LECTORS OR REGENT MASTERS OF THE FRANCISCANS.

The following sixty-seven names are classed together under a separate heading simply because they are found in a list in an old manuscript. The list is evidently intended to include all the Regent Masters of the Friars Minors at Oxford[894] in chronological order; it seems to break off about the year 1350. Whether it is complete up to that date may be doubted; but no contemporary, or nearly contemporary, notice has been found of any Friar Minor Regent in Theology or D.D. of Oxford before 1351, whose name does not occur in this list[895].

The list is found in two MSS:—

I. British Museum; Cotton Nero A IX, fol. 77 a-b, in Eccleston’s Chronicle. Names 1-5 are in the same hand as the rest of the MS.; 6-21 in a hand rather larger but not perceptibly later. On the reverse of the leaf, they are continued in a later fourteenth century hand which ends at the 58th name; then 59-66 have been added not much later (the ink has faded a good deal in this part); the last name is in a later hand, probably fifteenth century.

II. Phillipps, MS. 3119, fol. 76 (at Thirlestaine House). Names 1-21 are in the same hand as the MS., i.e. the text of Eccleston’s Chronicle; another scribe has added names 22-49 inclusive; then the names are continued in another hand to Laurence Briton, where the list ends. This MS. omits Henry Cruche and Walter de Chauton, so that Laurence Briton is called the 53rd master instead of the 55th.

Lectors.

1. Adam Marsh or de Marisco was born probably at the end of the 12th century in the diocese of Bath[896]. He was educated at Oxford, where he studied under Robert Grostete[897], whose affectionate interest in him dated from his early years[898]. His brother Robert was made Archdeacon of Oxford by Grostete in 1248 and other members of the family were in the bishop’s service[899]. Adam’s uncle, Richard de Marisco, Bishop of Durham, from 1217 to 1226, gave him a living near Wearmouth, which he held for three years[900], and bequeathed to him his library in 1226[901]. At this time Adam was a Master, probably of Arts. Soon afterwards, at the instigation of his friend and pupil[902] Adam of Oxford, who had recently become a Minorite, he gave up ‘all worldly greatness and a large income[903]’ to enter the Franciscan Order at Worcester, ‘through zeal for greater poverty[904].’ He is said to have been appointed by the General Chapter socius of St. Anthony of Padua, the first theological student in the Order. The two then proceeded, according to the same authority, to study under the Abbat of St. Andrew’s at Vercelli, where they made such progress in five years that the Abbat confessed that his pupils had become his teachers[905]. In 1230 St. Anthony and Adam Marsh are said to have headed the opposition to the relaxations which Elias was attempting to bring into the Order[906]; but this tradition is probably unfounded; Eccleston says nothing about it[907]. After his entry into the Order, Adam probably resided for the most part at Oxford, where Grostete was then lecturing to the Franciscans. Wood asserts that the latter presided at his inception and made the customary speech in praise of the inceptor at the ceremony[908]; but the statement, though probable enough in itself, lacks authority and seems to have originated from a confusion between Adam and Robert Marsh[909]: it is not unlikely that Adam received his theological degree abroad. There is no direct evidence of his having lectured on theology to the friars at Oxford before 1252[910], but there can be no doubt that he began to do so not later than 1247 (when Thomas Wallensis was elected Bishop of St. David’s), and he probably delivered lectures long before. He was certainly before this time one of the recognised leaders of the English Franciscans[911]. He was on a commission of three elected by the English province to report on the Rule when Haymo was general (1239-1244), and recommended that no change should be made in the statutes of St. Francis[912]. He wrote a solemn exhortation in the name of the English Minorites to Boniface of Savoy on his consecration to the Archbishopric of Canterbury in 1245[913]. William of Nottingham submitted to him the names of three friars from whom he was to select one to act as Vicar in the Provincial Minister’s absence (1250?)[914]. In his latter years he was one of the foremost men in the church. At the instance of the Archbishop of Canterbury and for his use, he wrote an address to the Pope on the occasion of Henry III taking the cross (1250)[915]. He addressed a long letter of advice to St. Sewalus on his appointment to the Archbishopric of York in 1255[916]. In the same year he was nominated by Alexander IV to settle a dispute between the Bishop and the Prior and Convent of Winchester[917]. He was on a Papal commission to try a cause between the King and the Bishop of St. David’s, and between the same bishop and the Abbat of Gloucester[918], and on another commission appointed to examine the claims of Richard de Wiche to canonization[919]. He supported Grostete in his revolt against the scandalous nepotism of Innocent IV[920]. At Oxford his character, learning, and friendship with the great, gave him a very important position, and he acted as spokesman now of the Franciscans, now of the whole University[921]. His fame was European, and Grostete was afraid that the Parisians would secure him to supply the place of Alexander of Hales (1245)[922]. Among his correspondents and friends were many of the leading men of the age, such as Walter de Cantilupe[923], Richard de Wiche, Walter de Merton, Richard Earl of Cornwall, John of Parma, and Bonaventura. He assisted the Archbishop of Canterbury in his visitation, and accompanied Grostete to the Council of Lyons. At one time he is wanted to attend the Parliament at London[924], at another he is summoned by the Queen to Reading, to treat of ‘matters touching the King and his heirs[925].’ He incurred the royal displeasure by an outspoken sermon at Court (Oct. 1250)[926]; but his advice was asked and listened to by the King who afterwards called him his father[927].

