HENRY BATE of MECHLIN. - Belgian philosopher and astronomer, b. 24 March 1246. He completed his philosophical studies, it seems, in Paris and was apparently influenced by St Albert the Great, Ulrich of Strasbourg, and the Averroist group led by Siger of Brabant. A manuscript in the Bibliothèque Royale in Brussels also describes him as a master in theology. He was in contact with William of Moerbeke.
A translator of astrological writings from Arabic and Hebrew, H. is also the author of original astronomical works, such as the Tabulae Mechlinenses, the Magistralis expedicio astrolabii, and the Nativitas magistri Heurici, an autobiographical horoscope. Doubtful is the De horis planetarum (Venice 1493). But his major work is the Speculum divinorum et quorundam naturalium (ed., with a bibliographical note, of the 1st and 2nd parts by G. Wallerand [Les philosophes belges, 11], Louvain 1931), composed between 1303 and 1310, in 23 parts dealing with epistemological and physical problems, natural science, astronomy, and metaphysics. While the author often professes his dissent from St Thomas, he adopts Averroistic and Neoplatonic doctrines, with that broad eclectic spirit that characterizes the commentaries of Albert the Great on Aristotle and those of Berthold of Moosburg on Proclus’ Elementatio theologica. Because of his attempt to reconcile Plato with Aristotle, the work attracted the attention of Pico della Mirandola, who procured a copy of II.