Thomas of Cantimpré was the author of several works of different types, all written in
Latin. Among his
hagiographical works are the
Vita Joannis abbatis primi monasterii Cantimpratensis, a
Supplementum ad vitam Mariae Oigniacensis, as well as three lives dedicated to holy women belonging to the
Diocese of Liège, namely, the
Vita S. Christinae virginis Mirabilis dictae, Vita preclare virginis Margarete de Ypris, and
Vita Piae Lutgardiae. The
Hymnus de beato Jordano is a 105-line work written in honor of the blessed
Jordan of Saxony (died 1237), a key figure of the
Dominican Order.
De natura rerum One of Thomas' most significant works is 'De natura rerum'
(or Liber de natura rerum), a work of
natural history to which he dedicated almost twenty years of labour, between 1225 and 1244. The text had the greatest diffusion of all his writings, on account of both the large number of surviving manuscripts, as well as the many references made to it by later authors
. Bonum universale de apibus Thomas of Cantimpré was also the author of the
Bonum universale de apibus, a work of moral and spiritual edification – composed between 1256/57 and 1263, but probably around 1259 – which is based on the allegory of life in a community of bees to deal with issues related to moral conduct and to the duties of superiors and subordinates. The
Bonum universale de apibus is organized in two books: the first one (''
) deals with the "prelates" (bishops, abbots and other high-ranking clergy), while the second one (De subditis
) deals with subordinates (both monks and laity). Each chapter presents at the beginning the exposition of a property of bees, followed by an allegorical interpretation of a moral kind and then by a series of exempla''. While the passages on bees and allegorical interpretations are taken (as the author himself recounts) from 'other books', Thomas takes up the matter of each
exemplum "from his own experience or from contemporary oral, religious or secular sources". Overall, the text therefore represents "a treatise on practical theology and morals". Like the
De natura rerum, the
Bonum universale had great fortune: the manuscript tradition is prolific, more than a hundred manuscripts. There were made also several prints: a print in
Deventer before 1478, then one in
Paris and three more (1597, 1605, 1627) in
Douai. The text has also inspired many writers during the centuries, including
Johannes Nider, who took inspiration from the
Bonum universale for the structure of his
Formicarius (1436–1438). The
Bonum universale de apibus subsequently had wide resonance also because it contains (in the paragraph
Cur Iudaei Christianum sanguinem effundant quotannis) the first systematic theorizing of the antisemitic so-called '
Blood Accusation', accusing Jews of the ritual murder of Christians. In an attempt to understand the reason behind these purported rituals, Thomas concocts a theory that since the killing of Christ the Jews suffered from bleeding, as per the mob's cry to Pilate "May his blood be on us and on our children" (Mt 27:25), thus the Jews supposedly killed Christians, and then used their blood in rituals, believing, says Thomas, that in this way they could heal themselves. In fact, he claimed, they had erroneously interpreted to the letter the indication of one of their prophets that "only Christian blood could alleviate this sorrow", when in reality the prophecy figuratively referred to the
blood of Christ (
only sanguine Christiano), symbolically drunk during the
Eucharist: the only good for the Jews would therefore have been conversion to the true faith. Thomas says he learned about this from an unspecified "converted Jew", probably referring to
Nicholas Donin. Within the
Bonum universale Thomas also mentions the blasphemous theory of the three impostors, according to which the founders of the three great religions –
Moses,
Jesus and
Muhammad – would "subdue the world with their sects and their teachings: [...] Moses deceived the Jews, Jesus the Christians and Mohammed the Gentiles". Thomas of Cantimpré attributes this idea to the theologian Simon of Tournai (or Simon de Tornaco, as Thomas calls him), a
master of theology at the
University of Paris who, he claims, deserved (for having said that) an epileptic crisis that made him mute.
Hagiographical Works Thomas of Cantimpré is also the author of various hagiographical texts, for which he is considered one of the first great authors of mystical
hagiography. With the exception of
Vita Joannis abbatis primi monasterii Cantimpratensis – composed between 1224 and 1228 and relating to the founder and first abbot of the abbey of Cantimpré – Thomas writes mystical biographies on holy women, all linked to the territory of modern Belgium. His mystic hagiographical works therefore represent a
corpus of texts, composed roughly between 1231 and 1248, which appears as "a
florilegium of lives of the holy women living around
Liège": through this set of hagiographic works, Thomas of Cantimpré offers "a mirror of the complexity and fluidity of the forms of religious life of the diocese of
Liège". It is also possible to analyze in detail the individual works that make up this hagiographical dossier.
Supplementum ad vitam Mariae Oigniacensis The first hagiographical work by Thomas was actually a
Supplementum, to the
Life of Mary of Oignies, written in 1215 by
Jacques de Vitry regarding the figure of
Marie of Oignies. Thomas writes the
Supplementum ad vitam Mariae Oigniacensis around 1230 at the specific request of the community of
Oignies (or rather "forced by the prior of Oignies" – its image. In addition to being Thomas's first work on a holy woman, the
Supplementum is also one of the first written records of life in a
Beguine community. Marie of Oignies is in fact one of the most famous beguines: she belonged to those "small republics of semi-religious women [...] protected but together controlled by the ecclesiastical authorities [...] for the creativity of their religious and devotional practices". Moreover, in the story that he tells of the life of Marie, Thomas shows that he was deeply impressed by her, so much so that he considered her as a teacher. With this c work, he aims at proposing an ideal of Christian life: under the emblem of Marie of Oignies, in fact, the author seeks to convey how "evil is not identifiable only in infidels and heretics, but it nestles in the hearts and in the very bosom of
Christianitas". Thomas writes the work around 1232 starting from direct testimonies of those who had known the saint. In the figure of Christina, he again sought to represent an ideal, in this case an "extreme and rarefaction model of perfection, [which] reproposes, after a millennial pause, the mystical horizons of holy madness". The 'historical' value of this Life is profoundly doubtful (as can be seen also from the comparison with the information that Jacques de Vitry gives on Christina in the
Prologue of the aforementioned
Vita B. Mariae Oigniensis Vita preclare virginis Margarete de Ypris The
Vita preclare virginis Margarete de Ypris (or
Vita Beatae Margaritae Iprensis) is the second "autonomous" mystical hagiography of Thomas, dedicated to the life of
Margaret of Ypres, A Belgian Blessed who died in 1237. The
Vita Margaritae was composed on commission by the Dominican preacher Sigieri da Lilla certainly before 1244, but probably long before that year: in fact, the tone of the story gives a "feeling of proximity and immediacy". From the impression that is given in the work, it is clear that through the figure of Margeret Thomas sought to propose an ideal of feminine devotion according to the Dominican vision; in the Life dedicated to her, in fact, Margaret represents the evidence that "female perfection is expressed in silence, in prayer and in submission". just as stated, in the same years, by the "Master General of the Order
Jordan of Saxony". It is the life of
Lutgardis of Tongres, who died in 1246 and later became the saint patron of
Flanders. Thomas wrote the work in 1248, but later reworked it in 1254–1255. Unlike the two previous
Vitae, linked to figures of secular penitents, with the
Vita Lutgardis Thomas set out to portray of a
Cistercian nun of
Aywières: it is therefore "a cloistered portrait", that the author uses to explain "the mystical meaning of the enclosure, [...] atopic space in which it is possible to live the encounter with God in radical terms". ==Editions and translations==