A. G. Little

FRANCISCANS WHO STUDIED IN THE CONVENT AT OXFORD, OR HAD SOME OTHER CONNEXION WITH THE TOWN OR THE UNIVERSITY.

Agnellus or Angnellus of Pisa was custodian of Paris before becoming first Provincial of England[1204]. He is said to have been made Provincial by St. Francis in 1219[1205]; the order as given by Francis a S. Clara[1206] is as follows:

‘Ego frater Franciscus de Assisio Minister Generalis praecipio tibi fratri Agnello de Pisa per obedientiam, ut vadas ad Angliam, et ibi facias officium Ministeratus. Vale. Frater Franciscus de Assisio.’

It may be doubted whether this letter is authentic, nor is the date beyond dispute. It may be considered as certain that Agnellus did not come to England till September 1224[1207]. He was then a deacon, and about thirty years of age[1208]. He landed with eight others at Dover, went to Canterbury, and thence to London, establishing houses and receiving novices. Such was his humility that he long refused the order of priesthood, and only at length consented, when the Provincial Chapter had procured a command from the General Chapter, that the order should be conferred on him[1209]. He was a zealous guardian of the primitive poverty of the Rule of St. Francis, and would only allow houses to be built or areas to be enlarged where it was absolutely necessary[1210]. He urged the demolition of a conventual building called Valvert at Paris, and forbade the enlargement of the house at Gloucester: he had the infirmary at Oxford built so low that a man could scarcely stand upright in it. He built a school at Oxford of more generous proportions, and encouraged the love of learning in the Order[1211]. The choice of Grostete as the first master of the Minorites was due to Agnellus[1212]. He was, according to Matthew Paris, on familiar terms with the King, and was one of his counsellors[1213]. In December, 1233, he offered his services as peace-maker between Henry III and the rebellious Earl Marshall, though his efforts to induce the latter to submit were unavailing[1214]. It would seem to have been after this that he went to Rome on some business of the English prelates[1215], and he may also at the same time have attended a General Chapter in Italy[1216]. On his return, he was seized with dysentery at Oxford; it was believed that his health had never recovered from the severities to which he was exposed while labouring for peace in the winter of 1233[1217]. He recommended that the General Minister, Elias, should be requested to appoint Albert of Pisa, or Haymo, or Radulf of Rheims, as his successor. He constituted Peter of Tewkesbury his Vicar, and made his last confession to him. He died at Oxford in great pain, crying continually, ‘Veni, dulcissime Jesu.’ The exact date of his death is uncertain; it was probably early in 1235[1218]. He was, says Eccleston,

‘a man specially endowed with natural prudence and foresight, and conspicuous for every virtue[1219].’

He was buried in a wooden or leaden coffin in the choir of the chapel before the altar. When this chapel was superseded by the larger church, the friars came by night to remove the body; they found the coffin and the grave

‘full of the purest oil, the corpse with its garments incorrupt and smelling most sweetly.’

His bones were laid with due pomp in ‘a fair stone sepulchre’ in the new church, and the miracles which were wrought at his tomb were a source of honour and profit to the Convent at Oxford[1220].Richard de Ingewrthe or Indewurde (Norfolk) is named second in the list of friars who came over with Agnellus in 1224. He was a priest and advanced in years; according to Eccleston he was the first Minorite who preached to the people ‘citra montes.’ With three other friars he established the first house of Franciscans in London (at Cornhill); he then proceeded to Oxford with Richard of Devon, hired a house of Robert le Mercer in St. Ebbe’s, and thus founded the original convent in the University town. The two companions then went on to Northampton, where they again hired a house and founded a friary. Richard of Ingewrthe afterwards became custodian of Cambridge, which was specially noted for its poverty under his rule. In 1230, when Agnellus attended the General Chapter at Assisi, he was associated in the Vicariate of the English Province with Henry de Ceruise or Treviso, a lay-brother from Lombardy. Soon after this he was sent by the General, John Parens, as Provincial Minister to Ireland. At length he was released from the office in General Chapter by Albert of Pisa (c. 1239), set out as a missionary to Palestine, and died there[1221].

Richard of Devon, a young acolyte, was the third of those who came over with Agnellus. He accompanied R. of Ingewrthe from Canterbury to London, Oxford, and Northampton;

‘and (in Eccleston’s words) left us many examples of longsuffering and obedience. For after he had traversed many provinces in obedience to commands, he was for fifteen years worn out by frequent quartan fevers and remained continually at Romehale[1222].’

Adam of Oxford was a master before he entered the Order[1223]. The account of his conversion given by Eccleston[1224] is as follows:

Master Adam of Oxford, of worldwide fame[1225], had made a vow that he would do anything he was asked to do ‘for the love of the blessed Mary;’ and he told this to a certain recluse, who was a friend of his. She revealed his secret to her friends, that is, to a monk of Reading, another of the Cistercian Order, and a Friar Preacher; telling them that they could gain such a man in such a way; not wishing that Adam should become a Friar Minor. But the Blessed Virgin did not permit anyone in his presence to make the needful request; but deferred it to another time. One night he dreamed that he had to cross a bridge, where some men were throwing their nets into the stream, endeavouring to catch him: but he escaped this with great difficulty and reached a very peaceful spot. Now when by the divine will he had escaped all others, he went casually to see the Friars Minors, and during the conversation Friar William de Colvile, the elder, a man of great sanctity, said to him: ‘Dear master, enter our Order for the love of the Mother of God and help our simplicity.’ And Adam immediately consented to do so, as if he had heard the words from the lips of the Mother of God.

He assumed the habit on January 25[1226], probably A. D. 1227. He was at this time assistant, or secretary[1227], to the great Adam Marsh, whom he soon afterwards induced to join the Franciscans. Shortly after this, Adam of Oxford went to Gregory IX, and was at his own desire sent to preach to the Saracens[1228]. From a letter of Grostete’s, addressed to Agnellus and the Convent of Friars Minors at Oxford, relating to this subject, and written in or before 1231[1229], we learn that Adam had formed the resolution of going to preach to the infidels before he entered the Order, and that he was induced to take this latter step partly because it was likely to add to his influence as a missionary. Grostete urges the Friars not to grieve for his loss:

‘for the light of his knowledge is so bright that it ought to be concentrated most there where it may dissipate the thickest darkness of infidelity.’ ‘Have no fear,’ the writer continues, ‘that he will be cut off from the “Sacred Page;” he has humility, and no “haeretica pravitas” will slip in.’

He died at Barlete, and miracles are said to have been wrought by his relics or his memory[1230].

William of York, ‘a solemn bachelor,’ was probably an Oxford man, as he entered the Order on the same day as Adam of Oxford[1231].

Adam Rufus[1232] studied under Grostete in the early part of the thirteenth century, presumably at Oxford. A letter from ‘Robert Grostete called Master,’ written perhaps before he held any preferments, i.e. before 1210, addressed to ‘Master Adam Rufus,’ is extant; it is a treatise on the nature of angels, and Grostete asks Adam to inquire diligently the opinions of the wise men, with whom he converses, on the subject. In another letter written about 1237, Grostete mentions having heard of Friar Ernulphus, papal penitentiary, from ‘Friar Adam Rufus of good memory,’ formerly his beloved pupil and friend. It may be inferred from his connexion with Grostete and Ernulphus or Arnulfus, Vicar of the Order of Minorites[1233], that the Order which he entered was that of the Franciscans.

Henry de Reresby, who entered the Order abroad, was vicar of the custodian of Oxford about 1235 or before. He was made first provincial of Scotland by Elias, but died before he could enter on his duties[1234]. According to Leland’s notes from Eccleston he died at Leicester; according to another account, at Acre in Norfolk[1235]. After his death he appeared to the custodian of Oxford, and said that,

‘if the friars were not damned for excess in buildings, they would at any rate be severely punished,’ and added, ‘if the friars said the divine service well, they would be the sheep of the Apostles[1236].’

Walter, a canon of Dunstable, and John, a novice of the same priory, escaped from their house through a broken window and joined the Franciscans at Oxford in 1233. Walter afterwards returned with three Minorites to the Chapter of Dunstable, seeking absolution. After submitting to corporal punishment, he was absolved; he was further ordered to restore the books and clothes (quaternos et pannos) which he had taken with him, and to deliberate for a year—i.e. during his noviciate—whether the discipline of the Order which he had entered was more severe than that of the Order he had left; if it were so, he was to remain a Minorite; if not, he was to return to Dunstable. John was found by the Prior of Dunstable at London and similarly absolved: he afterwards went to Rome[1237].

John of Reading, who became Abbat of Osney in 1229[1238], joined the Minorites in 1235, probably at Northampton[1239]. He is probably the Abbat to whom Bartholomew of Pisa refers as having assisted with his own hands at the building of the Franciscan Church at Oxford[1240]. He was certainly at Oxford about 1250, when Adam Marsh wrote to the Provincial that he was in ill-health and requested that Friar Adam de Bechesoueres, the physician of the Order, might be sent to Oxford to attend him[1241]. Another ‘Frater Johannes Anglicus de Redingis’ was Visitor of Germany in 1229, and Minister of Saxony 1230-1232[1242].

