HENRY
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HENRY
Henry of Friemar (De Vrimaria), German theo-
logian; b. at Friemar, a small town near Gotha in
Thuringia, about the end of the thirteenth century;
tl. probably at Erfurt about 13.55. At an early age he
entered the Onler of Hermits of Saint Augustine, and
was sent to the University of Paris, where he was
made master in sacred theology, and taught there
until 1.318. In that year he was made regent of
studies in the monastery of St. Thomas, Prague, and
e.xaminer for Germany. Later he was chosen pro-
vincial for Thuringia and Saxony. His printed works
are: (1) "Opus Sermonum Exactissimorum De Sanc-
tis"; (2) " De Quadruplici Instinctu, Divino, Angel-
ico, Diabolico, et Humano" (Parma, 1514); (3) "Ad-
ditiones Ad Libros Sententiarum " (Cologne, 1513);
(4) "De Spiritibus, Eorumque Discretione"; (5)
"Tractatus De Beatae Mariie Virginis Conceptione"
(Louvain, 1664) ; (6) " De Origine Fratrum Eremi-
tarum Sancti Augustini".
Francis E. Tourscher.
Henry of Ghent (Henricus de Gandavo, known as the Doctor Solemnis), a notable scholastic philos- opher and theologian of the thirteenth century, better known by his works than by his life; d. at Paris or Tournai, 1293. He was born at Ghent in Belgium. The exact year of his birth, early in the thirteenth cen- tmy, is unknown, as is also his family name, the name Goethals (BonicoUti) being an invention. He was called also Henricus de Muda or Mudanus or ad Plagam, probal)ly from his place of residence in the town of Tournai, where we find him living in 1267 a.s a secular priest and canon. In 1276, the date of his first dispulatio de quoillibet, he appears as Archdeacon of Bruges, and a few years subsequently as Archdea- con of Tournai. Although he does not seem to have resided permanently at the University of Paris, he must have taught for frequent and prolonged periods at the great intellectual metropolis, for he was well known and highly esteemed there. In 1277 he re- ceived the degree of Magislcr or Doctor of Theology. In 1282 he was selected with two others by Martin IV to arbitrate in the dispute about the privileges of the mendicant friars in regard to hearing confessions: he defended the rights of the bishops as against St. Bona- venture and the regulars. From this to the end of his life he figured prominently in the ecclesiastical affairs of Tournai as well as in the university life of Paris. Recent researches have eliminated much of the leg- endary from his biography, notably the story that he was a Servite or at least a member of some religious order.
As philosopher and theologian Henry ranks imme- diately below his great contemporaries, St. Thomas, St. Bona venture, and John Duns Scotus. He lived through the golden age of Scholasticism, in the midst of the intense intellectual activity which marked the close of the thirteenth century. His two greatest works, the "Quodlibeta" and the "Summa Tlieolog- ica", show him to be by preference a psychologist and metaphysician. He treated all the great debated questions of the schools with an originality that gives his work quite a personal impress. His doctrine, too, forms a consistent whole, with perhaps the single ex- ception of his teaching on the Diidna Sciefitia, which scarcely harmonizes with the rest of his philosophy. Wherever he differs from St. Thomas (e. g. on the Principle of Individuation, the existence of Materia Prima, the plurality of the "formative" principle in man), or from his contemporaries generally (e. g. in rejecting the species intelligibilis in his theory of knowledge), his own views are seldom as sound or satisfactory as theirs, though his criticisms of the latter are often vigorous and convincing. His occa- sional want of clearness has exposed him to severe criticism, especially from Duns Scotus. Hence al.so some have claimed, but without sufficient foundation,
to detect the seeds of unorthodox views in his philos-
ophy and theology. He has been somewhat persist-
ently described as a medieval Platonist, but such a
description is misleading. Like the other great scho-
lastics he was an intelligent, not a servile, follower of
Aristotle. His philosophy is peripatetic, but he sup-
plemented and completed it by drawing largely on
Plato through St. Augustine, thus transmitting the
wholesome Augustinian element in Scholasticism to
Duns Scotus and his successors. Henry's writings
reflect much deep and searching thought on the per-
ennial problems of philosophy and religion. Their
perusal will persuade the impartial inquirer that much
of our modern knowledge about these matters is
medieval.
