John Pecham Quotes
John Pecham was an English Franciscan friar, scholastic theologian, and natural philosopher, and from 1279 archbishop of Canterbury. After studies at Paris and Oxford and a long teaching career as a Franciscan master, he produced his influential Perspectiva Communis, a textbook of geometrical optics that synthesized the work of Alhazen, Roger Bacon, and earlier Western writers and remained a standard introduction to the science of vision into the seventeenth century. The quotes below are attributed to John Pecham, organized by topic.
Browse John Pecham by topic
John Pecham on God
-
Attributed to John Pecham:
“Theology must remain faithful to the wisdom of Augustine.”
-
Attributed to John Pecham:
“Franciscan poverty is a witness to the freedom of the Christian.”
-
“And therefore, Sire, altho' I am ready, so far as is in me, to dedicate the place for the Cistercian monks at Meynan , yet I could not do it without the full assent of the bishop and of his chapter, and of the parson of the place, who, with plenty of other people, have a very great horror of the approach of the forsaid monks. For though they may be good men, if God please, still they are the hardest neighbours that prelates and parsons could have. For where they plant their foot, they destroy towns, take away tithes, and curtail by their privileges all the power of prelacy .”
Footnote: Mr. Martin [editor] remarks upon this letter: "The avarice of the Cistercians had already been noticed by Richard I. , who, when accused of having at home three daughters whom he loved more than the grace of God, viz., Pride, Luxury, and Avarice, replied: 'No, they are no longer at home. My daughter Pride I have married to the Templars , Luxury to the Black Monks , and Avarice to the Whi -
“Footnote: Mr. Martin [editor] remarks upon this letter: "The avarice of the Cistercians had already been noticed by Richard I. , who, when accused of having at home three daughters whom he loved more than the grace of God, viz., Pride, Luxury, and Avarice, replied: 'No, they are no longer at home. My daughter Pride I have married to the Templars , Luxury to the Black Monks , and Avarice to the White Monks .'" (Pref. to Vol. II., Peckham's Register p. lviii.)”
And therefore, Sire, altho' I am ready, so far as is in me, to dedicate the place for the Cistercian monks at Meynan , yet I could not do it without the full assent of the bishop and of his chapter, and of the parson of the place, who, with plenty of other people, have a very great horror of the approach of the forsaid monks. For though they may be good men, if God please, still they are the harde
John Pecham on Knowledge
-
“Letter DLIV (June 14, 1284) Archbishop Peckham to King Edward I., from (Charles Trice Martin, ed.) Registrum epistolarum fratris Johannis Peckham: Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis quoted in Georg Herzfeld (ed.) An Old English Martyrology (1900)”
And therefore, Sire, altho' I am ready, so far as is in me, to dedicate the place for the Cistercian monks at Meynan , yet I could not do it without the full assent of the bishop and of his chapter, and of the parson of the place, who, with plenty of other people, have a very great horror of the approach of the forsaid monks. For though they may be good men, if God please, still they are the harde -
“As you see double if you push the eye out of its place with your finger; so prelates, through evil counsel, judge a priest to be worthy of two benefices , when he ought to be contented with one.”
De Oculo Morali quoted in Georg Herzfeld (ed.) An Old English Martyrology (1900) -
“De Oculo Morali quoted in Georg Herzfeld (ed.) An Old English Martyrology (1900)”
As you see double if you push the eye out of its place with your finger; so prelates, through evil counsel, judge a priest to be worthy of two benefices , when he ought to be contented with one. -
“Formerly the Church with its prelates of old time, was golden in wisdom, silver in cleanness of life, brazen in eloquence, which are three things needful to a preacher ; that is, brightness of wisdom, cleanness of life, and sonorousness of eloquence. But of the feet , the last, that is the modern prelates, part is iron through their hardness of heart, and part is clay by their carnal luxury.”
De Oculo Morali quoted in Georg Herzfeld (ed.) An Old English Martyrology (1900) -
“De Oculo Morali quoted in Georg Herzfeld (ed.) An Old English Martyrology (1900)”
Formerly the Church with its prelates of old time, was golden in wisdom, silver in cleanness of life, brazen in eloquence, which are three things needful to a preacher ; that is, brightness of wisdom, cleanness of life, and sonorousness of eloquence. But of the feet , the last, that is the modern prelates, part is iron through their hardness of heart, and part is clay by their carnal luxury. -
“[ Perspectiva communis was written to] compress into concise summaries the teachings of perspective, which [in existing treatises] are presented with great obscurity.”
as quoted by John Freely , Before Gaileo: The Birth of Modern Science in Medieval Europe (2012)
John Pecham on Mind
-
“Light from a concave luminous body is received most powerfully at the centre. The reason for this is that, for every point of a concave body, perpendicular rays, which are stronger than others, converge in the centre. Therefore the virtues of celestial bodies are incident most powerfully in and near the centre of the world.”
Note the assumption that the heavenly sphere is concave with respect to the earth. | Perspectiva communis as quoted in J. D. North , Stars, Mind and Fate: Essays in Ancient and Mediaeval Cosmology (1989) citing D.C. Lindberg, John Pecham and the Science of Optics: Perspectiva communis (1970) p.99
John Pecham on Nature
-
Attributed to John Pecham:
“Light is the common bond between the eye and the world.”
-
Attributed to John Pecham:
“Optics shows that the visible world is shaped by mathematical law.”
John Pecham on Truth
-
Attributed to John Pecham:
“Truth is one, but the paths to it are many.”