Summists
Summists
(Lat. Summa, a compendium) A group of writers in the 12th to 14th centuries who produced compendious, encyclopedic works known as Summae. Beginnings of the summa-form are to be found in Peter Abaelard’s Sic et Non (early 12th C.) and Peter Lombard’s Libri IV Sententiarum (mid 12th C.). Theological Summae consisted of collections of opinions (sententiae) from earlier authorities, particularly Patristic, with some attempt at a resolution of the conflicts in such opinions. Hugh of St. Victor may have been the first to use the name, Summa. Wm. of Auxerre (Summa Aurea), Alexander of Hales and his fellow Franciscans (Summa universae theologiae), John of La Rochelle (S. de anima), St. Albert (S. de Creaturis, and an incomplete S. Theologiae), and St. Thomas Aquinas (S. contra Gentiles, and S. Theologiae), are important 13th C. Summists. There were philosophical Summae, also, such as the S. Logicae of Lambert of Auxerre, the S. modorum stgnificandi of Siger of Courtrai (14th C.), and the Summa philosophiae of the Pseudo-Grosseteste (late 13th C.). — V.J.B.