# Peter Comestor > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Peter_Comestor > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Peter_Comestor.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Comestor > Source revision: 1326400707 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|12th-century French theologian}} {{Expand French|topic=bio|Pierre le Mangeur|date=July 2017}} [[File:Petrus Comestor presents his book to Archbishop Guillaume of Sens.jpg|thumb|Petrus Comestor presents the [Bible Historiale](/source/Bible_Historiale) to [Archbishop Guillaume of Sens](/source/Guillaume_aux_Blanches_Mains).]] '''Peter Comestor''' ({{langx|la|Petrus Comestor}}, "Peter the Eater"; {{langx|fr|Pierre le Mangeur}}; died 22 October 1178) was a 12th-century [French](/source/Kingdom_of_France) [theological](/source/Theology) writer and university teacher. {{anchor|Biography|History}} == Life == Peter Comestor was born in [Troyes](/source/Troyes). Although the surname {{lang|la|Comestor}} ([Latin](/source/Latin_language) for "Eater") was popularly attributed to his habit of devouring books and learning, it was more probably simply a family name.{{cite journal |last1=Dalyn |first1=S. R. |title=Peter Comestor: Master of Histories |journal=Speculum |date=1957 |volume=32 |issue=1 |page=63 |doi=10.2307/2849246 |jstor=2849246 |s2cid=162911450 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2849246|url-access=subscription }}{{cite journal |last1=Morey |first1=J. H. |title=Biblical Paraphrase, and the Medieval Popular Bible |journal=Speculum |date=1993 |volume=68 |page=10 |doi=10.2307/2863832 |jstor=2863832 |s2cid=162846824 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2863832.pdf}} It did, however, give Peter a nice pun for his epitaph (supposed to have been composed by him): {{lang|la|Petrus eram quem petra tegit, dictusque Comestor nunc comedor}} ("I whom this stone covers was Peter, called the 'Devourer', now I am devoured"). As a young man, Peter studied at the [Troyes Cathedral](/source/Troyes_Cathedral) school, where he might have come into contact with [Peter Abelard](/source/Peter_Abelard).Dalyn, 64 Sometime later, he was a student in [Paris](/source/Paris) under, amongst others, [Peter Lombard](/source/Peter_Lombard).{{cite journal |last1=Clark |first1=M. |title=Peter Comestor and Peter Lombard: Brothers in Deed |journal=Traditio |date=2005 |volume=60 |pages=85–142|doi=10.1017/S0362152900000246 |s2cid=144325543 }} By 1147, he was back in Troyes, having been appointed dean of [Troyes Cathedral](/source/Troyes_Cathedral). By 1160, Peter had returned to Paris to teach, holding the chair of theology at the [university](/source/University_of_Paris), from which he retired in 1169. He was made chancellor of [Notre Dame in Paris](/source/Notre_Dame_de_Paris) around 1164, which put him, among other things, in charge of the cathedral school. He held the post until his death in 1178.Morey, 10 Peter's reputation as an academic was such that [Pope Alexander III](/source/Pope_Alexander_III) specifically exempted Peter from his ban on charging fees for giving licences to teach.Dalyn, 67, 70 Peter was buried in the [Abbey of Saint Victor](/source/Abbey_of_Saint-Victor%2C_Paris). He may have retired and become a [canon](/source/Canons_regular) there, as he was celebrated thus by the canons in their [necrology](/source/necrology).Dalyn, 68 == Works == ===Historia Scholastica=== Peter's most famous work was his ''[Historia Scholastica](/source/Historia_Scholastica)'': as [Beryl Smalley](/source/Beryl_Smalley) called it, a 'great study of biblical history'.{{cite book |last1=Smalley |first1=B. |title=The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages |date=1964 |publisher=University of Notre Dame Press |page=178}} The ''Historia'' was completed by 1173, Peter having spent some time writing it at the Abbey of Saint Victor. Peter dedicated it to [William, bishop of Sens](/source/William_of_the_White_Hands). The ''Historia'' was a core text during the following centuries, even being a source, perhaps, for [The Canterbury Tales](/source/The_Canterbury_Tales).Morey, 32-5 ===Other works=== Many of Peter's works are still unpublished. Among his works are: * Sermons: 50 are in [Migne](/source/Jacques_Paul_Migne) ''[PL](/source/Patrologia_Latina)'', misattributed to [Hildebert of Lavardin](/source/Hildebert_of_Lavardin) (PL clxxi, 330-964, others in PL cxcviii, 1721-1844). The precise number of Peter's sermons is not entirely agreed upon.