Albert of Pisa did not, as stated by Bartholomew of Pisa and others, accompany Agnellus to England. He was (according to Eccleston) Minister of Hungary, Germany (1223-1227), Bologna, the March of Ancona, the March of Treviso, Tuscany, perhaps of Spain in 1227[1243]. He was one of the three recommended by Agnellus as fit persons to succeed him as Provincial of England, but he was not appointed by Elias till almost a year after the death of the first Minister[1244] (c. 1236). He reached England on December 13, and celebrated a Provincial Chapter at Oxford on February 2[1245]. On another occasion Eccleston tells us—

‘Friar Albert was present at the sermon of a young friar at Oxford; and when the preacher boldly condemned loftiness of buildings and abundance of food, he rebuked him for vainglory[1246].’

Soon after his arrival, Albert appointed lecturers at London and Canterbury[1247], though he does not appear to have been a learned man himself. His connexion with Oxford was slight, and his acts as Provincial can hardly claim a place here. After remaining two years and a half in England, he went to Rome to take part in the proceedings against Elias[1248]. On the deposition of the latter (May 15, 1239), Albert was elected Minister General. He died in the same or the following year[1249] and was buried at Rome[1250].Ralph of Maidstone, bishop of Hereford 1234-1239, resigned his see in December, 1239, and was admitted into the Franciscan Order by Haymo[1251]. He took this step in accordance with a vow, made perhaps before he became bishop[1252]. It is uncertain at which convent he took the habit. Bartholomew of Pisa states that he helped with his own hands to build the church at Oxford[1253]. It is not improbable that he was there for some time. He was a Master of Paris, noted for his learning, and was among the ‘famous Englishmen’ who left Paris owing to the disputes in 1229 and settled at Oxford on the invitation of Henry III[1254]. According to a later addition in one of the MSS. of Eccleston’s Chronicle, he lived five years after assuming the habit, staying for the most part in the convent of Gloucester[1255]. The Dunstable Annals state that he was, for a time at any rate, rendered incapable by a fall from a rock, but whether this took place before or after he became a friar is not quite clear[1256]. He died at Gloucester (c. 1245) and

‘was buried in the choir of the brethren, in the presbytery, on the north side under an arch[1257].’

A most interesting relic of the friar-bishop is now in the British Museum. Royal MS. 3 C. xi, a copy of the New Testament with gloss (sec. xiii), belonged to the Friars Minors of Canterbury,

‘ex dono Fratris Radulphi de Maydenestane, quondam Episcopi Herefordensis.’

He wrote a Commentary on the Sentences when he was Archdeacon of Chester (c. A. D. 1220). This is mentioned in a treatise on the Sacraments, ‘secundum Mag. R. de Maidinstan archidiaconum Cestrensem super Sententias.’

MS. London: Gray’s Inn, 14, f. 28-32 (sec. xiii).

William of Nottingham was marked out by nature for a Mendicant Friar.

‘He told me,’ writes Eccleston, ‘that when he was living in his father’s house and some poor boys came begging alms, he gave them of his bread, and received the crust from them, because it seemed to him, that hard bread, which was asked for the love of God, was sweeter than the delicate bread which he ate and his companions; and so, to make their bread sweet like this, the little boys went and begged in their turn (ab invicem) for the love of God[1258].’

William’s brother, Augustine, was also a Minorite; he was first in the household of Innocent IV, accompanied the Patriarch of Antioch, the pope’s nephew, to Syria, and at length became bishop of Laodicea[1259]. William himself successfully championed the interests of his Order against the Dominicans at the Roman Curia[1260]. At one period he lived for some time in the Franciscan convent at Rome, where, though (to quote his own words)

‘the brethren had no pittance except chestnuts, he grew so fat that he often blushed[1261].’

He acted as vicar for Friar Haymo in England (1239), and in 1240 was himself

‘elected and confirmed Provincial Minister by those to whom the appointment had been entrusted[1262].’

He had never held any subordinate office, such as that of custodian or warden[1263]. He was a diligent student of the Scriptures, and seems to have attended Grostete’s lectures at Oxford[1264]. As minister, he was energetic in furthering the study of theology, and in developing the educational organization of the Franciscans in England[1265]. During his ministry, the friary at Oxford was greatly enlarged[1266]. Evidence of his popularity was given in the Chapter held at Oxford by the General Minister, John of Parma (c. 1248), when the friars unanimously refused to sanction his deposition[1267]. He was ‘absolved’ from the ministry in the General Chapter of Metz, and sent on behalf of the Order to the Pope[1268]. It was probably in this Chapter, that, with the assistance of John Kethene and Gregory de Bosellis, he carried a decree ‘almost against the whole Chapter,’

‘ut privilegium indultum a Domino Papa de recipienda pecunia per procuratores penitus destrueretur; et expositio Regulae secundum dominum Innocentium, quantum ad ea in quibus laxior esset quam Gregoriana, suspenderetur[1269].’

The cause of his deposition is unknown, but the event excited the displeasure of the English friars, who called a Provincial Chapter and unanimously re-elected him[1270]. A letter from Adam Marsh, congratulating him on this second election and urging him not to decline the office is extant[1271]. But William of Nottingham was already dead. When he reached Genoa on his mission to the Pope, his socius, Friar Richard, was struck down by the plague;

‘while others fled, he remained to comfort his companion, and like him he was struck down and died[1272].’

The date of the Chapter of Metz, and consequently of William’s death, is not quite certain; it was probably in the spring or early summer of 1251[1273]. A few extracts from the chronicle of Eccleston (who knew him personally) will illustrate the character of the man.

He sat very long in meditation after matins, and was unwilling to attend to confessions and consultations at night, as his predecessors had done.... Above all things, he was careful to avoid the vice of suspicion. Familiarities of great persons and of women he most studiously avoided, and, with wonderful magnanimity, thought nothing of incurring the anger of the powerful for the sake of justice. He used to say that great persons entrap those familiar with them by their advice, and women with their mendacity and malice turn the heads even of the devout by their flatteries. He studied with all diligence to restore the good name of those who were defamed, provided that he thought them penitent, and to comfort the hearts of the desolate, especially of those who held offices in the Order[1274].

He represented the tendency to a less strict interpretation of the Rule in regard to money than had hitherto obtained in England, holding that—

‘the friars might in a hundred cases lawfully contract debts, and might with their own hands dispense the money of others in alms. He said further that it was right after a visitation to amuse oneself a little in order to distract the mind from what one had heard[1275].’

The following story may be regarded as an instance of his cynicism or knowledge of human nature:—

‘He used to narrate that St. Stephen, the founder of the Order of Grammont, placed a chest in a secret and safe place, and forbade anyone to go near it during his life. The brethren were very inquisitive, and after his death could not refrain from breaking it open, and they found only a piece of parchment with the words; Brother Stephen salutes his brethren and prays them to guard themselves from the laity. For just as you held the chest in honour, as long as you did not know what was in it, so they will hold you in honour[1276].’

That the well-known Commentary on the Gospels, called also Unum ex quatuor, or De concordia evangelistarum, by Friar William of Nottingham, was by this William, and not by his namesake, the seventeenth provincial of the English Minorites[1277], is proved by Eccleston’s words (Mon. Franc. I, p. 70)—

‘... Verba Sancti Evangelii devotissime recolebat; unde et super unum ex quatuor Clementinis (Phillipps MS. f. 80 reads Clementis) canones perutiles compilavit, et expositionem quam idem Clemens fecit complete scribi in ordine procuravit.’

The commentary was founded on the work of Clement of Langthon[1278], and the number of MSS. of it still in existence attest its popularity in the Middle Ages.

The work comprised 12 parts. Inc. ‘Da mihi intellectum.’

MSS. Brit. Museum: Royal 4 E ii. (A. D. 1381); readers are asked to pray ‘pro anima Fratris Willielmi de Notingham, qui studio laborioso predictam Expositionem ex variis compilavit.’

Oxford:—Bodl.: Laud. Misc. 165 (sec. xiv ineuntis), Balliol Coll. 33 (sec. xiv exeuntis). Merton Coll. 156 and 157 (sec. xiv). Magdalen Coll. 160 (sec. xv). St. John’s Coll. 2 (sec. xv).

Cf. Merton Coll. 68, fol. 121 (sec. xv), ‘Questiones quas movet Notyngham in scripto suo super evangelia extracte secundum ordinem alphabeticum per Mag. Joh. Wykham.’ Inc. ‘Abel. Queritur super:’ Lincoln Coll. 78 (sec. xv), a similar work: Inc. ‘Abraham. Queritur super illo dicto.’

Comment. in Longobardum, perhaps by the other W. of Nottingham.

Mentioned in the Catalogue of Illustrious Franciscans (Leland, Script.).

A. of Hereford (c. 1248) was assigned by the Provincial to Adam Marsh as his secretary. Adam thought him too able a man to be kept in this subordinate position; his learning and eloquence marked him out for a teacher and preacher; many of those appointed by the Provincial Chapter to lecture on theology were far inferior to him. In addition to this his health would not stand the constant strain to which the secretary of the indefatigable doctor was necessarily subjected. Adam therefore requested the Provincial to send him to London to pursue his studies, as A. of Hereford himself desired[1279].

Laurence de Sutthon was the friar whom Adam Marsh suggested to the Provincial as A. of Hereford’s successor. A ‘Friar Laurence’ was with Adam in 1249, and the latter wrote to Thomas of York, probably after 1250:

‘Friar Laurence sends you the books of the mother of philosophy (?) for which you sent[1280].’

Hugo de Lyndun seems to have been a weak brother at Oxford—weak in mind and body—whom Adam Marsh took under his especial care (c. 1253)[1281].

