Greetings! I bring a question of methodological assumptions to all of you
who work with sermons in manuscript. I am the list-member who is working
on the saint-s-day sermons to Saint Louis of France, and I have been
working on the assumption that I can assume that if I have multiple copies
of a sermon, it belonged to a model sermon collection and was in turn
intended primarily for a popular (ie, as opposed to clerical or
university) audience. If this is correct (and correct me if it is not, or
point me please to the relelvant literature) what does one do with the
converse? That is, sermons which exist in a single copy? Their function
and intended audience it would seem to me be either a preacher's own copy
for personal use. Can one generally suppose then, that sermons belonging
to model sermon collection would have reached more ears over the years
than single copy sermons? (I have indeed read *Preaching of the Friars*
but sometime back and its out of the library).
My guess is that there are so many unsupportable generalizations herein
to make the responsible specialists cringe, and for this I apologize. But
I'm trying to get a thumbnail guide for general approach, and would
appreciate the generous insights of those more in the know that myself.
Also, does anybody knows of saint's-day sermons to Edward the Confessor,
I'd love the reference.
cecilia gaposchkin
ucberkeley history
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