ALAIN DE LILLE
Alain de
Lille (Alanus de Insulis), théologien, philosophe, poète et historien du
XIIesiècle, surnommé par ses contemporains Doctor universalis. Il est né
à Lille entre
1114 et 1128 et il mourut à Cîteaux
Si l'on en croit Henri de
Gand, écrivain du XIIIe siècle, Alain aurait dirigé les écoles de Paris.
Il aurait enseigné les sept arts libéraux (Trivium
et Quadrivium), les lois et
les décrets. Il aurait eu la hardiesse de tenter l'explication du
mystère de la Sainte Trinité et, pris de remords, se serait retiré à
l'abbaye de Cîteaux. D'autre part, dom
Brial, dans l'Histoire littéraire de la France, croit pouvoir identifier
Alain de Lille avec un maître Alain dont parle Gervais,
moine de Canterbury,
qui écrivait au XIIesiècle. Suivant cette version, Alain aurait embrassé la
règle de saint
Benoît, serait devenu prieur du monastère de
Canterbury, le 6 août 1479 et, après des démélés avec le roi d'Angleterre,
aurait été nommé abbé de Tewksbury, dans le comté de Glocester. Puis, il serait
revenu en France et aurait terminé ses jours à Cîteaux. Il est certain en effet
qu'il fut enterré dans le cloître de
cette abbaye.
Dom Martène a laissé une
description de son tombeau et relevé l'inscription suivante qui semble
confirmer le dire d'Henri de Gand :
Alanum brevis hora, brevi
tumulo sepelivit
Qui duo, qui septem, qui
totum scibile scivit,
Scire suum moriens dare
vel retinere nequivit.
Les poésies d'Alain de
Lille sont parmi ses meilleures oeuvres : les vers en sont brillants, élégants,
d'une bonne latinité. Elles ne manquent ni d'esprit ni d'agrément. Ses traités
de polémique ont la rigueur logique, caractéristique de l'École.
Quant à la philosophie d'Alain,
elle est développée principalement dans l'Anti-Claudianus et le De
planctu Naturae.
"La recherche
actuelle a montré l’importance d’Alain de Lille dans l’importance accordée à
la raison naturelle : parent avec Richard de St Victor, ami de T.
Becket, héritier de la théologie porrétaine et de l’école de Chartres,
il est un véritable “carrefour” qui a su en demeurant dans l’orthodoxie donner
à la scolastique un compendium de ces sources capitales dans les Règles de
Théologie dont les innovations langagières permettent de mesurer
l’importance.
Il est l’auteur d’un
“sermon sur la sphère intelligible” qui sera l’une des bases de la conception
cosmologique jusqu’à Nicolas
de Cues qui permettant de comprendre cette sphère comme Dieu,
ou mieux comme le cosmos prolongera l’effort d’Alain de Lille vers une
rationalité systématique. Alain de Lille sur cette seule question, énoncée de
façon synthétique en Reg Th 17 extrait le meilleur du Liber de
Causis et de Boèce,
et donc du néoplatonisme,
tout en conservant l’héritage augustinien si
présent dans la théologie victorine. (Jean Devriendt, Université P. Verlaine,
Metz) "
Quelques idées d'Alain de
Lille méritent d'être soulignées, car, à l'époque où elles se produisent, elles
témoignent d'un grand progrès vers
la liberté de pensée.
Ainsi Alain enseigne que la Raison sous
le contrôle de la Prudence peut, uniquement à l'aide des sens,
découvrir toutes les vérités d'ordre
physique. En ce qui concerne les vérités religieuses, la raison ne doit prendre
d'autre guide que la foi
En bibliothèque. -
De nombreux détails sont donnés dans les études de Françoise Hudry. Son excellente
traduction des Règles de Théologie : suivi de, Sermon sur la sphère
intelligible a été publiée aux éd. du Cerf en 1995, précédée d’une
introduction à sa vie et sa pensée; une brève bibliographie s’y ajoute.
