Honorius Augustodunensis (c. 1080 – c. 1140), commonly known as Honorius of Autun, was a 12th-century

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

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 ...

Life

Augustodunensis said that he is ''Honorius Augustodunensis ecclesiae presbyter et scholasticus''. "Augustodunensis" was taken to mean

Autun Autun () is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Saône-et-Loire Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region of central-eastern France. It was founded during the Principate era of the e ...

(''Augustodunum''), but that identification is now generally rejected. There is no solid reasoning for any other identification (such as

Augst Augst (Swiss German: ''Augscht'') is a municipality in the district of Liestal in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. It was known as Augusta Raurica in Roman times. History Augst is first mentioned in 615 as ''Augustodunensem prae ...

/''Augustodunensem praesulem'' near Basle,

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

/''Augusta Vindelicorum'' in

Swabia Swabia ; , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of Swabia, one of ...

, or ''Augustinensis'', from

St Augustine's Abbey St Augustine's Abbey (founded as the Monastery of Ss Peter and Paul and changed after its founder St Augustine of Canterbury's death) was a Benedictine monastery in Canterbury, Kent, England. The abbey was founded in 598 and functioned as a mon ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

), so his by-name has stuck. It is certain that he was a

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

and that he traveled to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and was a student of Anselm's for some time. Toward the end of his life, he was in the Scots Monastery, Regensburg,

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Works

Among Honorius's works are: *'' Elucidarium'': a survey of Christian beliefs (written in England). It was translated frequently into vernacular. *''Sigillum sanctae Mariae'': a set of lessons for how to celebrate the Assumption, together with a commentary on ''

The Song of Songs The Song of Songs (), also called the Canticle of Canticles or the Song of Solomon, is a biblical poem, one of the five ("scrolls") in the ('writings'), the last section of the Tanakh. Unlike other books in the Hebrew Bible, it is erotic poe ...

'', which he sees as being principally about

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

. *''Gemma animae'': An allegorical view of the liturgy and its practices. * A commentary on ''The Song of Songs,'' (preserved in a manuscript from c. 1170). *A long commentary on the

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of B ...

. *''Speculum Ecclesiae'', a collection of sermons. *''Clavis physicae'', the first part (1-315) is a summary of the first four books of

Johannes Scotus Erigena John Scotus Eriugena, also known as Johannes Scotus Erigena, John the Scot or John the Irish-born ( – c. 877), was an Irish Neoplatonist philosopher, theologian and poet of the Early Middle Ages. Bertrand Russell dubbed him "the most ...

''Periphyseon'' (

De divisione naturae ''De Divisione Naturae'' ("The Division of Nature") is the title given by Thomas Gale to his edition (1681) of the work originally titled by 9th-century theologian Johannes Scotus Eriugena ''Periphyseon''.''John Scotus Erigena'', ''The Age of B ...

), the second part (316-529) is a reproduction of the fifth book. *''De luminaribus ecclesiae'': a bibliography of Christian authors, which ends with a list of twenty-one of his own works. His most important work was the ''Imago mundi'', an encyclopedia of popular

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...

and geography combined with a chronicle of world history. It was translated into many different

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

languages and was popular throughout the medieval period. It contained, among other things, a scheme for the operation of

guardian angel A guardian angel is a type of angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group or nation. Belief in tutelary deity, tutelary beings can be traced throughout all antiquity. The idea of angels that guard over people played ...

s. A major scholar of Honorius is

Valerie Flint Valerie Irene Jane Flint (5 July 1936 – 7 January 2009) was a British scholar and historian, specialising in medieval intellectual and cultural history. Biography Early life Flint was born in Derby, England. She was a pupil at the R ...

, whose essays on him are collected in ''Ideas in the Medieval West: Texts and their Contexts'' (London, 1988). See also her study of Honorius in Constant J. Mews and Valerie I. J. Flint, ''Peter Abelard; Honorius of Regensburg'' (Aldershot, 1995).

Notes

Bibliography

* Honorius Augustodunensis, ''Clavis physicae'', critical edition of the first part (§§ 1–315) and introduction (in Italian) by Paolo Lucentini, Roma: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1974 * Honorius Augustodunensis, ''La «Clavis physicae» (316–529) di Honorius Augustodunensis. Studio e edizione'', critical edition of the second part (§§ 316–529) and introduction (in Italian) by Pasquale Arfé, Napoli: Liguori 2012. * Honorius Augustodunensis, ''Jewel of the Soul'', edition and English translation of the ''Gemma animae'' by Zachary Thomas and Gerhard Eger, 2 vols.,

Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library The Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library (est. 2010) is a series of books published by Harvard University Press in collaboration with the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. It presents editions of texts originally written in medieval Latin ...

79, 80 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2023). * ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'', edited by F. A. Cross, . * Graeme Dunphy, "Historical Writing in and after the Old High German period" in Brian Murdoch, ''German Literature of the Early Middle Ages'', 2004, 201–25.

External links

*
Honorius Augustodunensis Sermon On St Nicholas
- Latin text and English translation. {{DEFAULTSORT:Honorius Augustodunensis 1151 deaths 12th-century French Catholic theologians 12th-century geographers 12th-century writers in Latin 1080s births