The Historia Scholastica is a twelfth-century Biblical paraphrase written in Medieval Latin by Petrus Comestor.[1] Sometimes called the "Medieval Popular Bible", it draws on the Bible and other sources, including the works of classical scholars and the Fathers of the Church, to present a universal history (universal, that is, from the perspective of medieval Europe).[1][2]
The Historia Scholastica was a required part of the core curriculum at the University of Paris, Oxford and other universities, and a significant secondary source of popular biblical knowledge from its completion around 1173[3] through the fifteenth century, although after about 1350 it was gradually supplanted by newer works.[1][4] It was translated into every major Western European vernacular of the period.[1] Numerous paraphrases and abridgements were produced, in Latin and vernacular languages.[1]
It was among the earliest printed works, with editions appearing c. 1470 in both Strasbourg and Reutlingen.[1]