Jean-Luc Solère, Anca
Vasiliu et Alain Galonnier (éditeurs), Alain de Lille, le docteur
universel : philosophie, théologie et littérature au XIIe siècle :
actes du XIe Colloque international de la Société Internationale pour l'Étude
de la Philosophie médiévale, Paris, 23-25 octobre 2003.
Alain Lernould, Physique
et théologie : lecture du "Timée" de Platon par Proclus, Presses
universitaires du Septentrion, 2001
La liste des œuvres
d’Alain de Lille se divise en : authentiques, pseudépigraphes, fortement
douteuses, non attribuées mais conformes sur le fond et la forme. L’étude de
M-Th. D’Alverny, datée de 1965, mais toujours citée comme référence, en a
dressé une liste.
SOURCE : http://www.cosmovisions.com/Alain.htm
Alain de Lille
Poète et théologien,
Alain de Lille (1120?-1202) fit partie de la réaction mystique de la deuxième
moitié du XIIe siècle contre les premiers représentants de la philosophie
scolastique. Son mysticisme, cependant, est loin d'être aussi absolu que celui
des Victorins. En témoigne l' Anticlaudianus (traité sur la morale
pastichant le Contre Rufin du poète latin Claudien), son autre œuvre
majeure avec La Plainte de la Nature : il y exprime l'idée que la
raison, guidée par la prudence, peut par elle-même découvrir la plupart des
vérités de l'ordre physique, mais pour l'appréhension des vérités religieuses
elle doit se fier à la foi.
Le versant purement
théologique de son œuvre en fait un représentant majeur de la grammaire
spéculative appliquée à la théologie. Ayant vécu entre la Somme
théologique de Pierre Lombard et les œuvres de Thomas d'Aquin, il reste
durant les XIIIe et XIVe siècles une des autorités citées communément
par tous les auteurs. Doté d’une plume alerte et d’une pensée riche, Alain de
Lille assurait qu’il y avait toujours trois manières de goûter ses œuvres : «
l’entendement puéril », qui cherche le plaisir, peut se contenter du sens
littéral, ceux qui veulent profiter de la lecture ont à leur disposition un
sens moral ; enfin, une intelligence plus fine trouve à s’aiguiser sur le sens
allégorique
SOURCE : https://www.lesbelleslettres.com/contributeur/alain-de-lille
Die
Miniatur zeigt die beiden Theologen und Lehrer Alain de Lille und Petrus Cantor
während einer Debatte. Ganzseitige Miniatur in einem theologischen Sammelband,
der zwischen 1227 und 1249 für den Abt der Benediktinerabtei Ottobeuren
entstand (London, The British Library, Add. 19767, fol. 217).
Blessed Alan the Great of Lille
Also
known as
Doctor Universalis
30 January (Benedictines;
Cistercians)
6 July on some
calendars
16 July on some
calendars
Profile
Philosopher.
Theologian.
Renowned professor
universities
at Paris
and Montpellier in France.
Joined the Cistercians
and lived as a exemplary monk at
Citeaux, France.
Wrote
a number of theological,
philosophical
and apologetic works as well as poetry.
Born
6 July 1202 in
Citeaux, France
of natural causes
Additional
Information
Saints
of the Order of Saint Benedict, by Father
Aegedius Ranbeck, O.S.B.
books
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MLA
Citation
“Blessed Alan the Great
of Lille“. CatholicSaints.Info. 27 December 2022. Web. 3 October 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/tag/name-alan/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/tag/name-alan/
Alain de l'Isle
(Also called ALAIN
OF LILLE, ALANUS AB INSULIS, or DE INSULIS, ALAIN VON RYSSEL etc.).
Monk, poet,
preacher, theologian,
and eclectic philosopher,
b. probably at Lille,
whence his name, about 1128; d. at Cîteaux,
1203. Alain, there is reason to believe, studied and taught for some time
in Paris.
In 1179 he took part in the Third Council of the Lateran. Later he entered the
Monastery of Cîteaux,
where he died in 1202 or 1203. Alain attained extraordinary celebrity in his
day as a teacher and a learned man; he was called Alain the Great, The
Universal Doctor, etc. To this the legend alludes, according to which a
scholar, discomfited in a dialectical contest,
cried out that his opponent was "either Alain or the devil".
