THE LATE MEDIEVAL PREACHING TRADITION

‘There are almost as many different modes of preaching as there are capable preachers.’ So wrote Robert of Basevorn in 1322 in his treatise Forma praedicandi Basevorn confined himself to describing in detail only what he called the ‘modern’ method, but it is obvious from his discussion that the modern method itself could yield great variety. If one adds to this variety those sermons of the late medieval period that do not conform to the modern method at all, then the mixture is even richer. The gamut runs from the homely to the eloquent, the simple to the complex, the intellectual to the emotional.

There are, of course, some common features, which is not surprising when one takes into account the number and variety of preaching aids available by the fourteenth century: biblical concordances, collections of exempla, collections of model sermons, florilegia, and treatises like Basevorn's on the art of preaching. Use of these aids certainly leads to homogeneity in certain areas. A biblical text, for example, used by one preacher as a theme for a particular feast reappears as another preacher's theme. ‘Mansionem apud eum faciemus’ is a favourite for Pentecost, ‘Ave gracia plena’ for the Annunciation, and ‘Puer natus est’ for the Nativity. Gerson uses all these, but they can be found elsewhere. ‘Mansionem’, for instance, is used by Pierre d'Ailly for his Pentecost sermon and also, later in the century, by Olivier Maillard.Within sermons the same commonplaces keep turning up, and certain images and metaphors and certain exempla become very familiar. Yet the traditional material is used in a variety of ways and each preacher puts his own imprint on his sermons, though some much more than others.