The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031438769 MEDIAEVAL Sermon -BoQKS and Stories, Professor T. F. ^rane, ITHACA, N. Y. ( READ BEFOKE THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, MARCH l6, 1883 ) 1883.1 49 [Crane, Jfedimval Sermon-Books and Stories. By Professor T. F. Orane, of IthoMa, New York. {Bead before the American Philosophical Society, March 16, 1883.) It is the object of this article to direct attention to an important source of mediseval history which has long remained neglected. We allude to the great collections of stories made chiefly for the use of preachers, which, besides giving a picture of the culture of the later middle ages, such as can nowhere else be found, throw a flood of light upon the diffusion of popular tales.* Before considering these specific works, we shall ex- amine briefly several other collections, also having a moral scope, but in- tended for the edification of the general reader. From the present article are excluded the Western translations of Oriental story-books, even where they approach the specifically Christian collections as closely as does the Disdplina Olericalis of Petrus Alfonsi.f Until the beginning of the twelfth century, the literature of the class to which the adjective entertaining may be applied, was almost exclusively Christian and legendary. There still survived, it is true, historical and myth- ological reminiscences of the classical period, but these secular elements * Thomas Wriglit, Latin Stories (Percy Society, Vol. viii), pp. vli-vill, first, to our knowledge, called attention to this suTjject. See also K. Goedeke, Every Man, Bomulusund Hekastus, Hanover, 1861, p. viii; and Orient und Oeeident, Mne Vierteljahraschrift, herausgegeben von T. Benfey, 1, p. 531 (Aainus vulgi), t Tlie literature of the subject will be mentioned passim, but a few recent works of general interest may be noticed now, and hereafter they will be cited by the authors' names alone. A. Lecoy de la Marche, La Ohaire fran^aise du moyen Age, spicialement au ireiziime siiole, d''apris les manuserits contemporains, Ouvrage couronn€ par VAeadimie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, Paris, 1868 ; L. Bonrgaln, La Ohaire franqalse au XII' siiole, d'apris les manuserits, Paris, 1879 ; II. Cruel, Gesehiehte der deutaehen Fredigt im Mittelalter, Detmold, 1879. A good survey of the French field will be found in C. Aubertin, Sistoire de la Langite et de la Uttlrature franqaise au moyen dge, Paris, 1876-1878, Vol. 11, pp. 298-386, and a review of Lecoy de la Marche's work may be found In the Revue des deux Mondes, 15. Aug., 1869, Lea Sermons du Moyen Age, by Aubry-Vltet. PKOO. AMKK. PHILOS. SOC. XXI. 114. &. FEINTED MAT 9, 1883. Crane.] ^^ [March 16, were swallowed up in the vast legendary cycles of the Churcn.* This slender stream, was, however, about the time of the Crusades, swollen by a torrent of Oriental fables and stories, which maintained their supremacy in the learned world until the Revival of Letters, and then became the cherished patrimony of the illiterate classes, and still delight the people of all Europe, t The influence of this Oriental element upon the literature of the West was profound, affecting its form, and contributing a mass of en- tertaining tales which owe their diffusioh and popularity largely to their absorption into the various later Occidental story-books. The literature of which we are speaking would have remained unknown to the people, had they been compelled to make its acquaintance by reading. Fortunately, there existed an ecclesiastical channel by which some scanty rills of a literature not exclusively ecclesiastical trickled among the people, and this channel, curiously enough, was the pulpit. The origin, mode, and matter of this oral diffusion will constitute the subject of the present article, after the ground has been cleared by a rapid sui-vey of three characteristic works which form a group by themselves. The method of instruction by figures, parables, apologues and the like, is too old to be referred to Christian symbolization of classic mythological elements. J This undoubtedly gave a specific development to the existing tendency, and resulted in the mediaeval bestiaires and lapidaires. The em- ployment of fables for serious didactic purposes is also Oriental, and all students of later mediaeval literature know the vast influence of the Pant- schatantra in its various versions. The earliest one which could have any influence on the Orient was the Latin translation by Johannes de Capua,. DvreDtormm humanm mtm, made between 1363-78, and based on the Hebrew version of Rabbi Joel (1250). The so-called Esopian fables were preserved in the paraphrase of Romulus, the existence of which as early as the tenth century has been clearly proved by Oesterley.