Alain's principal work is "Ars Fidei Catholicæ", dedicated to Clement
III, and composed for the purpose of refuting, on rational grounds,
the errors of Mohammedans, Jews,
and heretics.
With the same view he wrote "Tractatus Contra Hæreticos" and
"Theologicæ Regulæ". He wrote two poems, "De Planctu
Naturæ" and "Anticlaudianus". The only collection of Alain's
works is Migne's somewhat
uncritical edition, P.L., CCX. The two poems are published by Wright in
"Satirical Poets of the Twelfth Century", II (Rerum Britannicarum
Scriptores). There are several of Alain's treatises still unpublished for
instance, "De Virtutibus et Vitiis" (Codex, Paris, Bibl. Nat., n.
3238). Alain's theology is
characterized by that peculiar variety of rationalism tinged
with mysticism which
is found in the writings of John Scotus
Erigena, and which afterwards reappeared in the works of Raymond
Lully. The mysticism is,
perhaps, more in the style than in the matter; the rationalism consists
in the effort to prove that all religious truths,
even the mysteries of faith,
flow out of principles that are self-evident to the human reason unaided
by revelation. His philosophy is a syncretism,
or eclecticism, in which the principal elements are Platonism, Aristoteleanism,
and Pythagoreanism. He esteemed Plato as the philosopher; Aristotle he
regarded merely as a subtle logician.
His knowledge of Plato he
derived from Martianus Capella Apuleius, Boethius,
and the members of the school of Chartres;
his first-hand acquaintance with the "Dialogues" being limited to
Chalcidius's rendering of a fragment of the "Timæus". He was
acquainted with some of Aristotle's logical writings
and with the commentaries of Boethius and
Porphyry. He derived his Pythagoreanism from the so-called Hermetical writers,
Asclepius and Mercurius. Finally his mystic manner was influenced by Pseudo-Dionysius and
John Scotus
Erigena.
The effect of all these
influences was an attempt on Alain's part to fuse into one system the various
elements derived from different sources, without taking much pains to find a
common basis or a principle of organic synthesis. Thus, in psychology he
gives at different times three different divisions of the faculties of
the soul:
a twofold (ratio, sensualitas), a threefold (sapientia, voluntas, voluptas),
and a fivefold (sensus, imaginatio, ratio, intellectus, intelligentia).
The soul,
he teaches, is spirit; the body, matter (in later Platonic sense);
and the bond between them is a physical spirit (spiritus physicus). In cosmology he
teaches that God first
created "Nature", whose role it was to act as his intermediary (Dei
auctoris vicaria) in the details of creating and organizing matter into the
visible universe.
At every step in this portion of his philosophy the influence of the
neo-Pythagoreans appears. As a writer, Alain exhibited an unusual combination
of poetic imaginativeness and dialectical precision.
He modeled his style on that of Martianus Capella, though in his later years
the influence of Boethius was,
perhaps, predominant. He is to be enumerated among the medieval writers
who influenced Dante.
Sources
BAUMGARTNER, Die Philos.
d. Alanus de Insulis etc. in Beitr. z. Gesch. d. Philos; d. M.A., (Münster,
1896) Bd. II; BÄUMKER, Handschriftliches zu den Werken des Alanus (Fulda,
1894); UEBERWEG, Gesch. d. Philos., (Berlin, 1905), Bd II, 9 Ed., 214 sqq.;
HAURÉAU, Hist. de la phil. scol. (Paris, 1872), I, 521 sq.; DE WULF, Hist. de
la phil. scol. dans les Pays-Bas (Louvain, 1895), 41 sq.; TURNER, Hist. of
Phil. (Boston, 1903), 301, 302.
