Fortunabrunnen Freiberg Dietrich von Freiberg

Theodoric of FreibergAlso known as Thierry de Fribourg, Thierry of Freburg, Dietrich of Freiberg (German: ''Dietrich von Freiberg''), Theodoricus Teutonicus de Vrîberg, or simply Meister Dietrich. (; ; – ) was a German member of the

Dominican order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

and a

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

. He was named provincial of the Dominican Order in 1293, Albert the Great's old post. He is considered one of the notable philosophers and theologians of the

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

based on his career and writings.

Early life

Theodoric became a Dominican friar very early on in his life, and he studied and taught at the local convent in

Freiberg Freiberg () is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany, with around 41,000 inhabitants. The city lies in the foreland of the Ore Mountains, in the Saxon urbanization axis, which runs along the northern edge of the Elster and ...

around the year 1271 (Teske 2003). He lived around the time of Albert the Great (1193 to 1280) (Fuhrer 1992) and was greatly inspired by him. Though other philosophers at this time followed in Albert’s footsteps as well, Theodoric “showed the most marked tendency to Albert’s universality of interests” (Fuhrer 1992). From the dates of Albert’s life, we can assume that Theodoric was still young when Albert’s career was almost at its end, and no assumption can be made as to whether or not Theodoric ever met or studied under Albert. In medieval documents he is assigned the title of “magister”, which tells us he had a great deal of university training at an advanced level (Fuhrer 1992).

Career and early works

After teaching in Freiberg for some time, he journeyed to Paris to study there between the years 1272 to 1274 (Gillispie 2008), although we do not know with whom he may have studied. In a book titled ''Treatise on the Intellect and the Intelligible'' translated by M.L. Fuhrer, Fuhrer writes that in the second part of a treatise Theodoric talks about a “solemn master” in Paris. Fuhrer goes on to say that Henry of Ghent was known as “doctor solemnis” by his students, but ultimately states that there can be no certainty that they actually met or knew each other. Theodoric then returned home to Germany for a while before coming back to Paris. Here he began his lectures on the ''

Sentences The ''Sentences'' (. ) is a compendium of Christian theology written by Peter Lombard around 1150. It was the most important religious textbook of the Middle Ages. Background The sentence genre emerged from works like Prosper of Aquitaine's ...

'' in 1281 (Pasnau 2010). Exactly how long he remained in Paris in not clear, but it is agreed that he was made the prior of the Dominican convent in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

around 1293 (Fuhrer 1992). Further sources indicate that he was appointed provincial of Teutonia in 1293 as well (Somerset, Fiona 1998). Theodoric was then “promoted” to the Provincial Superior for the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of Germany, the position previously held by Albert the Great (Pasnau 2010, Fuhrer 1992). Around the years 1296 and 1297 he was named “master of theology” in Paris, where he taught up to around 1300 (Teske 2008). Theodoric became one of the two Germans - the other being Abertus Magnus) - to earn this title of magister in the thirteenth century. Theodoric was also present for the general chapter of the Dominican order at

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

and his name appears in the general chapter of the order in

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

. The last position Theodoric was appointed to was Vicar provincial of Germany in 1310 (Gillispie 2008). His name does not appear in any kind of document after this time.

Physics

While 13th century authors failed to provide an accurate explanation for the

rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

, at the turn of the fourteenth century Theodoric was able to give one of the first correct geometrical analyses of this phenomenon, which was ''"probably the most dramatic development of 14th- and 15th-century

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of optical instruments, instruments that use or Photodetector, detect it. Optics usually describes t ...

"''. Drawing from his two earlier works on light and colour, he wrote ''De iride et radialibus impressionibus'' (''On the Rainbow and the impressions created by irradiance'', c. 1304-1311), relying on geometry,

experiment An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

, falsification and other methods. Among other properties he explained in detail: * the colors of the primary and secondary rainbows * the positions of the primary and secondary rainbows * the path of sunlight within a drop: light beams are refracted when entering the atmospheric droplets, then reflected inside the droplets and finally refracted again when leaving them. * the formation of the rainbow: he explains the role of the individual drops in creating the rainbow * the phenomenon of color reversal in the secondary rainbow Using spherical flasks and glass globes filled with water, Theodoric was able to simulate the water droplets during rainfall. Still in its early stages, experimental instrumentation would later expand to be used primarily for making measurements, extending the human senses and creating an isolated environment for the experimenter. During his experimentation with these glass globes, he was correct in asserting that the colors formed by the interaction of sunlight with the water droplets. Recently, scientists have found evidence of the experimental instrumentation used by him. Currently on loan to universities in Providence, Rhode Island, the instrumentation does, indeed, simulate a droplet of water by which sunlight is reflected and refracted, thereby creating a rainbow. He studied refraction and reflection using transparent and opaque bodies (e.g. magnifying glasses, plane, convex and concave mirrors, prisms, and transparent crystal spheres and beryls). His experiments led to an explanation of the reflection/refraction phenomenon of drops of water in clouds that form the rainbow. One of Theodoric's contemporaries, Kamal al-Din al-Farisi, offered the same experimentally-established explanation of the rainbow (without any contacts between them) in his ''Kitab tanqih al-manazir'' (''The Revision of the Optics''). Both authors however relied on the ''

Book of Optics The ''Book of Optics'' (; or ''Perspectiva''; ) is a seven-volume treatise on optics and other fields of study composed by the medieval Arab scholar Ibn al-Haytham, known in the West as Alhazen or Alhacen (965–c. 1040 AD). The ''Book ...

