632 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
His monumental work, the Four Books of Sentences, libri quatuor sententiarum, covers, in a systematic way, the whole field of dogmatic theology, as John of Damascus had done four hundred years before in his summary of the Orthodox Faith. It won for its author the title, the Master of Sen tences, magister sententiarum. Other systems of theology under the name of sentences had preceded the Lombard's treatise. Such a work was ascribed to Abselard by St. Ber nard.1 This was probably a mistake. It is certain, how ever, that Abaelard's scholars — Roland (afterwards Alex ander III.), while he was professor at Bologna, 1142, and Omnebene — produced such works and followed Abselard's threefold division of faith, charity, and the sacraments.2 Of more importance were the treatises of Anselm of Laon, Robert Pullen,3 and Hugo of St. Victor, who wrote before the Lombard prepared his work. Robert Pullen, who died about 1147, was an Englishman and one of the first teachers at Oxford, then went to Paris, where he had John of Salisbury for one of his hearers about 1142, enjoyed the friendship of St. Bernard, came into favor at Rome, and was appointed cardinal by Coelestin II.
The Lombard's work is clear, compact, and sententious, moderate and judicial in spirit, and little given to the treatment of useless questions of casuistry. In spite of some attacks upon its orthodoxy, it received wide recognition and was used for several centuries as a text-book, as Calvin's Institutes, at a later period, was used in the Protestant churches. Down to the sixteenth century, every candidate for the degree of B.A. at Paris was obliged to pass an exam ination in it. Few books have enjoyed the distinction of
1 Liber quern dicunt sententiarum, Ep., 188 ; Migne, 182. 553. Walter of St. Victor declares it to have been by Abselard's hand or taken from his works, aut ex libris ejus excerptus. See Deutsch, P. Abcelard excursus.
2 Denifle, Archiv, 1885, learnedly establishes the relation of these works to Abselard. They exist in MSS. at Nurnberg, Munich, etc. Omnebene expressly declared his work to be a compilation taken from different sources.
3 Sententiarum theologicarum libri, VII. ; Migne, vol. 186. His name is spelt Pullein, Pullan, etc. See Rashdall's art. in Diet, of NaVl Biogr., XLVII. 19.
§ 102. PETER THE LOMBARD AND THE SUMMISTS. 633
having had so many commentaries written upon them. One hundred and sixty are said to be by Englishmen, and one hun dred and fifty-two by members of the order of St. Dominic. The greatest of the Schoolmen lectured and wrote com mentaries upon it, as Alexander Hales, Albertus Magnus, Bona ventura, Thomas Aquinas, Durandus, and Ockam.1
Not uninfluenced by the method pursued by Abaelard in the Sic et Non, the Lombard collated statements from the Fathers and he set about making his compilation to relieve the student from the task and toil of searching for himself in the Fathers.2 Augustine furnished more than twice as many quotations as all the other Fathers together.3 The Lombard went further than Abaslard and proposed to show the harmony existing between the patristic statements. In the arrangement of his material and for the material itself he drew largely upon Abselard, Gratian, and Hugo of St. Victor,4 without, however, quoting them by name. Upon Hugo he drew for entire paragraphs.
The Sentences are divided into four parts, treating of the triune God, created beings and sin, the incarnation, the Christian virtues and the decalogue, and the sacraments with some questions in eschatology. The author's method is to state the doctrine taught by the Church, to confirm it from Scripture, then to adduce the opinions of the Fathers and, if they seemed to be in conflict, to reconcile them. His ulti-
lrThe Jesuit Possevin gives a list of 246 commentaries in print. See Wetzer-Welte, IX. 1921, which speaks of the number of commentaries as unzahlig, "without number." Hergenrother (Gesch. II. 516) speaks of them in the same way as zahllos. The first commentary, according to Werner (Thorn, von Aquino, I. 314), was by William of Seignelay, teacher in Paris and later bishop of Paris.
2 Prolog, to the Sentences, brevi volumine complicans patrum sententias appositis eorum testimoniis, etc.
8 Baltzer, pp. 2-5, gives the results of a careful study. Augustine furnishes 1000 quotations. Hilary comes next, being quoted 85 times. Baltzer'sbook is a laborious comparison of every paragraph of the Lombard with the Fathers and his predecessors among the Schoolmen, especially Abselard and Hugo of St. Victor.
4 Denifle (Archiv, pp. 621 sqq.) is authority for the statement that he also quotes from Gandulf's Sentences which still remain in MS. at Turin.