Integumentum as a Philosophical Method in Bernardus Silvestris’s Cosmographia*

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

PhD Student in Ancient and Medieval Studies at the Autonomous University of Barcelona

Abstract

The Cosmographia, a work by Bernardus Silvestris, is one of the most prominent philosophical texts of the twelfth century. It narrates the process of creation in an allegorical form. The central issue of this study is to examine the function of the concept of philosophical-allegorical concealment, namely integumentum, as an epistemological strategy for reconciling the cosmology of Plato’s Timaeus with Christian doctrines in this work. The neglect of the role and function of integumentum in Bernardus’s Cosmographia by some thinkers and commentators led them to regard him as an atheist and heretic. This article examines how Silvestris employs integumentum not merely as a literary ornament, but as a “method for simultaneously expressing philosophical ideas and Christian doctrines.” Through the use of figures such as Noys and Silva, Bernardus envelops concepts such as divine intellect or providence and prime matter within a mythological framework, without establishing a strict boundary between philosophical concepts and Christian teachings. In Bernardus Silvestris’s Cosmographia, integumentum is a method through which “poetic storytelling” serves the presentation of “philosophical concepts and Christian doctrines.” By referring to Bernardus’s commentaries on the works of non-Christian philosophers such as Macrobius and on literary figures such as Virgil and Ovid, the Cosmographia can be read as a philosophical sacred text.

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References

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Journal of Philosophical Investigations
Volume 20, Issue 55 - Serial Number 55
Articles
July 2026
Pages 823-842

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