Dante’s mind was always turning from the obvious sense-actuality of the fact to its symbolism; which held the truer reality. With such a man it is not strange that the beloved and adored woman, the love of whom was virtue and enlightenment, should, when dead to earth, become that divine wisdom which opens Heaven to the lover who would follow, for all eternity, whither his beloved has so surely gone. No, it was not strange, but only as wonderful as all the works of God, that she who while living had been the spring of virtue of all kinds and meanings in the poet’s breast, should after death become the emblem, even the reality, of that whereby man is taught how to win his heavenly salvation. Passage after passage in the Purgatorio and Paradiso show that Beatrice is this divina scientia, and yet has never ceased to be one whom the poet loves.[751]

Thus it is clear that mediaeval development converges at last in Dante. He, or his Commedia, might be the final Summa, were not he, or rather it, the final poem. Man and work include the emotions and the intellectual interests of the Middle Ages, embracing what had been known,—Physics, Astronomy, Politics, History, Pagan Mythology, Christian Theology,—all bent and moulded at last to the matter of the book. Not the contents of the Commedia is Dante’s own, but the poem itself—that is his creation.

Yet even the poem itself was a climax long led up to. The power of its feeling had been preparing in the conceptions, even in the reasonings, which through the centuries had been gaining ardour as they became part of the entire natures of men and women. Thus had mediaeval thought become emotionalized and plastic and living in poetry and art. Otherwise, even Dante’s genius could not have fused the contents of mediaeval thought into a poem. How many passages in the Commedia illustrate this—like the lovely picture of Lia moving in the flowering meadow, with her fair hands making her a garland. The twenty-third canto of the Paradiso, telling of the triumph of Christ and the Virgin, yields a larger illustration; and within it, as a very concrete lyric instance, floats that flower of angelic love, the song of Gabriel circling the Lady of Heaven with its melody, and giving quintessential utterance to the love and adoration which the Middle Ages had intoned to the Virgin. Yes, if it be Dante’s genius, it is also the gathering emotion of the centuries, which lifts the last cantos of the Paradiso from glory to glory, and makes this closing singing of the Commedia such supreme poetry. Nor is it the emotional element alone that reaches its final voice in Dante. Passage after passage of the Paradiso is the apotheosis of scholastic thought and ways of stating it, the very apotheosis, for example, of those harnessed phrases in which the line of great scholastics had endeavoured to put in words the universalities of substance and accident and the absolute qualities of God.

Yet one more feature of Dante’s typifying inclusiveness of the past. Its elements exist in him at first without conscious opposition and yet not subordinated one to another, the less worthy to those of eternal validity. Then conflict arises; the mediaeval Psychomachia awakes in Dante. Evidently he who wrote the Convito after the Vita Nuova, had not continued spiritually undisturbed. Had there come dullings of his early faith? Did his mind seek too exclusive satisfaction in knowledge? Had he possibly swerved a little from some high intention? The facts are veiled. Dante wears neither his mind nor his heart upon his sleeve. Yet a reconcilement was attained by him, though perhaps he had to fetch it out of Hell. He achieved it in his great poem, which in its long making made the poet into the likeness of itself. Fitness for salvation is the ultimate criterion with Dante respecting the elements of mortal life, as it had been through the Middle Ages. And the Commedia—truly the Divina Commedia—while it presents the scheme of salvation for universal man, is the achieved salvation of the poet.

INDEX

Note.—Of several references to the same matter the more important are shown by heavy type.

Abaelard, Peter, career of, ii. [342-5];
at Paris, ii. [343], [344], [383];
popularity there, ii. [119];
love for Heloïse, ii. [4-5], [344];
love-songs, ii. [13], [207];
Heloïse’s love for, i. 585; ii. [3], [5], [8], [9], [15-16];
early relations with Heloïse, ii. [4-5];
suggestion of marriage opposed by her, ii. [6-9];
marriage, ii. [9];
suffers vengeance of Fulbert, ii. [9];
becomes a monk at St. Denis, ii. [10];
at the Paraclete, ii. [10], [344];
at Breton monastery, ii. [10];
St. Bernard’s denunciations of, i. 229, 401; ii. [344-5], [355];
letters to, from Heloïse quoted, ii. [11-15], [17-20], [23], [24];
letters from, to Heloïse quoted, ii. [16-17], [21-3], [24-5];
closing years at Cluny, ii. [25], [26], [345];
death of, ii. [27], [345];
estimate of, ii. [4], [342];
rationalizing temper, i. 229; ii. [298-9];
skill in dialectic, ii. [303], [345-6], [353];
not an Aristotelian, ii. [369];
works on theology, ii. [352-5];
De Unitate et Trinitate divina, ii. [10], [298-9], [352] and n. 3;
Theologia, ii. [303-4], [395];
Scito te ipsum, ii. [350-1];
Sic et non, i. 17; ii. [304-6], [352], [357];
Dialectica, ii. [346] and nn., [349-50];
Dialogue between Philosopher, Jew, and Christian, ii. [350], [351];
Historia calamitatum, ii. [4-11], [298-9], [343];
Carmen ad Astralabium filium, ii. [192];
hymns, ii. [207-9];
otherwise mentioned, ii. [134], [283] and n.
