Vincent of Beauvais

Vincent of Beauvais bōvā´ [key], c.1190–c.1264, French Dominican friar. He was the author of three of the four parts of the Speculum majus, of great value as a summary of the knowledge of his time. The part entitled Morals is of unknown authorship, but is not by him. The three parts written by him are entitled Nature, Instruction, and History. In Nature, the order followed is that of the six days of creation described in Genesis. Instruction ranges from the liberal arts to the mechanical arts. The History epitomizes the story of man since Adam as it was understood by 13th-century scholars.

See A. Gabriel, The Educational Ideas of Vincent of Beauvais (2d ed. 1962).

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