PIETRO di Blois (Petrus Blesensis). - Theologian and humanist, b. at Blois c. 1135, d. after 1204. He studied letters at Chartres and Tours, philosophy at Paris, and law at Bologna.
Returning to Paris, he attended theological courses. In 1167 he succeeded his friend Gualtiero, who had been appointed archbishop of Palermo, as tutor to William II of Sicily, but two years later, after refusing the sees of Naples and Rossano, he left the Sicilian court to become secretary to Henry II, king of England, and later to his widow Eleanor of Aquitaine (1191-95). Ordained priest c. 1190, he was appointed archdeacon of Bath, then of London, and chancellor to Richard, archbishop of Canterbury, by whom he was sent three times to Rome (1175, 1178, 1187) on important business. He finally obtained the deanery of Chester, but resigned it because of the unedifying conduct of the canons and ended his troubled life in poverty.
His writings (PL 207) include: Epistolae (cols. 1-560); there are 183 of them, addressed to great figures of the time and rich in historical information and moral counsel; Sermones (cols. 559-776): sixty-five on the temporale and on the feasts of Our Lady and the saints; Tractatus of various kinds, the principal of which are: De transfiguratione Domini (cols. 777-92): noteworthy remarks on the qualities of glorified bodies; De conversione s. Pauli (cols. 791-96); Compendium in Job (cols. 795-826): exhortations to patience and invective against rich prelates; Contra perfidiam Judaeorum (cols. 825-70): here the argument from prophecy is skillfully employed and it is among the best apologetic essays of the 12th century; De amicitia christiana (cols. 875-95) together with De caritate (cols. 895-98) forms a diptych on Christian love inspired by the similar work of Aelred of Rievaulx; De confessione sacramentali (cols. 1077-92), completed by De paenitentia a sacerdote iniungenda (cols. 1091-98); Invectiva in depravationem operum Petri Blesensis (cols. 1113-26): in response to various attacks he lists his works and touches on the question of grace and free will.
Though inferior to his master John of Salisbury, P. di B. is nevertheless one of the most distinguished names in 12th-century Latin literature, and with the brilliance of his style stands in strong contrast to the carelessness of form common to almost all scholastic writing.