Alanus ab Insulis (Alain de Lille)
Called the universal doctor because of the range of his knowledge, Alanus ab Insulis, known also as Alain de Lille, was born c. 1115/1120 and was educated at Chartres, Paris, and Montpellier. He was conversant in the dialectics of Gilbert de la Porrée concerning the relationship between God and nature; Alanus is thought to have been a student and/or disciple of Gilbert. Alanus was among the founders of systematic theology and a major Latin poet. His most famous work, De planctu naturae (The Plaint of Nature, 1160-1175), is a dialogue in which nature and the narrator lament the vices of the world and deplore those who do not apprehend the simplicity of nature. The sequel, Anticlaudianus, is said to be a medieval model of The Divine Comedy in which Nature asks God to create the perfect man. For Alanus, nature is the essential link between God and man. Alanus attacked the Cathar and Waldensian heresies, and his Liber poenitentiales is the earliest of medieval confessor's manuals. Late in life, Alanus entered Cîteaux, where he died in 1203. A XX-Century examination of his body revealed that he was 5 feet tall and estimated that he was 80 at the time of his death.
Karen Rae Keck
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