a note on the authorship of the ‘de arte catholicae fidei’

The question of authorship has given rise to a lengthy controversy which has perhaps helped to divert attention from the important differences of method between the De Arte Catholicae Fidei and the Regulae Theologicae. The greater part of the discussion has turned on the evidence of the manuscripts. The majority of the rubrics and the ancient catalogues give the piece to Nicholas of Amiens. In the preface to his continuation of the Chronicle of Sigebert of Gembloux (dealing, as does the first book of the De Arte, with the first cause of all things) Nicholas covers some of the same ground as the De Arte, in remarkably similar terms. Some manuscripts name Alan of Lille as the author, however, and it has been suggested, on the basis of a Zagreb manuscript, that he is the author of the first five books, while Nicholas of Amiens added a sixth, which is found under his name in this instance.

P. Glorieux suggested some years ago that it might be helpful to look at the internal evidence. He makes some brief comparisons between the two treatises, chiefly on matters of style and the use of typical expressions and formulas, and he finds no stylistic grounds for giving the De Arte to Alan, but he did not consider the differences of method and content.