Vincent of Beauvais, French Scholar


Vincent of Beauvais (1190 - 1264?) was a French scholar, encyclopedist and Dominican Friar. The exact dates of his birth and death are unknown, and not much detail has surfaced concerning his career. He wrote Speculum Maius (The Great Mirror), the main encyclopedia that was used in the Middle Ages. Speculum Maius consisted of three parts: the Speculum Naturale (Mirror of Nature), Speculum Doctrinale (Mirror of Doctrine) and Speculum Historiale (Mirror of History). The Speculum Naturale is a summary of all of the science and natural history known to Western Europe towards the middle of the 13th century. Speculum Doctrinale is a summary of all the scholastic knowledge of the age: logic, rhetoric, poetry, geometry, astronomy, the human instincts and passions, education, the industrial and mechanical arts, anatomy, surgery and medicine, jurisprudence and the administration of justice. Speculum Historiale, provided a history of the world down to Vincent's time. Illustration from Vies Des Savants Illustrates, Savants Du Moyen-Age by Louis Figuier, 1883.


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