In 1247 he was sent abroad with the Prior of the Dominicans on the King’s business, and forty marks were granted to buy horses and harness for the ambassadors[929]. In 1257 he was sent with Walter de Cantilupe, Bishop of Worcester, on a similar mission, his expenses being paid out of the treasury[930]. He was no less intimate with the Earl of Leicester than with the Bishop of Lincoln. He lectures Eleanor de Montfort on her duties as a mother and wife, and on her excess in dress[931]. He speaks equally plainly to Simon de Montfort.

The friar took a keen interest in his friend’s great deeds, recognised his noble qualities, and the value of his efforts ‘to purge, illuminate, and sanctify the church of God,’ and looked to him as the guardian of the public weal[933]. He encouraged the Earl to go forward in his thankless task of saving Gascony, and tried to win the King over to his side[934].

With all his other occupations Adam Marsh did not neglect the poor and oppressed; he begs Grostete to assist two poor scholars relatives of the bishop; he writes to Thomas de Anesti on behalf of an able and honest schoolmaster who is in want of the very necessaries of life; a weeping widow brings her troubles to him, sure of sympathy and help[936]. His health gave way under the strain of his manifold duties and the severe discipline of his Order: he suffered from weakness of the eyes and other infirmities[937]. In 1253 he lost his lifelong friend Grostete, who bequeathed his library to the Oxford Franciscans out of love for Adam Marsh[938]. In 1256 the King and Archbishop of Canterbury tried to force him into the bishopric of Ely; his rival Hugh Balsham who had been elected by the chapter appealed to Rome and obtained a decision in his favour on Oct. 6, 1257. His candidature, probably none of his own seeking, seems to have laid the friar open to a charge of worldly ambition, which must have embittered his last days[939]. Feeling the end approaching, he wrote to Bonaventura to send the Provincial John of Stamford,

On Dec. 23, 1257, he was ordered abroad by the King[941]. He probably died on Nov. 18[942], 1258, and was buried next to Grostete at Lincoln[943]. Besides the treatise mentioned below, none of his works remain[944] except the letters, which, stilted and obscure in style, do not justify the title of Doctor illustris, with which subsequent generations honoured him[945]. His reputation as a philosopher and theologian must rest on the evidence of his contemporaries, and on the greatness of the school which he did so much to found. Matthew Paris calls him ‘literatus[946].’ Grostete found him

His most famous pupil Roger Bacon had nothing but praise and admiration for his master, who like Grostete was ‘perfect in all wisdom[948].’

Extant works:—Epistolae.

Pastorale excerptum (perhaps merely an extract from the letters).

2. Ralph de Colebruge was the second Franciscan master who lectured at Oxford. He entered the Order while regent in theology at Paris, where he won some fame; after finishing his course of lectures, he was appointed by the General of the Order to rule in theology at Oxford, probably before 1250; he was still a novice when he entered on his duties at Oxford[949].

3. Eustace de Normaneville, probably took the Franciscan habit at Oxford about 1250 or before[950]. His conversion was of peculiar importance to the Order,

It must have been soon after his entry that the friars at Norwich asked him to become their lecturer. Adam Marsh was deputed by the Provincial to make the proposal to him. Eustace refused the honour on the plea of ill-health and ‘unprepared aptitude of mind[952].’ Eccleston mentions him as the third who lectured at the Oxford Grey Friars as a master[953]. He was afterwards sent to Cambridge and was the third regent master of the Franciscans there[954].

