Alexander of Villedieu

Alexander of Villedieu

Alexander of Villedieu[1] was a French author, teacher and poet, who wrote text books on Latin grammar and arithmetic, everything in verse. He was born around 1175 in Villedieu-les-Poêles in Normandy, studied in Paris, and later taught at Dol in Brittany. His greatest fame stems from his versified Latin grammar book, the Doctrinale Puerorum. He died in 1240, or perhaps in 1250. He was a Franciscan and a Master of the University of Paris.[2]

His Doctrinale puerorum, a versified grammar, soon became a classic. It was composed around 1200, and was all written in leonine hexameters. Even after several centuries, with the advent of printing, it appeared in countless editions in Italy, Germany and France. It was based on the older works of Donatus and Priscian.

Alexander also wrote a short tract on arithmetic called Carmen de Algorismo—the Poem about Arithmetic, which also reached a wide distribution.[3] A typical line from his Carmen de Algorismo, runs like this:

Extrahe radicem semper sub parte sinistra

Wherein he instructs his students: "always extract the square root by starting from the left". The poem is not very long, only a few hundred lines, and summarizes the art of calculating with the new style of Indian dice, or Talibus Indorum, as he calls the new Hindu-Arabic numerals.

References

Notes

  1. ^ Alexander Villedieu, Alexander de Villedieu, Alexandre de Villedieu, Alexander de Villa Dei, Alexandre de Dol, Alexander Dolensis.
  2. ^ Excerpt from Alexander de Villedieu's Doctrinale puerorum (at end)
  3. ^ While the Doctrinale was in leonine verse, the Carmen in dactylic hexameters.
    Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (Alexander de Villa Dei at end)

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Alexander of Villedieu — (ca. 1170 ca. 1250)    French grammarian whose Doctrinale (1199) became the standard textbook of Latin grammar in medieval universities. This collection of doggerel Latin verses became an object of contempt among humanist educational reformers… …   Historical Dictionary of Renaissance

  • Alexander de Villa-Dei — (auch: Alexander Gallus) (* um 1170 in Villedieu, Normandie; † unbekannt [das häufig genannte Datum 1250 ist Spekulation]) Alexander studierte in Paris und lehrte später in Dol (Bretagne). Alexander ist vor allen Dingen als Verfasser eines… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Alexander de Villa Dei — (auch: Alexander Gallus) (* um 1170 in Villedieu les Poêles, Normandie; † unbekannt [das häufig genannte Datum 1250 ist Spekulation]) Alexander studierte in Paris und lehrte später in Dol de Bretagne. Alexander ist vor allen Dingen als Verfasser… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Alexander de Villa Dei — Alexander de Vịlla Dei,   französischer Pädagoge, * Villedieu (Département Manche) um 1170, ✝ Avranches (Département Manche) um 1250; verfasste 1199 eine lateinische Grammatik in 2 645 Hexametern (»Doctrinale puerorum«), die die Grammatiken des… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Alexandre De Villedieu — Alexandre de Villedieu, ou Alexander de Villa Dei en latin, né à vers 1175 à Villedieu en Normandie et mort en 1240, est un poète et grammairien français. Alexandre de Villedieu a tenu école à Paris avec Rodolphe et Yson. Il a composé en 1209,… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Alexandre de villedieu — Alexandre de Villedieu, ou Alexander de Villa Dei en latin, né à vers 1175 à Villedieu en Normandie et mort en 1240, est un poète et grammairien français. Alexandre de Villedieu a tenu école à Paris avec Rodolphe et Yson. Il a composé en 1209,… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Alexandre de Villedieu — Alexandre de Villedieu, ou Alexander de Villa Dei en latin, né vers 1175 à Villedieu en Normandie et mort en 1240, est un poète et grammairien français. Alexandre de Villedieu a tenu école à Paris avec Rodolphe et Yson. Il a composé en 1209, sous …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Latin mnemonics — A Latin mnemonic verse or mnemonic rhyme is a mnemonic device for teaching and remembering Latin grammar. Such mnemonics have been considered by teachers to be an effective technique for schoolchildren to learn the complex rules of Latin… …   Wikipedia

  • Maximianus (poet) — Maximianus or Maximian (sometimes referred to as Maximianus Etruscus) was a Latin elegiac poet of the 6th century who has been called in some sort, the last of the Roman poets .[1] Contents 1 Life 2 Poetry 3 Reception …   Wikipedia

  • Classical Latin Literature in the Church — • This article deals only with the relations of the classical literature, chiefly Latin, to the Catholic Church Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Classical Latin Literature in the Church     Classic …   Catholic encyclopedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”