FREDEGISUS OF TOURS. - English scholastic, b. probably in the last quarter of the 8th century (a letter of Alcuin from 798 calls him a "puer"), d. in 834. He was a disciple of Alcuin first at York and then in Charlemagne's palace school, in which he later (early 9th century) held a chair. In 804 he was elected abbot of the monastery of St. Martin in Tours, and in 819 he received the dignity of chancellor to Louis the Pious.

Besides some short poems, he wrote in epistolary form the brief treatise De nihilo et tenebris (PL 105, 751-56), in which he seeks to demonstrate that these two concepts correspond to an objective reality. Perhaps, however, more than by the postulates of an exaggerated realism, F. is led to this position by exegetical concerns regarding the relevant passages of chapter 1 of Gen., which seemed to him incapable of being explained otherwise.

The importance of the Epistola for the history of philosophy lies in the fact that it constitutes one of the first examples, in scholasticism, of the dialectical method.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: M. Abner, Fredegis von T., Leipzig 1878; J. A. Endres, Fredenius und Gaudidus, in Phil. Zulufr., 10 (1906), pp. 430-446; id., Forschungen zur Geschichte der Iridimittahiltiischen Philosophie, Münster 1915, pp. 5-15.

Felicissimo Timicella

@incollection{ec5_fredegiso_di_tours, author = {Tinivella, Felicissimo}, title = {Fredegiso di Tours}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {1759--1760}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/fredegiso-di-tours} }

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Fredegisus of Tours

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