The Great Mirror of the world, Speculum maius, is the “Great Encyclopedia” of the Middle Ages. This book presents the stages of its development as a tool of the studium, by Brother Vincent de Beauvais, Dominican reader in the service of his Order, and also familiar to King Louis IX. It characterizes the documentation implemented and its evolution. First conceived in two parts, in a spirit close to Victorian thought, (around 1244), the work was then presented in the light of advances in the new science, dependent on Aristotle and al-Farabi (around 1260). The naturalist influence of Albert the Great following that, exegetical, of Hugues de Saint-Cher, the Speculum maius thus becomes a work in three parts, Speculum naturale, devoted to natural history according to the order of the six days of creation; Doctrinal speculum, unfinished, exposing all branches of knowledge ( propaedeutical trivium, practical sciences, mechanical sciences, theoretical sciences); Speculum historiale, unfolding the facts and gesta of humanity (history proper, literary history and hagiography) until the Last Judgment, according to the Augustinian vision of history. Translated documents, including the important prologue, Libellus apologeticus, illustrate the method of composition and the content of the work, put it in relation to other parallel writings of the 13th century and testify to its success over the centuries. - [ Publisher]

Language: French

978-2-503-51454-3; DOI: 10.1484/M.TH-EB.5.106386