Petrus Comestor presents his book to Archbishop Guillaume of Sens

Peter Comestor (, "Peter the Eater"; ; died 22 October 1178) was a 12th-century French

theological 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 an ...

writer and university teacher.

Life

Peter Comestor was born in

Troyes Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...

. Although the surname (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "Eater") was popularly attributed to his habit of devouring books and learning, it was more probably simply a family name. It did, however, give Peter a nice pun for his epitaph (supposed to have been composed by him): ("I whom this stone covers was Peter, called the 'Devourer', now I am devoured"). As a young man, Peter studied at the Troyes Cathedral school, where he might have come into contact with

Peter Abelard Peter Abelard (12 February 1079 – 21 April 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, teacher, musician, composer, and poet. This source has a detailed description of his philosophical work. In philos ...

. Sometime later, he was a student in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

under, amongst others,

Peter Lombard Peter Lombard (also Peter the Lombard, Pierre Lombard or Petrus Lombardus; 1096 – 21/22 August 1160) was an Italian scholasticism, scholastic theologian, Bishop of Paris, and author of ''Sentences, Four Books of Sentences'' which became the s ...

. By 1147, he was back in Troyes, having been appointed dean of Troyes Cathedral. By 1160, Peter had returned to Paris to teach, holding the chair of theology at the

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, from which he retired in 1169. He was made chancellor of Notre Dame in Paris around 1164, which put him, among other things, in charge of the cathedral school. He held the post until his death in 1178. Peter's reputation as an academic was such that

Pope Alexander III Pope Alexander III (c. 1100/1105 – 30 August 1181), born Roland (), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 September 1159 until his death in 1181. A native of Siena, Alexander became pope after a Papal election, ...

specifically exempted Peter from his ban on charging fees for giving licences to teach. Peter was buried in the Abbey of Saint Victor. He may have retired and become a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

there, as he was celebrated thus by the canons in their

necrology An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...

Works

Historia Scholastica

Peter's most famous work was his '' Historia Scholastica'': as Beryl Smalley called it, a 'great study of biblical history'. The ''Historia'' was completed by 1173, Peter having spent some time writing it at the Abbey of Saint Victor. Peter dedicated it to William, bishop of Sens. The ''Historia'' was a core text during the following centuries, even being a source, perhaps, for

The Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' () is a collection of 24 stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. The book presents the tales, which are mostly written in verse, as part of a fictional storytelling contest held ...

Other works

Many of Peter's works are still unpublished. Among his works are: * Sermons: 50 are in Migne '' PL'', misattributed to

Hildebert of Lavardin Hildebert of Lavardin (c. 105518 December 1133) was a French ecclesiastic, hagiographer and theologian. From 1096–97 he was bishop of Le Mans, then from 1125 until his death archbishop of Tours. Life Hildebert was born of poor parents at Lav ...

(PL clxxi, 330-964, others in PL cxcviii, 1721-1844). The precise number of Peter's sermons is not entirely agreed upon. * ''Liber de Sacramentis'' * ''De Poenitentia'' * ''Breviarum Sententiarum'' * Glosses on the

Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the second century AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sen ...

, the '' Glossa Ordinaria'', the

Psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters were ...

, St Paul, and the

Twelve Minor Prophets The Twelve Minor Prophets (, ''Shneim Asar''; , ''Trei Asar'', "Twelve"; , "the Twelve Prophets"; , "the Twelve Prophets"), or the Book of the Twelve, is a collection of twelve prophetic works traditionally attributed to individual prophets, like ...

* ''Sententiae de Sacramentis'', an abridgement of Peter Lombard's ''

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 ...

'' * Treatises on the

Eucharist The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...

and on

Confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of people – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information that ...

* ''Questiones'' Petrus Comestor writing

Editions

*
Petri Comestoris Scolastica Historia: Liber Genesis.
' Edited by Agneta Sylwan. Turnhout: Brepols, 2004, Pp. xc + 227. (Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis, 191).

Manuscripts

Historia scholastica

* Épinal, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 50 s. xiii * British Library, Harley MS 4132. s. xiii. * British Library, Egerton MS 272. s. xiii. * Durham Cathedral, B.III.20. s. xiii. * Hereford Cathedral, P.v.15. s. xiii in. * Lincoln Cathedral, 80. s. xii. * Lincoln Cathedral, 86. s. xiii

Other works

* Hereford Cathedral, O.vii.3. Sermones s. xiii in. * Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 494. Textus glosatus super Iohannem etc. s. xii/xiii. H. * Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 748. Petrus Comestor s. xiv. * Oxford, Corpus Christi College 159. Peter Comestor s. xiv in. * Lincoln Cathedral, 153. s. xii ex. * Lincoln Cathedral, 159. s. xiv/xv.

References

External links

*
Guide to Petrus, Comestor, Historia scholastica. Manuscript, 12--
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research CenterGuide to Petrus, Comestor, Historia scholastica. Manuscript, 13--
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center

Medieval Libraries of Great Britain
* "Pierre le Mangeur"
"Peter Comestor", Catholic Encyclopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comestor, Peter Year of birth unknown 1170s deaths 12th-century French historians 12th-century French Catholic theologians Chancellors of the University of Paris Medieval Paris Writers from Troyes French male writers 12th-century writers in Latin

Life

Works

Historia Scholastica

Other works

Editions

Manuscripts

Historia scholastica

Other works

References

Further reading

External links