With William of Auvergne, Alexander (known as Doctor irrefragibilis), was the first
Paris master to use Aristotle in the service of theology; and, like William, he used
Aristotle’s ideas in a framework of traditional Augustinian orthodoxy. Alexander’s main
sources are Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius, Boethius, and the “moderns” of the 12th
century: Bernard of Clairvaux, Gilbert of Poitiers, Anselm, and others.
Alexander’s prosaic style makes it difficult for us today to appreciate his enormous
contemporary success, although his structured and ordered approach remains a key
feature of his work. Bonaventure was of one of the succeeding generation who revered
Alexander, suggesting that his teaching in person may have been more gripping than the
remnant left to us.
Lesley J.Smith
[See also: ARISTOTLE, INFLUENCE OF; BONAVENTURE; FRANCISCAN
ORDER; PARENS SCIENTIARUM; PETER LOMBARD; THEOLOGY; WILLIAM OF
AUVERGNE]
Alexander of Hales. Glossa in Sententias, ed. P.Doucet. 4 vols. Florence: Ex Typographia Collegii
S.Bonaventurae, 1951–57.
——. Questiones disputatae “antequam esset frater.” 3 vols. Florence: Ex Typographia Collegii
S.Bonaventurae, 1960.
——. Summa theologica, ed. Bernardini Klumper. 4 vols. Florence: Ex Typographia Collegii
S.Bonaventurae, 1924.
——. Summa theologica. Indices in tom. I-IV, ed. Constantini Koser. Grottaferrata (Rome):
Editiones Collegii S. Bonaventurae ad Claras Aquas, 1979.
Catania, F.J. Knowledge of God in Alexander of Hales and John Duns Scotus. Kalamazoo:
Medieval Institute, 1966.
Herscher, I. “A Bibliography of Alexander of Hales.” Franciscan Studies 5(1945):434–54.
Huber, Raphael M. “Alexander of Hales O.F.M. (ca. 1170–1245): His Life and Influence on
Medieval Scholasticism.” Franciscan Studies 26(1945):353–65.
Principe, Walter H. The Theology of the Hypostatic Union in the Early Thirteenth Century. 4 vols.
Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1963–75, Vol. 2: Alexander of Hales’s
Theology of the Hypostatic Union.
ALEXANDER NECKHAM
(1157–1217). Alexander Neckham (or Nequam, a nickname meaning “worthless”) was
born in England at St. Alban’s and traveled to read arts at Paris ca. 1175. He returned to
England to teach at Dunstable (ca. 1182) and St. Alban’s (ca. 1185–90), then studied
theology at Oxford (ca. 1190–97). Around 1200, he entered the order of Augustinian
Canons, acted as a papal judge-delegate in 1203 and 1205, and was made abbot of
Cirencester in 1213. He died in Kempsey, Worcestershire.
Like other “encyclopedists” in England and France at this time, Alexander wanted to
know everything. He belonged to a group of Oxford scientists whose knowledge and
methods were the best in Europe. He wrote biblical commentaries, consulting Jews for
this purpose, and learned some Hebrew, and he wrote on grammar and natural science.
Alexander’s two major works, De nominibus utensilium and De naturis rerum, show his
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 46