Turner,
William. "Alain de l'Isle." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company,1907. 29
Jan. 2019 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01244e.htm>.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2026 by New Advent LLC.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01244e.htm
ALAIN DE LILLE
ALAIN DE LILLE [Alanus de
Insulis] (c. 1128-1202), French theologian and poet, was born, probably at
Lille, some years before 1128. Little is known of his life. He seems to have
taught in the schools of Paris,, and he attended the Lateran Council in 1179.
He afterwards inhabited Montpellier (he is sometimes called Alanus de
Montepessulano), lived for a time outside the walls of any cloister, and
finally retired to Citeaux, where he died in 1202. He had a very widespread
reputation during his lifetime and his knowledge, more varied than profound,
caused him to be called Doctor universals. Among his very numerous works two
poems entitle him to a distinguished place in the Latin literature of the
middle ages; one of these, the De planctu naturae, is an ingenious satire on
the vices of humanity; the other, the Anticlaudianus, a treatise on morals, the
form of which recalls the pamphlet of Claudian against Rufinus, is agreeably
versified and relatively pure in its latinity. As a theologian Alain de Lille
shared in the mystic reaction of the second half of the 12th century against
the scholastic philosophy. His mysticism, how-ever, is far from being as
absolute as that of the Victorines. In the Anticlaudianus he sums up as
follows: Reason, guided by prudence, can unaided discover most of the truths of
the physical order; for the apprehension of religious truths it must trust to
faith. This rule is completed in his treatise, Ars catholicae fidei, as
follows: Theology itself may be demonstrated by reason. Alain even ventures an
immediate application of this principle, and tries to prove geometrically the
dogmas defined in the Creed. This bold attempt is entirely factitious and
verbal, and it is only his employment of various terms not generally used in
such a connexion (axiom, theorem, corollary, etc.) that gives his treatise its
apparent originality. Alain de Lille has often been con-founded with other
persons named Alain, in particular with Alain, archbishop of Auxerre; Alan,
abbot of Tewkesbury, Alain de Podio, etc. Certain facts of their lives have
been attributed to him, as well as some of their works: thus the Life of St
Bernard should be ascribed to Main of Auxerre and the Commentary upon Merlin to
Alan of Tewkesbury. Neither is the philosopher of Lille the author of a
Memoriale rerum difficilium, published under his name; and it is exceedingly
doubtful whether the Dicta Alani de lapide philosophico really issued from his
pen. On the other hand, it now seems practically demonstrated that Alain de
Lille was the author of the Ars catholicae fidei and the treatise Contra haereticos.
The works of Alain de Lille have been published by Migne, Patrologia Latina,
vol. cex. A critical edition of the Anticlaudianus and of the De planctu
naturae is given by Th. Wright in vol. ii. of the Anglo-Latin Satirical Poets
and Epigrammatists of the Twelfth Century (London, 1872). See Haureau, Memoire
sur la vie et quelques oeuvres d'Alain de Lille (Paris, 1885) ; M. Baumgartner,
Die Philosophie des Alanus de Insulis (Munster, 1896). • (P. A.)
End of
Article: ALAIN DE LILLE [Alanus de Insulis] (c. 1128-1202)
SOURCE : http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/AJA_ALL/ALAIN_DE_LILLE_Alanus_de_Insuli.html
A
page for January 30 of the Benedictine calendar, which venerates The Blessed
Alan of Lille (a.k.a. Alain de Lille, Alanus ab Insulis) a poet and theologian.
Father Aegedius Ranbeck, O.S.B. Ranbeck, Kalendarium Annuale Benedictinum,
Augusta 1677
Beato Alano Magno di
Lilla
Lille, Francia – 1120
circa – Citeaux, Francia, 6 luglio 1202
Filosofo e teologo,
soprannominato “doctor universalis”, nacque a Lilla intorno al 1120. Fu
professore di grido a Parigi e Montpellier, tanto che per la sua dottrina
eccelsa venne considerato un essere superiore, alla stregua di Alberto Magno.
Prese l’abito di converso a Citeaux, dove condusse vita esemplare e dove morì
il 6 luglio 1202. Non si hanno tracce di una venerazione del suo sepolcro né di
altra manifestazione di culto.