{{cite journal |last1=Luscombe |first1=D. |title=Peter Comestor |journal=Studies in Church History Subsidia |date=1985 |volume=4 |page=fn.26|doi=10.1017/S0143045900003598 }} * ''Liber de Sacramentis'' * ''De Poenitentia'' * ''Breviarum Sententiarum'' * Glosses on the [Gospels](/source/Gospels), the ''[Glossa Ordinaria](/source/Glossa_Ordinaria)'', the [Psalter](/source/Psalter), [St Paul](/source/Paul_of_Tarsus), and the [Twelve Minor Prophets](/source/Twelve_Minor_Prophets) * ''Sententiae de Sacramentis'', an abridgement of Peter Lombard's ''[Sentences](/source/Sentences)'' * Treatises on the [Eucharist](/source/Eucharist) and on [Confession](/source/Confession_(religion)) * ''Questiones'' thumb|Petrus Comestor writing, from a c. 1470 manuscript == Editions == * ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=7nfYAAAAMAAJ Petri Comestoris Scolastica Historia: Liber Genesis.]'' Edited by Agneta Sylwan. Turnhout: Brepols, 2004, Pp. xc + 227. (Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis, 191). {{ISBN|978-2503049113}} ==Manuscripts== === Historia scholastica === * Épinal, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 50 s. xiii * British Library, Harley MS 4132. s. xiii. * British Library, Egerton MS 272. s. xiii. * Durham Cathedral, B.III.20. s. xiii. * Hereford Cathedral, P.v.15. s. xiii in. * Lincoln Cathedral, 80. s. xii. * Lincoln Cathedral, 86. s. xiii === Other works === * Hereford Cathedral, O.vii.3. Sermones s. xiii in. * Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 494. Textus glosatus super Iohannem etc. s. xii/xiii. H. * Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 748. Petrus Comestor s. xiv. * Oxford, Corpus Christi College 159. Peter Comestor s. xiv in. * Lincoln Cathedral, 153. s. xii ex. * Lincoln Cathedral, 159. s. xiv/xv. == References == {{Reflist|30em}} == Further reading == * M. J. Clark, ''The Making of the'' Historia scholastica'', 1150–1200'' (''Studies and Texts'', 198), Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 2016 ({{ISBN|978-0-88844-198-0}}) * Gilbert Dahan, Les Intellectuels chrétiens et les Juifs au Moyen Âge, Paris, Cerf, 1990. * B. Smalley, ''The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages'', 2nd edn., University of Notre Dame Press, 1964 * D. Luscombe, “The Place of Peter Comestor in the History of Medieval Theology,” in ''Pierre le Mangeur ou Pierre de Troyes, maître du XIIe siècle'', ed. Gilbert Dahan, Brepols, 2013, 27–45 == External links == {{Commons category|Petrus Comestor}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Petrus Comestor}} *[https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.MS120 Guide to Petrus, Comestor, Historia scholastica. Manuscript, 12--] at the [https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/scrc/ University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center] *[https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.MS121 Guide to Petrus, Comestor, Historia scholastica. Manuscript, 13--] at the [https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/scrc/ University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center] * [http://mlgb3.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/mlgb/?search_term=peter+comestor&page_size=500/ Medieval Libraries of Great Britain] * ["Pierre le Mangeur"](/source/%3Afr%3APierre_le_Mangeur') * [https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11763b.htm/ "Peter Comestor", Catholic Encyclopedia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927181927/https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11763b.htm |date=2020-09-27 }} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Comestor, Peter}} Category:Year of birth unknown Category:1170s deaths Category:12th-century French historians Category:12th-century French Catholic theologians Category:Chancellors of the University of Paris Category:Medieval Paris Category:Writers from Troyes Category:French male writers Category:12th-century writers in Latin --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Peter Comestor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Comestor) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Comestor?action=history)). 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