WILLUM
638
WILLIAM
which William of St-Amour took a most prominent
part, see Mendicant Friars.
In the course of time the work "De periculis", on account of the vehemence of its attack on the very foundation of the mendicant institutions, became a hindrance rather than a help to the advocates of the university's rights, while on the other side the Fran- ciscans especially were embarrassed by the work en- titled "Introductio in evangehum seternum", com- monly supposed to have been written by John of Parma, General of the Franciscans. It was only long after the death of William of St-Amour that the dis- pute was ended, although at Paris a compromise had been reached between the university and the Fran- ciscans and, somewhat later, between the university and the Dominicans.
Denifle, Chartularium Unit. Paris., I (Paris, 1S89); Febet, La facuUe de thlologie de Paris, II (Paris, 1S95), 46 sqq.; Rash- DALL, Univerailies of Europe in the Middle Ages, I (Oxford, 1895).
William Turner.
William of St-Thierry, theologian and mystic, and so called from the monastery of which he was abbot, b. at Liege about 1085; d. at Signy about 1148. William came of a noble family, and made his studies at the Benedictine Monastery of Saint Nicaise at Reims, together with his brother Simon. Here both embraced the religious life, and were raised to the ab- batial dignity, Simon at St. Nicolas-aux-Bois, Diocese of Laon, and WilUam at St-Thierry near Reims in 1119. Prior to this WiUiam had known St. Benedict, and had formed with him a close intimacy, which lasted for life. His greatest desire was to live with the saint at Clairvaux, but the latter disapproved of the plan and imposed on him the duty of remaining in charge of the souls which Providence had confided to him. However after having assisted (1140) at St-M(5dard near Soissons at the first general chapter of the Bene- dictines, where he suggested wise regulations, William, on the plea of long infirmities and more and more attractedto a life of retirement, resigned his dignity as abbot (1135), and withdrew to the Cistercian abbey at Signy (Diocese of Reims) ; he did not venture to retire to Clairvaux lest his friend Bernard would refuse to accept his abdication. Here, amid almost constant suffering, he divided his free time between prayer and study. According to a contemporary annalist his death occurred about the time of the council held at Reims under Pope Eugenius; this council took place in 1148, and his death should be placed in this year or the preceding. The necrologj- of his abbey dates it 8 Sept., in any case it was prior to that of St. Bernard (20 August, 1153).
Besides his letters to St. Bernard, William wTote several works which he himself enumerates, somewhat incorrectly, in one of his letters. Among them are: "On the sohtary life" (De vita soUtaria); "On the contemplation of God" (De Deo contemplando), modelled on the "Confessions" and "Soliloquies" of St. Augustine; "The nature and dignity of Divine love" (De natura et dignitate amoris), the sequel to the preceding; "The Mirror of Faith" (Speculum fidei); "The Enigma of Faith" (.lEnigma fidei) ; "On the Sacrament of the Altar" (De sacramento altaris liber), setting forth against the monk Rupert his views on the manner of the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist; "Commentaries on the Canticle of Canticles" (complete), the fir.st according to the con- ferences of St. Bernard, the second according to St. Ambrose, the third according to St. Gregory the Great; "Commentary on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans".
William was the first to deal with the errors of Abe- lard and to urge St. Bernard against him. He wrote "The Dispute against Abelard" (Disputatio adversus Petrum Abelardum), in which are arranged under twelve heads the errors which were rondenmed by the Council of Sens; the "Disputation of the
Fathers against the dogma of Abelard" (Disputatio
catholicorum Patrum adversus dogmata Petri Abe-
lardi) was a reply to Abelard's apology; "On
the errors of GuiUaumc de Conches" (De erroribus
GuiUelmi de Conchis) was a defence of the true
idea of the Trinity. To these works should be
added a Life of St. Bernard, of which William
wrote only the first chapters. His works were first
printed bj' Tissier in "Bibliotheca Cisterciensis", IV
(Bonofonte, 1669), and repubhshed in P. L., CXXX
(Paris, 1885).
BuL^US, Historia universitatis Parisiensis (Paris, 1665), II, 703; Hisloire litleraire de la France (Paris, 1869), XII; Kutteh, Wilhelm von St. Thierry ein ReprQsentant der mittelalterlichen FrSmmigkeit (Giessen, 1898).
Antoine Degert.
William of Sens, a twelfth-century French archi- tect, supposed to have been born at Sens. He is referred to in September, 1174, as having been the architect who undertook the task of rebuilding the choir of Canterbury cathedral, originally erected by Conrad, the prior of the monastery, and destroyed by fire in that year. A document ■RTitten by one of the monks of the monastery, describing the fire, tells us that WiUiam of Sens was asked to rebuild the choir. In 1179 or 1178 the architect, in consequence of a fall, had to abandon the work, and returned to France, being succeeded by another architect known as "Wil- liam the Enghshman", who completed the eastern portion of the church, and finished it in 1184. VioUet- le-Duc believed, from the close analogy between the twelfth-century part of Canterbury cathedral and that portion of Sens cathedral constructed about the same time, that the tradition associating the name of ^^'illiam of Sens with Canterbury cathedral was well founded, but he was not able to add very much to our knowledge beyond a statement that his death occurred within a few years after his return to France. Various histories of Canterbury cathedral refer to him, and all the available information respecting him was reproduced by Viollet-le-Duc in his work on French architecture and in a monograph on the cathedral at Sens.
Georges Charles Williamson.
William of Shoreham (de Schorham), an English religious writer of tlie .\nglo-Norman period, b. at Shoreham, near Sevcnoaks, in Kent, in the latter half of the twelfth century; d. at an unknown date. In 1313 he became Vicar of Chart Sutton, in Kent. As this rectory was then a benefice of Leeds priory, it is probable that William was one of the Austin canons at that priory. He is the author of various religious poems, and probably of the earUest Enghsh version of the complete Psalter. The poems and the Psalter, both on the same manuscript and in the same hand- writing, are preserved in the British Museum (Addi- tional MSS., No. 17376). The poems were edited for the Percy Society by Thomas Wright (London, 1849). The appearance of William's name in the colophon to some of the poems is sufficient evidence for his author- ship, but the fact that the Psalter is not in the Kentish but in the Mercian dialect has led some authorities to contest his authorship of the version of the Psalter. (See Versions of the Bible.)
Wright, The religious poems of William de Shoreham (Lon- don, 1849), preface; Konrath. Beitrage zur ErkUirung u. Text' krilik des W. con Schorham (Berlin, 1878); Bcelbhinq, The earliest complete English Psalter together with eleven canticles (London. 1891).
Michael Ott.
William of Turbeville (TrRB£, Turbo, or de Turbevili.k), Bishop of Norwicn (114()-74), b. about 1095; d. at Norwich in January, 1174; educated in the Benedictine cathedral priory of Norwich, then recently founded by Bishop Herbert de Losinga of Norwich. Here he also made religious profession, became teacher and later prior. He was present at
