WILLIAM
632
WILLIAM
mentaries accompanying them. Apparently this
work of correction was done in Rome; a letter of
Gregory IX to King Louis, dated 6 May, 1231, recom-
mends William of Auxerre to the French king and
says that the Parisian teacher has laboured "at the
Apostolic See, for the reformation of study". Wil-
liam is the author of a work entitled "Summa Aurea",
which is not, as it is sometimes described, a mere com-
pendium of the "Books of Sentences" by Peter the
Lombard. Both in method and in content it shows a
considerable amount of originahty, although, like all
the Sumrrue of the early thirteenth century, it is in-
fluenced by the manner and method of the Lombard.
The teacher by whom William was most profoundly
influenced was Pra'positinus, or Prevostin, of Cre-
mona, Chancellor of the University of Paris from 1206
to 1209. The names of teacher and pupil are men-
tioned in the same sentence by St. Thomas: H(fc est
opinio Prcepositini et Aulissiodorensis (in I Sent., XV,
q. 111). William was, in turn, the teacher of the
Dominican, John of Treviso, one of the first theolo-
gians of the Order of Preachers. The importance of
the "Summa Aurea" is enhanced by the fact that it
was one of the first Sunmia composed after the
introduction of the metaphysical and physical trea-
tisesof Aristotle. The work was published at Paris in
1500. Another edition, without date, by Regnault,
is mentioned bv Grabmann.
Denifle, Charhd. Univ. Paris, I (Paris, 1889); Grabmann, Gesch. der schoL Melhode, II (Freiburg, 1911).
William Turner.
William of Champeaujc, a twelfth-century Scho- lastic, philosopher, and theologian, b. at Champeaux, near Melun, in the neighbourhood of Paris, about the year 1070; d. at Chalons-sur-Marne, 1121. After having been a pupil of Anselm of Laon, he began in 1103 his career as teacher at the cathedral school of Paris. In 1 lOS, owing chiefly to Abelard's successful attempts to criticise his realistic doctrine of univer- sals, he retired to the Abbey of St. Victor and there continued to give lessons which, no doubt, influenced the mystic school known as that of St. Victor. In 1113 he was made Bishop of Chalons-sur-Warne. Portions of his work " De origine animas" and of a "Liber sententiarum", as well as a dialogue entitled "Dialogus seu altercatio cujusdam Christiani et Judaei", have come down to us. On the problem of universals William held successively a variety of opinions. All of these, however, are on the side of exaggerated Realism and opposed both to the Nom- inalism of Roscelin and to the modified Nominalism of Abelard. In his treatise on the origin of the soul he definitely rejects the theory known as Traducian- ism and maintains that each and every human soul originates by the creative act of God. Among his contemporaries he enjoyed a very great reputation for learning and sanctity. He was, moreover, looked upon by the conservative thinkers of that age as the ablest champion of orthodoxy. His creationist doc- trine is his chief title to distinction as a Scholastic philosopher.
LEFfevRE. Les variations de Guillaume de Champeaux, etc. (Lille, 1898): Michaud, G. de Champeaux el les (coles de Paris au Xll'Siide (Paris, 1867); Grabmann, Gesch. der schol. Melhode (Freiburg, 1911), 136 sq.; De Wclf, Hisl. of Medieval Phil., tr. Coffey (New York. 1909), 179; Turner, Hisl. of Philosophy (Boston. 1903). 279 sq.
WiLLi.\M Turner.
William of Conches, a twelfth-century Schol.i.stic philosopher and theologian, b. about the year 1100. After having been a teacher of theology in Paris he became, about the year 1122, the tutor of Henry Plan- tagenct. Warned by a friend of the danger implied in his Platonic realism as he applied it to theology, he took up the study of philo.sophy and the physical sci- ence of the Arabians. When and where he died is a matter of uncertainty. There is a good deal of dis- cussion in regard to the authorship of the works as-
cribed to him. It seems probable, however, that he
WToto glo.sses on Plato's "Timseus", a commentarj- on
Boethius's "Consolations of Philosophy", a dialogue
called "Dragmaticon", and a treatise, "Magna de
naturis philosophia". Wilham devoted much atten-
tion to cosmology and psychologj'. Having been a
student of Bernard of Chartres, he shows the char-
acteristic Humanism, the tendency towards Plato-
nism, and the taste for natural science which dis-
tinguish the "Chartrains". He is one of the first of
the medieval Christian philosophers to take advan-
tage of the physical and physiological lore of the Ara-
bians. He had access to the WTitings of the Arabians
in the translations made bv Constantine the African.
P. L., XC; De Wclp. Hisl. of'Medieml Phil., tr. Coffey (New
York, 1909), 184: Turner, Hisl. of Phil. (Boston, 1903), 295 sq.
WiLLi.\M Turner.
William of Digullevile (Degulleville), a French poet of the fourteenth century. Nothing is known of his hfe, except that he was a monk in the celebrated Cistercian abbey of Chdlis. Three alle- gorical poems are attributed to him with some cer- tainty: "Pelerinage de vie humaine", a description of a journey to Paradise, composed between 1330 and 1332, revised by the author in 13.55; "Pelerinage de I'Ame", a vision of hell, purgatory, and heaven; "Pelerinage de Jesus-Christ", a verse transposition of the Gospel with the addition of a few allegories, probably composed in 1358. We possess numerous manuscripts of these poems adorned with splendid- miniatures, said to be the finest ever made. Several editions of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries do not give the original text of the author, but a text amended by Peter Virgin, a monk of Clairvaux, or even a prose version made by John Gallopes, at the request of the Duchess of Anjou. These allegorical poems, containing not less than thirty thousand lines, met with a tremendous success in the Middle Ages, and were circulated throughout France and England. John Lydgate translated them into English, and Chaucer put a few passages into English verse, while John Bunyan imitated them in his famous poem, "Pilgrim's Progress". A new edition has been made by Stiirzinger for the Roxburghe Club, London, 1893.
"PlAGET in de JtJELEVTLLE, Histoire de la litterature fran^aise, II (Paris, 1896); Hisloire littiraire de la France, XXIV (Paris, 1856 sqq.).
Louis N. Delamarre.
William of Ebelholt (also called of Paris and OF THE Paraclete), Saint, d. on Easter Sunday, 1203, and was buried at Ebelholt. He was educated by his uncle Hugh, forty-second AbbotofSt-Germain- des-Pres at Paris; and having been ordained sub- deacon received a canonrj' in the Church of Ste- Genevicve-du-Mont. His exemplary life did not commend him to his fellow canons, who tried to rid themselves of his presence, and even prevented by slander his ordination tothediaconateby the Bishop of Paris. William obtained this order from the Bishop of Senlis by his uncle's intercession, and was soon afterwards presented by the canons to the little priory of Epinay. In 1148, by order of Pope Eugene III, the secular canons of Ste-Genevieve were replaced by canons regular from the Parisian monastery of St. Victor, whose prior, Odo, was made abbot of Ste- Genevieve. William soon afterwards joined the new community and was made sub-[irinr. In this position he showed great zeal for the religious life, and on one occasion opposed the entry of a new j^rior who had obtained his position irregularly; for this he was punished by Abbot Garin, successor of Odo, but his action was fin.allv supported bv Pope Alexander III.
In 1161 Absalom, Bishop of Ro.^kilde, Denmark, sent to Paris the provost of his cathedral to obtain canons regular for the reform of the mona.stery of St. Thomas of E.skils6e. In 1165 William journeyed to Denmark with three companions, and became