John of Beverley was a friar at Oxford when Martin was warden, and was known to Adam Marsh. Friar Thomas of York laboured for the salvation of the father of this J. of Beverley[1282].

Gregory de Bosellis was the first lecturer to the friars at Leicester[1283] (c. 1240?). He was at the General Chapter of Genoa (1244) or Metz when he supported W. of Nottingham, Minister of England[1284]; and he was Vicar of the Province at the time of the same Minister’s death[1285]. He was with the Earl and Countess of Leicester in Gascony[1286], and went to the papal court with the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1250[1287], when the rules of the Order against riding on horseback were relaxed in his favour[1288]. He had studied at some University, probably at Oxford, and was capable of filling Adam Marsh’s place as lecturer to the friars there, though it does not appear whether he ever actually did so[1289].

Thomas of Maydenstan, an invalid novice at Oxford, c. 1253; Adam Marsh hearing a rumour that he was to be sent away from Oxford begged the Minister to let him remain,

‘as it is believed that his removal would do injury to the souls of several persons of whose conversion no slight hope is entertained.’

The brethren at Oxford joined in the request[1290].

Thomas Bachun of the Convent of Nottingham was recommended by Adam Marsh as a suitable person to act as private secretary or amanuensis to Friar Richard of Cornwall, when the latter was about to proceed to Paris, 1252. It is however uncertain whether he was appointed or whether he studied at Oxford[1291].

Adam de Bechesoueres or Hekeshovre[1292] occurs several times in Adam Marsh’s letters as the chief physician among the early English friars. Thus at one time Adam writes to John of Stamford, custodian of Oxford, requesting him to allow a poor sick scholar named Ralph of Multon, a friend of the writer’s, to consult Friar A. de Bechesoueres, who has already done him good. The famous Walter de Merton went to him once with a letter of introduction from Adam Marsh. He was wanted again at Oxford to attend Friar John of Reading, formerly Abbat of Osney. Adam Marsh recommended Grostete to consult him about his health. At another time we hear of him going to the General Minister in France, with a ‘supplicatory letter’ from Adam Marsh;

‘he promised,’ adds the latter in a letter to the English Provincial, ‘to return to England soon and humbly submit in all things to the regular discipline.’

N. of Anivers, Anilyeres or Aynelers, a youth of ability, fair learning and great promise, was ordered by the Minister General to go to France, probably about the year 1248. Adam Marsh, anxious that the best should be done both for the young friar and the Order, after consultation with Peter of Tewkesbury, custodian of Oxford, obtained leave from the Provincials of England and France for him to stay for a year or two in England, the consent of the General being also secured:

‘it is thought,’ adds Adam in his letter to the Minister of France, ‘that he will at present find the requisite helps to the successful study of letters more easily obtainable in England than anywhere else.’

N. de Anivers was therefore allowed to spend a year in theological study at Oxford, Cambridge or London. Adam Marsh maintained his interest in his welfare, and, after the year was over, requested the Minister of France to allow him to continue his studies in England up to the ensuing Pentecost: it is probable that he was a pupil of Adam’s at Oxford[1293].

William of Pokelington (Yorkshire) entered the Order about 1250 and made his profession at Oxford in 1251[1294]. He was then a master. Shortly before this he had been ill and perhaps took the vows on his recovery[1295]. He was an intimate friend of Adam Marsh and at one period acted as his secretary[1296]. Adam employed him several times as messenger to Grostete[1297], who had a high opinion of him and liked to have him as a companion[1298].

Walter de Madele, Maddele or Maddeley studied in the Franciscan Convent at Oxford (c. 1235 seq.). While here, he ventured to disregard the custom which forbade the friars to wear shoes.

‘It happened,’ says Eccleston[1299], ‘that he found two shoes, and when he went to Matins, he put them on. He stood therefore at Matins, feeling unusually self-satisfied. But afterwards when he was in bed, he dreamt that he had to go through a dangerous pass between Oxford and Gloucester called “boysaliz” (?), which was infested by robbers; and when he was descending into a deep valley, they rushed at him from both sides, shouting, “Kill him!” In great terror he said that he was a Friar Minor. “You lie,” they cried, “for you do not go barefoot;” and when he put out his foot confidently, he found that he was wearing those same shoes: and starting in confusion from sleep, he threw the shoes into the middle of the courtyard.’

Walter was ‘socius’ or secretary to Agnellus and was at Oxford at the time of the latter’s death (1235)[1300]. Later he was in Germany with Peter of Tewkesbury, minister of Cologne, and returned to England in 1249 with Friar Paulinus, perhaps a German, in obedience to Peter[1301]. He enjoyed a considerable reputation as a theologian and was lecturer at a Franciscan Convent. Adam Marsh once sent for him to come and see him at Oxford.

‘I conferred with him as you desired,’ he writes to the Provincial[1302], ‘about investigating the meaning of Holy Scripture in the original books of the saints, and he professed himself very ready to do this or anything else which you thought fit to enjoin on him.’

This was not the only subject discussed at the interview. The English Minister suspected Walter of a desire to go abroad and of having obtained from the General the promise of a lectureship in some foreign convent or University. The Provincial had indeed just received an order from the General to send some English friars to teach at Paris, and perhaps Madele’s name was mentioned. Madele however denied the imputation, and Adam recommended the Provincial to keep him in England, sending other friars to Paris, and to remedy his grievances. Though he had long taught theology with success, no competent provision had been made for him; he had not only to exhaust his mind by studies but also to wear out his body by writing daily with his own hand, as he lacked the ‘great volumes and the assistance of companions,’ which had been provided for his predecessors in the office. Eccleston refers to him as dead when he wrote his chronicle[1303]. None of Madele’s writings[1304] have been preserved.

G. of St. Edmund: Adam Marsh wrote to the Provincial (W. of Nottingham) on behalf of Martin the warden and the other friars at Oxford, requesting him to order without delay

‘that Friar G. de Sancto Eadmundo be restored to the convent of friars at Oxford[1305].’

Thomas of Eccleston, the earliest historian of the Franciscan Order in England, was probably a native of Lancashire[1306]. All that is known of him is contained in his Chronicle. He was an inmate of the London Convent when William of Nottingham was minister (1240-1250), and speaks from his own experience of the poverty and hard fare of the brethren there[1307]. He was a student at Oxford in the lifetime of Grostete, whether before or after the latter became bishop is not clear[1308]. He knew the earliest converts to the Order in England, and enjoyed the intimacy of William of Nottingham[1309]. His history is dedicated to Friar Simon of Esseby—perhaps Ashby in Norfolk or Lincolnshire[1310]. In the preface he states that he had been collecting and arranging materials for twenty-five years, and explains his object in writing.

‘Every upright man ought to judge his life by the examples of better men, because examples strike home more directly than the words of reason.’

Other Orders have lives of their holy brethren; this Chronicle is intended similarly to edify the Franciscans by giving them some account of those who have sacrificed their all to enter the Order and observe the Rule of St. Francis[1311]. From this point of view, chronology was of little importance, and there is scarcely a date in the whole book. It is impossible to give the exact date at which the Chronicle was finished; the deaths of William of Nottingham and of Innocent IV are mentioned[1312]; and the work was probably not completed before 1260. It is certainly the narrative of a contemporary, often of an eye-witness, and, apart from the manifest sincerity of the author, the accuracy of the details can in some instances be tested by independent and trustworthy authority. To take one example; Eccleston’s account of the reception of the friars at Cambridge (pp. 17, 18) may be compared with the following entry in Close Roll 22 Hen. III, m. 12, (June 15 1238):

Rex ballivis suis de Cantebr’ salutem. Sciatis quod concessimus fratribus Minoribus de Cantebr’ domum illam cum pertinenciis in Cantebr’ que fuit Magistri Benjamin Judei et quam prius vobis concesseramus ad Gayolam nostram (or vestram) inde faciendam, ad clausum domorum predictorum fratrum dilatandum, salvis domino feodi serviciis et redditibus ei inde debitis. Et idem vobis precipimus quod eisdem fratribus de domo predicta plenam saisinam habere faciatis.

The following MSS. of the Chronicle ‘De adventu Fratrum Minorum in Angliam’ are extant, all dating from the early fourteenth century.

(1) A mutilated MS. in the Chapter Library at York; Brewer’s text for the earlier portion of the Chronicle is founded on this.

(2) Brit. Mus.: Cotton Nero A ix was used by Brewer as the guide for the later part: this MS. begins with Collatio IX (i.e. Collatio VIII in the York MS.).

(3) A fragment of the earlier portion of the Chronicle is contained in a MS. at Lamport House; this has been printed by Howlett in Mon. Franc. II; it supplies most of the chapters wanting in the Cottonian MS., of which it probably formed a part.

(4) No. 3119 of the MSS. of Sir T. Phillipps (Thirlestaine House, Cheltenham), contains the whole Chronicle, though without many of the incidents which occur in the York and Cotton MSS. Neither Brewer nor Howlett knew of its existence. A short account of it will be found in ‘The English Historical Review,’ Oct. 1890, p. 754.

In the same volume of MSS. is the treatise De impugnatione, etc., printed in the Appendix C: Bale and Pits ascribe this to Eccleston, but without sufficient authority.