§ It is all the stranger, then,^ that the earliest distinctively mediseval collection of fables shows no traces of a specific Oriental or classic influence — we refer to the Speculum, Sapien- * For the popularity ot Valerius Maxim us, to whioli we shall later recur, see Kempf 9 edition, Berlin, 1854, pp. 47 et seq., and for mythological reminiscences in the poems of the Trouhadours, see Diez, Die Poesie der Troubadours, Zwickau, 1826, pp. 127, 140, and Biroh-Hirschfeld, Veber die denprovenzattschen Troubadours des XII. und XIII. Jahrhunderts bekannten Eplschen Stoffe, Halle, 1878, ad init. t It Is not true that Oriental fiction was introduced into Europe by the Cru- sades ; not only had the transmission been going on at a much earlier date {«ee Benfey's FarUschatantra, Leipzig, 1869, Vol. i, p. xxil), hut the earliest Oriental collection, the Disciphna Olerioalis of Petrus .4.1tonsi, was probably written before the first Crusade, quite certainly before 1106, the date of the Jewish author's con- version to Christianity. t See Bartoli, Storia dellaleUeratura italiana, Florence, 1878, Vol. 1, p. 83, who attributes the above origin to the mediteval morallzations. We are more In- clined to trace it to the influence of the Orient. 5 Momulus : Die Paraphrasen des Phmdrus und die ^sopische Fabel im Mit- telalter, von H. Oesterley, Berlin, 1870. 1883.] Ol [Crane. tiae attributed to a certain Bishop Cyril.* Who Bishop Cyril was is not known, and Grsesse is compelled to refer the work to a certain Oyrillus de Qtiidenon poeta laureatus, a Neapolitan from Quidone, a small town In the province of Capitanata, in the kingdom of Naples, who flourished in the XIII century. He was a learned theologian, as Grsesse remarks, who has taken the trouble to note the numerous passages cited from the Bible, and he was also an acute scholastic philosopher. He was not acquainted with JEsop, and from a remark he makes in Book I, cap. 18. it is evident he knew no Greek, ^is work is of little importance for the history of mediaeval fiction, for it exerted not the slightest influ. ence.f It is, however, interesting in itself, and was translated into Ger- man, Spanish, and Bohemian. The author, in the prologue, makes an elaborate apology for the form of his work. This is so characteristic of this class of writings that we quote a few lines which may also give some idea of the author's extraordinary style. He says: "Secundum Aristotelis sen- tentiam in Probleniatibus suis quamquam in exemplis in discendo gaudeant omnes, in disciplinis moralibus hoc tamen amplius placet, quoniam struc- tura morum ceu ymagine picta rerum similtudinibus paulatim virtutis osten- ditur, eo quod ex rebus naturalibus, animalibus, moribus et proprietatibus rerum quasi de vivis imaginibus humanse vitse qualitas exemplatur. Totus etenim mundus visibilis est schola et rationibus sapientise plena sunt omnia. Propter hoc, fili carissime, informativa juventatis tuae documenta moralia non de nostra paupertate stillantia sed de vena magistrorum tibi nunc scribere cupientes cum adjutorio gratiae Dei ea trademus, ut intelligas clarius ac addiscas facilius, gustes suavius, reminiscaris tenacius per fabulas figurarum." A glance at the contents of the book will show that the learned author was more concerned with the moral of his fables than with the fables themselves. J No attention, except in a few rare cases, is paid to the nature of the animals brought upon the scene, and they are made to utter the most arbitrary and incongruous lessons. A translation of one of * This singular work has recently \>een made accessible to scholars hy the edi- tion in the Bibliothek des liter arischen Vereins in Stuttgart, Bd. 148, Die beiden aeltesten lateinischen Fabelbucher des Mittelalters, des Biseho/s Cyrillus Specu- lum Sapieniiae und-des Nicholaus Pergamenus Dlalogus Creaturarum, herausge- gebenvonDl.J, C. Th. Grsesse. The full title is : Speculum Sapientiae Beati Cirilli Episcopi, alias Quadripartitus Apologeticus vocatus, in cujus quidem Proverbiis omnis et totius Sapientiae Speculum claret. The hook had become very rare and was known chiefly from an old German translation, selections from which were published as late as 1782: Fabeln nach D. Holtzmann, herausgegebenvon A. Gl. Meissner, Leipzig. 