Peter Ceffons (French: Pierre Ceffons, Latin: Petrus de Ceffons Clarevallensis; fl.1340s) was a French

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

theologian and scholastic philosopher, who became

Abbot of Clairvaux Clairvaux Abbey (, ''l’abbaye de Clairvaux''; ) was a Cistercian monastery in Ville-sous-la-Ferté, from Bar-sur-Aube. The abbey was founded in 1115 by Bernard of Clairvaux. As a primary abbey, it was one of the most significant monasteri ...

. He is considered an early

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

for his style. He lectured 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 ...

'' at Paris in the late 1340s, using

angle In Euclidean geometry, an angle can refer to a number of concepts relating to the intersection of two straight Line (geometry), lines at a Point (geometry), point. Formally, an angle is a figure lying in a Euclidean plane, plane formed by two R ...

as a metaphor. He was influenced by

Adam Wodeham Adam of Wodeham, OFM (1298–1358) was a philosopher and theologian. Currently, Wodeham is best known for having been a secretary of William Ockham and for his interpretations of John Duns Scotus. But Wodeham was also an influential thinker in h ...

Gregory of Rimini Blessed Gregory of Rimini, Order of Saint Augustine, O.E.S.A. (Latin Beatus Gregorius de Arimino or Ariminiensis) (c. 1300 – November 1358), was one of the great Scholasticism, scholastic philosophers and theologians of the Middle Ages. He was ...

and

John of Mirecourt John of Mirecourt, also known as ''Monachus Albus'' ('the White Monk'), was a Cistercian scholastic philosopher of the fourteenth century, from Mirecourt, Duchy of Lorraine, Lorraine. He was a follower of William of Ockham; he was censured by Pope C ...

. He wrote a satirical work ''Epistola Luciferi ad Cleros'', an attack on the

secular clergy In Christianity, the term secular clergy refers to deacons and priests who are not monastics or otherwise members of religious life. Secular priests (sometimes known as diocesan priests) are priests who commit themselves to a certain geograph ...

; it is dated to 1352.Chronology of Political & Literary Events

References

* D. Trapp, ''Peter Ceffons of Clairvaux,'' Recherches de Theologie ancienne et medievale, XXIV (1957), 101-154 * Jorge J. E. Gracia, Timothy B. Noone, ''A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages'' (2003), p. 508.

Notes

14th-century French Roman Catholic priests French Cistercians Medieval French theologians Scholastic philosophers French abbots {{scholastic-philosopher-stub