Omne Bonum: A Fourteenth-Century Encyclopedia of Universal Knowledge, British Library MSS Royal 6 E VI-VII (review)

264 Reviews innovation, paganism versus Christianity, and Germanicism versus Graeco-Latinity. All shed their light on the multi-faceted and ever evolving discourse about Anglo-Saxon texts as cultural goods. From so many points of view this handbook is a true vade-mecum to the Anglo-Saxonist of whatever degree of knowledge. Painstakingly compiled, the work gives this area of Old English poetry the sort of scholarly support which one has long associated with Homeric or Virgilian epic, or with medieval studies in the Romance languages. J. S. Ryan School of English, Communication and Theatre University of N e w England Sandler, Lucy Freeman, Omne Bonum: A Fourteenth-Century Encyc ofUniversal Knowledge, British Library MSS Royal 6 E VI-VII, L Harvey Miller, 1996; cloth; 2 vols; 1. Text, pp. 256; 118 illustrations; 2. Catalogue, pp. 276; 760 illustrations; R.R.P. AUS$296, US $185. This is a book that will be of interest not just to art histo to anyone interested in intellectual history and the ordering of knowledge in the late Middle Ages. I t is a monumental piece of research that celebrates an idiosyncratic and highly ambitious project, an encyclopedia that set out to contain ' a l l good things', compiled in the third quarter of the fourteenth century by James le Palmer, a clerk of the Exchequer. Lewis argues that this was a pioneering venture. Unlike such better known works as Vincent of Beauvais' Speculum mains, which was based on an underlying hierarchical scheme of knowledge subdivided info smaller subsections, James le Palmer's work is organised completely by alphabet, making i t an important precursor to the modern encyclopedia. Born into a mercantile family and educated in London, le Palmer lacked a university education; this possibly made his approach to his material more adventurous than that of some more widelydisseminated works like John Bromyard's Summa predicantium. The final product, although unfinished, was enormous. Written by a single scribe, the original two volumes have now each been divided into two parts, Reviews 265 and contain almost 1,100 folios, and is so large that each bifolium is probably cut from a single parchment skin. It is over two feet tall and seven inches thick. There are over 1350 entries in the text and over 750 historiated initials and, preceding the text itself, 109 tinted drawings of Biblical scenes. In addition there is a highly unusual, indeed fascinating, painted cycle of visionary miniatures including the Arma Christi and the Beatific Vision, that alone are worthy of a more extensive study. Indeed, Sandler has published elsewhere on these image: 'Face to Face with God: A Pictorial Image of the Beatific Image,' in W . M . Ormrod, ed., England in the Fourteenth Century, Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 1986, pp. 224-35. To compile each entry, le Palmer drew on a wide range of texts including sermons, biblical commentaries, collections of canon law, decretals, legends of the saints as well as works like the pseudo-Aristotelian Secreta Secretorum, the Revelations of St Elizabeth of Schonau and the Speculum iudicale of Guillelmus Duranti, as well as works on natural history. 115 authorities are mentioned in the preface, of which Lewis provides the text in the original Latin and in translation. Although the w o r k is an encyclopedia, it is also a highly idiosyncratic production reflecting the interests and aversion of the compiler. It contains strong criticisms of the mendicant orders and its article on Clerici, one of the longest in the Omne Bonum, is particularly forthcoming on the proper conduct of secular clerks. While the usual complaints such as pluralism are found here, both the contents and the marginal comments reflect le Palmer's o w n experiences working within the Exchequer and highlight the complex interconnections between lay and clerical within government. For example, ecclesiastical benefices were used as payment and compensation for government employment. James le Palmer focuses his criticism particularly on the performance of the king's clerks in their clerical duties, pointedly naming particular figures for their infringements of canon law, for example William de Hanley for hunting and John de Scotherskelf for holding the office of Sheriff or Reeve, despite being ordained. H e...