The school of St Victor was the medieval

monastic school Monastic schools ( la, Scholae monasticae) were, along with cathedral schools, the most important institutions of higher learning in the Latin West from the early Middle Ages until the 12th century. Since Cassiodorus's educational program, the stan ...

at the Augustinian abbey of St Victor in Paris. The name also refers to the Victorines, the group of philosophers and mystics based at this school as part of the

University of Paris The University of Paris (french: link=no, Université de Paris), Metonymy, metonymically known as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, active from 1150 to 1970, with the exception between 1793 and 1806 under the French Revo ...

. It was founded in the twelfth century by

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 ...

's tutor and subsequent opponent, the realist school master William of Champeaux, and a prominent early member of their community was

Hugh of St Victor Hugh of Saint Victor ( 1096 – 11 February 1141), was a Saxon canon regular and a leading theologian and writer on mystical theology. Life As with many medieval figures, little is known about Hugh's early life. He was probably born in the 1090s. ...

. Other prominent members were Achard of St. Victor, Andrew of St Victor, Richard of St Victor,

Walter of St Victor Walter of Saint Victor (d. c. 1180) was a mystic philosopher and theologian, and an Augustinian canon of Paris. Nothing is known about Walter except that, in about the year 1175, he was prior of St. Victor's Abbey, Paris; that about the time of th ...

and Godfrey of St Victor, as well as Thomas Gallus. Under the rigorous supervision of Hugh, St Victor offered a coherent and structured approach to learning through the cultivation of personal virtue rather than the requisition of knowledge for its own sake. This is exemplified in the schema for the

liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...

laid out in Hugh's ''Didascalicon'', in which he exhorts the reader to ''Omnia Disce'', or to know all. By 1160, the abbey had become a place of retreat from the schools, echoing the original act of weary retirement enacted by William of Champeaux at its founding. By the time of Godfrey, St Victor was primarily concerned with the instruction of its own canons, rather than the emphasis on the external school operated earlier in the twelfth century. The end of the Victorines as a unique force came by 1173, when the reactionary Walter was appointed as prior. Walter launched a furious attack upon the intellectual culture of the school and its members with his ''Contra quatuor labyrinthos Francae'' (Against the Four Labyrinths of France), a denunciation of secular theological teaching. After this violent repudiation of Victorine pedagogical tradition the abbey was, in effect, a self-contained Augustinian priory like any other.

Jan van Ruusbroec John van Ruysbroeck, original Flemish name Jan van Ruusbroec () (1293 or 1294 – 2 December 1381) was an Augustinian canon and one of the most important of the Flemish mystics. Some of his main literary works include ''The Kingdom of the Di ...

submitted his Groenendael Priory to their Rule in 1335, from which stemmed the

Brethren of the Common Life The Brethren of the Common Life (Latin: Fratres Vitae Communis, FVC) was a Roman Catholic pietist religious community founded in the Netherlands in the 14th century by Gerard Groote, formerly a successful and worldly educator who had had a relig ...

and

Thomas à Kempis Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380 – 25 July 1471; german: Thomas von Kempen; nl, Thomas van Kempen) was a German-Dutch canon regular of the late medieval period and the author of '' The Imitation of Christ'', published anonymously in Latin in the ...

Devotio Moderna Devotio Moderna (Latin; lit., Modern Devotion) was a movement for religious reform, calling for apostolic renewal through the rediscovery of genuine pious practices such as humility, obedience, and simplicity of life. It began in the late 14th-cen ...

. A major theme of their studies was the anagogical relationship between the Divine and the Mundane, adopted by Pope Eugene IV in his 5.1.1435 bullBelgian National Archives, Anderlecht, Fonds Ecclesiastique declaring Roman supremacy.

Notes

{{Authority control Christianity studies Scholasticism Medieval philosophy History of education in France Medieval organizations Educational institutions established in the 12th century