Roger Bacon is said on the authority of John Rous[1313] to have been born at or near Ilchester in Dorsetshire. He came of a wealthy perhaps noble family; he speaks of one brother as rich, of another as a scholar. He was probably nephew of Robert Bacon the Dominican. Roger’s family espoused the royal cause in the Barons’ war and suffered great losses[1314]. The year 1214 is usually given as the date of his birth. The date is an inference from the following passage written in 1267:

‘I have laboured much at sciences and languages, and it is now forty years since I first learnt the alphabet; and I was always studious; and except for two of those forty years I have always been in studio[1315].’

The last phrase probably means ‘at a University’ or some place of study. Boys of ten or twelve years frequently began their education at Oxford, and it is likely that Bacon went there at an early age[1316]. Roger of Wendover relates that Friar Robert Bacon preached before the King at Oxford in 1233, and fearlessly rebuked him for listening to evil counsellors, especially Peter des Roches. Matthew Paris gives the story with the following addition:

‘a clerk of the court of a pleasant wit, namely, Roger Bacun, ventured to make this joke: “My lord King, what is most harmful to men crossing a strait, or what makes them most afraid?” The King replied, “Those men know who occupy their business in great waters.” “I will tell you,” said the clerk, “Petrae et Rupes[1317].”’

It cannot be regarded as certain that this Roger Bacon was the famous friar. The name was not uncommon; e.g. a Roger Bacon, a Thomas Bacon, and a Peter Bacon occur in Pat. Roll 3 Edw I. On the other hand Roger was certainly in Oxford in or before this year. He states that St. Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, lectured at Oxford in his time, i.e. Edmund Riche who became Archbishop in 1233[1318]. At this period too, Roger attended Grostete’s lectures and made the acquaintance of Adam Marsh, for both of whom he always retained the greatest admiration. He found in them that sympathy with and understanding of his experimental method, which were denied him in later life[1319]. It was doubtless his connexion with these men that led Roger to enter the Franciscan Order. When or where this took place is unknown: perhaps at Oxford before the death of Grostete. He had clearly reached years of discretion when he took the step. This may be inferred from his denunciation of those who entered the Orders as boys and begun the study of theology before they had been grounded in philosophy[1320]. It is also implied in such passages as these:

‘When I was in another state, I wrote nothing on philosophy.’ ‘Men used to wonder before I became a friar that I lived owing to such excessive labour[1321].’

He began his studies on positive science before 1250[1322], and had by 1267 spent more than 2,000 librae[1323]

‘on secret books and various experiments and languages and instruments and tables.’

It is not necessary to assume that this sum was expended before he joined the Franciscan Order; he could, and undoubtedly did, obtain money by begging to carry on his experiments[1324]. Roger left Oxford for Paris some time before 1245; he states that he had seen Alexander of Hales with his own eyes[1325], and he heard William of Auvergne dispute on the Intellectus Agens before the whole University: William died in 1248[1326]. Roger was in France in 1250 when he saw the chief of the Pastoureaux, and remarked that

‘he carried in his hand something as though it were sacred, as a man carries relics[1327].’

He is said by Rous to have been made D.D. of Paris and to have been incorporated as D.D. at Oxford[1328]. When he returned to Oxford is unknown; probably soon after 1250. He must have lectured at this time; he won some fame, as he says himself[1329], but without doubt made many enemies. About the year 1257 or 1258—when Adam Marsh could no longer protect his great pupil—Roger was exiled from England and kept under strict supervision in Paris for ten years[1330]. In 1263 he wrote an astronomical treatise called Computus Naturalium[1331]. Soon after this, a clerk named Raymund of Laon mentioned Bacon’s name to the Cardinal Bishop of Sabina and roused the latter’s interest in his discoveries[1332]. Bacon sent a letter in reply to the Cardinal’s communication: this has not been preserved. In 1265 the Cardinal became Pope Clement IV. On 22nd of June 1266, Clement wrote requesting Roger to send him a fair copy of the work which Raymond had mentioned, setting forth the remedies he proposed, ‘circa illa, quae nuper occasione tanti discriminis intimasti;’ the friar was to do this, in spite of any constitution of his Order to the contrary, secretly and without delay[1333]. The Pope’s supposition that the work was already written was erroneous;

‘for,’ writes Roger[1334], ‘whilst I was in a different state of life, I had written nothing on science; nor in my present condition had I ever been required to do so by my superiors; nay, a strict prohibition has been passed to the contrary, under penalty of forfeiture of the book, and many days’ fasting on bread and water, if any book written by us (i.e. the Franciscans) should be communicated to strangers[1335].’

However, although the book was not yet written, and notwithstanding endless difficulties, want of money, want of mathematical and other instruments and tables, the restrictions of the Rule, jealousy of his superiors and brethren who, he says,

‘kept me on bread and water, suffering no one to have access to me, fearful lest my writings should be divulged to any other than the Pope and themselves[1336]’—

the Opus Majus, the Opus Minus, and the Opus Tertium, were sent to the Pope within fifteen or eighteen months after the arrival of the papal mandate[1337]. ‘Such a feat’ says Brewer, ‘is unparalleled in the annals of literature.’ The Pope probably used his influence in behalf of Roger, as the latter seems to have returned to England about this time and to have been freed from annoyance[1338]. The works sent to Clement he regarded merely as handbooks; at the same time that he was writing them, he was engaged on a larger work which was to embrace the whole range of sciences as then understood[1339]. He was working at this in 1271[1340]. His attacks on all classes, including his own Order, became even more violent than hitherto. In 1277 and 1278 synods were held at Paris and Oxford to condemn erroneous doctrines. The repressive movement extended to the Franciscans; in 1278, Jerome of Ascoli, the Minister General, held a Chapter at Paris, and among other friars Roger Bacon was condemned ‘propter quasdam novitates[1341].’ He is believed to have remained in prison for fourteen years. Jerome of Ascoli, who became Pope Nicholas IV in 1288, died in 1292. Raymond Gaufredi, a man of liberal views, was elected General in 1289, and released many friars who had been imprisoned for their opinions by his predecessors. In 1292 he held a General Chapter at Paris, and it is probable that among the friars here set free was Roger Bacon[1342]. It is certain that the last work of Roger’s of which we have any notice was written in 1292[1343]. The date usually assigned for his death (1294) is a pure conjecture[1344]. John Rous says that he was buried among the Friars Minors at Oxford[1345].

Such then is the chronological outline of his life, as far as it can be ascertained. A list of his works will be more useful than a short account of his character or philosophy.

Roger Bacon’s Works were neglected and regarded with a pious horror in the Middle Ages[1346]. The result is that many of those which have survived at all have reached us in a fragmentary state. ‘It is easier,’ said Leland, ‘to collect the leaves of the Sibyl than the titles of the works written by Roger Bacon.’ The difficulty has to a considerable extent been removed by Mr. Brewer’s valuable preface to the Opera Inedita, and by the labours of M. Charles. The following account of Roger Bacon’s works is based chiefly on these two writers. Some additions have been made and some rearrangement attempted.

Miscellaneous works, lectures, &c., probably early:—

Computus naturalium, an astronomical treatise, is the earliest work of Bacon’s to which a date can be assigned; it was written A. D. 1263-4. Inc. ‘Omnia tempus habent.’

MSS. British Museum: Royal 7 F viii. fol. 99-191 (sec. xiii).

Oxford: University College, 48.

Douai 691, § 2.

Summary printed by Charles, Roger Bacon, pp. 355-8.

De termino Paschali, an earlier work, to which Bacon refers in the Computus naturalium; (Charles, p. 78).

Questions on Aristotle’s physics.

MS. Amiens 406, f. 1-25; cf. MS. Bodl. Digby 150, fol. 42 (sec. xiii), ‘Summa Baconis.’

Quaestiones super librum physicorum a magistro dicto Bacon.

MS. Amiens 406, fol. 26-73.

De vegetabilibus (gloss on this work then attributed to Aristotle).

MS. Amiens 406 (intercalated in the preceding work).

In Aristotelis Metaphysica.

MS. Amiens 406, fol. 74.

Tractatus ad declaranda quaedam obscure dicta in libro Secreti Secretorum Aristotelis. Inc. ‘Propter multa in hoc libro contenta qui liber dicitur Secretum Secretorum Aristotelis sive liber de regimine principum.’

MS. Bodl.: Tanner 116, fol. 1 (sec. xiii exeuntis); the same MS. fol. 16, contains Aristotle’s supposititious Secretum Secretorum ‘cum glossa interlineari et notis Rogeri Bacon.’

Questiones naturales mathematice astronomice, &c. ‘Expliciunt reprobationes Rogeri Baconis.’

MS. Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 16089, f. 93 (sec. xiii-xiv).

Bacon in Meteora. Inc. ‘Cum ad noticiam impressionum habendam.’

MS. Bodleian: Digby 190, fol. 38 (sec. xiv ineuntis).

Processus fratris Rogeri Bacon ... de invencione cogitacionis (astrological fragment). Inc. ‘Notandum quod in omni judicio quatuor sunt inquirenda, scil. natura planetae.’

MS. Bodl.: Digby 72, fol. 49 b, 50 (sec. xiv-xv).

De somno et vigilia.

MSS. Bodl.: Digby 190, f. 77: Inc. ‘De somno et vigilia pertractantes, Perypateticorum sentenciam potissime sequemur.’

Cambridge:—Publ. Library Ii, vi. 5, fol. 85 b-88 (sec. xiii). Inc. ‘Sompnus ergo et vigilia describuntur multis modis.’

