586 Plato and Platonism
century. On the death of RICHARDIII in 1485, the line
became extinct.
See alsoANJOU; AQUITAINE; EDWARDI, KING OFEN-
GLAND; EDWARDII, KING OFENGLAND; EDWARDIII, KING
OFENGLAND; EDWARDIV, KING OFENGLAND; HENRYIII,
KING OF ENGLAND; HENRYV, KING OFENGLAND: JOHN
LACKLAND, KING OF ENGLAND; RICHARDI LIONHEART;
RICHARDII.
Further reading: Jean-Marc Bienvenu, “Planta-
genets,” EMA2.1,149–52; Paul Binski, Westminster Abbey
and the Plantagenets: Kingship and the Representation of
Power, 1200–1400(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University
Press, 1995); Elizabeth Hallam, ed., Four Gothic Kings:
Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, Edward II—Seen through
the Eyes of Their Contemporaries(New York: Weidenfeld
& Nicolson, 1987); Frederick Hepburn, Portraits of the
Latter Plantagenets(Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1986).
Plato and Platonism The thought of Plato itself and
its later form in NEOPLATONISMwere a philosophical
system, which evolved through time. Initially it was
based on the works of Plato of Athens and was devel-
oped after Plato’s lifetime at Hellenistic academies at
Athens and ALEXANDRIA. Two FATHERS OF THE CHURCH,
Clement of Alexandria (ca. 160–215) and ORIGEN, were
deeply influenced by it in the second and third centuries
and tried to Christianize it. AUGUSTINEreferred to its
ideas in his work and made it an acceptable philosophi-
cal tool and method. Platonism was practically the only
method of learning in early medieval Christian society
and until the works of ARISTOTLEreappeared in the 12th
and 13th centuries through Muslim intermediaries.
Even after the reappearance of Aristotelian thought in
UNIVERSITIES AND SCHOOLS, Platonism continued to be
influential. As part of a humanist movement in the 15th
century, interest in Plato himself and his ideas revived
as new translations became available and Platonic
academies became fashionable.
See alsoADELARD OFBATH; BACON, ROGER; BOETHIUS;
DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE FICINO, MARSILIO; GROS-
SETESTE,ROBERT;JOHNSCOTTUSERIUGENA;JOHNTAULER;
MIRANDOLA, PICO DELLA NEOPLATONISM; NICHOLAS OF
CUSA; PLOTINUS IN THEMIDDLEAGES.
Further reading:A. H. Armstrong, ed., The Cam-
bridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philoso-
phy(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970);
Peter Dronke, Fabula: Explorations into the Uses of Myth
in Medieval Platonism (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1974),
Stephen Gersh, Concord in Discourse: Harmonics and
Semiotics in Late Classical and Early Medieval Platonism
(Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1996); James Hankins,
Plato in the Italian Renaissance,2 vols. (Leiden: E. J.
Brill, 1990); Raymond Klibansky, The Continuity of the
Platonic Tradition during the Middle Ages with a New
Preface and Four Supplementary Chapters; Together with
Plato’s Parmenides in the Middle Ages and the Renais-
sance, with a New Introductory Preface(Munich: Kraus
International Publications, 1981); Dominic J. O’Meara,
The Structure of Being and the Search for the Good:
Essays on Ancient and Early Medieval Platonism(Alder-
shot: Ashgate/Variorum, 1998).Platonism, medieval SeeNEOPLATONISM ANDPLATON-
ISM IN THEMIDDLEAGES; PLATO ANDPLATONISM.Plotinus in the Middle Ages (ca. 204–270)founder of
the Neoplatonic system
Plotinus was born in Lycopolis in Upper EGYPTto an
upper-class Greek family in about 204. He moved to
ALEXANDRIAin 232 and settled in ROME in 244, after
narrowly escaping death on a failed Roman expedition to
the East led by the emperor Gordian III (r. 238–244). He
had gone on this campaign to learn about Indian and
Persian philosophy. His biographer and pupil, Porphyry
(ca. 232–ca. 305), also edited his lectures.
In his most famous work, the Enneads,Plotinus syn-
thesized the PHILOSOPHYof PLATOwith other philoso-
phies. He never aspired to be more than an interpreter of
Plato, while combining Aristotelian and Stoic ideas with
those of Plato. His main concern was spiritual progress
toward the “One” or the “Good.” He also saw reality at
several ascending levels. Matter was only the projection
of forms. The THEOLOGY of Plotinus was distinctly
Hellenistic and its mystical monotheism influenced
Christian ideas, especially about the Trinity. Plotinus was
only known indirectly in the Middle Ages through his
influence on AUGUSTINE, BASIL, BOETHIUS, and PSEUDO-
DIONYSUS. In 1492 Marsilio FICINOtranslated into Latin
the Greek Enneads,which became a fundamental contri-
bution to Renaissance NEOPLATONISM.
See alsoPHOTIOSI, THE GREAT, PATRIARCH OFCON-
STANTINOPLE; PLATO ANDPLATONISM.
Further reading:Plotinus, Plotinus,trans. A. H. Arm-
strong. 7 vols. (London: Harvard University Press,
1966–1988); A. H. Armstrong, The Architecture and the
Intelligible Universe in the Philosophy of Plotinus: An Ana-
lytical and Historical Study(Amsterdam: A. M. Hakkert,
1967); Lloyd P. Gerson, ed., The Cambridge Companion to
Plotinus(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996);
Thomas Whittaker, The Neo-Platonists: A Study in the His-
tory of Hellenism,4th ed. (Hildesheim: G. Olms Verlags-
buchhandlung, 1961).podestà (podesta) The podestàwas one of the supreme
magistrates of Italian cities governed by COMMUNES. The
powers and characteristic of the office varied over time
and place. The podestàhad the greatest power and insti-
tutional significance in the first half of the 13th century.
In later and broader-based regimes, the podestàlost some