Abbo, Abbot, i. 294 and n., 324
Abbots:
Armed forces, with, i. 473
Cistercian, position of, i. 362-3 and n.
Investiture of, lay, i. 244
Social class of, i. 473
Accursius, Glossa ordinaria of, ii. [262], [263]
Adalberon, Abp. of Rheims, i. 240, 282-3, 287
Adam of Marsh, ii. [389], [400], [487]
Adam of St. Victor, editions of hymns of, ii. [87] n. 1;
examples of the hymns, ii. [87] seqq.;
Latin originals, ii. [206], [209-15]
Adamnan cited, i. 134 n. 2, 137
Adelard of Bath, ii. [370]
Aedh, i. 132
Agobard, Abp. of Lyons, i. 215, 232-3;
cited, ii. [247]
Aidan, St., i. 174
Aimoin, Vita Abbonis by, i. 294 and n.
Aix, Synod of, i. 359
Aix-la-Chapelle:
Chapel at, i. 212 n.
School at, see [Carolingian period—Palace school]
Alans, i. 113, 116, 119
Alanus de Insulis, career of, ii. [92-4];
estimate of, ii. [375-6];
works of, ii. [48] n. 1, [94], [375] n. 5, [376];
Anticlaudianus, ii. [94-103], [192], [377], [539];
De planctu naturae, ii. [192-3] and n. 1, [376]
Alaric, i. 112
Alaric II., i. 117; ii. [243]
Alberic, Card., i. 252 n. 2
Alberic, Markgrave of Camerino, i. 242
Alberic, son of Marozia, i. 242-3
Albertus Magnus, career of, ii. [421];
estimate of, ii. [298], [301], [421];
estimate of work of, ii. [393], [395];
attitude toward Gilbert de la Porrée, ii. [372];
compared with Bacon, ii. [422];
with Aquinas, ii. [433], [438];
relations with Aquinas, ii. [434];
on logic, ii. [314-15];
method of, ii. [315] n.;
edition of works, ii. [424] n. 1;
De praedicabilibus, ii. [314] and n., [315], [424-5];
work on the rest of Aristotle, ii. [420-1];
analysis of this work, ii. [424] seqq.;
attitude toward the original, ii. [422];
Summa theologiae, ii. [430], [431];
Summa de creaturis, ii. [430-1];
De adhaerendo Deo, ii. [432];
otherwise mentioned, i. 17; ii. [82] n. 2, [283], [312], [402], [541] n. 2
Albigenses, i. 49;
persecution of, i. 366-7, 461, 481, 572; ii. [168]
Alboin the Lombard, i. 115
Alchemy, ii. [496-7]
Alcuin of York, career of, i. 214;
works of, i. 216-21 and n. 2;
extracts from letters of, ii. [159];
stylelessness of, ii. [159], [174];
verses by, quoted, ii. [136-7];
on urbanitas, ii. [136];
otherwise mentioned, i. 212, 240, 343; ii. [112], [312], [332]
Aldhelm, i. 185
Alemanni, i. 9, 121, 122, 145 n. 2, 174, 192
Alemannia, Boniface’s work in, i. 199
Alexander the Great, Pseudo-Callisthenes’ Life of, ii. [224], [225], [229-230];
Walter of Lille’s work on, ii. [230] n. 1
Alexander II., Pope, i. 262 n., 263 and n. 1
Alexander de Villa-Dei, Doctrinale of, ii. [125-7], [163]
Alexander of Hales—at Paris, i. 476; ii. [399];
Bacon’s attack on, ii. [494], [497];
estimate of work of, ii. [393], [395], [399];
Augustinianism of, ii. [403-4]
Alfred, King of England, i. 144 and n. 2, 187-90
Allegory (See also [Symbolism]):
Dictionaries of, ii. [47-8] and n. 1, [49]
Greek examples of, ii. [42], [364]
Metaphor distinguished from, ii. [41] n.
