Johannes Scotus Eriugena (800–877)
Born 800 CE, died 877 CE.
John Scotus Eriugena, also known as Johannes Scotus Erigena, John the Scot or John the Irish-born (c. 800 – c. 877), was an Irish Neoplatonist philosopher, theologian and poet of the Early Middle Ages. Bertrand Russell dubbed him "the most astonishing person of the ninth century". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy states that he "is the most significant Irish intellectual of the early monastic period. He is generally recognized to be both the outstanding philosopher (in terms of originality) of the Carolingian era and of the whole period of Latin philosophy stretching from Boethius to Anselm". He wrote a number of works, but is best known today for having written De Divisione Naturae ("The Division of Nature"), or Periphyseon, which has been called the "final achievement" of ancient philosophy, a work which "synthesizes the philosophical accomplishments of fifteen centuries". An early 9th century manuscript of this work (shelfmarked 'Reims, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 875') seems to contain marginal corrections of the text written in John Erigena's own hand.
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