Similar to John of Salisbury (ca. 1120-1180) [see entry], Alexander of Hales was one of the leading English scholars of his time, but he belonged to the next generation. Born at Hales Owen, Shropshire, into a wealthy family, he first attended his local monastic school, then went to Oxford, and continued with advanced studies in Paris where he earned the Master of Arts degree sometime before 1210. Subsequently he turned to theology and earned his doctorate sometime before 1220. From a comment by Roger Bacon (ca. 1210-1292) about Alexander, we know that he was Magister regens in the faculty of arts in 1210; ten years later he became Professor of Theology at the …

1081 words

Citation: Classen, Albrecht. "Alexander of Hales". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 May 2004 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=70, accessed 29 March 2024.]

70 Alexander of Hales 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.