Saint Albertus Magnus

German philosopher, theologian, and scientist

• Born: c. 1200
• Birthplace: Lauingen, Swabia (now in Germany)
• Died: November 15, 1280
• Place of death: Cologne (now in Germany)

Albertus expanded scientific knowledge through experimentation and observation. As an Aristotelian, he reconciled reason with revelation.

Early Life

Albertus (al-BURH-tuhs) was born at Lauingen in Swabia, the eldest son of the count of Bollstädt. The exact date of his birth is not known; it could have been as early as 1193 or as late as 1207. Albertus matured during the most dynamic decades in Medieval History/Middle Ages, decades marked by the rule of great medieval sovereigns such as Pope Innocent III, Philip II in France, and Ferdinand III in Castile. The Albigensian and the Fourth Crusades were fought at this time, and in England, King John signed the Magna Carta. The dates, places, and content of Albertus's education are still open to speculation. Most scholars believe that he studied the liberal arts for some months in 1222 at the newly founded University of Padua.

As the University of Padua had just broken away from the University of Bologna over the issue of civil versus canon law, it would appear that Albertus's father planned for him to become a civil lawyer. That would account, too, for the strong objections of Albertus's family when, in 1223, at about the age of sixteen, he joined the Dominican order.

As a novice, Albertus studied theology, probably at Bologna, where he was immersed in the writings of theologians ranging from Saint Augustine to Robert Grosseteste. Despite the constitutions of his order, issued in 1228, which forbade the study of books written by pagans and philosophers, Albertus knew a large number of these works, which profoundly influenced him. He read the works of Averroës, Avicenna, Pliny, Plato, and especially Aristotle. He also knew Pythagorean arithmetic, though Roger Bacon would later claim that Albertus was never a mathematician.

Life's Work

In 1228, Albertus left Bologna for Cologne, where he began his career as a teacher. In 1233, his order assigned him the lectorship in Hildesheim. Subsequently, he taught at Fribourg, Ratisbon, and Strasbourg. In 1240, he went to the University of Paris, where he earned his degree as a doctor of theology. While there, he ensured his reputation as one of the great minds of his age as a result of two diverse activities.

First, he began work on his commentaries on Aristotle, which ultimately included treatises on physics, metaphysics, logic, psychology, geography, zoology, botany, mineralogy, astrology, alchemy, chiromancy, and celestial phenomena. So well conceived and detailed were these writings that Albertus was quoted as an authority even during his lifetime. With this work, Albertus contributed significantly to the creation of Christian Aristotelianism.

Second, in 1240, as a result of polemical attacks on the Talmud, Blanche of Castile and her son, Louis IX, called for a public debate of the merits of those attacks. Albertus was one of seven people chosen to discuss the issue. Because of this debate, Albertus's skills as a negotiator were in frequent demand.

Twice he settled disputes between the citizens of Cologne and Archbishop Conrad von Hochstein, typical examples of the struggle between feudal authority and the rising power of the middle-class townsmen. Albertus negotiated a trade agreement between Cologne and Utrecht. He settled a property dispute between Mecklenburg and the Knights of Saint John at the request of Pope Clement IV.

After receiving his doctor's degree, Albertus stayed in Paris, where he taught theology at the university from 1242 to 1248. This is the period when Thomas Aquinas and Siger of Brabant studied with him. In 1248, the Dominicans sent Albertus to Cologne to found and administer the first Dominican school in Germany. There he collaborated with Thomas and others in the formulation of a standard course of study for the schools of the order. Later, he was appointed for three years the provincial over all German Dominicans.

Albertus's administrative ability must have been equal to the quality of his teaching and negotiating, because the pope, over the objections of both Albertus and the general of the Dominicans, Humbert of Romans, appointed Albertus bishop of Ratisbona in 1260, a position from which he resigned in 1262. Almost immediately thereafter, Pope Urban IV sent him to preach the Eighth Crusade, an assignment that lasted two years. In 1264, he returned to teaching, first at Würzburg and then in Strasbourg, after which he finally returned to Cologne in 1272.

He left this oft-sought, much-desired seclusion only a few more times before his death in 1280; the first time was to attend the council at Lyon in 1274. The second occurred in 1277, when Albertus went to Paris to defend his former student Thomas (who had died in 1274) and Aristotelianism, under attack for heresy. As Albertus may have been past eighty at this time and was apparently not in good health, this action clearly indicates his dedication to Aristotelian thought and his support of Thomas.

In addition to boundless energy and practicality in everyday affairs, Albertus possessed an encyclopedic mind, unflagging curiosity, and an undaunted commitment to scholarly endeavors, as is illustrated by the subjects about which he wrote. A prolific writer, he produced at least thirty-eight volumes on interests ranging from alchemy to zoology. Albertus's scientific approach was rooted in experimentation and observation rather than in philosophical speculation and revelation. He had no patience with those who accepted dogmatic knowledge without investigation. Where experience disagreed with accepted dogma, he followed experience, preferably his own. While conceding that all things must ultimately be attributed to divine will, he argued that God worked through nature, which could be understood through reason.

More specifically, Albertus thought that there were two kinds of knowledge, that of theology, faith, and revelation and that of philosophy and natural reason. According to Albertus, there was no contradiction. Instead, he saw each activity as separate but not exclusive of the other; he harmonized the whole, using each kind of knowledge in its appropriate sphere of human inquiry. Albertus began all of his investigations with Aristotle's work and mindful of the Christian faith. Anchored in these, he allowed his empirical observations to refine, redefine, elaborate, and correct. He felt free to exercise reason on all natural phenomena.

