Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wallensis, John (fl.1283)

by Mary Bateson

WALLENSIS or WALEYS, JOHN (fl. 1283), Franciscan, is described as ‘of Worcester’ in a manuscript of his ‘Summa Collectionum’ at Peterhouse, No. 18, 1. He was B.D. of Oxford before he entered the order. He became D.D. and regent master of the Franciscan schools of Oxford before 1260. Subsequently he taught in Paris, and is said to have been known there as ‘Arbor Vitæ.’ In October 1282 he was again in England, and was sent by Archbishop Peckham as ambassador to the insurgent Welsh. He was one of the five doctors deputed at Paris in 1283 to examine the doctrines of Peter John Olivi. He was buried at Paris.

Wallensis was a theologian of high repute and a voluminous author; his popularity is proved by the numerous extant copies of his writings, as well as by the frequency with which they were reprinted at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries. A detailed bibliography is given in Mr. A. G. Little's ‘Grey Friars in Oxford,’ pp. 144–51. The following is a list of the works written by or attributed to him: 1. ‘Summa de Penitentia,’ found in four manuscripts. 2. ‘Breviloquium de Quatuor Virtutibus Cardinalibus,’ or ‘De Virtutibus Antiquorum Principum et Philosophorum,’ in four or five parts. It is found in many manuscripts and has been printed in four early editions. In one manuscript it is stated to have been composed at the request of the bishop of Maguelonne (Montpellier). 3. ‘Breviloquium de Sapientia Sanctorum,’ in eight chapters, supplementary to and printed with the above. 4. ‘Ordinarium,’ or ‘Alphabetum Vitæ Religiosæ,’ in three parts, (1) Dietarium, (2) Locarium, (3) Itinerarium, in seven manuscripts and three printed editions. 5. ‘Communiloquium,’ or ‘Summa Collectionum’ or ‘Collationum ad omne genus Hominum,’ or ‘De Vitæ Regimine,’ or ‘Margarita Doctorum,’ or ‘Communes Loci ad omnium generum Argumenta,’ a compendium for the use of young preachers. This is the ‘Summa’ (‘de Republica’ added in the table of contents) in the Cambridge University Library, Kk II, 11. There are six early printed editions. 6. ‘Floriloquium Philosophorum,’ or ‘Floriloquium sive Compendium de Vita et Dictis illustrium Philosophorum,’ or ‘De Philosophorum Dictis, Exemplis, et Vitis,’ ten parts, in six manuscripts and three printed editions. 7. ‘Moniloquium vel Collectiloquium,’ a work in four parts ‘de Viciis et Virtutibus’ for young preachers, called also ‘De Quatuor Predicabilibus,’ in five manuscripts; not printed; ascribed by Cave to Thomas Jorz [q. v.], who was also called Thomas Wallensis. 8. ‘Legiloquium sive liber de decem Preceptis,’ or ‘Summa de Preceptis,’ in seven manuscripts, some extracts printed by Charma, ‘Notice sur un manuscrit de Falaise,’ 1851. 9. ‘Summa Iustitiæ,’ or ‘Tractatus de septem Vitiis ex [Gul. Alverno] Parisiensi,’ ten parts, in two manuscripts, and in another form in the Exeter College MS. 7, § 4. 10. ‘Manipulus Florum,’ begun by John Waleys, finished by Thomas Hibernicus [q. v.], consisting of extracts from the fathers in alphabetical order, found in numerous manuscripts, and twice printed. 11. ‘Commentaries on the Books of the Old Testament, Exodus to Ruth, and Ecclesiastes to Isaiah.’ Leland saw these at Christ Church (Collect. iii. 10), and in Bodleian Laud. Misc. 345 there is such a collection ascribed to John. In the catalogue of Syon monastery they are ascribed to Waleys, with many of the works named above. 12. ‘In Mythologicon Fulgentii.’ This commentary was seen by Leland in the library of the Franciscans at Reading (Collect. iii. 57). It is found in two manuscripts bound with other works of Waleys, but it may be by John de Ridevall [q. v.] 13. The ‘Expositio Wallensis super Valerium ad Rufinum de non ducenda Uxore,’ seen by Leland in the Franciscans' Library, London, may be Ridevall's. 14. Boston of Bury (Tanner, p. xxxiii) and the Syon catalogue ascribe to him a work ‘De Cura Pastorali.’ The work was in Harleian MS. 632, f. 261, but is now missing. 15. Boston of Bury and the Syon catalogue ascribe to him a work ‘De Oculo Morali.’ This was printed as Peckham's (called Pithsanus) at Augsburg, 1475. It has been ascribed also to Grosseteste, and with more reason to Peter of Limoges (Hauréau, Notices et Extraits, vi. 134). 16. Fabricius ascribes to him without authority the ‘De Origine, Progressu et Fine Mahumeti,’ Strasburg, 1550, of which no manuscript is known. 17. The work ‘In Fabulas Ovidii,’ or ‘Expositiones seu Moralitates in lib. i. (?) Metamorphoseon sive Fabularum,’ ascribed to J. Wallensis by Leland, and to Wallensis or Johannes Grammaticus by Tanner, and printed as the work of Thomas Wallensis (d. 1350?) [q. v.], has been shown by M. Hauréau to be by Peter Berchorius (Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscript. xxx. 45–55). 18. ‘Sermones de Tempore et de Sanctis,’ also an ‘Expositio super Pater Noster,’ are found in conjunction with his works, and may be by him. 19. The ‘Postilla et Collationes super Johannem,’ printed among Bonaventura's works, 1589, have been ascribed to Waleys, to Jorz (Oudin, vol. iii. col. 49), and to Thomas Wallensis. 20. Leland ascribes to him also a ‘Summa Confessorum,’ which is John of Freiburg's; a ‘De Visitatione Infirmorum,’ probably Augustine's, and a part of the ‘Ordinarium,’ described by him as a separate work. Other titles given by Boston of Bury may be derived from the ‘Breviloquium.’

[Little's Grey Friars in Oxford, pp. 144–51; Tanner's Bibliotheca, p. 434; Cat. Royal MSS. Brit. Mus.; Bateson's Catalogue of Syon Monastery. Bale in his Notebook (Selden MS. 64 B) distinguishes John Gualensis, Minorite of Worcester and doctor of Paris, author of the De Cura Pastorali, as ‘junior.’]

M. B.