Thomas of Cantimpré (Latin: Thomas Cantimpratensis or Thomas CantipratensisNot only ancient sources, but also modern studies and editions evidence some uncertainty about Thomas' Latin name, particularly between the variants Cantipratensis and Cantimpratensis. Here Cantimpratensis has been preferred.) (Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, 1201 – Louvain, 15 May 1272) was a Flemish Catholic medieval writer, preacher, theologian and a friar belonging to the Dominican Order. He is best known for his encyclopedic work on nature De natura rerum, for the moral text Bonum universale de Apibus and for his hagiographical writings.
Biography
Thomas of Cantimpré was born of noble parentage in 1201,The precise date (1201) is indicated in Biografia universale antica e moderna, ossia storia per alfabeto della vita publica e privata di tutte le persone che si distinsero per opere, azioni, talenti, virtù e delitti, vol. LVIII, Venezia, Molinari, 1829, p. 116. The year 1201 is also indicated in Charles Victor Langlois et alii, Histoire littéraire de la France: ouvrage commencé par des religieux bénédictins de la Congrégation de Saint Maur, et continué par des membres de l’Institut, Imprimerie nationale, 1838, p. 177. Other scholars seem to be more cautious, as they just point out that Thomas was born around 1200: see for example Barbara Newman, Introduction, in Id., Thomas of Cantimpré: The Collected Saints' Lives: Abbot John of Cantimpré, Christina the Astonishing, Margaret of Ypres, and Lutgard of Aywières, Turnhout, Brepols, 2008 (Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, 19), pp. 3–51, p. 3. at Sint-Pieters-Leeuw (a small town near Brussels), in the Duchy of Brabant.
In 1206 his father (returning from Palestine, where he had fought alongside Richard I of England) sent Thomas to Liège, where he began to tackle the difficulties of the trivium and quadrivium, studying from age 5 to age 11; in Liège he also had the chance to meet Jacques de Vitry, who was preaching there.
In 1217, at the age of 16, he entered the Canons Regular of St. Augustine at the Abbey of Cantimpré, near Cambrai, The abbey was destroyed around during political upheavals in 1580. On this topic, see Biografia universale antica e moderna, p. 117. where he was later ordained a priest. He was to spend fifteen years at Cantimpré, a constant source of edification for his brethren.
Later, in 1232, Thomas of Cantimpré entered the Dominican Order in Leuven (again in the Brabant), and in 1233 was sent by the Order to Cologne, so that he could pursue advanced theological studies: here, Thomas had the opportunity to study and make progress under the direction Albertus Magnus.
After 4 years in Cologne, Thomas was sent to Paris for further scholarly studies at the Dominican studium of Saint-Jacques, in preparation for his preaching mission.
By 1240, he had returned to Louvain, where he was appointed Magister of philosophy and theology, a charge he exercised with great distinction. In 1246, still at Louvain, he became subprior and lector.
The last part of his life was dedicated to preaching and he undertook missions throughout the Brabant, Germany, Belgium and France: for his great success in this field, Thomas was also honored with the title of "Preacher General".
Thomas of Cantimpré died in Leuven, supposedly on 15 May 1272.See Histoire littéraire de la France, p. 177. The day of his death, but not the year, is indicated in an obituary of Leuven Monastery. See Biografia universale antica e moderna, p. 117.
Writings
Thomas of Cantimpré was the author of several works of different types, all written in Latin.
Among his hagiographical works are the Vita Joannis abbatis primi monasterii Cantimpratensis, a Supplementum ad vitam Mariae Oigniacensis, as well as three lives dedicated to holy women belonging to the Diocese of Liège, namely, the Vita S. Christinae virginis Mirabilis dictae, Vita preclare virginis Margarete de Ypris, and Vita Piae Lutgardiae.
The Hymnus de beato Jordano is a 105-line work written in honor of the blessed Jordan of Saxony (died 1237), a key figure of the Dominican Order.
De natura rerum
One of Thomas' most significant works is 'De natura rerum' (or Liber de natura rerum), a work of natural history to which he dedicated almost twenty years of labour, between 1225 and 1244. The text had the greatest diffusion of all his writings, on account of both the large number of surviving manuscripts, as well as the many references made to it by later authors.
Bonum universale de apibus Thomas of Cantimpré was also the author of the Bonum universale de apibus, a work of moral and spiritual edification Defined by Baudouin van den Abeele, p. 142: «oeuvre d’édification morale et spirituelle appuyée d’exempla et de similitudes tirées de la vie des abeilles». – composed between 1256/57 and 1263, but probably around 1259On the dating, cf. Nicholas Louis, Essaimage et usages du «Bonum universale de apibus» de Thomas de Cantimpré, p. 31. – which is based on the allegory of life in a community of bees to deal with issues related to moral conduct and to the duties of superiors and subordinates.
The Bonum universale de apibus is organized in two books: the first one () deals with the "prelates" (bishops, abbots and other high-ranking clergy), while the second one (De subditis) deals with subordinates (both monks and laity). Each chapter presents at the beginning the exposition of a property of bees, followed by an allegorical interpretation of a moral kind and then by a series of exempla. While the passages on bees and allegorical interpretations are taken (as the author himself recountsSee Nicholas Louis, Essaimage et usages du «Bonum universale de apibus» de Thomas de Cantimpré, p. 32.) from 'other books', Thomas takes up the matter of each exemplum "from his own experience or from contemporary oral, religious or secular sources".Nicholas Louis, Essaimage et usages du «Bonum universale de apibus» de Thomas de Cantimpré, p. 32: «tirés da sa propre expérience ou de sources orales contemporaines, religieuses ou laïques». Overall, the text therefore represents "a treatise on practical theology and morals".Nicholas LOUIS, Essaimage et usages du «Bonum universale de apibus» de Thomas de Cantimpré, p. 32: «traité de théologie pratique et de morale».