Politics, in, ii. [60-1], [275-6], [280]
Roman de la rose as exemplifying, ii. [103]
Scripture, see under [Scriptures]
Two uses of, ii. [365]
Almsgiving, i. 268
Alphanus, i. 253-4
Amadas, i. 565
Ambrose, St., Abp. of Milan, on miracles, i. 85-6;
attitude toward secular studies, i. 300; ii. [288];
Hexaëmeron of, i. 72-4;
De officiis, i. 96;
hymns, i. 347-8;
otherwise mentioned, i. 70, 75, 76, 104, 186, 354; ii. [45] n., [272]
Anacletus II., Pope, i. 394
Anchorites, see [Hermits]
Andrew the Chaplain, Flos amoris of, i. 575-6
Angels:
Aquinas’ discussion of, ii. [324-5], [435], [457] seqq., [469], [473-5]
Dante’s views on, ii. [551]
Emotionalizing of conception of, i. 348 n. 4
Hugo of St. Victor on, ii. [68], [69]
Symbols, regarded as, ii. [457]
Vincent’s Speculum as concerning, ii. [319]
Writings regarding, summary of, ii. [457]
Angilbert, i. 234-5
Angles, i. 140
Anglo-Saxons:
Britain conquered by, i. 141
Characteristics of, i. 142, 196
Christian missions by, i. 196, 197
Christian missions to, i. 172, 174, 180 seqq.
Customs of, i. 141
Poetry of, i. 142-4
Roman influence slight on, i. 32
Aniane monastery, i. 358-9
Annals, i. 234 and n. 1
Anselm (at Laon), ii. [343-4]
Anselm, St., Abp. of Canterbury, dream of, i. 269-70;
early career, i. 270;
at Bec, i. 271-2;
relations with Rufus, i. 273, 275;
journey to Italy, i. 275;
estimate of, i. 274, 276-7; ii. [303], [330], [338];
style of, i. 276; ii. [166-7];
influence of, on Duns Scotus, ii. [511];
works of, i. 275 seqq.;
Cur Deus homo, i. 275, 277 n. 1, 279; ii. [395];
Monologion, i. 275-7;
Proslogion, i. 276-8; ii. [166], [395];
Meditationes, i. 276, 279;
De grammatico, i. 277 n. 2;
otherwise mentioned, i. 16, 19, 301-2; ii. [139], [283], [297], [340]
Anselm of Besate, i. 259
Anthony, St., i. 365-6;
Life of, by Athanasius, i. 47, 52 and n.
Antique literature, see [Greek thought] and [Latin classics]
Antique stories, themes of, in vernacular poetry, ii. [223] seqq.
Apollinaris Sidonius, ii. [107]
Apollonius of Tyana, i. 44
Apollonius of Tyre, ii. [224] and n.
Aquinas, Thomas, family of, ii. [433-4];
career, ii. [434-5];
relations with Albertus Magnus, ii. [434];
translations of Aristotle obtained by, ii. [391];
Vita of, by Guilielmus de Thoco, ii. [435] n.;
works of, ii. [435];
estimate of, and of his work, i. 17, 18; ii. [301], [436-8], [484];
completeness of his philosophy, ii. [393-5];
pivot of his attitude, ii. [440];
present position of, ii. [501];
style, ii. [180];
mastery of dialectic, ii. [352];
compared with Eriugena, i. 231 n. 1;
with Albertus Magnus, ii. [433], [438];
with Bonaventura, ii. [437];
with Duns, ii. [517];
Dante compared with and influenced by, ii. [541] n. 2, [547], [549], [551], [555];
on monarchy, ii. [277];
on faith, ii. [288];
on difference between philosophy and theology, ii. [290];
on logic, ii. [313];
Summa theologiae, i. 17, 18; ii. [290] seqq.;
style of the work, ii. [180-1];
Bacon’s charge against it, ii. [300];
Peter Lombard’s work contrasted with it, ii. [307-10];
its method, ii. [307];
its classification scheme, ii. [324-9];
analysis of the work, ii. [438] seqq., [447] seqq.;
Summa philosophica contra Gentiles, ii. [290], [438], [445-6];
otherwise mentioned, i. 69 n. 2; ii. [283], [298], [300], [312], [402]
Aquitaine, i. 29, 240, 573
Arabian philosophy, ii. [389-90], [400-1]
Arabs, Spanish conquest by, i. 9, 118
Archimedes, i. 40
Architecture, Gothic:
Evolution of, i. 305; ii. [539]
Great period of, i. 346
Argenteuil convent, ii. [9], [10]
Arianism:
Teutonic acceptance of, i. 120, 192, 194
Visigothic abandonment of, i. 118 nn.
