Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lathbery, John
LATHBERY, JOHN, D.D. (fl. 1350), Franciscan, was famous as a theologian throughout the later middle ages. Leland states that he was a friar of Reading and doctor of Oxford. According to Bale he flourished 1406, but this appears to be a mistake. He was certainly at the provincial chapter of Friars Minors at London in 1343, but probably became D.D. after 1350, as his name does not occur in the list of masters of theology at Oxford in 'Monumenta Franciscana,' vol. i.
His best-known work was a 'Commentary on Lamentations' (called also 'Lecturæ Morales'), of which many manuscripts are extant (at Oxford); it was printed at Oxford in 1482, and is one of the earliest books issued by the university press. Other works of his still extant in manuscript are 'Distinctiones Theologiæ' or 'Alphabetum Morale' or 'Loci Communes,' and extracts from a treatise 'De Luxuria Clericorum.'
[Leland's Scriptores; Bale's Scriptores; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.; The Grey Friars in Oxford (Oxf. Hist. Soc.); Merton Coll. MSS. vol. clxxxix.; Bernard's Cat. MSS. Angl.]