Abstract

In England, to the middle of the fifteenth century at least, all professional, specialist, and technical subjects were presented in Latin. This principle applies to theology, whether pastoral, horniletic, or mystical, as well as to law, alchemy, astrology, and medicine. In some of these disciplines, English was slowly coming into use, but a second-class use, and informational material rarely appeared in its original form in English. The few vernacular classics, like Bishop Reginald Pecock's Repressor or John Fortescue's Governance of England are the exceptions