772 FOUKTH PERIOD. A.D. 590-1049.
tion and analysis. Under the latter he understands the reduction of the derivative and composite to the simple, universal and fundamental ; but uses the term also in the opposite sense, to denote the unfolding of God in creation."
HIS INFLUENCE AND IMPORTANCE.
Scotus Erigena was considered a heretic or a madman while he lived, and this fact joined to the other that his views were far in advance of his age, caused his influence to be at first much less than might have been expected. He passed into almost com plete obscurity before he died, as the conflicting reports of his later years show. Yet he did wield a posthumous influence. His idea of the unity of philosophy and theology comes up in Anselm and Thomas Aquinas; his speculation concerning primordial causes in Alexander of Hales and Albertus Magnus. From him Amalrich of Bena, and David of Dinanto drew their pantheism ; and various mystical sects of the Middle Ages were inspired by him. The Church, ever watchful for ortho doxy, perceived that his book, De Divisione Naturce, was doing mischief. Young persons, even in convents, read it eagerly. Everywhere it attracted notice. Accordingly a council, at Sens, formally condemned it, and then the Pope (Honorius III.) or dered, by a bull of Jan. 23, 1225, the destruction of all copies that could be found, styling it " a book teeming with the worms of heretical depravity." ] This order probably had the desired effect. The book passed out of notice. But in 1681 Thomas Gale issued it in Oxford. Again the Roman Church was alarmed, and Gregory XIII., by bull of April 3, 1685, put it on the Index.
Scotus Erigena was a man of rare originality and mental vigor. His writings are full of ideas and bold arguments. His strongly syllogistic mode of developing his theme was all his own, and the emphasis he put upon logic proves his
1 The full text of the bull is given by Floss, Migne, CXXII. col. 439.
I 176. JOHANNES SCOTUS ERIGENA. 773
superiority to his age. Unlike the scholastics, who meekly bowed to tradition, he treated it with manly independence. To his " disciple " he said: "Let no authority terrify thee.'M Hence it is erroneous to call him " the Father of Schol asticism;" rather is he the founder of Speculative Philosophy.2 The scholastics drew from him, but he was not a scholastic. The mystics drew from him, but he was not a mystic. As a path finder it was not given to him to thoroughly explore the rich country he traversed. But others eagerly pressed in along the way he opened. He is one of the most interesting figures among the mediaeval writers. He demands study and he rewards it. De Divi&ione Natures is a master-piece, and, as Baur well says, " an organized system which comprehends the highest speculative ideas."3
NOTE ON THE COUNTRY OF BIRTH AND DEATH OF SCOTUS
ERIGENA.
The statement that John was born in Ireland rests upon the interpreta tion of his name. Scotus is indefinite, since it was used of both Ireland and Scotland, the former country being called Scotia Major. But Erigena is most probably a corruption of 'lepov [sc. vfaov] ycva, Hierugena, which John, with his fondness for using Greek words on all occasions, added to his original name to indicate his birth in the " holy isle," or " isle of saints/' a common designation of Ireland. The derivation is the more probable since he himself calls Maximus Confessor Graiga-gena, to indi cate the latter's birth in Greece. By his contemporaries and in the oldest codices he is called Joannes Scotus or Scottus* but in the oldest MSS. of his translation of Dionysius Joannes Icrugena* In course of time, owing to his scribes' ignorance of Greek, the epithet was written Eriugena, JErygena, and finally Erigena. Another derivation of the
1 De div. Nat. I. 66 (col. 511).
2 In the line of Spinoza, Schelling, and especially Hegel. On the other hand he sums up the ancient philosophy in its Christianized shape.
3 " Ein organisch gegliedertes, die hochsten speculativen Ideen umfassendes Sys tem." L. o. II. 274.
4 So Pope Nicolas I. (Epist. cxv. in Migne, Patrol Lat. CXIX. col. 1119) ; Prudentius (De Prculestinatione contra J. Scotum, in Migne, CXV. col 1011), and the council of Langres (859).
5Christlieb in Herzog* vol. xiii. p. 789.