ABSTRACT

Five copies of the Versio intellegibilis, the most important compendious version of the Vade mecum , are known, of which four call it Veni mecum in tribulacione , and divide the little tract into twenty intellectiones . 824 The editor of this short version is entirely unknown. However, we can conclude by the way he deals with the original version of the Vade mecum that he was not a mendicant, let alone a Franciscan, as he displays no interest whatsoever in the statements regarding the Franciscans. He may have been a member of one of the monastic orders, since he renders the information on them more completely than the statements on the mendicant orders. 825 His interest in Italy is remarkable and becomes apparent when in the fi fteenth intellectio on the destruction of towns, he concentrates only on Italy. At the same time, he ignores all of Rupescissa’s information on France and Germany as well as later in the sixteenth intellectio all concrete references to the Iberian Peninsula and the French Basque region. 826 This would run counter to the assumption that he is a Frenchman, although he shows a striking interest in France. But as he concentrates his interest rather on the weakening of France and its impact on the wars with the neighboring countries, 827 the editor may have been an Englishman who – because of the Hundred Years’ War – turned his attention to this portion of the information provided by Rupescissa.