Like the De natura rerum, the Bonum universale had great fortune: the manuscript tradition is prolific, more than a hundred manuscripts.For a list of the work's manuscripts see Arlima (https://www.arlima.net/qt/thomas_de_cantimpre.html#), but also the more specific and well-structured list in Nicolas Louis, Essaimage et usages du «Bonum universale de apibus» de Thomas de Cantimpré, pp. 52–56. There were made also several prints: a print in Deventer before 1478, then one in Paris and three more (1597, 1605, 1627) in Douai. The text has also inspired many writers during the centuries, including Johannes Nider, who took inspiration from the Bonum universale for the structure of his Formicarius (1436–1438).About that topic, see Catherine CHÊNE, Des fourmis et des hommes. Le «Formicarius» (1436–1438) de Jean Nider O.P., in «Micrologus. Natura, scienze e società medievali. Rivista della Società Internazionale per lo Studio del Medio Evo Latino», VIII, tomo I, 2000, pp. 297–350.
The Bonum universale de apibus subsequently had wide resonance also because it contains (in the paragraph Cur Iudaei Christianum sanguinem effundant quotannisBonum universale de apibus, liber II, cap. XXIX, § 23; the text (ed. cit., pp. 304–305) can be found at this link: https://web.archive.org/web/20070713201743/http://www.uni-rier.de/uni/fb3/geschichte/cluse/eu/dt_q1271.html .) the first systematic theorizing of the antisemitic so-called 'Blood Accusation', accusing Jews of the ritual murder of Christians. In an attempt to understand the reason behind these purported rituals, Thomas concocts a theoryCf. Albert Ehrman, The Origins of the Ritual Murder Accusation and Blood Libel, in «Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought», XV, n. 14, 1976, pp. 83–90, p. 86. that since the killing of Christ the Jews suffered from bleeding, as per the mob's cry to Pilate "May his blood be on us and on our children" (Mt 27:25), thus the Jews supposedly killed Christians, and then used their blood in rituals, believing, says Thomas, that in this way they could heal themselves. In fact, he claimed, they had erroneously interpreted to the letter the indication of one of their prophets that "only Christian blood could alleviate this sorrow", when in reality the prophecy figuratively referred to the blood of Christ (only sanguine Christiano), symbolically drunk during the Eucharist: the only good for the Jews would therefore have been conversion to the true faith. Thomas says he learned about this from an unspecified "converted Jew", probablyThis is the opinion argued by H.L. Strack, (Blood Accusation, in The Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. III, New York, Funk and Wagnalls Company, 1902, p. 260), but also by Ehrman, The Origins of the Ritual Murder Accusation and Blood Libel, p. 89, n. 13. referring to Nicholas Donin.
Within the Bonum universale Thomas also mentions the blasphemous theory of the three impostors, according to which the founders of the three great religions – Moses, Jesus and Muhammad – would "subdue the world with their sects and their teachings: [...] Moses deceived the Jews, Jesus the Christians and Mohammed the Gentiles".Thomas of Cantimpré, Bonum universale de apibus, ed. cit., p. 440. The text can be found at this link: https://web.archive.org/web/20070713201743/http://www.uni-rier.de/uni/fb3/geschichte/cluse/eu/dt_q1271.html . Thomas of Cantimpré attributes this idea to the theologian Simon of TournaiPlease notice that he is not the XII century's homonyms canonical (1130–1201), which has a Wiki page. About this man, cf. Charles Victor Langlois et alii, Histoire littéraire de la France, pp. 391–392. (or Simon de Tornaco, as Thomas calls him), a master of theology at the University of Paris who, he claims, deserved (for having said that) an epileptic crisis that made him mute.
Hagiographical Works Thomas of Cantimpré is also the author of various hagiographical texts, for which he is considered one of the first great authors of mystical hagiography.
With the exception of Vita Joannis abbatis primi monasterii Cantimpratensis – composed between 1224 and 1228See Katrien Heene, Hagiography and Gender: A Tentative Case-Study on Thomas of Cantimpré, in «Scribere sanctorum gesta». Recueil d’études d’hagiographie médiévale offert à Guy Philippart, curr. Étienne Renard – Michel TrigaletT – Xavier Hermand, – Paul Bertrand, Turnhout, Brepols, 2005 (Hagiologia. Etudes sur la saintété en Occident. Studies on Western Sainthood 3), pp. 109–123, p. 109. and relating to the founder and first abbot of the abbey of Cantimpré – Thomas writes mystical biographies on holy women, all linked to the territory of modern Belgium.
His mystic hagiographical works therefore represent a corpus of texts, composed roughly between 1231 and 1248, which appears as "a florilegium of lives of the holy women living around Liège":Alessandra Bartolomei Romagnoli, Mistici e mistica domenicana, in L’Ordine dei Predicatori. I Domenicani: storia, figure e istituzioni. 1216–2016, curr. Gianni Festa A e Marco Rainini, Bari, Laterza, 2016, pp. 351–388, pp. 365–366. through this set of hagiographic works, Thomas of Cantimpré offers "a mirror of the complexity and fluidity of the forms of religious life of the diocese of Liège".Alessandra Bartolomei Romagnoli, Mistici e mistica domenicana, p. 365. It is also possible to analyze in detail the individual works that make up this hagiographical dossier.This is how it is defined also by Barbara Newman, Introduction, p. 4.
Supplementum ad vitam Mariae Oigniacensis