William of Auvergne

c.1180-1249. Bishop of Paris. He studied in Paris and became a teacher first in the faculty of arts and then in the faculty of theology. In 1223 he became a canon of Notre-Dame, and in 1228 bishop of Paris. When suspicion of Aristotle* in ecclesiastical circles was rife, he tried to synthesize the traditional Augustinian method and doctrine with these new Neoplatonic, Arabian, and Aristotelian philosophical ideas, and so prepared the way for his more successful followers, Alexander of Hales,* Albertus Magnus,* and Thomas Aquinas.* In 1229 William, who is known also as “Guillaume d'Auvergne” or “Guillaume de Paris,” was rebuked by Pope Gregory IX* for his laxity in dealing with problems in the university. Gregory expressed regret at William's election as bishop. His most important philosophical writings are De Universo and De Anima and, theologically, De Virtutibus, De Sacramentis, and De Trinitate.