(1267).

THE DATE OF THE WORK.--The date of the work seems fairly easy to fix.
It cannot, as we have above seen, be later than 1267, and Amable
Jourdain fixes it before 1260 by the fact that the particular
translations of Aristotle from which Bartholomew quotes (Latin through
the Arabic), went almost universally out of use by 1260. On the other
hand, quotations are made from Albertus Magnus, who was in Paris in
1248. And that it was written near this year is evident from the fact
that no quotations are made from Vincent of Beauvais, Thomas Aquinas,
Roger Bacon, or Egidius Colonna, all of whom were in Paris during the
second half of the thirteenth century. The earliest known MS. is in
the Ashmole Collection, and was written in 1296. Two French MSS. are
dated 1297 and 1329 respectively.

As we said in the beginning of this chapter, the work had an immediate
and lasting success. Bartholomew Anglicus became known as "Magister de
Proprietatibus Rerum," and his book was on the list of those which
students could borrow from the University chest. It is probable that
much of this popularity was due to the fact that he was a teacher for
many years of the Grey Friars, and that these, the most popular and
the most human preachers of the day, carried his book and his stories
with them wherever they went.

SOURCES.--The chief sources of our author's inspiration are notable.
He relies on St. Dionysius the Areopagite for heaven and the angels,
Aristotle for Physics and Natural History, Pliny's Natural History,
Isidore of Seville's Etymology, Albumazar, Al Faragus, and other Arab
writers for Astronomy, Constantinus Afer's Pantegna for Medical
Science, and Physiologus, the Bestiarium, and the Lapidarium for the