Editing Alain de Lille (section)

==Life==
Little is known of his life. Alain entered the schools no earlier than the late 1140s; first attending the school at Paris, and then at [[Chartres]]. He probably studied under masters such as [[Peter Abelard]], [[Gilbert of Poitiers]], and [[Thierry of Chartres]]. This is known through the writings of [[John of Salisbury]], who is thought to have been a contemporary student of Alain of Lille.<ref name="auto1" >{{cite book|last=Evans|first=G.R.|title=Alan of Lille: The Frontiers of Theology in the Later Twelfth Century|year=1983|publisher=University Press|location=Cambridge}}</ref> Alain's earliest writings were probably written in the 1150s, and probably in Paris.<ref name="auto2" >{{cite book|last=Marenbon|first=John|title=A Companion to the Philosophy of Education|year=2002|publisher=Blackwell}}</ref> He spent many years as a professor of [[theology]] at the [[University of Paris]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Muston |first=Alexis |url=https://archive.org/details/israelofalpscomp02must |title=The Israel of the Alps: a complete history of the Waldenses and their colonies, Vol. 2 |date=1875 |publisher=Blackie & Son |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/israelofalpscomp02must/page/509 509] |translator=Rev. John Montgomery |quote=Alain de l'Isle (''Alanus Magnus de Insulis''), a celebrated professor of Theology at the University of Paris, towards the end of the twelfth century. |author-link=Alexis Muston}}</ref> and he attended the [[Third Council of the Lateran|Lateran Council]] in 1179. Though the only accounts of his lectures seem to show a sort of eccentric style and approach, he was said to have been good friends with many other masters at the school in Paris, and taught there, as well as some time in southern France, into his old age. He afterwards inhabited [[Montpellier]] (he is sometimes called ''Alanus de Montepessulano''), lived for a time outside the walls of any cloister, and finally retired to [[Cîteaux]], where he died in 1202.{{sfn|Alphandéry|1911}}

He had a very widespread reputation during his lifetime, and his knowledge caused him to be called ''Doctor Universalis''. Many of Alain's writings cannot be exactly dated, and the circumstances surrounding his writing are often unknown as well. It does seem clear that his first notable work, ''[[Summa Quoniam Homines]]'', was completed between 1155 and 1165, with the most conclusive date being 1160, and was probably developed through his lectures at the school in Paris.<ref name="auto1" /> Among his numerous works two poems entitle him to a distinguished place in the [[Latin literature]] of the [[Middle Ages]]; one of these, the ''De planctu Naturae'', is an ingenious satire on the vices of humanity. He created the allegory of grammatical "conjugation" which was to have its successors throughout the Middle Ages. The ''Anticlaudianus'', a treatise on morals as [[Medieval allegory|allegory]], the form of which recalls the pamphlet of Claudian against Rufinus, is agreeably versified and relatively pure in its latinity.{{sfn|Alphandéry|1911}}