PETER OF POITIERS (Petrus Pictaviensis). - Theologian, b. in the first half of the 12th century, d. in Paris in 1205. A disciple of Peter Lombard, in 1169 he succeeded Peter Comestor (v.) in the teaching of theology at Notre-Dame, and in 1193 he succeeded Hilduin as chancellor (cancellarius Parisiensis): he held both offices until his death. Highly esteemed, he received delicate commissions from Celestine III and Innocent III.
Before 1175 he wrote the Libri quinque Sententiarum (PL 211, 789-1280; new ed. by Ph. S. Moore-J. N. Garvin, M. Dulong, Sententiae Petri Pictaviensis [I, I and II, Publications in Mediaeval Studies, 7 and 11], Notre Dame, Indiana 1943-50), in which he develops, with a rather different division, the same material as the Sentences of Peter Lombard (v.), whose approach and method he follows. Noteworthy are the clarifications on the sacraments (e.g., Sacramentum, res Sacramenti, with regard to the Eucharist) and the mention of Aristotle's Metaphysics. Attacked by Walter of St. Victor (v.) in 1180 as one of the «four labyrinths of France», he honorably maintained the positions of the school of Peter Lombard. He also wrote: Genealogia et chronologia sanctorum Patrum ab Adamo ad Christum, also called Compendium historiae Veteris et Novi Testamenti (Basel 1592): an arid and inaccurate summary of sacred history; Allegoriae super Tabernaculum Moysi (ed. Ph. S. Moore and J. A. Corbett, Indiana 1938): the author culls from the verses of Exodus whatever lends itself to allegorical considerations; other commentaries (glosses, allegories, distinctions) on Scripture are unpublished.
Bibliography3 works
PIETRO DEGLI ONESTI called PECCATORE. Detail of the Altarpiece with the Madonna enthroned between St. Anne and St. Elizabeth, painted by E. de' Roberti (1480-81) for the church of S. Maria in Portofuori in Ravenna - Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera.
Grabmann), I. Münster 1935, pp. 310-31; Ph. S. Moore, The works of Peter von Poitiers, Washington 1936; J. De Ghellinck, L'essor de la litt. lat. au XIIe siècle, I. Brussels-Paris 1946, p. 79 and passim; A. Landgraf, Einführung in die Gesch. der theolog. Liter. der Frühscholastik, Regensburg 1948, pp. 104-107 (with bibliography of the manuscripts and recent works); I. N. Garvin, Peter of Poitiers and Simon Tournai on the Trinity, in Rech. de théol. ancienne et médiévale, 16 (1949), pp. 314-16.
Antonio Piolanti