Search results for ""Author Margaret Jennings""

Ranulph Higden, O.S.B. (ca. 1285-1364), well-known author of the Polychronicon , also penned several pastorally oriented treaties, namely, an Ars componendi sermones , a lengthy series of Distinctiones , an Ars Kalendarii , and a comprehensive manual of instruction called Speculum Curatorum . Last revised about 1350, the Speculum handles almost every aspect of Christian doctrine in three substantial books: the first treats the commandments; the second, the deadly sins; the third, the sacraments. This edition and translation of Higden's volume on the Decalogue shows how each comandment functions as an umbrella covering various expected and unexpected subjects. Because of the former, it is a serious explication of moral theology and canon law; because of the latter, it is a treasure trove of myth, folklore, vignettes detailing aspects of fourteenth-century life, and avuncular advice. Its definitions of intangibles - like faith, fear, and flattery - are balanced by evaluations of war, robbery, and tithing, and given zest by discussions about the degrees of superstition, the tricks of demons, and the deceitfulness of dreams. Ultimately, all provide insights into the knowledge base, the legitimate and unfounded concerns, and the sincere beliefs of later medieval England.

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Ranulph Higden, monk of St. Werburgh's Abbey and well-known author of the "Polychronicon" and other treatises, penned a concise and user-friendly Art of Preaching about 1346. His "Ars componendi sermones" follows a schematic common to many members of this genre and includes attributes desirable or necessary in the preacher, methods for piquing an audience's interest, the process of effective repetition, and suggestions for creating rhythmic patterns in prose. Its major focus, however, is the clear and comprehensive discussion of each thematic sermon part: the theme or scriptural text, its development in protheme and introduction, its division, subdivision, and embellishment.In structure and content, Higden's prescriptive manual has affinities to contemporary rhetorical texts, especially the "artes poeticae" and "dictaminis", and displays an analogous relationship with Ciceronian "dispositio" as developed in the "De Inventione" and "Rhetorica ad Herennium". A few of the many items of interest scattered throughout the text are Ranulph's insistence that preaching be separate from university exercises and his comments about various subjects like direct entry into heaven "post mortem", the scope of medieval optics, what and who compose the church, and the quadruple levels of scriptural exegesis.

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