William of Auxerre

William of Auxerre (1140/50–1231) was a French scholastic theologian and official in the Roman Catholic Church. He was deeply influenced by Praepositinus of Cremona, who served as Chancellor of the University of Paris from 1206 to 1209. Thomas Aquinas himself mentioned both teacher and pupil in the same sentence. Before becoming a professor of theology at the University of Paris, William held the position of Archdeacon of Beauvais. In 1231, he was appointed to a commission established by Pope Gregory IX. This commission was tasked with reviewing Aristotle's works on the natural sciences and proposing necessary religious amendments. As a result, William became one of the early theologians to engage with and be influenced by Aristotle's philosophy. His major work, the Summa Aurea, still reflects the teachings of Peter Lombard. However, it also advances the ontological argument and demonstrates a unique intellectual insight and a strong emphasis on the physical world, which were novel for the time. The Summa Aurea had a subsequent influence on John of Treviso.