"[2]
[1] Op. Maj, 46.
[2] Op. Tertium, p. 55, 56.
The period during which the intellectual life of the
Middle Ages was broadened by the introduction of new
knowledge and ideas originally from Greek sources, began,
as we have said, with the influx of translations from the
Arabic. The movement culminated with the work of
William of Moerbeke, Greek Secretary at the Council of
Lyons (1274), who, between 1270 and 1281, translated
several of Aristotle's works from the Greek, including the
Rhetorica and the Politica. Fortunately we have a record
belonging to this time of a collection of books which shows
admirably the character of the change. A certain John of
London (c. 1270-1330), believed to have been Bacon's
pupil, probably became a monk of St. Augustine's Abbey,
Canterbury, and in due course bequeathed a library of
books to his house. This collection amounted to nearly
eighty books, of which twenty-three were on mathematics
and astronomy, a like number on medicine, ten on
philosophy, six on logic, four historical, three on grammar,
one poetry, and the rest collections.[1] Such a collection is
remarkable not only for its character, but on account of its
size, which was very large for anybody to own privately in
that age.
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