Omne Bonum (English: Every GoodThing) is a 14th-century encyclopedia compiled in London by James le Palmer (b. before 1327, d. c. 1375). It survives in four volumes in the British Library (BL Royal 6 E VI and VII). Its author is identified on the basis of a colophon in the same hand in Bodleian Library, Laud Misc. 165 (fol. 585: Iste liber est liber jacobi le palmere quem scripsit manu sua propria deo gratias). James le Palmer was a clerk of the Exchequer mentioned between 1357 and 1375.
The manuscript had the inventory number 1226 in the English Royal Library. It was acquired by the Upper Library at Westminster between 1542 and 1666 and was presented to the British Museum in 1757.
The encyclopedia extends to 1100 folia and includes more than 650 illustrations. Entries cover a variety of topics, including theology, natural history, geography, and historical figures, with a particular interest in canon law. Entries appear in alphabetical order (or at least, grouped by their first letter). Although some form of similar alphabetical arrangement had already been in use in various types of texts since the late twelfth century (see, for example, Thomas of Ireland's Manipulus Florum), Omne Bonum is the earliest surviving encyclopedic work to have alphabetized topics of various subject matters together, rather than employing an overall thematic or hierarchical structure. [1]
The work begins with a preface describing James' motivations in compiling the work: he writes that he has 'compiled the present work with great labour and with unwavering mental striving' for the instruction of those who wish to seek learning and shut out sloth and who desire to occupy themselves with good things. 'In this work,' he says, '[can be found] all good materials heretofore scattered widely both in canon law and in various other books or authoritative volumes . . . [and] without difficulty or tedium all those things that lead to the well-being of every person.' He even claims that his volumes by themselves, if examined diligently, would be sufficient for a person of moderate learning without reference to any other books. [2]
James also uses his preface to list the source materials quoted in his work. In addition to the Vulgate, his key sources include canon laws collections such as the Decretum and their commentators (particularly Hostiensis and 'the Archdeacon' Guido de Baysio); Guillaume Durand's Speculum iudiciale; William of Pagula's Summa summarum; Bartholomeus Anglicus' De proprietatibus rerum ; Thomas of Ireland's florilegium Manipulus florum ; and the pseudo-Aristotelian Secretum Secretorum. He also cites many common theological and philosophical authorities, including Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory, Aristotle, Cicero, Avicenna, and Averroes. [3]
The work is unfinished, containing only one entry each under the letters N to Z. Royal 6 E VI contains entries for A to D, the first volume of Royal E VII contains E to H, and the final volume contains I to M plus the "single-entry" letters N to Z:
Sandler (1996) is an extensive treatise from the point of view of art history, including a full catalogue of the entries and illustrations, but the full text of the encyclopedia remains unedited. [4]
The College of Sorbonne was a theological college of the University of Paris, founded in 1253 by Robert de Sorbon (1201–1274), after whom it was named.
Matthew Paris, also known as Matthew of Paris, was an English Benedictine monk, chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts, and cartographer who was based at St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire. He authored a number of historical works, many of which he scribed and illuminated himself, typically in drawings partly coloured with watercolour washes, sometimes called "tinted drawings". Some were written in Latin, others in Anglo-Norman or French verse. He is sometimes confused with the nonexistent Matthew of Westminster.
Walter Bower was a Scottish canon regular and abbot of Inchcolm Abbey in the Firth of Forth, who is noted as a chronicler of his era. He was born about 1385 at Haddington, East Lothian, in the Kingdom of Scotland. In 1991, Donald Watt said of Bower's Scotichronicon that "We are more and more convinced that this book is one of the national treasures of Scotland, which should be studied in depth for many different kinds of enquiry into Scotland's past."
Alexander Neckam was an English poet, theologian, and writer. He was an abbot of Cirencester Abbey from 1213 until his death.
Pseudo-Isidore is the conventional name for the unknown Carolingian-era author behind an extensive corpus of influential forgeries. Pseudo-Isidore's main object was to provide accused bishops with an array of legal protections amounting to de facto immunity from trial and conviction; to secure episcopal autonomy within the diocese; and to defend the integrity of church property. The forgeries accomplished this goal, in part, by aiming to expand the legal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome.
Francisco Quaresmio or Quaresmi, better known by his Latin name Franciscus Quaresmius, was an Italian writer and Orientalist.
