AdamEaston.info

The books available to the mediaeval student were predominantly religious in nature. Yet through a religious context the literature of the day could touch many aspects of life from the philosophical to the downright political. The list below summarises some of the works that Adam would have known and used in his own studies, many of which he makes reference to in his own work. The works vary in age and context but overall give a flavour of what 14th century man might have read and been influenced by.

St Ambrose of Milan (338-397) - On the Holy Spirit

St Jerome (342-420) - Latin Vulgate Bible

St Augustine (of Hippo) (354-430) - De Trinitate, a dissertation on the nature of the Holy Trinity

St Gregory the Great (540-604) - Regulae Pastoralis Liber

Isidore of Seville, also known as Isidorus Hispalensis (c560-636) - Sententiarum sive de summo bono libri tre

Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) Monologium, on the nature and existence of God

John the Saracen (1040-1103) Gloss on St Dionysius the Areopagite

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) - De Consideracione, an address to candidates for the priesthood

Hugh of St Victor (1096-1141) based in Paris - De Sacramentis Christianć Fidei

Peter Lombard (c1100 - 1160) based in Paris - Four Books of the Sentences, a guide to the interpretation and understanding of biblical texts

Robert Grosseteste (1170-1253) De Praeceptis

Alexander of Hales (c1185-1245) Summa universae theologiae

John Duns "Scotus" (1266 - 1308) Reportata Parisiensia, commentary on Peter Lombard's sentences

Dante Aligheri (1285-1321) De Monarchia

Richard Fitzralph (1295-1360) De Pauperis Salvatoris, an attack on the philosophy and practises of the Friars

John of Legnano (c1320-1383) Somnium