Medieval France
(ca. 1070–1121). Much of our information about William comes from Abélard and so cannot be judged uncritically; little of his writing is extant. It seems that William studied philosophy and theology with Anselm of Laon, probably with Roscelin at Compiègne, and possibly with Manegold of Lautenbach at Paris. He became archdeacon of Paris and head of the cathedral school (ca. 1100), where Abélard was one of his pupils; but he left the schools, probably because of Abélard’s hostility, in 1108.
William established a religious community at a site dedicated to St. Victor just outside the walls of Paris, organized it according to the new rule of Augustinian regular canons, and laid the foundations of the school there. The abbey flourished under his direction, and it attempted to bridge the widening gulf between monks and schoolmen. In 1113, William became bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne, remaining as a reforming bishop until his death in 1121.
William’s thought has been characterized (through Abélard’s depiction) as “exaggerated realism” (a Neopla-tonic view that held that concepts as much as individuals have existence), so that William regarded the individuals in the same species as having an identical reality.
Lesley J.Smith
[See also: ABÉLARD, PETER; ANSELM OF LAON; PHILOSOPHY; SAINT-VICTOR, ABBEY AND SCHOOL OF]
Green-Pedersen, Neils J. “William of Champeaux on Boethius’ Topics According to Orléans Bibl.
Mun. 266.” Cahiers de l’Institut du Moyen Âge Grec et Latin 13(1974):13–30.
Fredborg, Karin M. “The Commentaries on Cicero’s De inventione and Rhetorica ad Herennium by William of Champeaux.” Cahiers de l’Institut du Moyen Âge Grec et Latin 17(1976): 1–39.
Jolivet, Jean. “Données sur Guillaume de Champeaux dialecticien et théologien.” In L’abbaye parisienne de Saint-Victor au moyen âge, ed. Jean Longère. Turnhout: Brepols, 1991, pp. 235–51.
Tweedale, Martin M. “Logic (i): From the Late Eleventh Century to the Time of Abelard.” In A History of Twelfth-Century Western Philosophy, ed. Peter Dronke. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988, pp. 196–226.
Weisweller, Heinrich. “L’école d’Anselme de Laon et de Guillaume de Champeaux.” Recherches de théologie ancienne et mé-diévale 4(1932):237–69, 371–91.
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