4to. Grsasse lias given in his edition, pp. 28S-302, all the necessary biographical and bibliographical notices. t Grsesse, ed. cit., p. 291, says, " Im Mlttelalter selbst kann er von seinen Zeitge- nossen nicht benutzt worden sein, denn icli babe nirgendswo in den aus dem 13.-16. Jahrhundert erhaltenen Schriften sein Werk citirt Oder benutzt gefun- den." X In this respect there is a regular gradation in the three works now under consideration. In the Speculum Sapientice the moral is the all-important thing, in the Dialogus Creaturarum the fable becomes more attractive, while in the Oesta Romanorum the story is everything, and the moralization is tacked on merely to justify a sometimes very loose anecdote. Crane.] "■^ [March 16, Cyril's apologues will be the best illustration of his peculiarities. We have selected one of the shortest, which is introducfed by the sentence, Uni dilee- tissimo tantum, owm Tiecease fuerit, pectus crede. The Raven and the Dove, Book I, cap. 30. " While a raven was ruminating in his mind to whom he could occasionally communicate the secret of his heart, a dove beholding him thinking these things, approached him, saying: ' What art thou think- ing, brother, in such deep meditation ?' To whom he replied: 'Verily, I am now thinking that infinite is the number of fools and small indeed that of the wise, for the thought of the heart itself is most secret. For who reveals what he thinks, shows his heart. What, therefore, art thou, that I may give and entrust to thee my heart so precious to me, my most hidden life, my very inmost substance, the most secret root of my being ? My secret is mine, because my heart is mine ! ' Then the dove, having heard these things, added: 'I know, indeed, that thou art cunning by nature. Where- fore I ask thee, brother, to instruct me, to how many and to whom, if it be necessary, I may safely entrust my heart at times.' He soon consenting, willingly said: 'Forsooth, either to one or to none, for perfect faith is sel- dom found. This, however, is made a very precious vase, for in it the heart is advantageously preserved, because neither of itself is it ever destoyed, nor broken by the sword or other thing, nor is its wonderful solidity trans- fixed by the most subtle sting of heat. For nature hides the vein of gold in the secret places of the earth, and the plant strikes its quickening root deep in the solid ground. Thus the most precious marrow is hidden in the bones, and Grod has placed the ice-like gem of sight under the hemispheres of seven veils. No wonder then that the mouth of the wise is hidden in his heart, since this is to him most dear, that thus it may be concealed and, possessed by the heart, hidden in the ark of life. But the heart of the fool is in his mouth, because the mouth rules his heart, and having an open breast despising the heart, it is easily cast forth by a slight breath, where- fore he quickly perishes, since for nothing he casts away the vein of life.' After she had diligently noted these things, the dove thus instructed de- parted." The Speculum Sapientiae, as we have already said, is of little value for the history of mediaeval fiction or the diSiasion of popular tales. Scarcely a thing to which the adjective fabulous will apply, is to be found in the work. QrsBsse mentions only the story of Gyges (iii, 4), the Indian gold mountains (iii. 10), and the death of the viper (iii, 36; iv, 8, 10), which is found in all the bestiaires* Cyril does not seem to be acquainted with Aesop, although the fourth chapter of the first book, De cicada et formica is Esopian. There are also some fox fables (e. g. i, 34) which resemble some of the episodes of the Roman du Benart, and a number of the fables have a certain similarity to those in well-known coUections.f * See, for example, Dr. G. HeWer, Fhysiologus,Wien, 1851, p. 28, and the Beatiaire de Oervaise in the Romania, I, p. 420, et seq., verse SOI. t Grsaase's references, p. 291, are full of errors : La Fontaine 1, 1, = Cyril 1 4 • 1, 22 = ii, U (op. Hi, 13) i i, 2 = 11, 15 (the fos praises the singing of the cock, who 53 [Crane. Of much greater literary interest, although by no means so profound or original, is the Dialogus Oreaturarum of an otherwise unknown author, Nicolaus Pergamenus.