1883. ] 71 [Crane, 
leaving, besides his Summa and some writings against Wicliff, a work 
entitled: Opus trivium sive tractatus juris civilis et canonici ad moralem sen- 
sum applicati secundum ordinem alphabeti.* Some idea of the extent of 
the Summa may be gained from the fact that the edition of 1614 consists of 
two parts containing nine hundred and seventy-one folio pages, exclusive 
of the indices, The arrangement is the usual one of topics alphabetically 
disposed: nineteen letters (or twenty-one, distinguishing i and u) embrac- 
ing one hundred and eighty-nine topics treated in as many chapters. The 
range of subjects may be shown by the titles under some of the letters 
taken at random. We give all the divisions of the letters chosen, naturally, 
however, selecting those which contain fewest chapters: Beatudo, bellum, 
benefacere, bonitas ; gaudium, gloria, gratia, gratitudo, gula ; labor, laus, 
lew, liber, loquatio, ludus, luwuria ; nativitas, negligentia, nobilitas, nocumen- 
tum ; tentatio, testimonium, timor, trinitas, tribulatio, etc. Each chapter 
is preceded by a summarium of the sections into which it is divided, and 
these sections are still further divided into paragraphs or articles. The 
exempla are usually, but not always, indicated by the word exemplum or 
its abbreviation in the margin. The stories themselves are, as in Peraldus, 
generally given in brief and dry versions. These illustrative evempla, 
which, for us, constitute the chief value of the work, are very numerous. 
toedeke (Orient und Occident, i, 588) says their number is over a thousand, 
and remarks ; ‘‘Kaum irgend ein anderes Werk des Mittelalters ist so reich 
an Fabeln und Geschichten als das seinige (the Summa), und kaum ein 
anderes von dieser Bedeutung so wenig bekannt. Wright (Latin Stories, 
Percy Soc., Vol. viii, p. viii) says: ‘Perhaps no work is more worthy the 
attention of those who are interested in the popular literature and history 
of England in the fourteenth century.’’| Bromyard seldom names his 
sources, but as Goedeke (op. cit., p. 588) says: ‘Ueberall darf Entlehnung 
vorausgesetzt werden.’? These sources are the whole body of medieval 
and classical literature then known to the learned. Scarcely any depart- 
ment of these two great divisions is unrepresented: fables, legends, me- 
dixval epics, Oriental apologues, anecdotes from Roman history, from 
Biblical history, popular jests, etc., are mingled with a mass of references 
to contemporary manners and customs which render the work invaluable 
to the student of medieval culture. It is impossible in our limited space 
to give even a brief selection from Bromyard’s stories. Those cited by 
Wright will give those who do not have access to the original a fair idea 
of its contents, anda glance through Oesterley’s references to Pauli, Kirch- 
hof, and the Gesta Romanorum, will show that Bromyard has absorbed 
into his vast encyclopedia most of the popular stories of his day. { 
Before leaving the class of treatises, there is one work which may be 
* Fabricius, ed. cit,, i, p. 263; Greesse, ii, 2, 1, pp, 166, 380. 
t Of the one hundred and forty-nine stories given by Wright, over fifty are 
taken from Bromyard, and eleven from the Promptuarium Haemplorum. 
t About one hundred and fl fty of Bromyard’s stories are found in these collec- 
tions, 
