JOHN DE SECCHEVILLE (SÈCHEVILLE)

English scholastic philosopher, diplomat; b. of noble Exeter family; d. between 1279 and 1292. De Seccheville, called also John of Siccavilla, of Sackville, or of Driton, was a master of arts by 1245, possibly of Oxford. He studied at Paris, where he was rector of the faculty of arts of the university in 1256. He took part in the university's struggle against the mendicants and was a member— along with men such as william of saint-amour—of the delegation the university sent to Rome during these troubles. In 1258, during the Barons' War, he was back in England, where he served as secretary to the Duke of Gloucester. In 1259 he served as an intermediary between King Henry III of England and the King of France in their peace negotiations. He seems to have returned to Paris after that. In 1263, when the University of Paris was dispersed, John probably resided at Oxford for a time; but it was at Paris (c. 1263) that he wrote his chief work, the De principiis naturae, which seems to favor the Averroistic theses concerning monopsychism, eternity of time, and eternity of generation and motion (see averroism). He was in London in 1265 and seems not to have left England again. He remains one of the chief representatives of the Averroistic current at the University of Paris during the second half of the 13th century.

Bibliography: john de seccheville, De principiis naturae, ed. r. m. giguÈre (Montreal 1956). j. c. russell, Dictionary of Writers of 13th Century England (New York 1936) 76–77. a. b. emden, A Biographical Register of the Scholars of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500, 3 v. (Oxford 1957–59) 3:1661–62.

[t. c. crowley]