VINCENT OF BEAUVAIS: French Dominican and polyhistor of the thirteenth century; b. probably about 1190; d. apparently in 1264. Of his life almost nothing is known. He wax a monk in the Dominican monastery of Beauvais, and probably studied in Paris, where he was attached to the Jacobin monastery. Possibly he was identical with the Dominican subprior Vincent of Beauvais who is mentioned in 1246. For a time he resided in the Cistercian monastery of Royaumont, where he was reader to the king; here possibly he was employed to supervise the education of the king's children, as is suggested by the fact that he wrote a work De institutions filiorum regiorum sine nobilium; and with this is probably connected his consolation to Louis on the death of his eldest son in 1260.

Vincent was a prolific author. In 1481 five of his writings were published at Basel in one volume: Tractatus de gratis dei or Liber gratice in four books on the eternal and temporal generation of Christ, his life, passion, resurrection, ascension, the send ing of the Holy Ghost, and the blinding of the Jews; Liber de laudibus Virginis glorioste, patristic ex cerpts on the Virgin; De sancto Johanne evangelists; De eruditione seu modo instruendorum , f iliorum rega lium; and Consolatio pro morte amicz, or, more cor rectly, Epistola consolatoria ad Ludovicum Fran corum regem super morte filii ejus. Several works are extant only in manuscript.

The chief work of Vincent was his Speculum triplex (Strasburg, 1473; Nuremberg, 1483-86; Venice, 1484, 1493-94, 1591; Douai, 1ti24). It consists of three parts, the " natural, doctrinal, and historical mirror," to which the spurious " moral mirror " was added as a fourth part long after the author's death. The Speculum is the most comprehensive of all medieval encyclopedic works, and its author was perhaps the best-read scholar previous to the invention of printing. In his prologue Vincent declares that, despite the active pursuit of learning, especially in his own order, "sacred history" had been neglected; and that he would endeavor to remedy this deficiency by collecting everything worthy of remembrance. The prevailing point of view, therefore, is historical, not systematic. The chief source is the Bible (supplemented by the Apocrypha), to which are added papal decretals, the canons of general councils, and the works of recognized doctors of the Church. For secular matters use is made of such works as the chronicles of Eusebius, Jerome, Prosper, and Sigibert, the histories of Pompeius Trogus, Orosius; Suetonius, Rufinus, and Cassiodorus, the acts of martyrs, and the records of saints and monks. Philosophers and poets are likewise considered, as well as the writings of scientists and physicians from Aristotle, Pliny, and Hippocrates to Avicenna, Razi, and Constantinus Africanus.

The first part, or Speculum naturals, in thirty-two books, is based on the scheme of the six days of creation. It treats of all that Vincent had read

