BRIARD (Briaert), Jean. — Theologian and philosopher, known as Athensis, born in Beloeil (Ath) in Belgium in the second half of the 15th century and died on 8 January 1520. He studied at the University of Louvain, where he later became professor, rector, and vice-chancellor, succeeding in this office Adrian of Utrecht, later Pope Adrian VI. He was held in high esteem by all his contemporaries, particularly by Erasmus and Margaret of York, widow of Charles the Bold, who, as long as she lived, wished him to be her chaplain and advisor at Mechelen. He was among the first to denounce and condemn the errors of Luther (17 November 1519), and on other occasions did not fail to raise the alarm against the errors of Erasmus. In the field of philosophy, he is considered the initiator of the analytic method in the study of experimental psychology.
He wrote: *De animo libri 3*; *De animalium sensatione*; *De vera methodo in vitalibus actibus persequenda*; *Quaestiones quodlibeticae*, Louvain 1518 (published together with the *Quodlibeta* of Adrian of Utrecht); *Quodlibetum de causa indulgentiarum*, Leipzig 1519; *De contractu sortis seu Lateria* s. n. t.