Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c1.1

c1.1

the *Gesta Romanorum*, the *Legenda Aurea*, and the *Speculum Historiale* of Vincent of Beauvais. These were the books that fed the imagination of the Middle Ages, and they were the books that the Church, in its wisdom, provided for the instruction of the faithful. They were not history in the modern sense of the word; they were moral tales, designed to illustrate the power of God and the vanity of the world.