Logic:—

Summulae Dialectices, an elementary treatise on logic, characterised by Charles, who expresses a doubt as to its authenticity, as very dry, unimportant, and intended for lecturing purposes. Inc. ‘Introductio est brevis et apta demonstratio.’ ‘Expliciunt sumule magistri Roberti (sic) Baccun.’

MS. Bodl.: Digby 205, f. 48 (sec. xiv).

Syncategoremata. Inc. ‘Partium orationis quaedam sunt declinabiles.’

MS. Bodl.: Digby 204, fol. 88 (sec. xiv).

Summa de sophismatibus et distinctionibus. Inc. ‘Potest queri de difficultatibus accidentibus.’

MS. Bodl.: Digby 67, fol. 117 (sec. xiii); fragment.

Tractatus de signis logicalibus. Inc. ‘Signum est in predicamento relationis.’

MS. Bodl.: Digby 55, fol. 228 (sec. xiii).

Opus Majus, written A. D. 1266-1267; 7 parts. Inc. ‘Sapientiae perfecta consideratio consistit in duobus.’

MSS. of the whole work: Oxford:—Bodl. Digby 235 (sec. xv and xiv).

Dublin:—Trinity Coll. 81 (= 221); a transcript of this is in Trinity Coll. Cambridge.

Paris:—Bibl. Mazarine 3488 (sec. xviii).

Rome:—Vatican 4086 (Montfaucon’s Catal. p. 114), ‘Rogerii Baconi causae universales in septem partes distinctae’; probably the Opus Majus.

Parts I-VI edited by Jebb, 1733: reprinted at Venice 1750.

The parts often occur separately.

I. On the four causes of human ignorance: authority, custom, popular opinion, and the pride of supposed knowledge.

MS. Brit. Museum: Cott. Jul. F vii. fol. 186.

II. On the causes of perfect wisdom in Holy Scripture, or, On the dignity of philosophy.

III. On the usefulness of grammar.

This part, Charles points out (p. 62), is not perfect in Jebb’s edition: see Opus Tertium, cap. XXVI, XXVII.

IV. On the usefulness of mathematics.

MSS. London:—British Museum: Cotton, Tib. C. V. (sec. xiv); Julius D. V. ‘De utilitate scientiarum’; Julius F vii. fol. 178 (sec. xv), ‘Declaratio effectus verae mathematicae.’ And fol. 180, ‘De moribus hominum secundum complexiones et constellationes.’

Royal 7 F vii, p. 1 (sec. xiii), ‘Pars quarta compendii studii theologiae’; pp. 82-125, ‘Descriptiones locorum’; pp. 133-140, ‘De utilitate astronomiae,’ or ‘Tractatus de corporibus coelestibus.’

Sloane 2629, f. 17, ‘De utilitate astronomiae.’

Also Lambeth Palace Library 200 (sec. xv), ‘De arte mathematica.’

Oxford:—Bodl. E Musaeo 155, p. 185 (sec. xv ineuntis), ‘Pars quarta in qua ostendit potestatem mathematicae in scientiis et rebus et occupationibus hujus mundi.’ Univ. Coll. 49 (sec. xvii).

Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 7455 A (sec. xv), ‘De utilitatibus scientiae mathematicae verae.’

Cf. Bodl.: Digby 218, f. 98 (sec. xiii-xiv).

Printed, except the last two chapters, by Combach, Frankfurt 1614, under the title: ‘Specula Mathematica in quibus de specierum multiplicatione ... agitur,’ &c.

V. Perspective and Optics.

MSS. London:—Brit. Mus.: Royal 7 F vii. p. 125 (sec. xiii), ‘De visu et speculis’; 7 F viii. f. 47 (sec. xiii), ‘Perspectiva quedam singularis,’ ‘Perspectiva R. Bacon, liber secundus.’ Sloane 2156, f. 1 (A. D. 1428), and 2542 (sec. xv): Addit. 8786, f. 84, ‘Incipit tractatus de modis videndi.’

Oxford:—Bodl. Digby 77 (sec. xiv) and 91 (sec. xvi).

Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 2598, f. 57 (sec. xv).

Venice:—St. Mark, Classis XI, Cod. 10 (sec. xiv).

Rome:—Vatican (Cod. Lat.) 828, f. 49 (A. D. 1349).

Printed by Combach, Frankfurt 1614, under the title, ‘Rogerii Baconis Angli ... Perspectiva.’

VI. Experimental Science.

MSS. Brit. Mus.: Sloane 2629 (sec. xvi), extracts.

Oxford:—Bodl.: Digby 235, p. 389; Canon. Misc. 334, fol. 53, ‘Alius tractatus ejusdem Fratris Rogeri extractus de sexta parte compendii studii theologiae.’ Univ. Coll. 49.

VII. Moral Philosophy. Inc. ‘Manifestavi in precedentibus quod cognitio linguarum.’

MSS. Brit. Mus.: Royal 8 F ii. f. 167-179 (sec. xv), three parts out of six.

Bodl.: Digby 235, p. 421[1347].

Omitted in Jebb’s edition: extracts printed by Charles, pp. 339-348. Printed at Dublin 1860 (?)[1348].

Opus Minus, written in 1266-7, was mainly an abstract of the Opus Majus with some additions on the state of scholasticism, on alchemy practical and speculative, and on astronomy. Charles gives the following description of it. It consisted of 6 parts:

i. Introduction or dedicatory letter; ii. Practical alchemy; iii. Explanation of the Opus Majus; the order of the sciences inverted, i.e. they were arranged according to their dignity, moral philosophy first; iv. Treatise on the seven sins of Theology; v. Speculative alchemy, or, De rerum generationibus (see below); vi. De Coelestibus.

Of this work only the fragment edited by Brewer (Opera Ined. 311-390) from MS. Bodl. Digby 218, has been discovered. This includes a few pages of Part ii., all of iii., most of iv., and part of v. Wood quotes a passage from the Opus Minus which does not occur in this fragment (Opera Ined. xciv. n. 1). From this it has been assumed that he had access to a MS. of the Opus Minus now lost; but the passage is quoted by Leland, and probably copied from him by Wood. It may perhaps occur in some other work of Bacon’s; thus the passage quoted in Op. Ined. pp. xcvii-xcviii, from which Brewer argues that ‘Wood must have seen some other copy of the Opus Minus not now discoverable,’ occurs in Brewer’s edition of the Opus Tert. pp. 272-3.

Part of the blank on p. 375 is to be filled up from the Opus Majus, Pars VI, Exemplum II, where the passage ‘Est autem—curabit et’ occurs, word for word. How much of the Opus Majus was here inserted is doubtful; probably to the end of Exemplum II. Thus MS. Bodl. Canonic. Miscell. 334, f. 53, begins with the words, ‘Corpora vero Adae et Evae,’ Opus Minus, p. 373, and leaves off with the words, ‘et alibi multis modis,’ which occur at the end of Opus Majus, Pars VI, Exemp. II.

The last part of the Opus Minus is wholly wanting in Brewer’s edition. The subject of this part may be gathered from Bacon’s words in Opus Tert., cap. xxvi (p. 96):

‘Nunc igitur tangam aliquas radices circa haec quas diligentius exposui in Secundo Opere, ubi de coelestibus egi’: and (p. 99) ‘Sed in Opere Minore ubi de coelestibus tractavi, exposui magis ista.’

In Digby MS. 76, fol. 36 seq. (sec. xiii) is a treatise on this subject, forming part of the Physics in the great Compendium Philosophiae (see below). It is not improbable, that, before being incorporated in this larger work, it formed part of the Opus Minus sent to the Pope; on fol. 42 are the words:

‘et est nunc temporis scilicet anno domini 1266.’

Opus Tertium, written in 1267 (see Opera Ined. p. 277), 75 chapters.

MSS. London:—Brit. Mus: Cotton Tiberius C. V. (sec. xiv); also Lambeth Palace Library, 200 (chapters 1-45).

Oxford:—Bodl. E Musaeo 155 (sec. xv ineuntis); and Univ. Coll. 49 (A. D. 1617).

Cambridge:—Trinity College, MS. Gale (transcript of the Cotton MS.).

Douai, 691 (sec. xvii), wanting chapters 38-52: this MS. has been described by Victor Cousin, Journal des Savants for 1848 (5 articles).

Printed in Bacon’s Opera Inedita (Rolls Series), pp. 3-310.

Charles has been misled by a passage in the work called ‘Communia Naturalium’ into thinking that this latter formed part of the Opus Tertium; Charles, R. Bacon, pp. 65, 83-4; his description of Opus Tertium is consequently erroneous. The passage is from the Mazarine MS. of the Communia Naturalium (i.e. No. 3576), fol. 85:

‘Quod est improbatum in secunda parte primi operis, deinde in hoc tertio opere explanavi hoc et solvi objectiones.’

These words refer to Bacon’s doctrine that the intellectus agens is not part of the soul, but God and angels. This is insisted on in the Opus Tertium, cap. xxiii, and it is not likely that Bacon would do more than refer to it again casually in the course of the same work. The relation of the Opus Tertium to the Commun. Nat. is probably as follows: the latter was written or begun first. Bacon repeatedly mentions that he was, while writing his three Opera for the Pope, engaged on a larger work, Scriptum Principale, which he did not send to Clement[1349]. Much of this larger work naturally found its way, probably in a summarised form, into the Opus Tertium as we know it, the treatise actually sent to the Pope.

