William of Moerbeke

William of Moerbeke

▪ Belgian archbishop
French  Guillaume de Moerbeke  
born c. 1215, Moerbeke, Brabant
died c. 1286, Orvieto?

      Flemish cleric, archbishop, and classical scholar whose Latin translations of the works of Aristotle and other early Greek philosophers and commentators were important in the transmission of Greek thought to the medieval Latin West.

      William entered the Dominican priory at Ghent and later studied in Paris and Cologne, where he presumably worked with Albertus Magnus. After an assignment c. 1260 to the priory in Thebes, and in Nicaea, near Constantinople, he was appointed chaplain and confessor to Pope Clement IV (1265–68) and to five succeeding popes. A proponent of reunion between the Eastern and Western churches, William took part in the Council of Lyon (1274) as an adviser to Pope Gregory X. On April 9, 1278, Pope Nicholas III named him archbishop of Corinth, a position he held until his death. The neighbouring Greek village of Merbakas is thought to be named for him. The place of William's death is uncertain; he is known to have traveled to the Italian states in the mid-1280s at the behest of the pope.

      At the urging of Thomas Aquinas, whom he knew at the Italian Dominican houses at Viterbo and Orvieto, William in 1260 made a literal Latin translation of Aristotle's On the Heavens and Meteorology. During the next two decades he translated parts of Aristotle's Metaphysics, Politics, Rhetoric, and History of Animals, together with cognate treatises on animal psychology and physiology, concluding in 1278 with Poetics. He revised existing Latin versions of other Aristotelian writings, including On Memory and Recall, Physics, Posterior Analytics, and possibly the Nichomachean Ethics.

      The more important early commentaries on Aristotle's works that William also translated include those by Alexander of Aphrodisia (2nd century) on Metaphysica and De sensu (On Sensation), Ammonius Hermiae (5th century) on Peri hermeneias (“On Interpretation”), and those by Themistius (4th century) and John Philoponus (6th century) on De anima (On the Soul). Most of these translations were done in 1268.

      William's translations of such leading early Neoplatonist writers as the 5th-century philosopher Proclus's Elementatio theologica (Elements of Theology), as well as his commentary on Plato's Timaeus, revealed to 13th-century Scholastic philosophers and theologians the Platonic basis of treatises formerly and incorrectly attributed to Aristotle. The discovery of this literature by Western philosophers also gave great impetus to Neoplatonism in the Middle Ages. Using a rigidly literal style, William rendered the Greek texts into Latin with a fidelity that not only helped his contemporaries grasp Aristotle's exact meaning but also established his translations as the standard for the medieval Latin world.

      Other classical Greek texts that William translated include works of Ptolemy and Hippocrates' De prognosticationibus aegritudinum secundum motum lunae (On Predicting Illnesses According to the Phases of the Moon).

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • William of Moerbeke — • Short article by M. de Wulf on this learned man of the 13th century Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006 …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • William of Moerbeke — Willem van Moerbeke, known in the English speaking world as William of Moerbeke (c. 1215 ndash; 1286) was a prolific medieval translator of philosophical, medical, and scientific texts from Greek into Latin. His translations were influential in… …   Wikipedia

  • Moerbeke-Waas — Moerbeke Coat of arms …   Wikipedia

  • William — may refer to:*William (name), a masculine given nameRoyaltyBritish*William I of England (1027 1087), a.k.a. William the Conqueror, William the Bastard *William II of England (1056 1100), a.k.a. William Rufus *William I of Scotland (c. 1142 1214) …   Wikipedia

  • Moerbeke — Infobox Belgium Municipality name=Moerbeke picture= picture map arms=Wapenmoerbeke.gif region=BE REG FLE community=BE NL province=BE PROV OV arrondissement=Ghent nis=44045 pyramid date= 0 19= 20 64= 65= foreigners= foreigners date= mayor=Filip… …   Wikipedia

  • Guillermo de Moerbeke — Willem van Moerbeke, conocido en español como Guillermo de Moerbeke (1215 1286) fue un prolífico traductor medieval de textos filosóficos, médicos y científicos, famoso por sus trabajo en la adaptación de textos griegos al latín. Su obra fue muy… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Bonaventure, the German Dominicans and the new translations — John Marenbon As the previous chapter has illustrated, even in the first half of the thirteenth century the outlook of thinkers was much affected by the newly available translations of Aristotle and of Arabic commentaries and treatises.1 By the… …   History of philosophy

  • Transmission of Greek philosophical ideas in the Middle Ages — The introduction of Greek philosophy and science into the culture of the Latin West in the Middle Ages was an event that transformed the intellectual life of Western Europe. It consisted of the discovery of many original works, such as those… …   Wikipedia

  • Middle Ages — For other uses, see Middle Ages (disambiguation). Medieval and Mediaeval redirect here. For other uses, see Medieval (disambiguation) …   Wikipedia

  • Aristotle — For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). Ἀριστοτέλης, Aristotélēs Marble bust of Aristotle. Roman copy after a Gree …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”