BACONTHORP, John (Bacco, Bacho, Bakonius, Johannes de Bacone, etc.). - Philosopher and theologian, born in the last decades of the 13th century in Baconthorp (Norfolk). As a young man he entered the Carmelite monastery at Blakeney. After obtaining a doctorate in theology at Paris, perhaps in 1321, he certainly taught at the University of Cambridge and probably at that of Oxford. Between 1327 and 1333 he held the office of Prior of his Order for the English province.
B. was more a critical than a constructive mind. In theology, where his thought excels in particular topics such as the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, he may be said to have followed a positive method, opposing not only Latin adversaries but also the Thomist school. Nevertheless, B. was called by L. Vanini (Amphitheatrum aeternae providentiae), «Princeps Averroistarum», more for his knowledge of Averroes and for having given a new interpretation of him than for having followed his theories. He wrote a commentary on the Sentences, Quodlibeta I-III; various commentaries on Scripture and Aristotle, almost all lost (autograph manuscript Paris, Bibl. Nat. lat. 9540); on the Gospel, on St. Paul, on St. Augustine, on St. Anselm, as well as several minor works, including three on the history of his Order.