Quotes:Vincent de Beauvais

Zirkoff, Boris

Vincent de Beauvais (or Vincentius Bellovacensis) (ca. 1190—ca. 1264). French encyclopaedist of the middle ages, probably a native of Beauvais. Very little is known of his career, except that at one time he held the post of “reader” at the monastery of Royaumont (Mons Regalis), not far from Paris, on the Oise. He is the author of the monumental Speculum. Majus, the great compendium of all the knowledge of the middle ages, comprising the entire scope of the then known sciences and arts. One cannot speak too highly of the immense industry of the author in collecting, classifying and arranging the three huge volumes of 80 books and 9,885 chapters. More than six centuries passed before the idea was again resuscitated; and even then it required a group of brilliant Frenchmen to do what the old Dominican did apparently unaided. This magnum, opus is divided into: a) Speculum Naturale; b) Speculum Doctrinale; and c) *Speculum Hisloriale, to which was added at a later epoch: d) Speculum Morale, most likely of the 14th century.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 2, p. 548