John of Wales
A Study of the Works and Ideas of a Thirteenth-Century Friar

This book examines the selected writings of John of Wales, a thirteenth-century Franciscan scholar.

Jenny Swanson (Author)

9780521520324, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 20 June 2002

320 pages
21.8 x 14 x 2.3 cm, 0.449 kg

This book examines the selected writings of John of Wales, a thirteenth-century Franciscan scholar. Though overshadowed historically by men like Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure, John contributed significantly to the preaching explosion of the later Middle Ages, devoting his scholastic energies to the production of encyclopedic preaching aids for the growing number of the devout and learned emerging from the new universities. Through a detailed analysis of his world view, the author establishes John's strong interest in politics and contemporary social issues and helps to explain why his writings appealed to young preachers and the popular imagination. John's historic popularity and literary influence are also fully explored. His works seem to have been an important source of classical material for European literary texts of the period, and therefore, in addition to historians and theologians, this unprecedented book will appeal to those interested in the survival and transmission of Greek and Latin literature.

Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Introduction
1. The career of John of Wales
2. The works of John of Wales: sources and technique
3. The Breviloquium de Virtutibus Antiquorum Principum et Philosophorum
4. Communiloquium, part I: John of Wales on the state and its members
5. Communiloquium, parts 2 and 3: John of Wales on secular society
6. Communiloquium, parts 4–7: John of Wales on scholars and churchmen
7. Philosophers and saints: the Compendiloquium and Breviloquium de Sapientia Sanctorum of John of Wales
8. The works of John of wales: spread and influence
Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], British & Irish history [HBJD1]