Aristotle, estimate of, i. 37-8;
works of, i. 37-8;
unliterary character of writings of, ii. [118], [119];
philosophy as classified by, ii. [312];
attitude of, to discussions of final cause, ii. [336];
the Organon, i. 37, 71;
progressive character of its treatises, ii. [333-4];
Boëthius’ translation of the work, i. 71, 91-2;
advanced treatises “lost” till 12th cent., ii. [248] n., [334];
Porphyry’s Introduction to the Categories, i. 45, 92, 102; ii. [312], [314] n., [333], [339];
Arabian translations of works, ii. [389-90];
introduction of complete works, i. 17;
Latin translations made in 13th cent., ii. [391];
three stages in scholastic appropriation of the Natural Philosophy and Metaphysics, ii. [393];
Paris University study of, ii. [391-2] and n.;
Albertus Magnus’ work on, ii. [420-1], [424] seqq.;
Aquinas’ mastery of, i. 17, 18;
Dominican acceptance of system of, ii. [404];
Dante’s reverence for, ii. [542]
Arithmetic:
Abacus, the, i. 299
Boëthius’ work on, i. 72, 90
Music in relation to, ii. [291]
Patristic treatment of, i. 72
Scholastic classification of, ii. [313]
Arnold of Brescia, i. 401; ii. [171]
Arnulf, Abp. of Rheims, i. 283-4
Art, Christian (For particular arts, see their names):
Demons as depicted in, ii. [540] n. 2
Early, i. 345 n.
Emotionalizing of, i. 345-7
Evolution of, i. 19-20
Germany, in (11th cent.), i. 312
Symbolism the inspiration of, i. 21; ii. [82-6]
Arthur, King, story of youth of, i. 568-569;
relations with Lancelot and Guinevere, i. 584;
with Parzival, i. 592, 599-600, 612
Arthurian romances:
Comparison of, with Chansons de geste, i. 564-5
German culture influenced by, ii. [28]
Origin and authorship of, question as to, i. 565-7
Universal vogue of, i. 565, 573, 577
otherwise mentioned, i. 531, 538
Arts, the (See also [Latin classics]):
Classifications of, ii. [312] seqq.
Course of, shortening of, ii. [132], [384]
Dictamen, ii. [121], [129], [381]
[Grammar], see that heading
Masters in, at Paris and Oxford, ii. [384-5];
course for, ii. [388]
[Seven Liberal], see that heading
Asceticism:
Christian:
Carthusian, i. 384
Early growth of, i. 333-5
Manichean, i. 49
Women’s practice of, i. 444, 462-3
Neo-Platonic, i. 43, 44, 46, 50, 331, 334
Astralabius, ii. [6], [9], [27];
Abaelard’s poem to, ii. [191-2] and n. 1
Astrology, i. 44 and n.; ii. [374]:
Bacon’s views on, ii. [499-500]
Astronomy:
Chartres study of, i. 299
Gerbert’s teaching of, i. 288-9
Patristic attitude toward, i. 72
Ataulf, i. 112, 116
Athanasius, St., estimate of work of, i. 54, 68;
Life of St. Anthony by, i. 47, 52 and n., 84;
Orationes, i. 68
Atlantis, i. 36
Attila the Hun, i. 112-13;
in legend, i. 145-7
Augustine, Abp. of Canterbury, i. 6, 171, 180-2;
Gregory’s letters to, cited, i. 102
Augustine, St., Bp. of Hippo, Platonism of, i. 55;
personal affinity of, with Plotinus, i. 55-7;
barbarization of, by Gregory the Great, i. 98, 102;
compared with Gregory the Great, i. 98-9;
with Anselm, i. 279;
with Guigo, i. 385, 390;
overwhelming influence of, in Middle Ages, ii. [403];
on numbers, i. 72 and n. 2, 105;
attitude toward physical science, i. 300;
on love of God, i. 342, 344;
allegorizing of Scripture by, ii. [44-5];
modification by, of classical Latin, ii. [152];
Confessions, i. 63; ii. [531];