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concerning angels and demons, light, and color (i.ii.), astronomy and astrology, space, time, motion, air, echo, rain, lightning, and clouds (iii.-iv.), the sea, tides, healing springs, minerals, plants, and gardens (v.-xiv.), birds and fishes (xvi.-xvii.), reptiles, mammals, and the anatomy, physiology, and psychology of man (xviii.-xxviii.), sin (xxix.), generation (xxxi.), and the geography of the three divisions of the world with their importance for the history of man (xxxii.). History itself is divided, in Augustinian fashion, not only into sections " before the law," " under the law," and " under grace," but also into six ages, corresponding to the six days of creation, and to six ages of man according to his varying attitude toward the divine law, these being infancy (from Adam to Noah), boyhood (to Abraham), adolescence (to David), youth (to the exile), manhood (to Christ), and old age (to the Last Day), the seventh age being the eternal rest of the saints. The second part, the Speculum doctrinate, in seventeen books, forms an encyclopedia of science. After an introduction (i. 3), the origin and division of sciences are discussed, and a vocabulary of unusual terms is appended (i. 10 sqq.). Then follow the elements of grammar (ii.) and a compend of logic, rhetoric, and poetry (iii.). Passing to " practical learning," Vincent takes up virtues and religion (iv.), social life (v. 38), "economics" (marriage, education, friends, house, agriculture, etc.; vi.), then political science (vii.), jurisprudence (viii.), and crimes (ix.-x:); the mechanical arts (xi.), medicine (xii.-xiii.), special diseases (xiv.); " natural philosophy " (the elements, minerals, trees, zoology, etc.; xv.) and mathematics, music, geometry, astronomy, and metaphysics (xvi.). The concluding book treats of theological science. The third portion, or Speculum historiale, is introduced by a brief presentation of the doctrine of God, the heavenly hierarchy, matter, creation, man, the fall, sin, the fourteen articles of faith, the three theological and the four cardinal virtues, and the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost. Early history is summarized from the Bible (i.). The second book extends from Moses to the period of the kings, including the account of Hercules, the Trojan war, Lycurgus, Romulus, the seven wise men, etc.; and the third treats of sop's Fables, the fall of Babylon, Hippias, Pythagoras, Seraclitus, Ezra, Nehemiah, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, etc. Books iv.-vi. recount the history of Philip, Alexander, and the Diodochi to Augustus and Herod. The seventh book begins with Tiberius, and is devoted especially to the birth of Christ; and the eighth develops the essence of Christianity and the seven sacraments. The ninth book contains accounts of Nero, Simon Magus, and the Roman primate Clement, legends of the apostles, and histories of the martyrs, etc. The tenth book is a record of the emperors from Vespasian to Commodus, the destruction of Jerusalem, John, Pliny, and the Church Fathers. The eleventh book extends to Origen and Tertullian; the twelfth book contains the history of the Diocletian persecution, and the thirteenth and fourteenth the record of the period of Constantine, with the Church Fathers of the fourth century. The fifteenth and sixteenth books tell of India (according to the legend of Bar-

laam and Josaphat, q.v.), Persia, Rome, France, England, the Vandals, Ostrogoths, and Huns; while books xvii.-xxiv. are devoted to the period from Theodosius to the Carolingians, with thorough discussion of the principal ecclesiastical authors. Books xxv.-xxx. recount the events from the reign of Henry II. to the author's own time. The thirtyfirst book contains an account of the council held at Lyons in 1245, the sending of Dominicans to the Tatars in 1245, and the crusade of St. Louis with his captivity in Damietta until 1250. The last date given is 1253, but the Speculum was completed in thirty books in 1244, the thirty-first being added nine years later.

The method of Vincent was to take his data from some chronology, as that of Eusebius, and to fill in with material drawn from biographies or similar historical sources. There are few attempts at analysis or interpretation, the Speculum being rather a gigantic chronicle or work of reference. His purpose was to gather together all the learning of his time, and its gigantic and all-embracing scope is characterististic of the endeavor of religious erudition to establish the supremacy of the Church on every side, even learning being made a means of grace, and knowledge serving to promote piety.

(R. Seeberg.)

Bibliography: Histoire Zitt_raire de la France, aviii. 449515; J. Qu_tif and J. Eehard. Scriptores ordinis prwdieatorum, i. 212-240, 300 sqq., Paris, 1719; A. Touron, Hist. des hommea illustres de l'ordre de S. Dominique, i. 188, Paris, 1743;. J. F. Eckhardt,,Naclaricht von seltenen Büch-

au a:iii. sigcle,-ib.-1875; A.-Stoekl, Geschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalters, ii. 345 sqq., Mains, 1885; T. Des barraua-Bernard, Etude bibliographique our Vincent da Beauvais, Palls, 1872; W. Gass, in ZBG, i (1876), 385-396, ii (1877), 332-365, 5i0-538; H. Bmaien, in NA, iv (1879), 437-439, 483, 500; B. Haureau, Hist. de la philosophic scolastique, u. 1, pp. 188 sqq., Paris, 1880; Idem, Notices et extraits, v. 110-113, ib. 1892; L. Kellner, Skiz zen and Bilder aus der Erziehungsgeschichte, i. 184 sqq., Uasen, 1880; R. Friedrich, V icentius von Beauvais als Padagog, Leipsic, 1883; C. Giambelli, Di Vincenzo BelLovacense, Rome. 1886; M, de Wulf, Hist. de la philosophic medikuale, pp. 381-382, Louvain, 1900, 2d ed., 1905; KL. sii. 973-978; Lichtenberger, ESR, 8i. 397; Biographic univeraelle, Aix. 119 sqq.