Skip to content

The Library

Forty Centuries of Christian Writing

1774 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.

1201–1300

The Thirteenth Century

1 work

c. 1271–1276

Latin

The Mirror of Judgement

Speculum Iudiciale

William Durandus · c. 1230–1296

A complete manual of judicial procedure — summons, evidence, witnesses, appeals — for church courts, which by then handled marriage, wills, and much else.

Western · Canon lawRead elsewhere

1401–1500

The Fifteenth Century

1 work

written 1376; widely copied thereafter

Latin

The Directory of Inquisitors

Directorium Inquisitorum

Nicholas Eymerich · c. 1316–1399

A systematic manual of inquisitorial law and procedure, defining heresy, listing condemned propositions, and prescribing the conduct of trials.

Dominican · HandbookRead elsewhere