RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Feter the Deacon Peter Lornbard
mont in Nov., 1095, when the first crusade was determined on (see Crusades) and afterward traversed southern France, and along the Rhine preaching to great crowds the duty of going on the crusade. The time set for the start was Aug. 15, 1096, but his converts insisted upon his leading them to Palestine as soon as possible, and in the spring 40,000, among them many knights, the archbishop of Salzburg, the bishops of Chur and Strasburg, and other ecclesiastics, made their way through Hungary. Only 7,000 reached Constantinople, many having been killed by the Bulgarians, and most of those who ultimately reached Asia were massacred by the Turks. Peter himself joined the regular crusading army and entered Jerusalem with it (1099). He returned to Europe and founded the monastery in which he died. On June 29, 1854, a bronze statue of him was unveiled in Amiens. It stands back of the cathedral, in the Place Pierre d' Amiens.
Bibliography: The principal literature is that dealing with the first crusade (see under Crusades). Consult further: William of Tyre, Gesta Dei per Francos, i. 11-17. The biography by D. A. Goodsell, Cincinnati, 1906; P. d'Oultreman, 2 parts, Valenciennes, 1632; J. F. Schachert, Peter von Amiens und Gottfried von Bouillon, Berlin, 1819; M. Vion, Pierre VHermite et les croisades, Amiens, 1853; L. Paulet, Dissertation sur la naissance de Pierre VHermite, Namur, 1854; A. Ingerslef, Peter fra Amiens og det forste Korstog, Copenhagen, 1859; Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chap, xxxiii. ; Milman, Latin Christianity, iv. 25 sqq. ; Schaff, Christian Church, v. 1, pp. 230 sqq.
PETER THE IBERIAN. See Monophysites, §§ 2 sqq.
PETER LOMBARD.
Life (§ 1).
Theological Position (52).
Method (§ 3).
Analysis of the " Sentences " (§ 4).
Attacks on the " Sentences "; Other Works (§ 5).
Peter, commonly known as " the Lombard " from his birthplace, and distinguished as " the Master of the Sentences " from his principal work, was one of the most important scholastic theologians
of the twelfth century. He was born i. Life, probably at Novara, then in Lom-
bardy, scarcely earlier than 1105-10; d. in Paris c. 1160 (1164). His family was poor, but he early found powerful patrons, so that he was able to gain a good education, first at Bologna, then in France, at Reims, to which he came with a letter of recommendation from St. Bernard, and in Paris, at that time the headquarters of learning. Here he remained, in close relations with the school of St. Victor, to whose head Gilduin St. Bernard had again commended him in a letter still extant. He taught theology in the cathedral school of Notre- Dame, and found time to produce the works discussed below. Their dates can be only approximately fixed. The most famous of them, the Libri quatuor sententiarum, was probably composed between 1147 and 1150, although it may be placed as late as 1155. Nothing is certainly known of his later life except that he became bishop of Paris in 1159. According to Walter of St. Victor, a hostile witness, he obtained the office by simony; the more usual story is that Philip, younger brother of Louis VII. and archdeacon of Paris, was elected but de-
clined in favor of Peter, his teacher. The date of his death can not be determined with certainty. The ancient epitaph in the church of St. Marcel at Paris assigns it to 1164, but the figures seem to be a later addition; and the demonstrable fact that Maurice of Sully was bishop before the end of 1160 seems conclusive against it, although it is possible that in that year he resigned his see and lived three or four years longer. His personal character, as far as it can be determined from the scanty indications, seems to have been deserving of respect, and even the opponent just mentioned, a former pupil of his, speaks of him with personal affection.
The historic importance of Peter Lombard rests
on his " Sentences " and the position taken by them
in medieval theology (see Scholasticism). The
earlier dogmatic theologians, such as Isidore of
Seville, Alcuin, and Paschasius Rad-
2. Theo- bert, had attempted to establish the logical doctrine of the Church from Bible
Position, texts and quotations from the Fathers. In the eleventh century this method gave place to dialectical and speculative working over of the traditional dogmas. Peter Lombard came into the field at a time when the new methods and their dialectical artifices were still exposed to wide-spread objection, but when the thirst for knowledge was exceedingly keen. One text-book after another was being published, the majority of them either issuing from the school of Abelard, or in some degree inspired by him. Of these works the greatest influence was attained by that of Peter, which was, for the time, an admirable compendium of theological knowledge. It is written under the influence preeminently of Abelard, Hugo of St. Victor, and the Decretum of Gratian. Whether Peter had himself seen the early writers whom he cites is frequently uncertain; he was a man of wide reading, but the works of the Fathers had been used again and again in long catenae of " sentences " which rendered it unnecessary to go to the original treatises. As to his contemporaries, whom he knew thoroughly, he shows the influence of Abelard in his whole method and in countless details, while preserving a critical attitude toward his most pronounced peculiarities. On the other hand, he follows Hugo very closely and often textually, though here also with a tendency to avoid the purely speculative elements. For his sacramental doctrine, Gratian is very useful, especially through the quotations adduced by him and his legal attitude toward these questions.
The most marked characteristic of Peter's method is the cautious and reserved discretion of his treatment of dogmatic problems. He shows a strong disinclination to launch out into speculation, attempting simply to set forth clearly the Church's received doctrine. He does not touch disputes between Scripture and reason, authority and philosophy. He was unable to keep clear altogether of the technical terms of the philosophical schools; the authorities, both earlier and later,
3. Method, whom he followed had worked with
these terms. But his explanations of
them are rather non-committal and eclectic, thus
rendering his work of the broadest utility. Assum-
Peter Lombard Peter of Poitiers