'' by

Ibn al-Haytham Ḥasan Ibn al-Haytham (Latinization of names, Latinized as Alhazen; ; full name ; ) was a medieval Mathematics in medieval Islam, mathematician, Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world, astronomer, and Physics in the medieval Islamic world, p ...

(Alhacen)/

Alhazen Ḥasan Ibn al-Haytham ( Latinized as Alhazen; ; full name ; ) was a medieval mathematician, astronomer, and physicist of the Islamic Golden Age from present-day Iraq.For the description of his main fields, see e.g. ("He is one of the princ ...

Theology

Theodoric's theological works tend to be heavily Neoplatonic, while his more secular philosophical works are more Aristotelian. Theodoric disagreed with

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

on certain metaphysical issues, and seems to have written in opposition to particular works by Aquinas. He had a remarkable influence on the 10 years younger

Meister Eckhart Eckhart von Hochheim ( – ), commonly known as Meister Eckhart (), Master Eckhart or Eckehart, claimed original name Johannes Eckhart,

, mainly via the treatises ''De visione beatifica'' (''Of the beatific vision'') and ''De intellectu et intelligibili'' (''Of the intellect and the intelligible''). Particularly, his theory of transcendentals clarified Eckhart's theory of the ''negatio negationis''. It stressed the negative moment that determines ''privatio'' in general even in its ''privatio privationis'' formulation. One of his extraordinary contributions to

medieval philosophy Medieval philosophy is the philosophy that existed through the Middle Ages, the period roughly extending from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century until after the Renaissance in the 13th and 14th centuries. Medieval philosophy, ...

was a theory of the

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

that equalled the Aristotelian notion of " agent intellect" and the Augustinian notion of ''abditum mentis'' (i.e. the hiddenness, or hidden place of the soul). The theory of the agent intellect says that in knowing, the mind is not merely passive, it has to work on producing a conception of its object, a conception which is then received and retained by the passive part of the mind. The hiddenness of the soul, in turn, is the ground of the soul in which

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

's image is imprinted, a spiritual apex of man's being by which he transcends space and time.

Works

Theological works

* ''De visione beatifica'' * ''De corpore Christi mortuo'' * ''De dotibus corporum gloriosorum'' * ''De substantiis spiritualibus et corporibus futuræ resurrectionis''.

Philosophical works

* ''De habitibus'' * ''De ente et essentia'' * ''De magis et minus'' * ''De natura contrariorum'' * ''De cognitione entium separatorum et maxime animarum separatarum'' * ''De intelligentiis et motoribus cælorum'' * ''De corporibus cælestibus quoad naturam eorum corporalem'' * ''De animatione cæli'' * ''De accidentibus'' * ''De quiditatibus entium'' * ''De origine rerum prædicamentalium'' * ''De mensuris'' * ''De natura et proprietate continuorum'' * ''De intellectu et intelligibili''.

Scientific works

* ''De luce et ejus origine'' * ''De coloribus'' * ''De iride et radialibus impressionibus'' * ''De miscibilibus in mixto'' * ''De elementis corporum naturalium''.

Modern editions

* ''Opera omnia'' = ''Corpus Philosophorum Teutonicorum Medii Ævi'', Hamburg, Felix Meiner Verlag, vol. 1-4: ** Burckhard Mojsisch (ed.), ''Schriften zur Intellekttheorie'', Hamburg, 1977. ** Ruedi Imbach, Maria Rita Pagnoni-Sturlese, Hartmund Steffan et Loris Sturlese (eds.), ''Schriften zur Metaphysik und Theologie'', Hamburg, 1980. ** Jean-Daniel Cavigioli, Ruedi Imbach, Burckhard Mojsisch, Maria Rita Pagnoni-Sturlese, Rudolf Rehn et Loris Sturlese (eds.), ''Schriften zur Naturphilosophie und Metaphysik. Quæstiones'', Hamburg, 1983. ** Maria Rita Pagnoni-Sturlese, Rudolf Rehn, Loris Sturlese et William A. Wallace (eds.), ''Schriften zur Naturwissenschaft. Briefe'', Hambourg, 1985.

English translations

* Dietrich of Frieberg ( 1992). “Treatise on the Intellect and the Intelligible”, Milwaukee: Marquette University Press.

References

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Theodoric 13th-century German philosophers 13th-century German scientists German Dominicans 1250 births 1310s deaths German Christian monks 14th-century writers in Latin Catholic clergy scientists German male writers 13th-century writers in Latin 13th-century German writers 14th-century German Catholic theologians 14th-century German philosophers 14th-century German scientists Year of death uncertain