Tractatus de multiplicatione specierum, or, De generatione specierum et multiplicatione et corruptione earum, is inserted by Jebb in the Opus Majus, pp. 358-445, between Part v and Part vi. The subject is however discussed in Part iv, which is often quoted or referred to in Part v. In the De multiplicatione, &c. (p. 368), are the words:

Ut tactum est in communibus naturalium.

Again (p. 358):

Recolendum est igitur quod in tertia parte hujus operis tactum est, quod essentia, substantia, natura, potestas, potentia, virtus, vis, significant eandem rem, sed differunt sola comparatione.

There is nothing about this in the third part of the Opus Majus; but it is found in the Communia Naturalium. The treatise De multiplicatione specierum was therefore part of a work of which the Communia Naturalium formed the third part. This large work was according to Jebb, the Opus Minus; according to Charles, the Opus Tertium[1350]; according to Brewer, the encyclopaedic Compendium Philosophiae. Brewer is no doubt right; the De multiplicatione was intended as a sub-section of the great treatise on Physics.

How then did the treatise come to be regarded as part of the Opus Majus, and to be inserted in the MSS. of that work? There can be little doubt that it was, in its original form, the treatise on rays sent to the Pope with the Opus Majus, but as a separate work (Opera Ined. pp. 227, 230). The references to the Communia Naturalium are not inconsistent with this hypothesis: (1) the treatise on rays does not seem to have been written specially for the Pope, and consequently references to works which he could not know were not unnatural; (2) Bacon had already begun the encyclopaedic work, but found it impossible to get it finished or send it to the Pope (Opera Inedita, pp. 60, 315).

Inc. ‘Primum igitur capitulum circa influentiam agentis habet tres veritates.’

MSS. London:—Brit. Mus.: Royal 7 F viii. f. 13; inc. ‘Postquam habitum,’ &c. Addit. 8786, fol. 20 b: inc. ‘Postquam habitum est de principiis rerum naturalium’: Sloane 2156, f. 40 (A. D. 1428); inc. ‘Postquam,’ &c.

Oxford:—Bodl. Digby 235, p. 305 (inserted in the Opus Majus).

Dublin:—Trinity Coll. 81 (in the Opus Majus).

Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 2598 (sec. xv): inc. ‘Postquam,’ &c.

Bruges, 490 (sec. xiii), called Philosophia Baconis.

Printed in Jebb.

De speculis (on burning mirrors). Inc. ‘Ex concavis speculis ad solem positis ignis accenditur.’

MS. Oxford:—Bodl. Ashmole, 440 (sec. xvi); cf. Digby 71.

Printed at Frankfurt 1614, in Combach’s Specula Mathematica, p. 168.

Speculi Abnukefi compositio secundum Rogerium Bacon. Inc. ‘Quia universorum quos de speculis ad datam distanciam.’

MS. Bodl.: Canonic. Misc. 408, fol. 48.

Cf. Brit. Mus. Cott. Vesp. A ii. f. 140.

Compendium Philosophiae, an encyclopaedic work, which if completed would have formed a kind of revised and enlarged edition of the Opus Majus, Opus Minus, and Opus Tertium. In the Communia Naturalium, cap. i. (MS. Bodl. Digby 70) Bacon gives a sketch of his plan. The work was to consist of four volumes, and to treat of six branches of knowledge, viz., vol. i. Grammar and Logic; vol. ii. Mathematics; vol. iii. Physics; vol. iv. Metaphysics and Morals. This Compendium seems to have been known also as Liber sex scientiarum. The latter title is found in the collection printed at Frankfurt in 1603[1351] in MSS. Bodl. Canonic. Misc. No. 334, fol. 49 b; ibid., No. 480, fol. 33; and E Musaeo 155, p. 689. In each of these MSS. the same passage is quoted, as follows:

Dicta fratris Rogerii Bacon in libro sex scienciarum in 3^o gradu sapiencie, ubi loquitur de bono corporis et de bono fortune et de bono et honestate morum. (Inc.) In debito regimine corporis et prolongatione vite ad ultimos terminos naturales ... miranda potestas astronomie alkimie et perspective et scienciarum experimentalium. Sciendum igitur est pro bono corporis quod homo fuit immortalis naturaliter ... (Expl.) ut fiant sublimes operaciones et utilissime in hoc mundo, etc.

Charles identifies the Liber sex scientiarum with the Opus Minus; but this passage does not occur in the extant portion of the Opus Minus which deals with the same subject and expresses the same ideas (Opera Ined., p. 370 seq.). It seems probable therefore that this passage is an extract from the section on Alchemy in vol. iii. of the Compendium Philosophiae.

Vol. I. Grammar and Logic. A portion of this has been edited by Brewer, Opera Ined., pp. 393-519, under the title Compendium Studii Philosophiae. It was written in 1271, and contains an introduction on the value of knowledge and the impediments to it, and the beginning of a treatise on grammar.

MS. Cott. Tiberius C. V. (sec. xiv).

Two other treatises on grammar by Roger Bacon are extant, and probably formed part of the Comp. Phil.[1352]:

(1) Inc. ‘Primus hic liber voluminis grammatici circa linguas alias a Latino.... Manifestata laude et declarata utilitate cognitionis grammatice’ (chiefly on Greek grammar).

MSS. Brit. Museum: Cotton Jul. F viii. f. 175 (sec. xv), a fragment.

Oxford:—Corpus Christi Coll. 148 (sec. xv); Univ. Coll. 47 (sec. xvii).

Douai, 691 § 1 (sec. xvii), copied from Univ. Coll. MS. 47.

(2) Inc. ‘Oratio grammatica autem fit mediante verbo.’ ‘Explicit summa de grammatica magistri Rogeri Bacon.’

MS. Cambridge:—Peterhouse, 1, 9, 5, James 3 (sec. xiv).

Vol. II. Mathematics; 6 books:

i. Communia mathematicae, ii-vi. Special branches of mathematics.Liber i. Inc. ‘Hic incipit volumen verae mathematicae habens sex libros. Primus est de communibus mathematicae, et habet tres partes principales.’

MSS. British Museum: Sloane 2156, f. 74-97 (sec. xv), ending in the second part of the first book.

Bodl.: Digby 76, fol. 48 (sec. xiii), containing the remainder of the first book (?). Inc. ‘Mathematica utitur tantum parte.’

Libri ii-vi. An extant fragment of a commentary on Euclid by Bacon may have belonged to this part; in De Coelestibus (Comp. Phil. vol. iii.) he often refers to his commentary on the Elements of Euclid (Charles, p. 85).

MS. Digby 76, f. 77-8 (sec. xiii).

A treatise, De laudibus mathematicae, expressing the same ideas as Part iv. of the Opus Majus, may have been intended as an introduction to this volume.

MS. Royal 7 F vii. fol. 141-152: cf. Digby 218, f. 98.

Vol. III. Physics. First came general physics (1 book), then particular sciences (3 books).

Liber i. Communia Naturalium, divided into 4 parts.

MSS. Brit. Mus.: Royal 7 F vii. f. 84 (sec. xiii), Liber Naturalium. ‘Hoc est volumen naturalis philosophiae in quo traditur scientia rerum naturalium, secundum potestatem octo scientiarum naturalium quae enumerantur in secundo capitulo; et habet hoc volumen quatuor libros principales, Primum scilicet De communibus ad omnia naturalia; secundum De Coelestibus; tertium De Elementis, mixtis, inanimatis; quartum De vegetabilibus et generabilibus.’ (This MS. ends at the third part of the first book).

Bodl.: Digby 70 (sec. xiv). Communia Naturalium. Inc. ‘Postquam tradidi grammaticam’ [Desinit ad init. cap. vii].

Cf. Digby 190, f. 29 (sec. xiv ineuntis). De principiis naturae; beginning illegible.

Paris:—Bibl. Mazarine 3576; olim 1271, f. 1-90 (sec. xiv). ‘Incipit liber primus Communium naturalium Fratris Rogeri Bacon, habens quatuor partes principales, quarum prima habet distinctiones quatuor. Prima distinctio est de communibus ad omnia naturalia et habet capitula quatuor. Capitulum primum de ordine scientiae naturalis ad alias. (Inc.) Postquam tradidi grammaticam secundum linguas diversas.’

Extracts printed by Charles, pp. 369-391.

Libri ii, iii, iv. The special natural sciences, according to the Royal MS. just quoted, were treated in three books. They were seven[1353] in number, as Bacon enumerates them in the second chapter of the first part of the Communia Naturalium.

‘Praeter scientiam communem naturalibus, sunt septem speciales, videlicet perspectiva, astronomia judiciaria et operativa, scientia ponderum de gravibus et levibus, alkimia, agricultura, medicina, scientia experimentalis.’

Liber ii. (1) Optics or Perspective (a version of the De multiplicatione specierum). Inc. ‘Ostensum quippe in principio hujus Compendii Philosophiae.’

MSS. Brit. Mus: Royal 7 F vii. p. 221 (sec. xiii), fragment, called ‘Quinta pars Compendii theologiae’; and Addit. 8786, fol. 2 (fragment).

[Cf. Bodl. Digby 183, fol. 49 (sec. xiv)?]

See the references under Tract. de multiplicatione specierum.

(2) Astronomy, or, De coelo et mundo.