* The form of this work closely resembles that of the Speculum Sapientiae ; there is the same apologetic prologue, and the same arbitrary treatment of the subject, but already the desire to interest has assumed prominence, and the fable proper is followed by a mass of sentences, anecdotes, &c. The work contains one hundred and twenty- two dialogues not divided into books. The work, as Graesse (p. 303) shows, cannot be earlier than the middle Of the XIV century. Tlie writer, as a glance at the list of authors cited will show, was familiar with the whole range of mediaeval literature, including the classic authors popular at that time.f He does not seem any more acquainted than Cyril with the great Oriental collections of fables as such, although separate fables from the Pantschatantra may have reached him through western channels, as G-rsesse states, p. 304. 1 Instead of the half dozen fables in Cyril's work which may be compared with those of other collections, Nicolaus Pergamenus offers a rich field for the student of comparative storiology, if we may coin a convenient word. The absorption of Oriental elements into literature from oral tradition had already begun, and from literature, as we shall see later on in this article, these elements were to return again to the people, and thus the process was to be repeated over and over again until we are no longer surprised at the marvelous diffusion of mediaeval stories. § An English thereupon descenfls from the tree and is devoured); vii, 12 = iii, 4; ill, 17 = Hi, 11. His other references are incorrect. We have noticed the following: La Fontaine. 11, 19 =i, 18,16 (slightly); ii, 11 = 1. 18: ix. 4 = 11, U(cp. Hi, 13). The edition of La Fontaine cited in this article is, Fables inidites des Xlle, XIII" et XIV siieles, et Fables de La Fontaine rapprochSes de celles de tous les auteurs qui avoieiU^ avant lui traits les mSmes svjets^ pr&c&dtes d^une notice sur les Fabulistes, par A. C. M. Eohert, 2 vols., Paris, 1825. This edition will be hereafter cited as Robert, Fables inidites, or La Fontaine, * This work is reprinted in Vol. 148 of the 8tuttgart Lilt. Vereins, mentioned above. t The list given by Graesse, p. 281, needs careful revision. The following are some of the most necessary corrections : Alfonsus (that is Petrus Alfonsi Ztis- cipUna Clericalis), De Frudentia, Via, add 66; add Catholicon 90; add Nugis philosophorum, 23, 115 ; add Martlalis, 108 (instead of 109). X It may perhaps be noted here that La Fontaine's well-knowh fable of La La- Hire et le Pot au Lait is found in the Dialogus Creat., c. 100. Max MUller (Chips., iv, 170) gives the old English translation of this version, and says : "In it, as far as I can And, the milkmaid appears for the first time on the stage," &c. The version in Jacques de Vltry and Etienne de Bourbon, which will be mentioned later, must be both of them earlier, or as early, and it is probable that in this case, as in so many others, Jacques de Vltry introduced the fable to Europe. A pleasant account of the fortunes of this fable may be found in Histoire de deux Fables de La Fontaine, leur origines et leurs Peregrinations, par A. Joly, Paris, 1877. The other fable Is vli, 1, Les Animaux malades de la Peste. J The lollowmg corrections and additions to Ursesse's reterences, p. 304, will be of use to the student. References XXXI, XXXIV, and XLVI belong to XXX, XXXIV and XLVII, respectively; add XLIII, Paul!, 256; the references to XXXVI and XL are Incorrect ; of the various references given to XLVI (should Crane.] 54 [March 18, translation of the Dial. Great, was published about 1517 and reprinted in a limited edition in 1816. The third work to be mentioned in this connection is the well known Q&sta Bomanorum. We do not propose in this limited space to approach the still vexed question of the date and nationality of this famous work.* Its importance is not great in the abstract, the number of stories valuable for the OuUurgescMchte of the middle ages is small, but the part the work has plaj'ed in the transmission of a vast body of classical and Oriental tales is enormous. Already the morality has been swallowed up in the story, and the aim is to amuse under the pretext of instruction. Other similar collections will be noticed, later out-growths of the homiletic compilations, but the Cfesta Bomanorum stands alone, an independent and original col- lection, the earliest Occidental effort to throw off the shackles of purely ecclesiastical entertaining literature. The three collections which we have just briefly considered are the only ones intended for the edification of the general reader, and it is only the third which reveals a growing taste that before long was satisfied by Boccaccio and