Somewhat later, in 1281, John Pecham, Archbishop of Canterbury, in his constitutions of the Synod of Oxford ordered
"every priest having charge of a flock do, four times in each year (that is, once each quarter), on one or more solemn feast days, either himself or by some one else, instruct the people in the vulgar language, simply and without any fantastical admixture of subtle distinctions, in the articles of the Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Evangelical Precepts (the Apostles' Creed_, the seven works of mercy, the seven deadly sins with their offshoots, the seven principal virtues, and the Sacraments."
John Myrc, among others, produced books of sermons and homilies, which those clergy who needed help could read.
In 813, Councils like that in Tours declared that sermons were to be delivered "...in rusticam Romanam linguam aut Theodiscam, quo facilius cuncti possint intellegere quae dicuntur.". I have been looking at English homily collections, and I wonder if there was any such directive coming from the church in England asking priests to deliver their sermons in the vernacular.
Robert D. Peckham, PhD
Professor of French Emeritus
University of Tennessee at Martin