MSS. Oxford:—Bodl. Digby 76, f. 1 (sec. xiii), Compendium Philosophiae. Inc. ‘Prima igitur veritas circa corpora mundi est quod non est unum corpus continuum et unius nature.’ Ibid. fol. 36, De corporibus coelestibus, sc. de zodiaco, sole, etc. Inc. ‘Habito de corporibus mundi prout mundum absolute constituunt’ (cf. Opus Minus). Cf. Ashmole 393 I, f. 44 (sec. xv), ‘Veritates de magnitudine ... planetarum. Tractatus extractus de libris celi et mundi,’ etc. Also, Univ. Coll. 49, De corporibus coelestibus.

Paris:—Mazarine 3576, De coelestibus (five chapters). Inc. ‘Prima igitur veritas.’

(3) Gravity, Scientia ponderum de gravibus et levibus.

Cf. Tractatus trium verborum.

Liber iii. (4) Alchemy, or, De elementis[1354].

Liber iv. De vegetabilibus et generabilibus[1355].

(5) Agriculture.

See note in Brewer, Opera Ined. p. li.

(6) Medicine.

(7) Experimental Science.

Vol. IV. Metaphysics and Morals.

Inc. ‘Quoniam intencio principalis est innuere nobis vicia studii theologici que contracta sunt ex curiositate philosophie.’

MSS. Bodl.: Digby 190, fol. 86 b (sec. xiii-xiv). ‘Methaphisica fratris Rogeri ordinis Fratrum Minorum, de viciis contractis in studio theologie’ (25 lines).

Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 7440 (sec. xiv), fol. 38-40, fol. 25-32. ‘Incipit metaphysica Rogeri Baconis de ordine praedicatorum’ (fragment).

It is, however, probable that these MS. fragments ought to be referred to Bacon’s last work, the Compendium Studii Theologiae, rather than to the Compendium Philosophiae.

Compendium studii theologiae, Bacon’s last work, bears the date 1292 (‘usque ad hunc annum Domini 1292’). Extracts from it are printed by Charles, pp. 410-416. This work consisted of six parts or more.

Part i. On the causes of error.

Part ii. Logic and grammar in reference to theology.

These two parts are extant (though not complete) in MS. British Museum, Royal F vii. pp. 153-161: there is a long gap between pp. 154 and 155.

According to this MS. the work consisted of two parts:

‘Incipit compendium studii theologiae et per consequens philosophiae ut potest et debet servire theologicae facultati, et habet duas partes principales; prima liberali communicatione sapientiae investigat omnes causas errorum, et modos errandi in hoc studio.... Secunda pars descendit ad veritates stabiliendas et ad errores cum diligentia exterminandos.’

Part v. is preserved in Royal MS. 7 F. viii. f. 2 (sec. xiii) (almost complete); it is a treatise on optics.

Incipit: ‘Acto prologo istius quintae partis hujus voluminis quam voco compendium studii theologiae, in quo quidem comprehendo in summa intentionem totius operis, extra partem ejus signans omnia impedimenta totius studii et remedia, nunc accedo ad tractatum exponens ea quae necessaria sunt theologiae de perspectiva et de visu.’

Part vi. is mentioned in Part v.: it is to be a treatise, ‘De multiplicatione Specierum.’

In Part iv. also the words ‘in partibus sequentibus’ occur.

Alchemy was treated in the Opus Minus and in the Compendium Philosophiae. Bacon divides it into (1) Speculative alchemy, ‘the science of the generation of things from elements’; (2) Practical alchemy, ‘which teaches us how to make noble metals and colours,’ &c., and the art of prolonging life (Opus Tertium, cap. xii). Wood mentions a treatise of Bacon’s De rerum generationibus, of which he had seen two copies varying much. These may have been the versions in the Opus Minus[1356] and the Compendium Philosophiae[1357]. A number of works on alchemy and medicine ascribed to Bacon have been preserved, some of them are undoubtedly genuine, others apocryphal.

Epistolae fratris Rogerii Baconis de secretis operibus artis et naturae et de nullitate magiae [or, De mirabili potestate artis et naturae].

The work consists of a letter or collection of letters in ten or eleven chapters, the last five of which Charles considers doubtful, addressed perhaps to William of Auvergne (who died in 1248), or to John of London, whom Charles identifies with John of Basingstoke (d. 1252).

Inc. cap. 1. ‘Vestrae petitioni respondeo diligenter. Nam licet.’

MS. Brit. Mus: Sloane 2156, p. 117.

Printed at Paris 1542; at Oxford 1594; Hamburg 1613; in Zetzner’s Theatrum Chemicum, 1659; and by Brewer in Rog. Bacon Opera Inedita, App. I.

The three following treatises were printed at Frankfurt in 1603, under the title, Sanioris medicinae magistri D. Rogeri Baconis angli de arte chymiae scripta, &c., and elsewhere.

Summary of Avicenna’s De anima. Inc. ‘In illius nomine qui major est.’

MS. Bodl: Ashmole 1467 (sec. xvi). [Cf. Charles, R. Bacon, p. 59; Opera Ined. p. 39.]

Breve Breviarium, or, De naturis metallorum in ratione alkimica et artificiali transformatione, or, Coelestis alchymia, or, De naturis metallorum et ipsorum transmutatione.

Divided into two parts, speculative and practical alchemy; the work contains no doubt some of the ideas incorporated in the Opus Minus and the Comp. Philosophiae. The date is uncertain.

Inc. ‘Breve breviarium breviter abbreviatum.’

MSS. Brit. Mus: Sloane 276, f. 4 (sec. xv-xvi).

Bodl.: Digby 119, fol. 64 (sec. xiv); and Bodl. E Musaeo 155, p. 513.

Paris:—Bibl. Nat. new Latin collection, No. 1153. (Abbey of St. Germain).

Tractatus trium verborum, or, Epistolae tres ad Johannem Parisiensem; namely:

i. ‘De separatione ignis ab oleo,’ or, ‘De modo projectionis’; ii. ‘De modo miscendi’; iii. ‘De ponderibus.’ Inc. ‘Cum ego Rogerus rogatus a pluribus.’

MSS. British Museum: Cotton Julius D. V.; Harleian 3528, f. 174; Sloane 1754, ‘Mendacium primum, secundum, et tertium.’

Oxford:—Bodl: Digby 119, f. 82 (sec. xiv ineuntis); Ashmole 1448, pp. 1-25 (sec. xv); Corpus Christi Coll. 125, f. 84^b; University Coll. 49.

Fragment on alchemy, without title.

MS. Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 2598, f. 138 (sec. xv), ‘Explicit de subjecto transmutationis secundum Rogerum Bachonis.’ It perhaps occurs in one of his larger works.

Libellus Rogerii Baconi ... de retardandis senectutis accidentibus et de sensibus conservandis (11 chapters). This work is assigned by Charles to the year 1276. Inc. prol. ‘Domine mundi ex nobilissima stirpe originem assumpsistis.’ Inc. cap. 1. (De causis senectutis). ‘Senescente mundo senescunt homines.’

MSS. Brit. Museum: Sloane 2320, fol. 56.

Bodl.: E Musaeo 155, pp. 591-637 (sec. xiv-xv); Canonic. Misc. 334, fol. 1 (sec. xv); and 480, fol. 1 (sec. xv).

Printed at Oxford in 1596 (and in English, London 1683).

Antidotarius, a second part of this work. Inc. ‘Post completum universalis sciencie medicacionis tractatum.’

MSS. Bodl.: Canonic. Miscell. 334 (fol. 21^b to 25), and 480 (fol. 16); E Musaeo 155, p. 645. Cf. MS. Canon. Misc. 480, fol. 38^b-47, below.

Liber Bacon de sermone rei admirabilis, sive de retardatione senectutis. Inc. ‘Intendo componere sermonem rei admirabilis domino meo fratri E, cujus vitam deus prolonget.’

MSS. Bodl.: E Musaeo 155, pp. 655-666; Digby 183, fol. 45 (sec. xiv exeuntis); Canonic. Miscell. 334, fol. 25-31.

De universali regimine senum et seniorum. Inc. ‘Summa regiminis senum universalis est hoc ut dicit Avicenna.’

De graduacione medicinarum compositarum. Inc. ‘Omnis forma inherens.’

Tractatus de erroribus medicorum[1358]. Inc. ‘Vulgus medicorum.’

Canones practici de medicinis compositis componendis, ‘Cap. i. Extractum de libro septimo Serapionis qui est antidotarium suum et est theoricum capitulum.’ (13 chapters.) Inc. ‘Necesse est illi qui vult componere medicinas.’ ‘Explicit tractatus de compositione medicinarum per fratrem rugerium bacon editus.’

De leone viridi (on the manufacture of mercury); only the summary by Raymund Gaufredi is extant. Inc. ‘Verbum abbreviatum.’

A number of works on alchemy are attributed to Roger Bacon erroneously or without any probability.

De consideratione quintae essentiae; 3 books.

The author was a Franciscan who entered the Order at Toulouse[1359]. Inc. opus. ‘Dixit Salomon sapientie cap. vii. Deus dedit mihi.’

De expulsione veneni. Inc. ‘Ista subscripta sequerentur post capitulum de hiis que expellunt venenum.’

Speculum alchemiae. Inc. ‘Multifariam multisque modis.’

Speculum alchemiae. Inc. ‘Speculum alchemiae quod in corde meo figuravi.’

Speculum secretorum, or, Liber secretorum. Inc. ‘In nomine Domini ... ad instructionem multorum circa hanc artem.’

Secretum secretorum naturae de laude lapidis Philosophorum. Inc. ‘Secretum secretorum naturae audiant secreti quae loquor.’

