Chapter XXVI: Book III: of the Tractatus excerptionum, printed among the works of

Hugh of St. Victor in Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clxxvii, cols. 209–216,
is entitled _De situ terrarum_. This contains chapters on the three
parts of the earth, on Asia, Africa, and Europe, on mountains, rivers,
islands, and cities. Its attribution to Hugh of St. Victor is
extremely doubtful. See Santarem, _Essai_, vol. i, 1849, p. 66, note
2.

Footnote 461:

The monumental _Speculum mundi_ of the Dominican, Vincent of Beauvais,
which probably cannot have been written much before 1250, is divided
into three parts: _Speculum naturale_, _Speculum doctrinale_, and
_Speculum historiale_. There is no complete modern edition. Copies of
incunabula and of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century editions are not
rare. The work is a gigantic compilation drawn from a great multitude
of sources, all of which were carefully indicated by the diligent
compiler, together with additions by the compiler himself. Most novel
from the geographical point of view are the data on Asia taken from
Simon of St. Quentin and from John of Pian de Carpine, which are to be
found in _Speculum historiale_ (see above, pp. 269–270). _Speculum
naturale_ discusses the various features of the world in the order of
their creation. It is in the nature of a vast commentary on the first
chapter of Genesis. The following books are of especial geographical
significance: II, consisting of metaphysical and theological material
on the Creation; IV, dealing with the firmament, and the heavens; V,
with meteorology; VI, with the waters; VII, with the lands; XXXIII,
with regions habitable by man. The last is a typical cosmography, made
up largely of fragments from Isidore, in which chapters are devoted to
a discussion of the tripartite division of the earth, Asia and
Paradise, India and its marvels, Asia Minor, Europe, Greece, other
parts of Europe, Africa, the islands of the ocean which encircles the
earth, the islands of the Mediterranean Sea, the Cyclades, etc.

Footnote 462:

Most of Albertus Magnus’ (1193–1280) many and voluminous works, the
greatest repertory of Aristotelian science of the Christian Middle
Ages, constitute an immense paraphrase of and commentary on all the
writings of Aristotle that were available in the mid-thirteenth
century. Albert used many of the titles that were applied in the
period to Aristotle’s works and the customary division into books and
chapters. Of particular interest from the geographical point of view
are: _De caelo et mundo_ (Jammy edit., 1651, vol. ii); _Libri
meteorum_ (_ibid._, vol. ii); _De natura locorum_ (_ibid._, vol. v),
and _De proprietatibus elementorum_ (_ibid._, vol. v). Kretschmer,
_Phys. Erdk._, 1889, _passim_, and Werner, _Kosm. Wilhelm von
Conches_, 1873, _passim_, give a fairly satisfactory general idea of
the more important contributions of Albert to cosmology and physical
geography.

In the second book of the _De caelo et mundo_ Albert declares that the
earth is spherical because the particles which compose it are drawn
toward the center of the universe and, in striving to attain that
point, arrange themselves symmetrically in the form of a sphere. He
gives as proofs of the sphericity of the earth arguments that were
familiar to writers of antiquity (see above, p. 368, note 33).

In the _Libri meteorum_ (_Meteorology_) much material will be found on
the atmosphere, on the waters, and on earthquakes. Albert thought that
the winds are caused by an earthy humor raised by the sun (Werner,
_op. cit._, pp. 351–352; compare this theory with the theory of Seneca
and of William of Conches, pp. 171–172, above). He thought that the
areas of the earth’s surface covered by water are much more extensive
than those represented by land and that large rivers spring from great
cavities in the interior of the earth. These cavities, he maintained,
usually correspond in position to the major mountain ranges.

Points of physical geography are also treated at some length in the
_De proprietatibus elementorum_ (based upon the pseudo-Aristotelian
work of the same title): hot springs, volcanoes, tides, the Deluge,
the origin of mountains by earthquakes and by erosion. Albert
expresses vigorous opposition to the theory of the periodic rotation
of land and sea around the earth’s surface under astrological
influences (see above, pp. 14 and 83), but he believed, none the less,
that the heavenly bodies through their varying motions and
conjunctions may bring to bear powerful local changes in conditions of
dampness and dryness which in turn may even produce interchanges of
areas of land and sea. He refers to the discovery of the rudder of a
great ship when a certain well was dug in muddy ground as evidence of
gradual alterations in the relative level of land and sea (Kretschmer,
_op. cit._, p. 125).

In a great many respects the _De natura locorum_ is the most valuable
of Albert’s books from the geographical point of view. Kretschmer goes
so far as to declare that this work reveals to us in Albert the first
great geographer since antiquity (_ibid._, p. 139). Tractatus I
treats, among other matters, of latitudes and longitudes, of the
habitable and uninhabitable parts of the earth’s surface, and of
climates. Albert denies the older view that the equatorial regions are
totally uninhabitable on the ground that people were actually known to
dwell therein. Moreover, he was inclined to the belief that the
countries near the equator are more temperate and pleasant than those
nearer the tropics (see above, p. 164). Albert’s “climatic
observations in the _Liber de natura locorum_ have at all times
aroused undivided admiration, and we find in them the first attempt at
a comparative geography” (Kretschmer, _op. cit._, p. 139). This
applies more especially to his observations regarding the influences
of mountains, seas, woods, and other topographic features upon
climate. These would well repay careful comparison with the views of
William of Conches upon the same topics (see above, p. 178). Tractatus
III of the _De natura locorum_ is a “cosmographia,” or description of
the regions of the world, following the usual medieval scheme.