Henry is the author of the following works: "Dis- putationes Quodlibetales" or "Quodlibeta" (Paris, 1518; Venice, 1608, 1613; "Summa Theologica," in- complete, containing only the prologue and theodicy (Ghent, 1520; Ferrara, 1646); " Liber de Scriptoribus Illustribus", probably not authentic (Cologne, 1580). Still unpublished; a short "Treatise on Logic" (Bruges and Erfurt Ubraries); a "Commentary on Aristotle's Physics" (Paris, Bib. Nat., n. 1600); "Questions on Aristotle's Metaphy.sics", of doubtful authenticity (Escorial library); a treatise "De Virginitate " (Brus- sels and Berlin libraries); "Qusestiones super Decret- alibus" (Vienna library); many unpublished sermons.
BiBLiooR.\PHY. — De Wulf, Eludes siir Henri de Gatid, a monograph from the same author's Histoire de Philosophie scolastique dans les Pays-lias et la Principauti de Liege (Louvain and Paris, 1S9S); Histoire de la Phitosophie midih'ale (Louvain anfl Pans, 2nd ej., 1905); Ehrle, Heinrich von Gent in Archiv fur Lilteraluriind Kirctienaesctiictite, I (188.5), 365-401, 507-508; French tr. by Raskop in Bulletins de la Soc. hist, et lilt, de Tournai, XXI; VVauters in Bull, de la Commission royale d'his- toire (1S87). 185; De Pauw, Dernitres dt'couverles coJicernant le dnrleursolennel (ibid., ISHS and 1889), 135; Dei.ehate in the Messaner des Sciences Hisloriques (1886), 353, 438 (1888), 426; anil in the r/ecisla Auausliniana. IV (1882), 428; Turner. His- lorij of Pliilosophu (Boston, 1903). Less recent biographies: Werner, Heinrich von Gent ats Reprtisenlant des christtirhen Platonismus im XIII Jahrh. (from vol. XXVIII of Dcnkschrif- len, etc. dcr Akademie dcr Wissenschaften, Vienna); Schwartz, Henri de Gand el ses demicrs historicnsin Mem. del' Acad. roy. de Belqique, X, 1860; Huet, Reeherches historiques et critiques sur la vie, les ouvrages el la doctrine de Henri de Gand (Ghent. 1838).
P. CoFrEY.
Henry of Herford (or Herworden; Hervor- dia), friar and chronicler; date of birth unknown; died at Minden, 9 Oct., 1370. He was a native of Herworden, Westphalia, and was professed in the Dominican friary at Minden. There he wrote his chronicle "Liber de rebus memorabilioribus", in which he summarizes the work of older historians from Eusebius down to the writers of his own age. The work, w-hich is continued down to the coronation of the Emperor Charles IV in 1355, was one of the chief sources of historical information in fourteenth- century literature. It was printed under the editor- ship of Potthast at Gottingen in 1859. He also com- posed the "Catena aurea in decem partes distincta", a summary of theology, and a treatise — still unpub- lished — " De Conceptione Virginis gloriosse". Seven years after his death the emperor caused his remains to be solemnly transferred to a place of honour near the high altar.
Fabricius, Bihliolh. med. ait. (1735), III, 65S-9; Potthast, Chronicon llenrici de Hervordia (Gottingen, 1859), Diss. I; Franklin, Dictionnaire des Noms, Sumoms et Pseudonymes Latins de_ Vhistoire litteraire du Moyen Age (Paris, 1875); "Wegele in Allgemeine deulsche Biographic (1881 ); .Streber in Kirchenlei.; Diek.kmp in Zeit.'schr. Gesch. Allerl. Westfal. (1899), LVII, 90-103: HuRTER, Nomenclator; Chevalier, Repertoire des sources historiques du Moyen Age (Paris, 1905).
Edwin Burton.
Henry of Huntingdon, historian; b. probably near Ramsey, Huntingdonshire, between 1080 and 1085; d. 1155. Little is known of his life except from chance allusions in his own works. He refers to the Abbot of Ramsey as his lord, to Lincoln as his diocese and to Albinus of Angers as his teacher. The opening