the French fabliaux, or by such purely secular collections as the Italian Oento Novelle antiehe. The mass of material at the disposal of the collector in the XIII and XW cen- turies was enormous, besides the vast compilations of legends in the Vitae Patrum and Legenda Aurea, there wore the relics of classical lore, and the new flood of Oriental fiction, both written and oral. In addition to all this, a tendency now shows itself to collect anecdotes, etc., of famous contemporaries. Much of the above material would have perished, and certainly the circle of its influence would have been comparatively nar- row, had not a new need made itself felt, and a new market, so to speak, been opened for these wares. The duty of public preaching, which, at first was reserved for the bishops, was extended later to the priests, but it was for a long time a privilege jealously guarded and restricted to comparatively few. The be XLVII) La Fontaine, vii, 16, is alone corieot ; to LXXXIX add Oesta Rom., 29; to XCIII, Schluss, add Gesta Rom., 103 ; the references to C are to three ditterent stories: I "Bird In the hand," Oesta JJom.,467; Klrohhof, iv, 34; 11 "Dog let- ting go meat for reflection In water," Pauli, 426; 111 "La Laitiire et le Patau Lait," La Fontaine, vii, 10, Kirchhof, i, 171 ; the reference to CI. Oesta Rom., 108, la incorrect; both references to CVI are incorrect; of those to CVIII, Gesta Rom., 140, Is incorrect, as is also La Fontaine, v, 21 ; to CX (cp. xllv), La Fon- taine, lii, 9, Is Incorrect; CXII contains two fables ; I " Colombce et Milvi," and II "Town and Country Mice," to 1 belongs Kirchhof, 7, 146, to II Klrohhof, 1, 62, and La Fontaine, i, 9, erroneously relerred to CXIII ; to CXVH add La Fon- taine, iii, 9 ; to CXVIII, Oesta Rom., 63, instead of 52, other references are Incor- rect; finally to OXXII addPetrus Alfonai, p. S3, ed. Schmidt, and Gesta iSom., 31. *It should seem that little remained to be done after Hermann Oesterley's masterly edition (Berlin, 1872), but the results of his painstaking Investigations are chiefly negative. It may be impossible to determine its nationality, but it seems as if more light might "be thrown on Its age and mode of compilation. The results of Oesterley's studies are siven to the English reader in the Intro- duction to the Early English Versions of the Gesta Uomaaorum (Early Eng- lish Text Soo. E.-stra Series, xxxiil, 1879). 1883.] 55 [Crane. foundation in tlie XIII century of the two great orders of Dominicans and Franciscans, the fovmev, par excellence the ordoprtsdicatorum, gave an enor- mous impulse to preaching and quite changed its character.* The monies of these orders obeyed literally the words of the Founder of Christianity, a,nd went into all the world and preached the Word to every creature. The popular character of the audiences modified essentially the style of the preaching. It was necessary to interest and even amuse the common people, who, as we have incidentally shown, were becoming accustomed to an entertaining literature more and more secular, and who possessed moreover an innate love for tales. It is chiefly to this fondness for stories • and to the preachers' desire to gratify it that we owe the great collections of which we are about to speak. In the composition of the mediaeval ser- mon, which had, moreover, a certain fixed form, the stories, or, to give them the name they then bore, and which we shall use hereafter, exem/pla, were reserved for the end, when the attention of the audience began to diminish, f The value of ttese exempla for awakening the attention and instructing the people is everywhere conceded, f These stories are some- times as long as the rest of the sermon, sometimes, when they refer to a well-known recital, they merely quote the title or a few words of the be- ginning. The use of exempla, properly speaking, is rare before the XIII century (L. de la Marche, p. 276), and was apparently first introduced as a principle by Jacques de Vitry. This eminent prelate and scholar was born ) in the early part of the last half of the XII century, and took his name either from the village of Vitry on the Seine near Paris, or from a town of the same name on the Marne in Champagne. He studied in Paris from 1180-90, and became a presbyter paroehialis at Argenteuil near Paris. In 1310 he went to Brabant and became a canon at Villebrouck and after- wards at Oignies, where he was the intimate friend of the enthusiast, Mary of Oignies, whose life he wrote after her death in 1313. From 1310- 