Little is known of his personal life.
Bromyard is the name of a town in
Herefordshire so it can be conjectured he was born there. Two dates can be cited: in 1326, he was granted a licence to hear confessions in the
diocese of Hereford, and in 1352, that licence was granted to another Dominican, presumably after Bromyard's death. There is evidence in his works that he had served in the diocese of
Llandaff in South
Wales, and he shows familiarity with customs and circumstances in
France and
Italy. But because the Dominicans were an international order with lively internal communication, this cannot be taken as proof that he had travelled abroad. He was evidently trained in canon law, perhaps at
Oxford. He spent most of his career at the newly founded Dominican priory at Hereford. The Dominicans had been fighting for a foothold here for eighty years against the resistance of the Dean and Chapter, before they were finally established under the patronage of
Edward II in 1322. Bromyard must therefore have been among the first friars to join the fledgeling priory. In an age when manuscript books were prohibitively expensive, it is likely that he embarked on the task of compiling preaching aids as a means of providing the priory with a library to support its preaching mission. The sheer volume of his work suggests that it may well have been produced by a collaborative process involving the other friars at the Hereford priory, with Bromyard acting as editor in chief. ==Working methods==