De Trinitate, i. 64, 68, 74, 96;
Civitas Dei, i. 64-65, 69 n. 2, 81-82;
De moribus Ecclesiae, i. 65, 67-8;
De doctrina Christiana, i. 66-7;
classification scheme based on the Doctrina, ii. [322];
De spiritu et littera, i. 69;
De cura pro mortuis, i. 86;
De genesi ad litteram, ii. [324];
Alcuin’s compends of works of, i. 220;
otherwise mentioned, i. 5, 53, 71, 75, 82, 87, 89, 104, 186, 225, 340, 354, 366, 370; ii. [107], [269], [297], [312]
Augustus, Emp., i. 26, 29
Aurillac monastery, i. 281
Ausonius, i. 126 n. 2; ii. [107]
Austrasia:
Church organization in, i. 199
Feudal disintegration of, i. 240
Irish monasteries founded in, i. 174
Rise of, under Pippin, i. 209
Authority v. reason, see [Reason]
Auxerre, i. 506-7
Averroes, ii. [390]
Averroism, ii. [400-1]
Averroists, ii. [284] n., [296] n. 1
Avicenna, ii. [390]
Avitus, Bp. of Vienne, i. 126 n. 2
Azo, ii. [262-3]
Bacon, Roger, career of, ii. [486-7]
tragedy of career, ii. [486];
relations with Franciscan Order, ii. [299], [486], [488], [490-1];
encouragement to, from Clement IV., ii. [489-90] and n. 1;
estimate of, ii. [484-6];
estimate of work of, ii. [402];
style of, ii. [179-80];
attitude toward the classics, ii. [120];
predilection for physical science, ii. [289], [486-7];
Albertus Magnus compared with, ii. [422];
on four causes of ignorance, ii. [494-5];
on seven errors in theological study, ii. [495-8];
on experimental science, ii. [502-8];
on logic, ii. [505];
on faith, ii. [507];
editions of works of, ii. [484] n.;
Greek Grammar by, ii. [128] and n. 5, [484] n., [487], [498];
Multiplicatio specierum, ii. [484] n., [500];
Opus tertium, ii. [488], [490] and nn., [491], [492], [498], [499];
Opus majus, ii. [490-1], [492], [494-5], [498], [499-500], [506-8];
Optics, ii. [500];
Opus minus, ii. [490-1], [495-8];
Vatican fragment, ii. [490] and n. 2, [505] n. 1;
Compendium studii philosophiae, ii. [491], [493-4], [507-8];
Compendium theologiae, ii. [491];
otherwise mentioned, ii. [284] n., [335] n., [389], [531-2]
Bartolomaeus, De proprietatibus rerum of, ii. [316] n. 2
Bartolus, ii. [264]
Baudri, Abbot of Bourgueil, ii. [192] n. 1
Bavaria:
Irish monasteries founded in, i. 174
Merovingian rule in, i. 121
Otto’s relations with, i. 241
Reorganization of Church in, 198-9
Bavarians, i. 145 n. 2, 209, 210
Beauty, love of, i. 340
Bec monastery, i. 262 n., 270-2
Bede, estimate of, i. 185-6;
allegorizing of Scripture by, ii. [47] n. 1;
Church History of the English People, i. 172, 186, 234 n. 2;
De arte metrica, i. 187, 298;
Liber de temporibus, 300;
otherwise mentioned, i. 184, 212
Beghards of Liége, i. 365
Belgae, i. 126
Belgica, i. 29, 32
Benedict, Prior, i. 258
Benedict, St., of Nursia, i. 85 and n. 2, 94, 100 n. 4;
Regula of, see under [Monasticism]
Benedictus, Chronicon of, ii. [160-1]
Benedictus Levita, Deacon, ii. [270]
Benoit de St. More, Roman de Troie by, ii. [225], [227-9]
Beowulf, i. 141, 143-4 and n. 1
Berengar, King, i. 256
Berengar of Tours, i. 297, 299, 302-3; ii. [137]
Bernard, Bro., of Quintavalle, i. 502
Bernard, disciple of St. Francis, i. 425-6
Bernard of Chartres, ii. [130-2], [370]
Bernard, St., Abbot of Clairvaux, at Citeaux, i. 360, 393;
inspires Templars’ regula, i. 531;
denounces and crushes Abaelard, i. 229, 401; ii. [344-5], [355];