way on foot rather than break the rule which forbade friars to ride (Rodulphius, Hist. Seraph. Rel. p. 117; Wadding, Ann. Ord. Min. v. 53). When, on 29 June 1282, he visited Lewes priory, he showed his affection for the monks and his own humility by sharing their simple fare in the refectory (Chron. de Lewes, ap. Sussex Arch. Coll. ii. 33). The Franciscans styled him the moon of their order, Pope Nicholas IV being the sun (Flores Hist. iii. 81); both died in the same year, and the Worcester chronicler commemorates the event in two verses:
Sol obscuratur, sub terra luna moratur,
Ordo turbatur, stellarum lux hebetatur.
Another though prejudiced view is given by the writer of the ‘Flores Historiarum’ (iii. 82), who says that in his prosperity Peckham scorned and despised many, and especially the Benedictines.
Peckham was a voluminous writer of treatises on science and theology, as well as of poetry. His extant works are: 1. ‘Perspectiva Communis;’ this treatise deals not with what is now called perspective, but with elementary propositions of optics. Printed as ‘Perspectiva communis domini Johannis,’ &c. (Petrus Cornenus, Milan, 1482), fol.; other editions appeared at Leipzig, 1504, fol.; Venice, 1504, fol., and 1505? fol.; Nuremberg, 1542, 4to; Cologne, 1508, and 1542, 4to, and 1627; an Italian translation appeared at Venice in 1593, as ‘I tre Libri della Perspettiva commune.’ There are two manuscripts in the British Museum, viz., Add. MSS. 15108 and 17368, both of the fifteenth century. In the Bodleian Library there are Digby 218 (sec. xiv.; apparently not seen by the editors of the printed text), Digby 28 and 98, and Bodleian 300. 2. ‘Theorica planetarum;’ this may be the treatise in British Museum Add. MSS. 15107, ff. 65–71 b, and 15108, ff. 139–49 b. 3. ‘De Sphæra;’ inc. ‘Principalium corporum mundanorum,’ Arundel MS. 83, f. 123 b (sec. xiii.), in the British Museum; MSS. Laurentianæ Plut. xxix. Cod. xv. (written in 1302), and ex Bibl. S. Crucis Plut. xxii. Dext. Cod. xii. p. 125. 4. ‘Collectanea Bibliorum.’ Printed as ‘Divinarū Sententiarū Librorū Biblie ad certos titulos redacte Collectariū. Ingenio Joannis de Peccano … compilatū,’ Paris, 1513, 8vo. Printed by Wolfgang Hopilius, at the suggestion of John Fisher (1459?–1535) [q. v.] Other editions are Paris, 1514, ap. J. Frelon, and Cologne, 1541, 8vo. 5. ‘Postilla in Cantica Canticorum;’ inc. ‘Dissolueris filia vaga proverb.’ Manuscript in the ‘Bibliotheca Ambrosiana’ at Milan (Montfaucon, Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum, i. 518). 6. ‘Tractatus de misteriatione numerorum in Sacra Scriptura.’ MS. Lincoln College, Oxford, 81, ff. 40–8 (sec. xv.), and Arundel MS. 200, ff. 1–14 b, in the British Museum. 7. ‘Quæstiones Quodlibeticæ.’ MS. Merton College, 96, ff. 262–70, contains twenty-six theological questions, under the title, ‘Quodlibet a fratre Johannis de Pech.’ Sbaralea says that in the library of S. Croce at Florence there was ‘Quodlibet. Queritur utrum corpus hominis corruptibile possit induere incorruptionem.’ The Lanercost chronicler (p. 100) says Peckham was the first to dispute at Oxford ‘in facultate Theologie de Quolibet.’ 8. ‘Quæstiones Ordinariæ;’ inc. ‘Utrum Theologia ex duobus.’ MS. 3183 (sec. xiv.) in the ‘Bibliothèque Nationale’ contains two questions, ‘Utrum theologia sit præ ceteris scientiis necessaria prælatis Ecclesiæ,’ and ‘Utrum theologia ex duobus componi debuerit Testamentis.’ MS. 15805, in the ‘Bibliothèque Nationale,’ contains ‘Quodlibeta S. Thome, J. de Pecham et Gul. de Hozun,’ and MS. 15986, f. 238 (sec. xiii.), ‘Responsio ad questionem J. de Peschant.’ 9. ‘Collationes de omnibus Dominicis per annum.’ Rawlinson MS. C. 116, ff. 30–9 b (sec. xiv. imperfect), and Laud. MS. 85, ff. 1–31, both in the Bodleian Library. 10. ‘De Trinitate.’ MS. Reg. 10 B. ix. f. 61 b in the British Museum, followed by the office for Trinity Sunday, ascribed to Peckham, and containing the antiphon, ‘Sedenti super solium.’ Printed as ‘De Summa Trinitate et Fide Catholica,’ R. Pynson, London, 1510, and ‘Liber de Sacrosancta … Trinitate in quo ecclesiasticū officium explanatur,’ Antwerp, 1530, 8vo. The office was printed in the ‘Breviarium Romanum’ at Cremona, 1499. It was disused after the changes made in the ‘Breviary’ by Pius V, on account of its obscure and old-fashioned style (Barth. Gavanti., Comment. in Rubricis Breviarii Romani, ii. 89). 11. ‘Diffinicio theologie;’ inc. ‘Pauca theologica rudimenta.’ MS. Cambr. Univ. Libr. Gg. iv. 32, f. 10. 12. ‘Super Magistrum Sententiarum.’ ‘Pecham super quartum sententiarum’ is contained in Bodleian MS. 859, ff. 332–79 b (sec. xiv.). Sbaralea says there were manuscripts at Assisi and Santa Croce. This work was cited by John Peter Olivi in 1285. 13. ‘Tractatus pauperis contra insipientem novellarum hæresum confictorem circa Evangelicam perfectionem;’ inc. ‘Quis dabit capiti.’ MSS. Laurentianæ ex Bibl. S. Crucis Plut. xxxvi. Dext. Cod. xii. p. 32, and Plut. xxxi. Sin. Cod. iii., MS. C. C. C. Oxon. 182, ff. 1–36, and in the library of S. Victor, Paris, as ‘Apologia