1317 he preached the crusade against the Albigenses, and took part in the * The relative importance of these orders may be inferred from the fact that ot two hundred and sixty-one French preachers of the XIII century ninety- one were Dominicans an,d forty-five Franciscans ; see Aubertin, ii, p. 308, n. 3. t In line vero, debet uti exempli^, ad probandum quod Intendit, quia familia- ris est doctrina exemplaris, Alanus de Insulis, Summa de arte prcedicatoria, cap. I, ed. Migne, p. 113. t Herolt in the Prologue to hia Promptuarium Exemplorum says : " Utile et er- pediens est viros predicationis offlcio preditos proximorum aalutem per terras discurrendo quserentes exemplis abundare. Hsec exempla facile intellectu capi- antur et flrmiter memoriae imprimuntnr et a mnltis libenter audiuntur. Le- gimus enlm principem nostrum Dominicum ordinis prsedicatorum fundato- rera hoc fecisse. De eo quidem scribitur quod ubicumque conversabatur edlfl- catoriis effluebat sermonlbus, abundabat" exemplis quibus ad amorem Christl ssBculi ve contemptum audlentium animos provocabat." Etienne de Bourbon in the Prologue to his treatise, says ; '• Quia autem ad hec suggerenda et Inge- reuda et Imprimenda In humanis cordibus maxime valent exempla, que mazi- me erudiunt slmplioium hominum ruditatem, et iaoiliorem et longlorem Ingerunt et Imprimunt in memoria tenacitatem." Crane.] "^ [March 16^ expedition. After the capture of Narbonne in 1317 he was made Bishop of Accon (Acre) in Palestine, where he remained, taking an important part in the crusades. In 1337 he returned to Eome, and between 1338-30 was made a cardinal and Bishop of Tusculum by Gregory IX, who employed him on several missions. He was offered the patriarchate of Jerusalem, but refused it, and died at Rome in 1240.* He is chiefly known by his Eistoria orientalis which extends from 633-1318. We are, however, espe- cially interested in his sermons. We have seen above that he was an enthusiastic preacher of the Albigensian crusade, and Etienne de Bourbon says of him: "Vir sanctus et litteratus » * * prsedicando per regnum FranoisB et utens exemplis in sermonibus suis, adeototam commovit Fran- ciam, quod non putat memoria aliquem ante vel post sic novisse." His printed sermons (Antwerp, 1575) are what are technically known as Sermones de tempore et Sanctis, and are distinguished from the mass of ser- mons of that day by the use of less scholastic argument and more exam- ples borrowed from history and legend. His unpublished sermons (Ser- mones vulgares) are, as L. de la Marche says, literally crammed with stories, and constitute a treasure house which succeeding preachers have pillaged, often without any acknowledgment. L. de la Marche says, p. 276, that each sermon contains three or four exempla in succession. The more simple and common the audience the more prodigal he is of his stories. He says him- self, in his preface: "The keen sword of subtle argumentation has no power over the laymen. To the knowledge of the Scriptures, without which one cannot take a step, must be added examples which are encouraging, amusing and yet edifying. Let us lay aside the pagan fables and poetry which do not afford any moral instruction ; but let us open the door to the maxims of the philosophers which express useful ideas ****** The inexperienced who blame this mode of preaching do not suspect the profit it may produce ; for our part we have tried it."- He then continues relating how he excited the attention of his hearers : "Such an example," he says, "seems dull when read, which, on the contrary, will be very pleasing in the mouth of a skillful narrator." ■)• *See Histoire litUraire de la Prance, XVIIJ, 209 etseq., Graesse, Lehrbuch elner allgemeinen lAterdrgeschichte, ii. Bd. ,lli. Abth., 11. Halfte, p. 1058, and Goedeke in Orient und Occident, i. 541. t ii. de La Marche, op. cit. pp. 276-277, who adds : "Les extralts, les reproduc- tions dlversea qui furent taltes de ses oeuvres presque immedlatement prouvent comhlen son id^e eut de suocfis, h, quel point elle s' adaptalt aux besolnsdes populations." It "was for a long time supposed that Jacques de Viti'ywas the author of a Speculum Exemplorum (see GcBdeke, op. cit. p. 642) ; this is not the case, his exempla are found in his Inedlted sermons. It is greatly to be wished that L. de la Marche who has so ably edited Etienne de Bourbon would do the same for Jacques de Vitry, whose Importance tor the diffusion of popular tales is greater than that ol any writer we shall have occasion to mention in the pres- ent article. How much this writer was used by other preachers will appear when we consider later Etienne de Bourbon's obligations to him. Goedeke in the arti- cle above cited mentions another case of wholesale borrowing, that ol the monk Johannes Junior in his Scala coeli. 