RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Vilmar ; Vincent of Beauvais
loyalists of the land. A number of his contribu-
tions to this periodical were reprinted by Vilmar
himself under the title Zur neuesten
His Kulturgeschichte Deutschlands (3 parts, Patriotism. Frankfort, 1858-67).
Vilmar has rightly been characterized as preeminently acquainted with his native land and as a fervent admirer and protector of the relics of her past. His researches into Hessian history are embodied in his Hessisches Historienbiichlein (1842) and Hessische Chronik (1855), and he was also the author of the admirable Idiotikon von Kurhessen (1868). But dearer to him than all else was his church, of which he was acting superintendent, as already noted, from 1851 to 1855. His power as a preacher may still be seen in his Predigten und geistliche Reden (1876), while his visitation of churches in the discharge of his duties gave rise to many official communications of importance.
On the death of Superintendent Ernst, Vilmar was elected his successor. The election was subject, however, to the approval of the sovereign, and
this the last prince elector of Hesse
Work for refused. Vilmar, though elected super-
Students intendent, was now appointed proand Pastors. fessor of theology at Marburg (Oct.
27, 1855). Unwillingly he entered upon an office which he would have welcomed a quarter of a century before. Yet he became the most influential professor in the university. His program was set forth in Die Theologie der Thatsachen wider die Theologie der Rhetorik (1856), and four times, in the spirit of practical religion there propounded, he conducted his theological pupils through a three-years’ course which covered the entire Bible. This course of lectures was edited by his pupil C. Miller under the title Collegiwm Buiblicum (6 vols., Giitersloh, 1879-83); and most of his other lectures were also edited posthumously: K. W. Piderit preparing the Die Augsburgische Konfession (Marburg, 1870), Lehre vom geistlichen Amt (1870), Christliche Kirchenzucht (1872), Pastoraltheologie (Giitersloh, 1872), and Dogmatik (2 vols., 1874), and C. C. Israel those on Theologische Moral (2 vols., 1871). Vilmar lectured also on homiletics, hymnology, and the literary history of the theology of the Reformation period. Besides his professorial activity, Vilmar was the soul of the conferences of the Lutheran pastors of both Hesses, which were held alternately at Marburg and Friedberg from 1857 to 1866. He further aided the aims of these conferences by editing the Pastoraltheologische Blétter (12 vols., Stuttgart, 1861-66), to which he contributed a series of articles edited by C. Miiller under the title Kirche und Welt (2 vols., Giitersloh, 1872). But despite the companionship of his pupils, Vilmar felt more and more isolated and alone at Marburg, nor could he overcome his grief at the events of 1866. His melancholy continually increased, and a few months after the death of his second wife, he wasfound dead in bed from a repeated stroke of apoplexy. (J. HAUSSLEITER.)
Brstiocrapuy: An autobiographical sketch is presented in O. Gerland’s Hessische Gelehrten- . . . Geschichte, i. 119- 140, Cassel, 1863, and further original matter in the form of correspondence is in BH. Stengel, Private wnd amtliche Beziehungen der Briider Grimm, 2 vols., Marburg, 1886.
Consult further: J. H. Leimbach, A. F. C. Vilmar, Hanover, 1875; R. F. Grau, Vilmar und Von Hofmann, Erinnerungen, Giitersloh, 1879; E. R. Grebe, A. F. C. Vilmar, Cassel, 1900; idem, A. F. C. Vilmar als Oberhirte
der Diécese Cassel, Marburg, 1904; ADB, xxxix. 715-722,
VINCENT OF BEAUVAIS: French Dominican and polyhistor of the thirteenth century; b. probably about 1190; d. apparently in 1264. Of his life almost nothing is known. He was a monk in the Dominican monastery of Beauvais, and probably studied in Paris, where he was attached to the Jacobin monastery. Possibly he was identical with the Dominican subprior Vincent of Beauvais who is mentioned in 1246. For a time he resided in the Cistercian monastery of Royaumont, where he was reader to the king; here possibly he was employed to supervise the education of the king’s children, as is suggested by the fact that he wrote a work De institutione filiorum regiorum sive nobilium; and with this is probably connected his consolation to Louis on the death of his eldest son in 1260.
Vincent was a prolific author. In 1481 five of his writings were published at Basel in one volume: Tractatus de gratia det or Liber gratie in four books on the eternal and temporal generation of Christ, his life, passion, resurrection, ascension, the sending of the Holy Ghost, and the blinding of the Jews; Liber de laudibus Virginis gloriose, patristic excerpts on the Virgin; De sancto Johanne evangelista; De eruditione seu modo instruendorum filiorum regalium; and Consolatio pro morte amici, or, more correctly, EHpistola consolatoria ad Ludovicum Francorum regem super morte filii ejus. Several works are extant only in manuscript.
The chief work of Vincent was his Speculum triplex (Strasburg, 1473; Nuremberg, 1483-86; Venice, 1484, 1493-94, 1591; Douai, 1624). It consists of three parts, the “‘ natural, doctrinal, and historical mirror,’ to which the spurious ‘‘ moral mirror ” was added as a fourth part long after the author’s death. The Speculum is the most comprehensive of all medieval encyclopedic works, and its author was perhaps the best-read scholar previous to the invention of printing. In his prologue Vincent declares that, despite the active pursuit of learning, especially in his own order, ‘‘ sacred history ’’ had been neglected; and that he would endeayor to remedy this deficiency by collecting everything worthy of remembrance. The prevailing point of view, therefore, is historical, not systematic. The chief source is the Bible (supplemented by the Apocrypha), to which are added papal decretals, the canons of general councils, and the works of recognized doctors of the Church. For secular matters use is made of such works as the chronicles of Eusebius, Jerome, Prosper, and Sigibert, the histories of Pompeius Trogus, Orosius, Suetonius, Rufinus, and Cassiodorus, the acts of martyrs, and the records of saints and monks. Philosophers and poets are likewise considered, as well as the writings of scientists and physicians from Aristotle, Pliny, and Hippocrates to Avicenna, Razi, and Constantinus Africanus.
The first part, or Speculum naturale, in thirty-two books, is based on the scheme of the six days of creation. It treats of all that Vincent had read
Vincent of Beauvais Vincent of Lerins