Stubbs, Chron. Edward I–II (1882), I, lxx–xxiv; Gross, Sources and Literature of English History, etc. (New York, 1900), s. v.
Adam of Perseigne, a French Cistercian, Abbot of the monastery of Perseigne in the Diocese of Mans, b. about the middle of the twelfth century. He is thought to have been first a canon regular, later a Benedictine of Marmoutier and then a Cistercian. About the year 1180, he became Abbot of Perseigne, wither his reputation for holiness and wisdom drew the great personages of his time to seek his counsel. He had at Rome a conference with the celebrated mystic, Joachim, Abbot of Flora, (in Calabria, Italy), on the subject of the latter's revelations, and aided Foulques de Neuilly in preaching the Fourth Crusade. His letters and sermons were published at Rome in 1662 under the title "Adami Abbatis Perseniæ Ordinis Cisterciensis Mariale."
Mignon in Dict. de théol. cath., s. v.
Adam of Saint Victor, A prominent and prolific writer of Latin Hymns, born in the latter part of the twelfth century, probably at Paris; died in the Abbey of Saint Victor then in the suburbs of Paris but included in it subsequently through the city's growth, some time between 1172 and 1192. By those more nearly his contemporaries he is styled "Brito", a word which means "Briton", or "Breton". But as he was educated in Paris, and entered the Abbey of Saint Victor when quite young, he was presumably French. He lived in the abbey, which was somewhat of a theological center, until his death. Adam of Saint Victor is the most illustrious exponent of the revival of liturgical poetry which the twelfth century affords. Archbishop Trench characterizes him as "the foremost among the sacred Latin poets of the Middle Ages". Of his hymns and sequences some thirty-seven were published in the "Elucidatorium Ecclesiasticum" of Clichtoveus, a Catholic theologian of the sixteenth century. Nearly all of the remaining seventy were preserved in the Abbey of Saint Victor up to the time of its dissolution in the Revolution. They were then transferred to the Bibliothèque Nationale, where they were discovered by Léon Gautier, who edited the first complete edition of them (Paris, 1858). Besides these poetic works, some prose ones are attributed to Adam of Saint Victor, viz., "Summa Britonis, seu de difficilioribus verbis in Biblia contentis", a dictionary of all the difficult words in the Bible for the use of novices and beginners in the study of the Scriptures; and a sequel to this, "Expositio super omnes prologos", an historical commentary on the prologues of St. Jerome. Fabricius, Pits, and others deny his authorship of these prose works, saying they were written by Guillaume le Breton. Levesque advances some plausible reasons for believing them the work of Adam, while Abbé Lejay declares emphatically that none of the prose works ascribed to him can be regarded with any likelihood as his. Some of his best hymns are "Laudes crucis attolamus", "Verbi vere substantivi", and "Stola regni laureatus".
Gautier, Œuvres poétiques d'Adam de St. Victor (Paris 1858) with an Essai sur sa vie et ses ouvrages, tr. Wrangham (London, 1881); Julian, Dict. of Hymnology (New York, 1892), 14, 15; Levesque in Vig., Dict. de la Bible; Lejay in Dict. de théol. cath.
Adam of Usk, an English priest, canonist, and chronicler, born at Usk, in Monmouthshire, between 1360 and 1365; date of death unknown. He studied at Oxford, where he obtained his doctorate and became extraordinarius in canon law. He practised in the archiepiscopal court of Canterbury, 1390–97, and in 1399 accompanied the Archbishop and Bolingbroke's army on the march to Chester. After Richard's surrender Adam was rewarded with the living of Kemsing and Seal in Kent, and later with a prebend in the church of Bangor. However, he forfeited the King's favour by the boldness of his criticisms, and was banished to Rome in 1402, where in 1404 and later he was successively nominated to the sees of Hereford and St. David's, but was unable to obtain possession of either. He left a Latin chronicle of English history from 1377 to 1404, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson for the Royal Society of Literature, as "Chronicon Adæ de Usk" (London, 1876).
Thompson, in Dict. Nat. Biog., s.v.; Hurter, Nomenclator, s.v. ; Balzani, La storia di Roma nella Cronaca di Adamo da Usk, in Archiv soc. Rom. stor. patr. (1880), III, 473–488; Gairdner, in Academy (1877), XI, 4–5; Gross, Sources and Lit. of Eng. History (New York, 1900), s.v.
Adam, John, a distinguished preacher and a strenuous opponent of Calvinists and Jansenists, born at Limoges in 1608; died at Bordeaux, 12 May, 1684. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1622. He wrote "The Triumph of the Blessed Eucharist"; "A Week's Controversy on the Sacrament of the Altar"; "Calvin Defeated by Himself"; "The Tomb of Jansenism"; "An Abridgement of the Life of St. Francis Borgia"; Lenten sermons; some books of devotion; and translations of hymns. His views on St. Augustine brought him in collision with Cardinal Noris who attacked Father Adam in his "Vindiciæ Augustinianæ". A book by Noël de Lalanne also assailed what is called "the errors, calumnies, and scandalous invectives which the Jesuit Father Adam has uttered in a sermon, on the second Thursday of Lent, in the Church of St. Paul."
Southwell, Bayle, Crétineau-Joly, Remarques sur Bayle, 57; Sommervogel, I, 47; Varin, La vérité sur les Arnauld (Biog. univ. I, 145).
Adam, Nicholas, linguist and writer, b. in Paris, 1716; d. 1792. He achieved distinction by a peculiar grammar of which he was the author. It bore the title: "La vraie manière d'apprendre une langue quelconque, vivante ou morte, par le moyen de la langue française." It consisted of five grammars: French, Latin, Italian, German, and English. He published another book which he called "Les quatre chapitres",—on reason, self-love, love of our neighbour, and love of virtue—writing it in good and bad Latin, and good and bad French. He has also left many translations of classic works, among them, Pope's "Essay on Man", Johnson's "Rasselas", Addison's "Cato", Young's "Night Thoughts", etc. He was a favourite of Choiseul, who sent him as French ambassador to Venice. It is said that he knew all the languages of Europe and possessed a rare gift of communicating his knowledge to others. For many years he had been professor of eloquence at the College of Lisieux.
Michaud, Biogr. Univ., I, 228.
Adam Scotus (or The Premonsthatensian), a theologian and Church historian of the latter part of the twelfth century. He was born either in Scotland or England, and joined the newly-founded order of Saint Norbert. It is also believed that he became Abbot and Bishop of Candida Casa, or Whithorn in Scotland, and died after 1180. His works consist of "Sermones" (P. L., CXCVIII, 91–440); "Liber de Ordine, Habitu et Professione Canonicorum Ordinis Præmonstratensis" (Ibid., CXCVIII, 439–610), a work which is sometimes entitled the "Commentary on the Rule of St. Augustine"; "De Tripartito Tabernaculo" (CXCVIII, 609–792); "De Triplici Genere Contemplationis" (CXCVIII, 791–842); "Soliloquiorum de Instructione animae libri duo" (CXCVIII, 841–872). He was one of the most ap-