1883.] 0« [Crane. Jacques de JVltry was followed by Etienne da Bourbon, whose collections will be examined later in detail, and other writers of this period recom- mend the frequent use ot exempla.* The abuses which arose from the ex- cessive use of exempla were great, and the Council of Sens in 1528 forbade under the pain of interdict " those ridiculous recitals, those stories of good wives {aniles fabulas) having for their end laughter only."t These exempla at first were probably collected by each preacher for his own use, then the collected sermons of such celebrated raeconteurs as Jacques de Vitry offered an inexhaustible magazine for several generations. Finally special collections of these exempla were made for the express purpose of aiding the preacher, and it is to these and similar collections that the re- mainder of this article will be devoted. The wealth of material can be in- dicated but incompletely in the limited space at our command, and we shall therefore select as illustrations a few typical works from the various classes into which the literature of the subject maybe divided. In the first place stand the collections containing exempla alone, arranged either alphabetically or topically. We shall make use of one of each class, viz., the Promptuarium Exemplorum, and the Speculum Bxemplorum, and refer briefly to later imitations, in the modern languages of these collections. In the second place come treatises for the use of preachers, containing stories systematically arranged, but forming only a part of other homi- letic material. Three of these works will demand our attention : Etienne de Bourbon, De Septem Bonis ; Peraldus, Bumma Virtutum et Viiiorum ; and Bromyard, Bumma Praedicantium . A third source of exempla is to * L. de la Marohe, p. 277, cites Humbertus de Eomanis, Se Eruditione praedica- torum, Bibl. Max. Pat. :s:xv, 433. We have examined all tlie similar treatises at our disposal, such as Alanus de Insulis, Summade arte praedicatoria; Petrus Cantor, VerbuTn Abbreviatum^ and Guibert de Nogent Liber quo ordine Sermo fieri debeat, and only In the first named work have we found a brief reference to exempla which we have cited above. fL. de la Marche, p. 278. The reader will recall Dante's passionate outbreak against the preaching of his day (Paradise, xxix, 103-120, Longfellow's transla- tion) : Florence has not so many Lapi and Bindi As fables such as these, that every year Are shouted from the pulpit back and forth. In such wise that the lambs who do not know, Come back from pasture fed upon the wind, And not to see the harm doth not excuse them. Christ did not to His first disciples say, " Go forth, and to the world preach Idle tales." But unto them a (rue foundation gave ; And this so loudly sounded from their lips. That, In the warfare to enkindle faith, They made of the Evangel shieldaand lances. Kow men go forth with jests and drolleries To preach, and if but well the people laugh, The hood puffs out, and nothing more Is asked. But in the cowl there nestles such a bird, That, If the common people were to see it, They would perceive what pardons they confide in. PBGC. AMBR. PHILOS. SOC. XXI. 114. H. PRINTED MAT 9, 1883. Crane.] ^° [March 16, be found in collections of sermons made for the benefit of idle or ignorant preachers. Two of these collections will be examined : the sermons of Herolt, already mentioned as the author of the Promptuarium, and those of Pelbartus of Themesvar ; and finally a brief reference will be made to the class of expository works of which one of the most celebrated, Hol- kot. Super Sapientiam, may stand as an example. The author of the Promptuarium Exemplorum was Johannes Herolt, a Dominican monk of Basel, who flourished during the first half of the XV century.