WILLIAM OF SHERWOOD (SHYRESWOOD)

Treasurer of Lincoln cathedral from c. 1254 till his death (after 1267); to be distinguished from William de Monte, chancellor of Lincoln (d. 1213) and William of Durham (d. 1249), with both of whom he has often been confused. It is unproved that he taught Peter of Spain (Pope john xxi) in Paris, but his Introductiones in logicam are comparable in scope with Peter's more famous Summulae logicales; they seem to be earlier (first half of 13th century), and, like William's Syncategoremata, bear a trace of Paris. roger bacon esteemed him as "far wiser" than Albert the Great in respect of philosophia communis, i.e., logic (Op. tertium 2). No other works can be certainly ascribed to William, but M. Grabmann has conjectured that the treatises De insolubilibus, Obligationes, and Petitiones contrariorum that follow the former two in Cod. Lat. 16617 of the Bibliothèque Nationale are also his. This body of work, and even the assured part of it, gives clear witness to the fact that medieval logic had already received its characteristic form by the middle of the 13th century. W. and M. Kneale have discussed William's theory of supposition in some detail and in its historical context.

See Also: logic, history of.

Bibliography: m. grabmann, Die Introductiones in logicam des Wilhelm von Shryeswood in Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München (Munich 1937) Heft 10. j. r. o'donnel, ed., "The Syncategoremata of William of Sherwood," Mediaeval Studies 3 (1944) 46–93. w. and m. kneale, The Development of Logic (Oxford 1962).

[i. thomas]