Bernhard of Chartres

Bernhard von Chartres († after 1124 ) was a scholar and philosopher of the early Scholastic period who was strongly influenced by Platonism .

Biographical data

Little is known of Bernhard's life. For a long time it was assumed that he was a brother of Thierry of Chartres and, like him, came from Brittany . Recently, however, research has moved away from this opinion. In any case, he appears for the first time in 1108 in the list of witnesses in a document from Chartres as a subdeacon ; as a cleric he remained with this modest degree of ordination until the end of his life. From around 1110/1115 he called himself magister (teacher), so he taught at the cathedral school in Chartres. At the latest in 1124 he was promoted to chancellor; this year he is attested as living for the last time. He bequeathed his library to the cathedral.

Teaching

Its cultural and historical significance lies above all in its teaching, which earned him a high reputation. Some of the leading personalities in the cultural life of the era, including Wilhelm von Conches and Gilbert von Poitiers , were his students and received formative impressions from him. Johannes von Salisbury , who already belonged to the grandchildren generation, no longer saw Bernhard personally, but studied with his students. But he was enthusiastic about Bernhard's outstanding education and teaching method and described him as the greatest Platonist of his time. This shows the sustainability of Bernhard's work. Bernhard played a key role in developing the peculiarity of the famous so-called " School of Chartres ". This term is used to describe a philosophical and theological trend, particularly represented by scholars from the cathedral school of Chartres, which cultivated Platonic ideas and endeavored, especially in cosmology, to harmonize Platonic and Biblical ideas. Bernhard prepared the heyday of this trend. Famous is his saying that he and his contemporaries are dwarfs who sit on the shoulders of giants (the ancient scholars) and thus tower above them in terms of vision, although their own contribution is comparatively small (see Dwarfs on the shoulders of giants ). That was his position on the question of the relationship between antiqui and moderni , between ancient and medieval science and education. This shows the typical attitude of the scholars of Chartres, who eagerly studied the non-Christian writings of antiquity and knew how to appreciate them impartially despite the religious contrast. Partly because of this relationship to antiquity, the (albeit very controversial) term of a “12th century renaissance” appears in research.

In addition to Platonic natural philosophy, grammar lessons were another focus of Bernhard's work. He considered a thorough grammar training based on the ancient works as a prerequisite for any study. He recommended six principles to the learners: humble spirit, diligence in asking questions, quiet life, silent investigation, lack of external needs and staying away from home. He considered the ideal teacher to be "someone who loves to teach so that he is fully understood". This shows the weight he placed on didactics.

philosophy

In natural philosophy , Bernhard refrained from relying on theological authorities, as was customary at the time, and from bringing the salvation-historical perspective of Christianity into play. With regard to the truthfulness of philosophical statements about the cosmos, he took a skeptical stand by only accepting statements about probability.

A major innovation in Platonism was his concept of formae nativae ("forms of origin"). This is how he referred to forms that he introduced as an actively mediating principle between the world of ideas and matter. They are images of unchangeable ideas which only have an indirect effect on matter via the formae nativae . In contrast to the ideas, the formae nativae are changeable. Through their influence in the material world, they enable the creation of all concrete individual things and give them their species-specific properties, starting with the four elements that are not yet perceptible to the senses. This "adorns" the previously formless universe. This happens according to natural laws: “Everything that is has either become or has not become; But everything that arises has a lawful, and that means a reasonable cause. "The soul, which Bernhard describes as entelechy with reference to Aristotle , consists of formae nativae .

Works

Bernhard wrote a missing commentary on the Isagogue , the manual of logic by the ancient Neo-Platonist Porphyrios . A few verses, sayings, and letters from him have come down to us; until the late 20th century that was all that was known of his work. It was not until 1984 that Paul Edward Dutton was able to show that an anonymously transmitted commentary on Plato's Timaeus came from Bernhard. In 1991 Dutton published this commentary under the title Glosae super Platonem (which has not been handed down by hand) . The work, which was conceived for the classroom, shows the author's efforts to understand the text precisely and his intensive, independent examination of the content of the Timaeus .

Every now and then, Bernhard von Chartres is considered as the author of a commentary on Virgil originally attributed to Bernardus Silvestris .

output

• Paul Edward Dutton (Ed.): The Glosae super Platonem of Bernard of Chartres . Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto 1991, ISBN 0-88844-107-X (Latin text with extensive introduction by the editor)

literature

• Theo Kobusch : The philosophy of the high and late Middle Ages . Beck, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-31269-4 , pp. 99-102
• Gangolf Schrimpf: Bernhard von Chartres, the reception of Timaeus and the new view of nature . In: Georg Wieland (Ed.): Awakening - Change - Renewal. Contributions to the "Renaissance" of the 12th century . Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-7728-1683-5 , pp. 181-210
• Andreas Speer : Discovered nature. Investigations into attempts to justify a "scientia naturalis" in the 12th century . Brill, Leiden 1995, ISBN 90-04-10345-7 , pp. 76-129

Remarks

1. ↑ Paul Edward Dutton (ed.): The Glosae super Platonem of Bernard of Chartres , Toronto 1991, pp. 40-42.
2. ↑ On the data see Paul Edward Dutton (Ed.): The Glosae super Platonem of Bernard of Chartres , Toronto 1991, pp. 25-44, 239 f.
3. ↑ The sources are compiled by Paul Edward Dutton (Ed.): The Glosae super Platonem of Bernard of Chartres , Toronto 1991, pp. 241–248.
4. ^ Andreas Speer: Die Entdeckte Natur , Leiden 1995, pp. 6–8, 76–79.
5. ^ Paul Edward Dutton (ed.): The Glosae super Platonem of Bernard of Chartres , Toronto 1991, p. 57; Andreas Speer: Die Entdeckte Natur , Leiden 1995, pp. 83–85.
6. ^ Andreas Speer: Die Entdeckte Natur , Leiden 1995, pp. 89–129.
7. ^ Paul Edward Dutton (ed.): The Glosae super Platonem of Bernard of Chartres , Toronto 1991, p. 159, lines 62-64; Translation according to Andreas Speer: Die Entdeckte Natur , Leiden 1995, p. 102.
8. ^ Paul Edward Dutton (Ed.): The Glosae super Platonem of Bernard of Chartres , Toronto 1991, p. 175, lines 69-74.
9. ^ Paul Edward Dutton (ed.): The Glosae super Platonem of Bernard of Chartres , Toronto 1991, p. 56; Andreas Speer: The discovered nature , Leiden 1995, p. 87 f.
10. ↑ The commentary is edited by Julian W. Jones and Elizabeth F. Jones: The commentary on the first six books of the Aeneid of Vergil commonly attributed to Bernardus Silvestris , Lincoln 1977. On the author's question, see Julian W. Jones: The So-Called Silvestris Commentary on the Aeneid and Two Other Interpretations. In: Speculum 64, 1989, pp. 835-848.