Thierry of Chartres

c.1100-c.1156. Scholastic philosopher and theologian. He was the younger brother of Bernard of Chartres, who was chancellor of Chartres from 1114 to 1119 and was a major figure in the humanist and Platonic tradition characteristic of the cathedral school at Chartres. Thierry followed the same emphasis. He taught at the cathedral school while his brother was chancellor, and in 1136 he became archdeacon of Dreux. He also taught in Paris where John of Salisbury* was one of his pupils. In 1141 he succeeded Gilbert de la Porrée as chancellor at Chartres. He attended the trial of Gilbert in Reims in 1148, where Gilbert was accused of a heretical position on the Trinity, and in the following year he attended the Diet of Frankfurt. Little is known of the remainder of his life, except that he probably spent his last years in a Cistercian monastery. His humanist emphasis is illustrated in his Heptateuchon, a manual of the seven liberal arts which provides an excellent description of the available knowledge in the period. He differed from his brother and Gilbert in his emphasis on scientific knowledge, and he was one of the first to promote Arabic science in the West. He wrote a commentary on creation, De Sex Dierum Operibus, which reveals his scientific interests and the influence of Platonic philosophy. In addition he wrote a commentary on Boethius's De Trinitate and Cicero's De Inventione.