Penflourish initials P and A at the beginning of the section on the Vice Envy
Gonville and Caius Coll. MS 330/716, f. 143r
Guilelmus Peraldus, Summa de viciis et virtutibus
England, ca 1375–1400

Image reproduced by kind permission of the Master and Fellows of Gonville and Caius College

As important as the Summa of John of Freiburg was the Summa de viciis et virtutibus of Guilelmus Peraldus written half a century earlier, and perhaps more so in that it influenced and was excerpted from in several vernacular writings on the virtues, vices and penance such as the Anglo-Norman Manuel des Péchés by William of Waddington, the Middle English Handlyng synne completed around 1303 by Robert Mannyng of Bourne (ca 1275–ca 1338) and the Book for a simple and devout woman written ca 1400. The work was also adapted into versions in other European languages. Guilelmus Peraldus, after studying at the university of Paris, entered the Dominican convent in Lyons where he became prior in 1261. The page shown is the section on the vice, invidia (envy), as clearly indicated by the heading at the top of the page. The text throughout is decorated with red and blue penflourish initials with extensions, often filled as here with heads and foliage.