* He whimsically called himself Discipulus, and his works are generally cited under that name. He himself explains it as follows at the eni of the sermones de tempore: "Piniunt sermones coUecti ex diversis sanctorum dietis et ex pluribus libris. Qui intitulantur sermones discipuli quod in istis sermonibus non subtilia per modum magistri, sed simplicia per modum discipuli conscripsi et collegi." Nothing is known of his life. Besides the works we have already mentioned he left a collection of sermones super epistolas dominicales, Eruditorium, Vitae, a Quadrigesi- male and a work on the Albigensian war. The Promptuarium be- gins with the usual apologetic prologue from which an extract has been given above, then follow six hundred and thirty-four exempla with references to two hundred and eighty-three contained in the sermons. This large mass of stories is arranged alphabetically by topics, e. g. Abstinentia, Acaedia, Adulterium, Amieitia, Aequo, benedieta, Ba/ptis- mus, etc., and reference is also facilitated by a copious Index. Before ex- amining the collection in detail, it may be well to consider briefly its * Scanty notices ot him will be foun din Fahricius, Bib. lot. med. (Florence, 1858), -SM& verb, Disoipulus, Graesse, Lehrbuch einer lAter&rgeschichte, ii, 2, 1, p. 169, Cruel, p. 480, and Val. Schmidt in his edition of the Disciplina Clericalis, Berlin, 1827, p. 99, note 3, Tlie date of the com position of his sermons is given in iSermo LXXXV i^in Dominica secundapostoctavas Trinitatis): a Christo aittem transactisuntmille quadrigenti decern et octo anni, hut in the VI of the Sermones de Sanctis, he men- tions as heretics, Huss, Jerome, and Procoplus, the latter of whom did not assume the leadership of the Hussites until 1424, and was not killed until 1434 In the battle of Bcemlschbrod. Tliis discrepancy can easily be explained on the supposition that Herolt inserted in his collection his earlier sermons, and either forgot to change the first date or purposely left it (Cruel, p. 480). The collection was probably published between 1435-40, and this will also be the date of the Promrptuarium, as constant reference is made to it in the sermons and vice verst, and its object was undoubtedly to afford the preachers who used the ser- mons, a wider ransje of. exempla. We do not know whether any edition of the JPromptuarium appeared separate from the sermons, but imagine not. The enormous popularity of the work (Including both in one) may be seen by a glance at Haln and Panzer. The former mentions twenty-nine editions with place and date, and seven without, before 1600 ; the latter, fifteen editions after the above date. The edition cited In this article is Argentine, 1495, M, Flaoh, fol. (Hain, No. 8505). It contains the sermons which will be mentioned later the Promptiiarium, and a collection of miracles of the Virgin, filling thirty-one pages. There is an old French translation of the Promptuarium, Fleur des Oom- mandements de Dieu, Kouen, 1496, Paris, 1525, 1536, 1539, and a later arrangement by another Dominican, Aug.-Vind., 1728, 4to, Discipulus Bedivivus, etc., collecta a Bonav. Elers, Ord. Pr. 1883. 1 59 [Crane. sources, for, as can well be imagined, such a collection could only be a compilation, nor does the author, as we have seen, make any claim to originality.* Herolt himself mentions the following : Arnoldus (Geilhoven de Boterodamis, author of ChiotosoUtus sive Speculum conseientiae) ; Beda ( Oestis Anglorum) ; Oaesarius Heisterbacensis {Dialogus Miraoulorum) ; Gregorious (Gregory I, Bialogi) ; Gregorius Turonensis ; Gulielmus (Thomas Cantinpratensis, Liber de a/pibus) ; Gulielmus Liigdinensis (Peral- ■dus, whose Summa mrfutum et mtiorum will be examined later) ; Historiis Britonum (Geoffrey of Monmouth) ; Sistoria ecclesiastiea ; Holgot (Robert Holkot whose lAber super Sapientiam will be examined later) ; Hugo de St. Victor ; Isidorus ; Jacobus de Vitriaco (Jacques de Vitry) ; Liber de donis (Etienue de Bourbon, to be mentioned hereafter) ; Petrus de St. Amore ; Petrus Cluniacenses ; Vincentius (of Beauvais, Spe- culum Mstoriale) ; Viridarius ; f Vitae Patrum B.a.dL Zosimas.f To this list may be added Jacobus de Yoragine whose Legenda aurea is frequently ■used without acknowledgment, and some Oriental sources which will be mentioned later. The ecclesiastical character of Herolt's collection is evi- dent at a glance. The compiler gathered his material largely from a few writers like Caesar of Heisterbach, and does not draw upon his own experience like Etienne de Bourbon. There are only two or three fables, and but few traces of the earlier Oriental collections. The Dis- ciplina clericalu contributes four stories : M. 67 = ed. Schmidt, p. 106 ; S. 5 = Schmidt, p. 46 ; V. 13 = Schmidt, p. 51 ; Sermones de tempore, 120 = Schmidt, p. 36. There are other Oriental elements as we shall afterwards see, one may be mentioned here, the story in Barlaam and Josaphat, c. 39, which furnished Boccaccio with a well-known tale