The papal approval of two religious orders, the Order of Preachers and the Order of Friars Minor, that followed the decrees of the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 gave a powerful impetus to the work of preaching within the medieval Church, producing a veritable sermon industry relating to pastoralia of every kind. This study aims to show that MS Laud Misc. 511 is not only a characteristic example of the late-medieval literary-pastoral genre of the sermon collection, but also a preacher's handbook of some significance, for within its slightly larger-than-pocket-book size it contains a collection of unusual exempla, florilegia and numerous other aids to preaching.