{I}De vegetabilibus et plantis{/I}, written around 1250, became the chief source of biological knowledge in Europe for the next three hundred years. Albertus relied almost exclusively on observation. He noted how ecological conditions, such as heat, light, and moisture, affected the way things grew. His study of plants led him close to an understanding of mutation and species modification, something he could not transfer to his investigation of animals, probably because it brought him too close to humans.

De animalibus (thirteenth century) recorded Albertus's thinking on zoology. In it, his observations about German whaling and fishing were outstanding. To the standard Aristotelian catalog, he added descriptions of animals that he had observed in northern Europe. Unfortunately, his understanding of animals, especially the reproductive process, fell prey to the standard misconceptions of his day; for example, he thought that the birth of monstrosities resulted from “defective female matter” that the male “vital heat” could not overcome. Nevertheless, he identified correctly the function of the umbilical cord and the placenta. Through observation, he disproved many of the traditional mystical origins and theological definitions of animals.

It was in his works De mineralibus et rebus metallicis (c. 1260; Book of Minerals, 1967) and De causis proporietatum elementorum (thirteenth century), however, that Albertus made his most original contributions. In them, he scientifically described various precious stones and minerals, although he often included descriptions of mystical properties. He also correctly explained why sea fossils could be found high on a mountainside. Finally, Albertus believed that the world was a sphere and held the near-heretical notion that people lived on the “underside” of that sphere; yet he still believed that Earth was the center of the universe, with all else revolving around it.

Albertus remains one of the greatest medieval theorists on physical science. Although many of his inquiries produced traditional answers, his methodology was a harbinger of modern science. He provided the framework for an understanding of the operations of the physical world, which he saw as a system of activity and constant change; this conception was contrary to the thinking of many of his contemporaries, who defined the world in static terms. He died in Cologne in 1280.

Significance

The life of Albertus Magnus, the “Christian Aristotle,” spanned most of the thirteenth century. He was part of the great outburst of philosophical speculation that characterized the medieval mind. He dealt effectively with at least twelve different popes, beginning with Innocent III, popes who often challenged his methodology and thought. Albertus became the most learned man and the greatest teacher of his day; he is still the patron saint of Catholic schools.

Because of the overwhelming quantity and quality of his work and because of his excellence as a teacher, Albertus earned the titles Magnus and Doctor Universalis (universal teacher). A man of common sense, with an insatiable and healthy curiosity, he sought truth, accepted it when he found it, and conveyed it honestly to his students. Roger Bacon, who was by no means one of Albertus's supporters, conceded that Albertus was one of the greatest scholars of their day. Nevertheless, many were the pedestrian minds who accused Albertus of magic and consorting with the Devil, thinking that such breadth of knowledge could not have been gained in any other way. At times, he was considered a pantheist, although this doctrine would never have appealed to Albertus, who was a man deeply committed to God as the creator and source of all knowledge. In his belief, to understand nature was to understand God.

Although his teaching and administrative career was primarily confined to Germany, Albertus's reputation was European. While he reflected much of the temper of his age, he also helped to create it. More than anyone else, he constructed the Scholastic world system. He awakened the scientific spirit that would dominate the intellectual life of subsequent centuries. Little wonder that his contemporaries called him Magnus.

Bibliography

Albertus Magnus: Zum Gedenken nach 800 Jahren, neue Zugänge, Aspeckte und Perspektiven. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2001. A collection of academic papers. In German.

Brandt, William J. The Shape of Medieval History/Middle Ages: Studies in Modes of Perception. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1966. This is an excellent study of medieval perceptions of nature, human nature, and human action, which illustrates how those perceptions defined the world for the medieval thinker. Contains extensive explanatory notes, which offset the lack of a bibliography.

Crombie, A. C. Medieval and Early Modern Science. Vol. 1. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1959. This is an excellent analysis of Albertus’s contributions to the sciences and empirical methodology. Highly readable and contains an excellent bibliography.

Durant, Will. The Story of Civilization. Vol. 4, The Age of Faith: A History of Medieval Civilization Christian, Islamic, and Judaic from Constantine to Dante, A.D. 325-1300. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1950. An enjoyable work of popular history, providing an excellent introduction to Albertus.

Gilson, Étienne. History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages. London: Sheed and Ward, 1955. Gilson is the leading modern follower of Saint Thomas Aquinas, who thought that truth was perennial and, like Albertus, that there need not be a contradiction between reason and faith.

Haskins, Charles Homer. The Rise of Universities. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1923. Haskins interpretively outlines the rise of the medieval university, commenting briefly on Albertus’s role. This study sparked a generation’s study of medieval education.

Heer, Friedrich. The Intellectual History of Europe. Translated by Jonathan Steinberg. Cleveland, Ohio: World, 1968. An excellent analysis of the development of Western thought, with Albertus seen as a pivotal figure. This is a detailed scholarly study; the sources must be culled from copious notes.

Leff, Gordon. Medieval Thought: St. Augustine to Ockham. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1958. Leff gives the reader an easily understood description of the development of the medieval mind. Describes Albertus’s contributions as a synthesizer, an experimenter, an Aristotelian who reconciled reason and faith; according to Leff, he foreshadowed René Descartes and John Locke in methodology. Limited bibliography.

Thorndike, Lynn. A History of Magic and Experimental Science. Vols. 1 and 2, The First Thirteen Centuries of Our Era. New York: Columbia University Press, 1923. Thorndike remains one of the great historians of science. In this work, he describes Albertus’s empirical method.

Weisheipl, James A. The Development of Physical Theory in the Middle Ages. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1971. Weisheipl stresses Albertus’s elaboration and extension of Aristotelian science, particularly in physics. The reader is persuaded that there was much originality in medieval scientific thought. The bibliography for this short, perceptive, and interpretive essay contains the standard works on the history of science.