L'image du Monde

Gautier de Metz (also Gauthier, Gossuin, Gossouin, German: Walther von Metz) was a French priest and poet. He is primarily known for writing the encyclopedic poem L'Image du Monde. Evidence from the earliest editions of this work suggests his actual name was Gossouin rather than Gautier.

In January 1245, Gautier wrote L'Image du monde (French, the image of the world) or Imago Mundi, an encyclopedic work about creation, the Earth and the universe, wherein facts are mixed with fantasy. It was originally written in Latin in the form of 6594 rhymed octosyllabic verses divided into three parts. Some parts of the Image du Monde were compiled from various Latin sources, especially Jacobus de Vitriaco, Honorius Augustodunensis, and Alexander Neckam; indeed, the author himself did not introduce the fantastic elements of the work, which rather originated in his sources. The work was partly illustrated.

The first part of the work begins with a discussion of theological matters, with much of it parallelling the work of Augustine of Hippo. It then goes on to describe the seven liberal arts before turning to cosmology, astrology, and physics: "The world is in the shape of a ball. The heaven surrounds both the world and ether, a pure air from which the angels assume their shape. The ether is of such startling brilliance that no sinner can gaze at it with impunity: this is why men fall down in a faint when angels appear before them. Ether surrounds the four elements placed in the following order: earth, water, air, fire." The physics in the work is inaccurate, stating that when stones are dropped, "if these stones were of different weights, the heaviest would reach the centre [of the Earth] first." The sky is presented as a concrete object: "The sky is so far away from us that a stone would fall for 100 years before reaching us. Seen from the sky, the Earth would be in size like the smallest of the stars."

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