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The Formicarius, written 1436–1438 by Johannes Nider during the Council of Florence and first printed in 1475, is the second book ever printed to discuss witchcraft. Nider dealt specifically with witchcraft in the fifth section of the book. Unlike his successors, he did not emphasize the idea of the Witches' Sabbath and was skeptical of the claim that witches could fly by night. With over 25 manuscript copies from fifteenth and early sixteenth century editions from the 1470s to 1692, the Formicarius is an important work for the study of the origins of the witch trials in Early Modern Europe, as it sheds light on their earliest phase during the first half of the 15th century.
Byrhtferth was a priest and monk who lived at Ramsey Abbey in Huntingdonshire in England. He had a deep impact on the intellectual life of later Anglo-Saxon England and wrote many computistic, hagiographic, and historical works. He was a leading man of science and best known as the author of many different works. His Manual (Enchiridion), a scientific textbook, is Byrhtferth's best known work.
A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament: For the Use of Biblical Students is one of the books of Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener (1813–1891), biblical scholar and textual critic. In this book Scrivener listed over 3,000 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, as well as manuscripts of early versions. It was used by Gregory for further work.
William of Pagula, also known as William Paull or William Poull, was a 14th-century English canon lawyer and theologian best known for his written works, particularly his manual for priests entitled the Oculus Sacerdotis. Pagula was made the perpetual vicar of the church at Winkfield on 5 March 1314, although he was absent from his parish for several years while pursuing a doctorate in Canon Law from the University of Oxford. After this was granted he returned to work with his parish, and his writings are written from the perspective of someone familiar with the job of a rural priest.
Little Dunmow Priory in Little Dunmow was an Augustinian priory in Essex, England. The priory was founded as a church by Juga de Baynard in 1104, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and consecrated by Maurice, bishop of London. Juga was the widow of Ralph Baynard, baron of Little Dunmow, sheriff of Essex and builder of Baynard's Castle in the City of London, since demolished. Her son Geoffrey was sheriff of Yorkshire who, in 1097, beat William II, Count of Eu in a trial by battle. After her death (c.1106), and following her wishes and the advice of Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey populated Juga's church with Augustinian canons. In 1110, Lady Juga’s grandson, and Geoffrey’s son, William de Baynard, fell from grace and lost his lands. Henry I gave those lands to Robert Fitz Richard, but Henry and his wife Matilda of Scotland confirmed the canons’ possessions in Little Dunmow. Robert’s wife Maud, the step-daughter of Matilda’s brother David I, gave more lands to the canons, establishing the priory in perpetuity.
The Howard Psalter and Hours is a 14th-century illuminated prayerbook. It includes a liturgical Psalter with canticles and litany, the Office of the Dead, a calendar of East Anglian origin and an incomplete Hours of the Passion. It was produced between 1310 and 1320. It is written in Latin in a Gothic script in two columns per page. There are 115 extant folios which measure 360 by 235 mm. The text block occupies an area of 250 by 166 mm. It is bound together with the De Lisle Psalter, a contemporary psalter.
The Taymouth Hours is an illuminated Book of Hours produced in England in about 1325–35. It is named after Taymouth Castle where it was kept after being acquired by an Earl of Breadalbane in the seventeenth or eighteenth century. The manuscript's shelf mark originates from its previous owner, Henry Yates Thompson, who owned an extensive collection of illuminated medieval manuscripts which he sold or donated posthumously to the British Library. The Taymouth Hours is now held by the British Library Department of Manuscripts in the Yates Thompson collection.
The Gorleston Psalter is a 14th-century manuscript notable for containing early music instruction and for its humorous marginalia. It is named for the town of Gorleston in Norfolk.
The Wernigerode Armorial is an armorial compiled in southern Germany in the late 15th century.
The Paenitentiale Theodori is an early medieval penitential handbook based on the judgements of Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury. It exists in multiple versions, the fullest and historically most important of which is the U or Discipulus Umbrensium version, composed (probably) in Northumbria within approximately a decade or two after Theodore's death. Other early though far less popular versions are those known today as the Capitula Dacheriana, the Canones Gregorii, the Canones Basilienses, and the Canones Cottoniani, all of which were compiled before the Paenitentiale Umbrense probably in either Ireland and/or England during or shortly after Theodore's lifetime.
The Cambridge Medieval History is a history of medieval Europe in eight volumes published by Cambridge University Press and Macmillan between 1911 and 1936. Publication was delayed by the First World War and changes in the editorial team.
Mary Wells Knight Ashworth was an American historian who wrote for Douglas Southall Freeman between 1945 and 1953. With Freeman, Ashworth worked on his seven volume biography on George Washington. After Freeman died before his biography was completed, Ashworth continued completing the biography as a member of Charles Scribner's Sons from 1954 to 1957.
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