Footnote 463:

Bartholomew Anglicus, author of the _De proprietatibus rerum_,
“belonged probably to the circle of insular [British] clerics who were
ardently interested in experimental researches and in natural history;
of whom the encyclopedist Alexander Neckam was in a measure the
precursor, and of whom the Franciscan Roger Bacon was the most
illustrious representative” (C. V. Langlois, _La connaissance_, 1911,
p. 117). It has so far been impossible accurately to determine the
date of the _De proprietatibus rerum_, though it falls probably before
the middle of the thirteenth century (_ibid._, p. 118, note 2). This
work was a compilation from many different sources and was intended
for less educated readers. Book XI is devoted to the phenomena of the
air, XIII to the waters, XIV to the earth, and XV to a _mappamundi_,
or description of the various “provinces” of the earth in alphabetical
order. There is no modern edition. A summary of the contents will be
found in C. V. Langlois, _op. cit._, pp. 128–179, and a discussion of
Bartholomew’s geography is given by Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. ii,
p. 424–429. Extracts from an English translation of Berthelet, 1535,
are given in Steele, _Mediaeval Lore_, 1907 (under Bartholomew
Anglicus in the Bibliography). The future influence of the work was
very far-reaching, especially upon English literature of the
Elizabethan period (see Steele, _op. cit._, pp. 2–4; C. V. Langlois,
_op. cit._, pp. 126–127).

Footnote 464:

The Florentine Brunetto Latino died in 1295. He composed his great
_Livre du trésor_ in French during a period of exile in France between
1260 and 1266 (C. V. Langlois, _op. cit._, p. 328). This work met with
a wide success. It is divided into three parts, the first of which is
devoted to geography and cosmography. Much of the material here was
derived ultimately from Solinus. The _Trésor_ was edited by P.
Chabaille in 1863, but a definitive critical edition has not yet
appeared. For a criticism of Chabaille’s edition and for a summary of
the contents of the first part, see C. V. Langlois, _op. cit._, pp.
333–391.

Footnote 465:

Among these must be mentioned the following:

1. An unpublished encyclopedia by an otherwise unknown Arnold the
Saxon. This dates from between 1210 and 1250 and is preserved in a
manuscript in Erfurt. Rose’s edition, 1875, pp. 447–454, gives a
summary of the titles of chapters and prints the prologues of each
book. Some idea of the character of the work may be gained from
Stange’s dissertation and article, both listed in the Bibliography.
The first book, entitled _De caelo et mundo_, and the fourth, _De
virtute universali_, include data on physical geography, meteorology,
earthquakes, the sea, rivers, hot springs, and mineralogy (Stange,
_Arnoldus Saxo_, 1885, p. 18) derived in part from Aristotle’s
_Meteorology_ (_ibid._ and Rose, _op. cit._, p. 450). It has been
claimed that Arnold the Saxon’s encyclopedia was used by Vincent of
Beauvais, Albertus Magnus, and Bartholomew Anglicus, but this is
probably erroneous (see Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. ii, p. 430).

2. The _De natura rerum_ of Thomas of Cantimpré, in twenty books,
written between 1228 and 1244 and as yet unedited in a modern edition.
Thomas’ work was especially popular in Germany (see C. V. Langlois,
_op. cit._, p. 118, note 2; also Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. ii,
pp. 372–398).

3. A work of encyclopedic scope entitled _Summa philosophiae_, which
has erroneously been attributed to Robert Grosseteste but which cannot
possibly date from before 1250 and may be as late as 1270. It contains
chapters on meteorology, tides, and minerals. The full text is given
in Baur, _Philos. Werke Grossetestes_, 1912, pp. 275–643, with a
critical discussion of its authorship, pp. 126*-141*.

Footnote 466:

Roger Bacon, one of the most original thinkers of the entire medieval
period in matters of natural science, was the last of a series of
Englishmen who devoted themselves to these interests. In this group
may be counted Adelard of Bath and, at a much later date, Alexander
Neckam, Alfred of Sareshel, Daniel of Morley, and Robert Grosseteste
(see above, p. 407, note 94). For the last-named, whose teachings in
many particulars he adopted and elaborated upon, Bacon had the highest
admiration.

Born about 1210–1215, Roger Bacon became a Franciscan between 1245 and
1250. His more important works were completed before 1266 and were
condemned as heretical in 1278. He died in the last decade of the
century. See Bridges, _Life of Bacon_, 1914, and Thorndike, _Magic_,
1923, vol. ii, pp. 616–691.

From the geographical point of view beyond all question the most
important of Bacon’s writings was the _Opus majus_, which sets forth
his fundamental ideas in the realms of natural and physical science.
Bridges’ edition of this contains a full introduction and a detailed
analysis of the text, chapter by chapter. The geographical material
will be found in Part IV, on mathematical science. Distinctio ii of