4. Thomas of York (1253) is first mentioned in a letter of Adam Marsh written at Lyons, 1245; the writer sends for various books, among which is

Soon afterwards we find him consulting with Adam, Grostete, and the Vicar of the Provincial Minister, about sending English friars to Denmark[956]. He wrote to Adam about the defeat of St. Louis and the Crusaders in 1250, and Adam sent the letter on to Grostete[957]. About the same time Adam remonstrates with him for breaking his promises, especially for omitting to send him ‘the table of the Trinity’ (? tabula trinitatis)[958]. Another letter to him from Adam Marsh refers to the anger of the King against Simon de Montfort, whose friendship Thomas seems to have enjoyed and whose party he no doubt supported. Perhaps it was before 1250 that Adam advised the Provincial Minister to instruct Thomas,

with a view to his eventually becoming lecturer to the Grey Friars at Oxford; failing this, the writer hints that Thomas would probably be summoned abroad[959]. In the same letter he refers to his ‘youthful age.’ At the beginning of 1253[960] Thomas of York was presented to incept in theology at Oxford, objections were raised on the ground that he had not taken a degree in Arts. Eventually he was allowed to incept, but a statute was passed to regulate the conduct of the University on similar occasions in the future. The details of the controversy are given elsewhere[961]. The vesperies took place on Thursday, March 13th, and the inception on the following day, under the presidency of Friar Peter de Manners, apparently a Dominican; Adam Marsh, who as master of the inceptor would naturally have presided, left Oxford on March 12th. Thomas of York now became lecturer to the Oxford Franciscans[962]. He was afterwards sent to Cambridge and occurs as the sixth in the list of ‘Masters of the Friars Minors’ there[963]. Adam Marsh writes to him in the most affectionate terms and speaks highly of his learning, and the brightness of his intellect[964]; he describes him to Grostete as an earnest, discreet, and benevolent man, filled with a heavenly zeal for the salvation of souls[965]. According to the Catalogus illustrium Franciscanorum he wrote a commentary on Ecclesiastes[966].Frater Thomas de Eboraco super Metaphysicam Aristotelis.

5. Richard Rufus of Cornwall[967] was a Master, probably of Arts, when he became a Minorite at Paris

He came to England (where he made his profession) while the trial of the Minister-General was yet pending in the Roman Court[968]. He is mentioned as speaking at a chapter at Oxford soon after coming to England—probably either the visitatorial chapter or the chapter held to protest against the visitor’s conduct in 1238[969]. Soon after 1250 he received a command from the General to go to Paris as lecturer, but he seems to have obtained leave to continue his studies at Oxford owing to his weak health[970]. He probably lectured on the sentences as B.D. about this time. But soon afterwards, ‘ob vehementiores perturbationum occasiones[971],’ in Adam Marsh’s words, he formed the ‘inexorable resolution’ of going to France in accordance with the General’s permission: and Adam in the name of the other friars, requested the Provincial to facilitate his departure by providing him with suitable companions and the necessary manuscripts[972]. Early in 1253 again, Adam writes to the Provincial:

It may then be inferred that he went to Paris in 1253, where, according to Eccleston,

After lecturing in Paris, he returned to Oxford, it appears, and became regent-master of the friars (c. 1255?)[975]. It was here that he developed the ‘errors,’ the verbal subtleties, which Roger Bacon so unsparingly denounced. Writing in 1292, Bacon says[976]:

Adam Marsh, though in somewhat general terms, gives a far more flattering account of Richard[981].

Martin de Sancta Cruce, Master of the Hospital of Sherbourne, bequeathed to him in his will dated November, 1259, unum habitum integrum, and a copy of the Canonical Epistles[982].

Assisi MS. 176 contains a compilation ascribed by a note in a late hand to ‘Master Richard Rufus of England;’ the volume was in the possession of the friars at Assisi in 1373, consists of 226 leaves, and seems to contain more than one treatise: it is not rubricated.

Inc. ‘Deus autem qui dives est in misericordia propter nimiam caritatem suam.’

