John Bromyard
Encyclopedia
John Bromyard was an influential English Dominican friar
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...

 and prolific compiler of preaching aids.

Life

Little is known of his personal life. Two dates can be cited: in 1326, he was granted a license to hear confessions in the diocese of Hereford
Diocese of Hereford
The Diocese of Hereford is a Church of England diocese based in Hereford, covering Herefordshire, southern Shropshire and a few parishes within Worcestershire in England; and a few parishes within Powys and Monmouthshire in Wales....

, and in 1352, that license was granted to another Dominican, presumably after Bromyard's death. There is evidence in his works that he had served in the diocese of Llandaff
Llandaff
Llandaff is a district in the north of Cardiff, capital of Wales, having been incorporated into the city in 1922. It is the seat of the Church in Wales Bishop of Llandaff, whose diocese covers the most populous area of South Wales. Much of the district is covered by parkland known as Llandaff...

 in South Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, and he shows familiarity with customs and circumstances in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. But because the Dominicans were an international order with lively internal communication, this cannot be taken as proof that he had travelled abroad. He was evidently trained in canon law, perhaps at Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

.

He spent most of his career at the newly-founded Dominican priory at Hereford. The Dominicans had been fighting for a foothold here for eighty years against the resistance of the Dean and Chapter, before they were finally established under the patronage of Edward II
Edward II of England
Edward II , called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed by his wife Isabella in January 1327. He was the sixth Plantagenet king, in a line that began with the reign of Henry II...

 in 1322. Bromyard must therefore have been among the first friars to join the fledgeling priory. In an age when manuscript books were prohibitively expensive, it is likely that he embarked on the task of compiling preaching aids as a means of providing the priory with a library to support its preaching mission. The sheer volume of his work suggests that it may well have been produced by a collaborative process involving the other friars at the Hereford priory, with Bromyard acting as editor in chief.

Working methods

Bromyard was a pioneer or early adopter of new techniques in the organization of information. Each of his surviving works is provided with an alphabetical index
Index (publishing)
An index is a list of words or phrases and associated pointers to where useful material relating to that heading can be found in a document...

. He employs standardized divisions of his texts, and uses them for systematic cross-references.

As aids to preaching, his works included all manner of preachable material according to the homiletic practice of the time: exempla
Exemplum
An exemplum is a moral anecdote, brief or extended, real or fictitious, used to illustrate a point.-Exemplary literature:...

, authorities from the church fathers
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...

 and bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 as well as from classical
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...

 authors, natural lore, proverb
Proverb
A proverb is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim...

s and verses (some in French or English), etc. He uses "scientific knowledge" (natura ratione) to explain natural phenomenon such as "rain" taking away the mysticism of "acts of God". These explanations are apparently drawn from Greek and Arab ancient texts. (Bromyard: Summa Praedicantium, De Natura Ratione). A lot of these texts were made available in England by translations made by Robert Grosseteste in the 13th century. He was particularly fond of Canon law
Canon law (Catholic Church)
The canon law of the Catholic Church, is a fully developed legal system, with all the necessary elements: courts, lawyers, judges, a fully articulated legal code and principles of legal interpretation. It lacks the necessary binding force present in most modern day legal systems. The academic...

, devoting the Tractatus iuris to expounding Christian doctrine and morality almost exclusively by means of citations from legal texts. He engages in occasional political commentary on problems in English society, and even criticises abuses in his own Dominican order.

Influence

Bromyard was one of the most influential preachers of the 14th century in England. His Summa Predicantium was cited by many writers of the succeeding generations and used by many more. It was first printed about 1484 in Basel and went through several editions, the last in 1627 in Antwerp. The Tractatus iuris was also printed twice and survives in more than two dozen manuscripts. The Summa is frequently mined by modern scholars in search of literary analogues and materials for social history.

Works

Bromyard's four surviving works run to 1.75 million words. Five lost works are also known from early bibiographers and from cross-references in the surviving works; they probably brought his total production to between 2.5 and 3 million words.

Surviving works

  • Summa Predicantium
  • Tractatus iuris (Opus trivium)
  • Distinctiones
  • Exhortaciones

Lost works

  • Registrum
  • Sermones
  • Collationes
  • Additiones
  • Persuasiones
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