Note 465 — Chapter IV · THE SOURCES FOR THE PERIOD 1100–1250 A. D.

Among these must be mentioned the following:

1. An unpublished encyclopedia by an otherwise unknown Arnold the Saxon. This dates from between 1210 and 1250 and is preserved in a manuscript in Erfurt. Rose’s edition, 1875, pp. 447–454, gives a summary of the titles of chapters and prints the prologues of each book. Some idea of the character of the work may be gained from Stange’s dissertation and article, both listed in the Bibliography. The first book, entitled De caelo et mundo, and the fourth, De virtute universali, include data on physical geography, meteorology, earthquakes, the sea, rivers, hot springs, and mineralogy (Stange, Arnoldus Saxo, 1885, p. 18) derived in part from Aristotle’s Meteorology (ibid. and Rose, op. cit., p. 450). It has been claimed that Arnold the Saxon’s encyclopedia was used by Vincent of Beauvais, Albertus Magnus, and Bartholomew Anglicus, but this is probably erroneous (see Thorndike, Magic, 1923, vol. ii, p. 430).

2. The De natura rerum of Thomas of Cantimpré, in twenty books, written between 1228 and 1244 and as yet unedited in a modern edition. Thomas’ work was especially popular in Germany (see C. V. Langlois, op. cit., p. 118, note 2; also Thorndike, Magic, 1923, vol. ii, pp. 372–398).

3. A work of encyclopedic scope entitled Summa philosophiae, which has erroneously been attributed to Robert Grosseteste but which cannot possibly date from before 1250 and may be as late as 1270. It contains chapters on meteorology, tides, and minerals. The full text is given in Baur, Philos. Werke Grossetestes, 1912, pp. 275–643, with a critical discussion of its authorship, pp. 126*-141*.