SOURCE: Carmody, Francis J. “Latin Sources of Brunetto Latini's World History.” Speculum 11, no. 3 (July 1936): 359-70.

In the following essay, Carmody surveys the source texts of Brunetto's The Book of the Treasure, regarding the work as an excellent example of thirteenth-century scholarship despite certain corruptions in the sources used.

Originality or artistry in an encyclopaedia are likely to defeat the purpose of science, which seeks accuracy, simplicity, and convenience. These last virtues are those of Vincent's Speculum Naturale and of Brunetto Latini's Trésor (1268 a.d.),¹ at least in accordance with thirteenth-century standards. In the historical section Latini sought to be brief, to present a very complex and long account in a few pages, saving space for subjects he felt more capable of development. As a consequence his historical chapters are far less full and less well documented than those of such a work as the General Estoria² of...