Ralph of Beauvais ( fl. 1142–1182) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

grammarian and linguist. Born in England, Ralph moved to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

no later than 1140 to study under

Peter Abelard Peter Abelard (; french: link=no, Pierre Abélard; la, Petrus Abaelardus or ''Abailardus''; 21 April 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, poet, composer and musician. This source has a detailed desc ...

, who died in 1142. Although he was largely forgotten by the end of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, he was famous in his own day.

Gerald of Wales Gerald of Wales ( la, Giraldus Cambrensis; cy, Gerallt Gymro; french: Gerald de Barri; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and English historians in the Middle Ages, historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and w ...

, referring to the late 1160s and 1170s when he was a student at

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, writes that Ralph "far outdistanced all others in our days as the singular teaching authority on the art of literature and knowledge of grammar" (''in artis litteratorie peritia grammaticaque doctrina singulari prerogativa nostris diebus ceteris cunctis longe preminebat''). The chronicler

Helinand of Froidmont Helinand of Froidmont (c. 1150—after 1229 (probably 1237)) was a medieval poet, chronicler, and ecclesiastical writer. Biography He was born of Flemish parents at Pronleroy in France around 1150. He studied under Ralph of Beauvais. Richard W ...

, who was his pupil, calls him "erudite in divine as much as in secular letters" (''in divinis quam in saecularibus litteris eruditus''). His career was spent entirely as a teacher of grammar in the cathedral school of Beauvais. Sometime between 1182 and 1185, when he was an old man, he exchanged letters with

Peter of Blois Peter of Blois ( la, Petrus Blesensis; French: ''Pierre de Blois''; ) was a French cleric, theologian, poet and diplomat. He is particularly noted for his corpus of Latin letters. Early life and education Peter of Blois was born about 1130. Ear ...

, reproaching Peter for having abandoned the schools to work for the

archdiocese of Canterbury The Province of Canterbury, or less formally the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces which constitute the Church of England. The other is the Province of York (which consists of 12 dioceses). Overview The Province consist ...

and being reproached by Peter in turn for having stuck to grammar when his peers had moved on to higher things.

Richard William Hunt Richard William Hunt (11 April 1908 – 13 November 1979) was a scholar, grammarian, palaeographer, editor, and author of a number of books about medieval history. He began his career as a lecturer in palaeography at Liverpool University, and ...

, "Studies on Priscian in the Twelfth Century, II: The School of Ralph of Beauvais", in ''The History of Grammar in the Middle Ages: Collected Papers'' (John Benjamins, 1980), pp. 39–94, esp. 49–50. Among his students were

Peter of Spain __NOTOC__ Peter of Hispania ( la, Petrus Hispanus; Portuguese and es, Pedro Hispano; century) was the author of the ', later known as the ', an important medieval university textbook on Aristotelian logic. As the Latin ''Hispania'' was consider ...

, Robert Blund and

Robert of Paris Robert of Paris was the cardinal-presbyter of Sant'Eusebio from 1100 until his deposition in 1112. He was restored in 1119, but died shortly after. He served as an apostolic legate to the Holy Land in 1102 in the aftermath of the First Crusade, du ...

.L. Kaczmarek
"Ralph of Beauvais (fl. 1175)"
''Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics'' (Elsevier, 2005), vol. 10, p. 356. Two works in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

by Ralph are known. The ''Glose super Donatum'' is a commentary on the 4th-century Latin grammatical treatise ''Ars minora'' by

Aelius Donatus Aelius Donatus (; fl. mid-fourth century AD) was a Roman grammarian and teacher of rhetoric. Works He was the author of a number of professional works, of which several are extant: *Ars maior – A commentary on Latin grammar. * Ars minor – ...

. The ''Liber Tytan''Edited by C. H. J. M. Kneepkens (Brepols, 1991). is a grammatical analysis of Latin poems, mainly selections from

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

Lucan Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November 39 AD – 30 April 65 AD), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba (modern-day Córdoba), in Hispania Baetica. He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imperial ...

and

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

. Ralph's teaching is similar to that found in two anonymous treatises, the gloss on

Priscian Priscianus Caesariensis (), commonly known as Priscian ( or ), was a Latin grammarian and the author of the ''Institutes of Grammar'', which was the standard textbook for the study of Latin during the Middle Ages. It also provided the raw materia ...

entitled '' Promisimus'' and the rudimentary ''Verba preceptiva''. It was criticized in the 13th-century by the

speculative grammar The Modistae (Latin for Modists), also known as the speculative grammarians, were the members of a school of grammarian philosophy known as Modism or speculative grammar, active in northern France, Germany, England, and Denmark in the 13th and 14t ...

ian Michael of Marbais.

Notes

References

{{Authority control 12th-century English people 12th-century Latin writers 12th-century linguists