Chaucer's text seems for the most part to be a combination, in English translation, of the texts of two Latin works on penitence popular at the time; the "Summa casuum poenitentiae" of Raymond of Peñafort, and the "Summa vitiorum" of William Perault. This is mingled with fragments from other texts. It is not known whether Chaucer was the first to combine these particular sources, or whether he translated an existing combined edition, possibly from French. If the latter is the case, any direct source has been lost.