Thomas of Ireland
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Thomas of Ireland (fl.1295-before 1338), known as Thomas de Hibernia or Hybernicus, was an Irish writer. His claim to fame is not as an original author, but as an anthologist and indexer.
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[edit] Life
Thomas was a Fellow of the College of Sorbonne and a Master of Arts by 1295, and referred to as a former fellow in the first manuscripts of his Manipulus in 1306. He is believed to have died before 1338.
[edit] Works
Thomas was the author of three short works on theology and biblical exegesis, and the compiler of the Manipulus florum ('A Handful of Flowers'). The latter, a Latin florilegium, has been described as a "collection of some 6,000 extracts from patristic and a few classical authors".[1] Thomas compiled this collection from books in the library of the Sorbonne, "and at his death he bequeathed his books and sixteen pounds Parisian to the college".[2]
The Manipulus florum survives in one hundred and ninety manuscripts, and was first printed in 1483. It was printed twenty-six times in the 16th century, eleven times in the 17th. As late as the 18th century editions were published in Vienna and Turin.
Although its author was a secular, Thomas's anthology was highly successful because it was "well suited to the needs of the new mendicant preaching orders ... [to] ... locate quotations ... relevant to any subject they might wish to touch on in their sermons."[3] It has been shown that very soon after it was completed a French dominican used it to compose a series of sermons.[4] However, it has been recently argued that, although it was surely used by preachers, Thomas did not actually intend his anthology as a reference tool for sermon composition, but rather as a learning aid for students.[5]
Thomas was also among the first of the pioneers of Biblical concordance, subject indices and cross-references. "In his selection, and in the various indexing techniques he invented or improved on, he revealed true originality and inventiveness."[6]
He was the author of De tribus punctis religionis Christiane ('On the three main points of the Christian religion'), De tribus hierarchiis ('On the three hierarchies') and De tribus sensibus sacre scripture ('On the three senses of holy scripture'). The last two works survive in three and eight manuscripts respectively.
[edit] References
- ^ Richard Rouse and Mary Rouse, Preachers, florilegia and sermons: Studies on the Manipulus Florum of Thomas of Ireland, Toronto, 1979.
- ^ A New History of Ireland, volume one, p. 958.
- ^ Rouses, Preachers
- ^ Christine Boyer, "Un témoin précoce de la réception du Manipulus florum au début du XIVeme siècle: le recueil de sermons du domincain Guillaume de Sauqueville," Bibliothèque de l'École de Chartes, 163.1 (2006), pp. 43-70.
- ^ Chris L. Nighman, "Commonplaces on preaching among commonplaces for preaching? The topic Predicatio in Thomas of Ireland's Manipulus florum", Medieval Sermon Studies 49 (2005), 37-57.
- ^ Rouses, Preachers
