BARTOLOMEO ANGLICO O di GLANVILLE. — English Minorite of the thirteenth century, an eminent philosopher, theologian, and naturalist. He studied at Oxford, as his scientific training reveals, and then went to Paris, where he expounded the whole of Holy Scripture “cursorily.” A biblical bachelor of the university in 1230, he was sent by his minister general, fra’ Giovanni Parenti, as a lecturer to the Studium of Magdeburg in Germany. He was received there with great honor in 1231, and it seems that until his death he carried out his activities there as teacher, preacher, and writer.
The fruit of his university life and teaching is the De proprietatibus rerum, an encyclopedic work in 19
books, in which he gathered together all the knowledge of his age. The enthusiastic reception accorded to it by the Middle Ages is attested by the very many manuscripts preserved in various libraries and by the numerous editions and translations produced in the following centuries. For this work fra’ B. earned the title of “Doctor proprietatum” and of “the first great encyclopedist of the Middle Ages.” The fra’ B. of Glanville of the fourteenth century seems to be a duplicate of our fra’ B. Anglico, who may perhaps have been of Glanville or Glanville descent.