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Vincent of Beauvais

Type Figure Region France Time c. 1190–1264 Also known as Vincent de Beauvais

Vincent of Beauvais (c. 1190–1264), a French Dominican theologian and encyclopedic scholar, served at the court of Louis IX and spent decades compili…

Timeline

  1. 1215–1229Beauvais · Hauts-de-FranceVincent joined the Dominican Order in his early years, received theological training in Beauvais and elsewhere, read widely in classical and patristic works, and conceived the ambition to compile a comprehensive compendium of knowledge, accumulating the documentary foundation for his later Speculum Maius.
  2. 1240–1260Paris · Île-de-FranceFrom the 1240s Vincent entered the court of Louis IX, serving as tutor to the royal children and theological advisor, gaining access to court libraries and diplomatic documents, and under stable patronage devoted himself fully to compiling the Speculum Maius trilogy, integrating historical, natural, and doctrinal knowledge.
  3. 1240–1264Beauvais · Hauts-de-FranceOver more than twenty years Vincent completed the Speculum Historiale, Speculum Naturale, and Speculum Doctrinale, gathering historical narratives, natural knowledge, and theological doctrine from ancient and modern texts, becoming one of the grandest compilations of knowledge in medieval Western Europe; he died at Beauvais in 1264.

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