ing to each hour its portion of the Psalter. St Benedict in the 6th
century drew up such an arrangement, probably, though not certainly, on the
basis of an older Roman division which, though not so skilful, is the one
in general use. Gradually there were added to these psalter choir-books
additions in the form of antiphons, responses, collects or short prayers,
for the use of those not skilful at improvisation and metrical
compositions. Jean Beleth, a 12th-century liturgical author, gives the
following list of books necessary for the right conduct of the canonical
office:--the _Antiphonarium_, the Old and New Testaments, the
_Passionarius_ (_liber_) and the _Legendarius_ (dealing respectively with
martyrs and saints), the _Homiliarius_ (homilies on the Gospels), the
_Sermologus_ (collection of sermons) and the works of the Fathers, besides,
of course, the _Psalterium_ and the _Collectarium_. To overcome the
inconvenience of using such a library the Breviary came into existence and
use. Already in the 8th century Prudentius, bishop of Troyes, had in a
_Breviarium Psalterii_ made an abridgment of the Psalter for the laity,
giving a few psalms for each day, and Alcuin had rendered a similar service
by including a prayer for each day and some other prayers, but no lessons
or homilies. The Breviary rightly so called, however, only dates from the
11th century; the earliest MS. containing the whole canonical office is of
the year 1099 and is in the Mazarin library. Gregory VII. (pope 1073-1085),
too, simplified the liturgy as performed at the Roman court, and gave his
abridgment the name of Breviary, which thus came to denote a work which
from another point of view might be called a Plenary, involving as it did
the collection of several works into one. There are several extant
specimens of 12th-century Breviaries, all Benedictine, but under Innocent
III. (pope 1198-1216) their use was extended, especially by the newly
founded and active Franciscan order. These preaching friars, with the
authorization of Gregory IX., adopted (with some modifications, _e.g._ the
substitution of the "Gallican" for the "Roman" version of the Psalter) the
Breviary hitherto used exclusively by the Roman court, and with it
gradually swept out of Europe all the earlier partial books (Legendaries,
Responsories), &c., and to some extent the local Breviaries, like that of
Sarum. Finally, Nicholas III. (pope 1277-1280) adopted this version both
for the curia