FitzRalph, Summa
An archbishop in a mitre writes at a desk; a dove speaks at his ear; a scroll above him reads Armachanus.
Armachanus: FitzRalph at his desk, the dove at his ear. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 180, fol. 1r.

Summa in questionibus Armenorum

On the Questions of the Armenians

Richard FitzRalph, archbishop of Armagh

Written at the papal court in Avignon for two Armenian prelates, Nerses of Manazkert and John, bishop-elect of Khlat, and laid before Pope Clement VI: nineteen books in question and answer, John asking and Richard replying, on Christ, the Spirit, Rome, the sacraments, purgatory, the vision of God, and the authority of Scripture itself.

The only printed edition, Paris 1512, here read line by line from the page images and put into English.

The nineteen books

In FitzRalph's own order, as his prologue lays them out. Each rule is as long as the book is in the 1512 print; the dark part is what has been translated so far.

  1. Prol.
    PrologueThe prologue: the editor's verses, the dedication, and the plan of the work

Christ, God and man Books 1–5

  1. I
    Book 1Against Nestorius: that Christ is God, from the New Testament in its literal sense
  2. II
    Book 2Against the Jews: from the Old Testament, that the promised Messiah must be God
  3. III
    Book 3That our Christ is the one promised to the Jewish people
  4. IV
    Book 4The Jewish objections answered, with rules for answering all such objections
  5. V
    Book 5Christ's human soul and true body, against Arius, Apollinaris, Mani and Dioscorus

The questions of the Armenians Books 6–14

  1. VI
    Book 6That the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son as from the Father
  2. VII
    Book 7That the Roman church is the head of the whole Christian church
  3. VIII
    Book 8The questions of the Armenians on baptism and its form
  4. IX
    Book 9The body and blood of Christ, confirmation and unction
  5. X
    Book 10Unlawful ways of holding God's gifts and the church's prelacies; whether lordship requires grace
  6. XI
    Book 11The simple priest's power to absolve; the punishment of the wicked before the judgment
  7. XII
    Book 12The beatitude of the just and the purgation of souls before the judgment
  8. XIII
    Book 13Satisfaction for sin in this life and after it, against Athanasius the Greek
  9. XIV
    Book 14The naked and clear vision of the divine essence

The authority of Scripture Books 15–19

  1. XV
    Book 15Future contingents and the freedom of the will
  2. XVI
    Book 16Scripture's infallibility, God's foreknowledge, and God's will
  3. XVII
    Book 17Six further objections, from cooperation, necessity and providence
  4. XVIII
    Book 18The authority of the old law; our law not corrupted
  5. XIX
    Book 19Our law compared with the old; the miracles of the apostles