Nicholas Bayard

Nicholas Bayard (fl. 1300?) was a Dominican theologian. Biography Bayard was, according to Bale, a Dominican theologian at Oxford, where he obtained his doctor's degree. Pits's account tends in the same direction, and both biographers praise their author for his knowledge of pontifical law. Bale adds that he was very skilled for his age in Aristotelian studies, but accuses him of distorting the Scriptures by "allegorical inventions and leisurely quibbles." Bayard's principal work appears to have been entitled "Distinctiones Theologiæ," and, according to the last-mentioned authority, this book was largely calculated to corrupt the simplicity of the true faith, as it consisted, like Abelard's "Sic et Non," of an assortment of theological opinions opposed to one another. A manuscript of this work is still preserved in Merton College library, and Tanner gives a list of other writings of this author that are to be found in English libraries.