Quelques considérations sur l’influence du De contemplatione de Richard de Saint-Victor

Abstract

The De contemplatione (Beniamin maior) of Richard of St. Victor († 1173) is regarded as the first theoretical treatise on contemplation to have been written in the West. It is based on Biblical accounts and on an allegorical exegesis of the Ark of the Covenant. It is a text partly unknown. While the Beniamin minor benefited early from translations into the vernacular, guaranteeing a wide dissemination among the contemplative orders, the Beniamin maior had only a limited readership, mostly among the literati. The reception of the work in the thirteenth century reveals the root causes of its increasing obliteration and the first signs of misunderstandings. The Victorine Thomas Gallus cites it, but deviates from it to refer to Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite, who becomes the canonical author in this field. This is further confirmed by Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure. Hugh of Balma mentions the De contemplatione, criticizing it on the basis of the theses of Dionysius, and by confusing the treatise of Richard with a text by Hugh of St. Victor, he inaugurates a series of misinterpretations. Guigues du Pont often uses the vocabulary of Richard, but his reading is from a Dionysian perspective. So we can see the development of a tradition of reading that only retains a few of Richard’s definitions (always the same ones), and his division into six types, neglecting his exposition of the complexities of the ecstatic experience. However, Dante Alighieri is an exception : he comes on the scene as an informed reader of Richard. In the Paradiso he praises Richard and is extremely close to him conceptually on the supreme mystical experience.