THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
tion that the " Imitation " first went forth anonymously, and Gerson's mystical treatises gave to French editors and copyists the supposed cue to its authorship.
The claim of a Kempis has many arguments in its favor. Jan Busch in his Chronicon Windeshemense, written in 1464, seven years before the death of Thomas a Kempis, expressly states that
Thomas wrote the " Imitation." This 4. Thomas statement might be considered suffik Kempis. cient of itself were it not for the fact
that the so-called Gaesdoncker Codex of the Chronicon does not contain this statement. Caspar of Pforzheim, who made his German translation in 1448, says the work was written by " a devoted father, Master Thomas, a canon regular." Hermann Rheyd, who met Thomas at the chapter of Windesheim in 1454, speaks of him as the author. John Wessel, who spent some time with Thomas, was according to his early biographer attracted by the book at Windesheim. Funk gives thirteen dated manuscripts written before 1500 ascribing the " Imitation " to Thomas a Kempis. The original Brussels Codex of 1441 has already been referred to above. Its date is accepted by Hirsche, Pohl, Funk, Schulze, and others; and the conclusion drawn is that the manuscript of the "Imitation" it contains was written before 1420. The date 1441 has recently been disputed as ungenuine by Puyol and Kentenich on the basis of its divergences from other texts by the way of additions and also the conclusion. A second manuscript in Louvain is also subscribed as autographic and seems to be nearly as old (cf. Pohl, vi. 456). Another manuscript preserved in Brussels has the date 1425 and states that Thomas was the author. The Codex Magdalenus in Oxford, dated 1438, strangely gives the work under the title De musica ecclesiastica, the title of a work by Walter Hylton, an English mystic. Of printed editions of the fifteenth century, at least twelve present Thomas as the author, beginning with the Augsburg edition of 1472. Finally, in style and contents the " Imitation " agrees closely with other writings of Thomas a Kempis; and the flow of thought is altogether similar to that of the Meditatio de incarnatione. Spitzen has made it seem probable that the author was acquainted with the writings of Jan van Ruysbroeck and other mystics of the Netherlands. Funk has brought out the references to ecclesiastical customs which fit the book into the early part of the fifteenth century better than into an earlier time. Scholars like Schwab, Hirsche, Pohl, Schulze, and Funk (and also the Italian Santini) agree that the claims of Thomas h Kempis are almost beyond dispute. On the other hand, Denifle cleared the deck of all suggested names and ascribed the work to some unknown canon regular of the Netherlands. Karl M tiller in a brief note (Kirchengeschichte, ii. 122) pronounces the theory of the Thomas authorship to be " more than uncertain "; and Loofs (Dogmengeschichte, 4th ed., p. 633) expresses substantially the same judgment. In addition to the historic considerations for the Thomas authorship the philosophical consideration certainly has weight, that no sufficient reason can be given why the name
of Thomas a Kempis should have been attached to the book if he did not write it. D. S. Schapf. Bibliography: The first ed. of the Opera by N. Ketelaer and G. de Leempt appeared at Utrecht, 1473 (contained fifteen writings, not including the "Imitation"). Others are by P. Danhassor, Nuremberg, 1494 (includes twenty compositions); J. Badius, Antwerp, 1520, 1521, 1523- G. Dupuyherbault, with Vita by J. B. Ascensius, Paris' 1549; G. Putherbeus, Antwerp, 1574; H. Sommalius' 3 vols., ib. 1599, 5th ed., Douai, 1635 (regarded as the best until the next to be mentioned); M. J. Pohl, to be in 8 vols., vols, i.-v., Freiburg, 1903 sqq. On the Imitation there is a discussion of the literature by R. P. A. de Backer, Essai bibliographique sur le livre De imitatione Christi, Liege, 1864. The editions of the work are past counting. Among them may be singled out; the first Latin ed., Augsburg, 1472 (bound up with a copy of Jerome's De vir. ill., and writings of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas), cf. Facsimile Reproduction of the First Edition of 1471 with Historical Introduction by C. Knox-Little, London, 1894. Of the many English translations may be noted: the first, by W. Atkinson and the Princess Margaret, mother of King Henry VII., London, 1502; reprinted ib. 1828, new ed. by J. K. Ingram, ib. 1893; The Imitation of Christ, Being the Autograph MS. of Thomas a Kempis, De imitatione Christi, Reproduced in Facsimile from the Original Preserved in the Royal Library at Brussels, with Introduction by C. Ruelens, London, 1879; The Imitation of Christ, now for the First Time Set forth in Rythm and Sentences, with Preface by Canon Liddon, ib. 1889; Meditations on the Life of Christ Translated and Edited . . by Archdeacon Wright . and . . S. Kettlewell, with a Preface by the Latter, Oxford, 1892; The Imitation of Christ; Translation by Canon W Benham, with 12 Photogravures after Celebrated Paintings, ib. 1905; J. H. Srawley, The Imitation of Christ or the Ecclesiastical Music, Cambridge, 1908.
On the life of Thomas the fundamental source is J. Busch, Chronicon Windeshemense, ed. H. Rosweyde, Antwerp, 1621, and K. Grube, Halle, 1886; with which should be used H. Rosweyde, Chronicon Mt. S. Agnetis, Antwerp, 1615, ed. cum Rosweydii vindiciis Kempensibus, ib. 1622. Consult further: Vol. i. of the Opera by Pohl (ut sup.) contains a discussion of the life and writings; B. Bahring, Thomas a Kempis der Prediger der Nachfolge Christi, Leipsic, 1872; S. Kettlewell, Thomas a Kempis and the Brethren of the Common Life, 2 vols., London, 1882, abridged ed., 1885; F. R. Cruise, Thomas a Kempis, with Notes of a Visit to the Scenes in which his Life was Spent, with Some Account of the Examination of his Relics, ib. 1887; L. A. Wheatley, Story of the Imitation of Christ, ib. 1891 Roring, Thomas a Kempis, Zijne voorgangers en zijne tijdgenooten, Utrecht, 1902; C. Bigg, Wayside Sketches in Ecclesiastical History, ib. 1906; KL, viii. 1555-59.
KEN (KENN), THOMAS: Bishop of Bath and Wells; b. at Great (or Little) Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, July, 1637; d. at Longleat (22 m. w.n.w. of Salisbury), Wiltshire, Mar. 19, 1711. He studied at Winchester College, and at New College, Ox. ford (B.A., 1661; M. A., 1664; D.D., 1679), was fellow of New College 1657-66, and tutor in 1661. In 1665 he went back to Winchester, became chaplain to Bishop George Morley, and took gratuitous charge of the parish of St. John in the Soke. He was elected fellow of Winchester in 1666, and collated to a prebend at Winchester in 1669. He was rector of Brightstone, Isle of Wight, 1667-69, and of East Woodhay, Hampshire, 1669-72. With the exception of a visit to Rome in 1675, he again resided at Winchester, 1672-79, resuming charge of the parish of St. John in the Soke. In 1679 he went to The Hague as chaplain to Mary, the king's sister, wife of William II. of Orange, but returned to England in the autumn of 1680 and became chaplain to Charles II. In the summer of 1683, when the court was about to visit Winchester, he refused