Rhetorica novissima (Jensen 1973). In the first of the treatise’s eight main parts, Lawrence defines the basic concepts related to dictaminal writing: orator, rhetor, dictatores, and dictamen. He concludes by defining the letter and its parts. Parts two through six concern a detailed description of each of the five parts of a letter: salutation, exordium, narrative, petition, and conclusion. Of the five parts, the description of the salutation is the longest, which is not surprising given the medieval preoccupation with social levels (Jensen 1973). In parts seven and eight, Lawrence concludes his work with the colours of rhetoric and strategies for embellishment, respectively. Summa dictaminis breviter et artificiose composita secundum stilum Romane curie et consuetudinem modernorum (undated) Also written at Paris, this second work is simpler and shorter than his first. Lawrence intended the work for “novices eager to learn dictamen” (Jensen 1973), and its simplicity contributed to its popularity. Like its predecessor, this work defines dictamen and the five parts of the letter—known as the “Approved Format” of the time (Murphy 1974). Again, the bulk of the work concerns the salutation, with thirty-seven chapters devoted to salutations for different social levels (i.e. writing to the Pope, writing to a king, writing to a farmer, writing to a scholar). Lawrence covers the other parts of the letter only briefly. He ends his work with a discussion of stylistic vices. Practica sive usus dictaminis edita ad utilitatem rudium (undated) Lawrence’s most popular work arranges forms of address to people of various social levels in tabular form. Seven tables (one for each class of persons) offer examples of salutations, narratives, petitions, and conclusions (see images 1 and 2 below). The Practica’s formulaic, pragmatic approach to letter writing not only contributed to its popularity but also represents the “mechanistic dead end” (Perelman 1991) of the ars dictaminis. By following the tables, anyone “capable of copying individual letters of the alphabet” (Murphy 1974) could compose a letter to an addressee of a particular social class. The Practica “struck a responsive chord” (Murphy 1974), as no formal artistic training or rhetorical command of language was necessary to write a letter following Lawrence’s tables. Tractatus super diversis modis componendi epistolam; Ars narrandi, petendi, et concludendi; Speculum dictaminis super diversis litterarum formis; Theorica dictaminis (all undated) These four works represent shortened or excerpted versions of Lawrence’s previous treatises. Some scholars ascribe these works to John of Bondi,