surviving works are a fragment on theEucharist,inserted byJean Mabillonin his edition of the works ofSt Bernard,and theMoralia A brevi alaandDe Origine Animae.[6]In the last of these he maintains that children who die unbaptized must be lost, the pure soul being defiled by the grossness of the body, and declares that God's will is not to be questioned. He upholds the theory ofCreationism(i.e., that a soul is specially created for each human being). Ravaisson-Mollien has discovered a number of fragments by him, among which the most important is theDe Essentia Dei et de Substantia Dei;aLiber Sententiarum,consisting of discussions on ethics and scriptural interpretation, is also ascribed to Champeaux.[2]
He is considered the founder of an early version of moderate realism, a philosophy which held thatuniversalsexist in particular things as common substances individuated by accidents and in the mind as concepts.[citation needed]
Notes
edit- ^Des Châlonnais célébres illustres et mémorablesby Jean-Paul Barbier 2000
- ^abcOne or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Champeaux, William of".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 829.
- ^abcEdward Cletus Sellner (2008).Finding the Monk Within: Great Monastic Values for Today.Paulist Press. pp. 238–.ISBN978-1-58768-048-9.
- ^C. Stephen Jaeger (1 January 2011).The Envy of Angels: Cathedral Schools and Social Ideals in Medieval Europe, 950-1200.University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 244–.ISBN978-0-8122-0030-0.
- ^G. R. Evans University Lecturer in History Cambridge University (7 January 2000).Bernard of Clairvaux.Oxford University Press. pp. 11–.ISBN978-0-19-802899-4.
- ^in E. Martnes Thesaurus novus Anecdotorum, 1717, vol. 5
Bibliography
edit- Cameron, Margaret.What's in a Name? Students of William of Champeaux on the Vox Significativa,Bochumer Philosophisches Jahrbuch fur Antike und Mittelalter 9, 2004, pp. 93–114.
- Iwakuma, Yuko.William of Champeaux, On Aristotle's Categories,in Joël Biard, Irène Rosier-Catach (eds.),La tradition médiévale des Catégories (XII - XV siècle),Louvain-Paris: Peeters, 2003, pp. 313–328.
- Mews, Constant.Logica in the Service of Philosophy: William of Champeaux and his Influence,Rener Berndt (ed.),Schrift, Schreiber, Schenker. Studien zur Abtei Sankt Viktor in Paris und de Viktorinen,Berlin, Aksademie Verlag, 2005, pp. 77–117.
External links
edit- Guilfoy, Kevin."William of Champeaux".InZalta, Edward N.(ed.).Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.