6. John Wallensis was B.D. of Oxford before he entered the Order[983]. He must have become D.D. and regent master of the Franciscan schools at Oxford before 1260[984]. It was probably after this that he went as lecturer to Paris, where he was honoured with the title of Arbor Vitae[985], and where he was buried[986]. But before his death he was again in England. In October, 1282, ‘Friar John Wallensis, S.T.D.,’ was sent by Archbishop Peckham as ambassador to the insurgent Welsh[987]. In 1283 he was one of the five doctors at Paris who were deputed to examine the doctrines of Peter John Olivi[988]. He enjoyed a great reputation as a theologian, and the widespread and lasting popularity of his works is shown by the large number of MSS. and printed editions which have come down to us. His writings are specially illustrative of the practical side of the Franciscan teaching.

Summa de Penitentia. Inc. ‘Quoniam provida solertia est.’

Breviloquium de quatuor virtutibus cardinalibus, or, de virtutibus antiquorum principum et philosophorum: four or five parts:

i. De justitia; ii. De prudentia; iii. De temperantia; iv. De fortitudine; v. De ordinatione virtutum (this is sometimes included in part iv). Inc. prol. ‘Quoniam misericordia et veritas.’

Ordinarium[993], or, Alphabetum vitae religiosae: 3 parts:i. Diaetarium; ii. Locarium; iii. Itinerarium. Inc. prol. ‘Nunquid nosti ordinem coeli.’ Inc. pars i. ‘Quoniam omni negotio.’

Summa collectionum (or, collationum), or, Communiloquium, Summa collationum ad omne genus hominum, or, De vitae regimine, or, Margarita Doctorum, or, Communes loci ad omnium generum argumenta. A compendium for the use of young preachers, consisting of 7 parts:

i. De constitutione reipublice; ii. De colligatione membrorum reipublice; iii. De informacione hominum; iv. De republica ecclesiastica; v. De instructione scolasticorum; vi. De instructione religiosorum; vii. De informacione hominum ut sint parati ad mortem. Inc. prol. ‘Cum doctor sive predicator evangelicus.’ Inc. pars i. ‘Quoniam respublica, ut dictum est, est universale quoddam corpus.’ Inc. cap. i. ‘Sed primo notandum est quod respublica est res populi.’

Floriloquium philosophorum, or, Floriloquium sive compendiloquium de vita et dictis illustrium philosophorum, or, de philosophorum dictis exemplis et vitis. 10 parts:

i. On philosophy in general; ii. On the name and profession of philosophers; iii. On the succession of illustrious philosophers and their life; iv. On the life and maxims of some less famous philosophers; v. Of divers philosophic perfections; vi. On the four principal sects of philosophers—peripatetics, stoics, academicians, and epicureans; vii. On the seven liberal arts; viii. Poets and authors of apologues; ix. On the abuses of philosophy; x. On the places where philosophic studies have been most honoured (e.g. Paris and Oxford mentioned). Inc. prol. i. ‘Cum enim debeamus apes imitari.’ Inc. prol. operis. ‘Cum ex vita gentilium.’ Inc. opus. ‘Circa primum notandum quod diversimode describitur philosophia.’

Breviloquium de sapientia sanctorum. 8 chapters:

Inc. prol. ‘Cum varii sint homines omnes.... Licet in priori tractatulo[994].’ Inc. cap. i. ‘Sapientia enim dicitur ab eo quod est sapere.’

Summa justitiae, or, Tractatus de septem vitiis ex [Gul. Alverno] Parisiensi. 10 parts.

i. De peccato in generali; ii. De superbia; iii. De invidia; iv. De ira; v. De avaricia; vi. De accidia; vii. De gula; viii. De luxuria; ix. De quinque sensibus corporis; x. De quibusdam peccatis, &c. Inc. prol. ‘Summa justicie Christi fidelium est declinare a malo et facere bonum.’ Inc. opus. ‘Justicia que est via ad regnum ut supradictum est in duobus consistit.’

Tractatus de vitiis et remediis eorum (doubtful).

Inc. ‘Dicendum est de vitiis seu peccatis primo in generali.’

Moniloquium vel collectiloquium. A work in 4 parts for the use of young preachers:

i. De viciis; ii. De virtutibus oppositis dictis viciis; iii. De penis; iv. De gloria beatorum.

The object is thus set forth in the prologue:

Inc. prol. ‘Cum almus,’ &c. Inc. opus. ‘Cum autem nostra sit intencio ut dictum est aliqua auctentica in generali colligere.’ Inc. pars i., dist. i., cap. i. ‘De primo notandum quod describitur vicium sub nomine mali.’

MSS. Brit. Mus.: Harl. 632, f. 248.