NECKHAM, ALEXANDER (1157-1217)

—Scholar, b. at St. Albans, was foster-brother to Richard Cœur de Lion. He went to Paris in 1180, where he became a distinguished teacher. Returning, to England in 1186 he became an August in i an Canon, and in 1213 Abbot of Cirencester. He is one of our earliest men of learning, and wrote a scientific work in Latin verse. De Naturis Rerum ( c. 1180-94) in 10 books. Other works are De Laudibus Divinæ Sapient iæ (in Praise of the Divine Wisdom), and De Contemptu Mundi (on Despising the World), and some grammatical treatises.