L’Ordine Benedettino lo
festeggia il 30 gennaio.
Filosofo e teologo,
soprannominato « Doctor universalis », nacque a Lilla ca. il 1120; fu
professore di grido a Parigi e a Montpellier; prese quindi l'abito di converso
a Citeaux, dove condusse vita esemplare; ivi morì il 6 lugl. 1202. Non è da
confondere con l'omonimo vescovo di Auxerre (+ 1185). Profondo assimilatore di
dottrine platonico-aristoteliche, in gran parte attinte a Boezio, piuttosto
che pensatore originale, fu seguace di Gilberto Porretano, ma immune da
contatti con l'aristotelismo spagnolo e arabo. Eclettico in filosofia, è
apprezzato come teologo per l'esposizione delle massime teologiche in forma
aforistica, che lo distingue dalle contemporanee trattazioni. Gettò inoltre le
basi della terminologia teologica del suo tempo e polemizzò con una certa foga
dialettica, ma senza un vero rigore razionale. Condusse il suo sforzo di
sistemazione del sapere anche in opere in versi, e congiunse l'erudizione e
l'acume alla pietà.
Le sue opere (in PL, CCX)
si possono suddividere in:
- Scritti filosofico-teologici
: Contra haereticos, in 4 II. (contro i catari, i valdesi, gli ebrei, i
maomettani) : espone le tesi avversarie e le confuta alla luce
dell'ortodossia, con argomenti ora fideistici ora logici; Regulae de sacra
theologia (anche Regulae caelestis iuris ovv. Maximae theo-logiae) : serie di
massime intorno a Dio, ai doveri morali, alle cause (conobbe Io
pseudo-aristotelico De causis); Distinctiones dictionum theologicarum :
repertorio alfabetico di termini, con spiegazioni letterali e metaforiche;
Summa de arte praedicatoria: trattato normativo con esempi; oltre a Sermoni, a
un De sex alis Cherubini, a una Elucidatio in Cantica canticorum, traboccante
di devozione alla Vergine, a un Liber poenitentialis d'interesse canonico, e
ad altri scritti isolati o frammentari.
- Scritti poetici :
Anticlaudianus : poema apolo-getico-enciclopedico in discreti esametri, a imitazione
e confutazione dell'In Rufinum di Claudio Claudiano (secc. IV-V), assai
fortunato nel Medioevo, ripetutamente commentato e — sembra — non privo
d'influssi su Dante; De planctu natu-rae : attacco satirico polimetro, con
parti in prosa, contro alcuni vizi personificati in allegorie; Doctrinale minus
(o liber parabolarum) : antologia di parabole in distici elegiaci, anch'essa
fortunata nel Medioevo. Alcuni scritti attribuiti ad Alano non sono suoi : in
primo luogo il Liber de arte catholicae fidei (dov'è applicato il metodo
matematico-deduttivo), di cui è probabile autore Nicola di Amiens.
L'eccezionale dottrina di
Alano lo fece considerare un essere superiore, alla stregua di Alberto Magno,
e favorì la nascita d'una idealizzazione leggendaria. Non si hanno tracce
d'una venerazione del suo sepolcro né d'altre manifestazioni di culto, ma egli
è compreso nella Brevis quorundam sanctorum et beatorum sacri Cisterciensis
ordinis enumeratio dell'abate Jean de Cirey (Digione 1491) e nei martirologi
cistercensi e benedettini al 30 genn. e poi al 16 lugl. La sua immagine, che ricorre
nell'iconografia di alcune chiese cistercensi, è in Ranbeck, Kalendarium
Annuale Benedictinum, Augusta 1677, al 30 gennaio.
Autore: Alfonso M.
Zimmermann
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/94085
Chesley Martin Hutchings.
« L'Anticlaudianus d'Alain de Lille. Étude de chronologie », Romania Année
1924 197 pp.
1-13 : https://www.persee.fr/doc/roma_0035-8029_1924_num_50_197_4571
Bibliographie : https://www.arlima.net/ad/alain_de_lille.html
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