Thierry of Chartres

Thierry of Chartres ("Theodoricus Chartrensis") or Theodoric the Breton ("Theodericus Brito") (died before 1155,Cite web|url=http://www2.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/hwp212.htm|title=Chapter IV - The School of Chartres|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=August 29|publisher=The Jacques Maritain Center, University of Notre Dame|year=1963|author=Ralph McInerny|work=A History of Western Philosophy Vol. II - Part III: The Twelfth Century|language=English] probably 1150Cite web|url=http://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/hop33.htm|title=Chapter XXXIII - The School of Chartres|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=August 29|publisher=The Jacques Maritain Center, University of Notre Dame|year=1903|author=William Turner|work=History of Philosophy|language=English] ) was a twelfth-century philosopher working at Chartres and Paris, France.

The cathedral school at Chartres promoted scholarship before the first university was founded in France. Thierry was a prominent exponent of the philosophical school of Chartres, a Platonist reaction to the anti-realism of Roscellinus and Peter Abelard. Some modern scholars believed Thierry to have been a brother of Bernard of Chartres who had founded the school of Chartres, but later research has shown that this is unlikely. [Paul Edward Dutton (ed.), "The Glosae super Platonem of Bernard of Chartres", Toronto 1991, p. 40-42.] John of Salisbury [CathEncy|wstitle=Theodoric (Thierry) of Chartes] and Herman of Carinthia were among Thierry's students.

Works

He wrote the "Heptateucon" (a treatise on liberal arts), some commentaries on Boethius' "De Trinitate" and a "Tractatus de sex dierum operibus" or "In Hexaemeron" (a treatise on the six days of creation), in which he interprets the Genesis narration in a scientific way ("secundum physicam") with reference to Plato's "Timaeus".

Thierry's explanation of the creation of the world is based on a theological interpretation of Aristotle's four causes, which he identifies with the three persons of the Trinity plus matter (made up of the four elements): the Father is the efficient cause, the Son is the formal cause, the Holy Spirit is the final cause and the four elements are the material cause.

According to Thierry, the act of divine creation is limited to the creation of the four elements, which then evolve by themselves, mix according to mathematical proportions and make up the physical world.

Editions

* "Commentaries on Boethius by Thierry of Chartres and His School", ed. N. M. Häring, Toronto 1971.
* "The Latin Rethorical Commentaries by Thierry of Chartres", ed. K. M. Fredborg, Toronto 1988.

References

Further reading

* Peter Dronke, "Thierry of Chartres", in P. Dronke, "A History of Twelfth Century Western Philosophy", Cambridge 1988.
* Peter Ellard, "The Sacred Cosmos: Theological, Philosophical, and Scientific Conversations in the Twelfth Century School of Chartres", University of Scranton Press, 2007.

ee also

Renaissance of the 12th century