Rogerina major et minor, two medical treatises; neither by Bacon: one is by a Roger Baron.

De Magnete. Inc. ‘Amicorum intime, quamdam magnetis lapidis.’

Calendar, wrongly attributed to Bacon; made by a Minorite at Toledo 1297, and extracted from the Tabulae Toletanae.

Semita recta alchemiae (or, Liber duodecim aquarum).

Thesaurus spirituum, four treatises on the influence of planets, &c. Inc. ‘Hec est doctrina omnium experimentorum.’

De fistula.

Necromanciae. Inc. ‘Debes mundare manus et pedes ante visionem characterum.’

Other worthless recipes, fragments, &c., attributed to Bacon will be found in MSS:—

De intellectu et intelligentia, and De nutrimento, which Charles considers genuine, are printed among the works of Albertus Magnus.

Tractatus de veritate theologiae in septem partes distributus, perhaps by Robert Bacon. Inc. ‘Flecto genua mea ad patrem domini nostri Jesu Christi.’

Tractatus super Psalterium, probably by Robert Bacon.

Excerptiones Rogeri Bacon ex auctoribus musicae artis; or correctly, Excerptiones Hogeri abbatis, &c.

De sacrae scripturae profundis misteriis authore Rogero Bacon.

John, Roger Bacon’s favourite pupil, was certainly not John of London[1362], or John Peckham[1363]. On the other hand it is impossible to identify him with any known scholastic doctor. It is not certain whether he was a friar or whether he was ever at Oxford. About 1260 Roger Bacon found him probably at Paris, as a poor boy of fifteen eager to learn, but forced to beg his bread and to serve those who gave him the necessaries of life[1364].

The boy repaid his master’s care. Wishing to send a fit interpreter of his works to the Pope, Bacon writes[1366],

There was no one at Paris who knew so much of the roots of philosophy as did juvenis Johannes; he was ‘a virgin, not knowing mortal sin,’ and ‘an excellent keeper of secrets[1367].’ John was sent to Clement with the Opus Majus and other treatises[1368] in 1267, the other works, Opus Minus and Opus Tertium, being sent later and probably by other messengers. From this time we have no authentic information about him, and do not know whether he fulfilled Bacon’s expectations:

Robert de Ware, in Hertfordshire[1370], entered the Order at Oxford between 1265 and 1268. In the prologue of his only extant work, addressed to his younger brother John, he gives the following account of his conversion[1371]:—

At length the father was stricken down by a mortal disease, and, warned in a vision, he relented towards his son. The latter was summoned hastily from London, and reconciled to his father, who before his death gave proof of his devotion to the Order of St. Francis.

Twenty-five discourses on the Virgin Mary, by friar Robert de Ware. Inc. prol. “Aue rosarium scripturarum per areolas.”

Walter de Landen, William Cornish, William de Wykham, Dyonisius, and Robert de Cap(e)ll, were Franciscans at Oxford, and took part in the controversy with the Dominicans in 1269. All that is known about them will be found in Appendix C.

Nicholas de Gulac was at Oxford in 1269. Suffering from stone and despairing of life, he at length prayed the Lord

On the next morning as he rose from his bed ‘ut commingeret,’ the stone fell at his feet, and he had no pain before or afterwards, being completely cured on Easter Tuesday, 1269; to this miracle witness was borne by the whole convent of Minorites at Oxford[1373].

Laurence of Cornwall, to whose miraculous recovery from fever, after prayer to Simon de Montfort, the same Friar N. de Gulac bore witness, was probably at Oxford about the same time[1374].Stephanus Hibernicus, called also Stephen of Exeter and Stephen of Oxford, was born in 1246, and became a Minorite at ‘Mutifernana’ in 1263. These facts are contained in the Annales Montis Fernandi (sive Minoritarum Multifernanae) ab a^o 45 usque ad an. 1274, the authorship of which is usually ascribed to Stephen[1375]. It is very doubtful whether he was at Oxford.

William of Ware, or William Warre, Guaro, Varro, &c., born at Ware in Hertfordshire, entered the Order in his youth, according to William Woodford[1376]. It is not improbable that he studied at Oxford, but there is no authority for the statement[1377]. He was S.T.P. of Paris, where most of his life was spent[1378]. He is said to have been a pupil of Alexander of Hales[1379] (d. 1245), and master of Duns Scotus[1380], who went to Paris in 1304. He was called doctor fundatus by later writers[1381].

His Commentaries on the Sentences were seen by Leland in the Franciscan Library, London[1382], and are now extant in the following MSS.:

Richard Middleton is said by Bale, Wood, and others, to have studied at Oxford, but they produce no evidence for the statement[1383]. He was B.D. at Paris in 1283[1384], when with other doctors and bachelors he was appointed to examine the doctrines of Peter Johannis Olivi. He appears to have incepted as D.D. soon afterwards[1385], and is reckoned among the masters of Duns Scotus. Like many other famous doctors of his Order, he is said by Wadding to have written on the Immaculate Conception[1386]. According to Willot he was known at Paris as Doctor solidus et copiosus, fundatissimus et authoratus[1387]: at the Council of Basel he was referred to as Doctor profundus[1388].

Commentum super iv. Sententiarum. Inc. prologus, ‘Abscondita produxit.’

Quaestiones quodlibetales (two parts). Inc. Pars I. ‘Queritur utrum Deus sit summe simplex.’

Quodlibeta tria. (The first contains 22 questions; the second 31; the third 27.) Inc. ‘In nostra disputacione de quolibet.’

De gradibus formarum.

Quaestiones disputatae, by R. Middleton and others.

Sermo fratris Ricardi de dilatatione sermonum (?). Inc. ‘Quoniam emulatores estis.’

William de la Mare, de Mara, or Lamarensis, may have studied at Oxford[1389] before he went to Paris, where he was a disciple of Bonaventura. In 1284 he published a criticism of Thomas Aquinas, called Correctorium operum fratris Thomae[1390], which afterwards won for him the title of standard-bearer of the Anti-Thomists[1391]. This treatise, which may perhaps be still extant in an Italian library, is generally known only through the reply to it, attributed sometimes to Aegidius Romanus, but with more probability to Richard Clapwell[1392]. ‘The serious part of the work of William de Lamarre,’ says M. Charles, ‘seems directly inspired by Bacon[1393].’ He had no doubt come under Roger’s influence either at Oxford or Paris. William de Mara appears also to have written in favour of a strict observance of the Rule of St. Francis. In a dispute on the interpretation of the Rule in 1310, Friar Ubertino de Casali, one of the leaders of the ‘Spiritual’ party, quoted, in support of his views,

From this it is clear that William died before 1310.

Some of his writings are extant in MS.

Summa Fratris Gul. de Mara contra D. Thomam.

Correctorium Fratris Gul. de Mera ... secundum dicta D. Thomae de Aquino contra correctorium Fratris Joannis (?) de Crapuel Ordinis Praedicatorum—perhaps the printed Defensorium seu Correctorium.

Quaestiones de natura virtutis, by ‘Gulielmus de le Maire, ordinis Minorum.’

Sermo Fratris Guillermi de la Mare regentis in Theologia. (On St. Peter.) Inc. ‘Precurrens ascendit in arborem sycomorum.... Fratres orate ut sermo Dei currat et clarificetur.’

Expositio libri Physicorum Aristotelis; and Comment. in libros 1, 2, et 3, Sententiarum[1395].

Quaestiones tres philosophicae per Gulielmum (de Mara?) de Anglia, fratrem ordinis Minorum. Inc. ‘Est dubitacio utrum lineam componam ex punctis.’

John of Oxford, Friar Minor, was ordained priest by Peckham in 1284[1397].

Richard de Slekeburne (co. Durham), confessor of Devorguila, played an important part in the foundation of Balliol College: this has already been referred to[1398]. There is no direct proof that Friar Richard was himself at Oxford. Several documents relating to him are preserved in the Balliol College Archives, and described in the Reports of the Hist. MSS. Commission[1399].

(1) A letter of Devorguila to him, in which she speaks of

and urges Friar Richard by all means in his power to promote the perpetuation of the said house, A. D. 1284.

(2) A grant by the executors of Sir John Balliol of sums to the scholars, with the consent of Devorguila and at the advice of Friar R. de Slekeburne (three deeds, 1285-1286).

(3) A confirmation by Friar Richard of another grant by Sir J. Balliol’s executors of debts due to Sir John: the confirmatory deed is dated Coventry, 1287.

William of Exeter was summoned in 1289 from Oxford by Deodatus, Warden of the Friars Minors of Exeter[1400], to assist him in choosing a new site for the convent[1401].

William of Leominster is placed among the Franciscans by Pits, but it is not certain that he belonged to this Order[1402]. He was a friar and master of Oxford in 1290; in this year his name appears as one of the masters who gave their consent on behalf of the University to the compromise, effected by the intervention of the King and his council, concerning the right of the bishop of Lincoln to confirm the Chancellor-elect[1403]. Bale states that he had seen this friar’s Collationes Sententiarum and Quaestiones Theologiae, at London, ‘in quadam officina’[1404].

John Bekinkham appears to have been an Oxford Minorite; he was one of the friars to whom the royal alms of 25 marks was paid by the exchequer in 1289 or 1290[1405].John de Clara was executor of Hugh de Cantilupe, Archdeacon of Gloucester, in 1285; he was at this time at Oxford[1406]. In 1289 or 1290 he appears, in conjunction with John Bekinkham, as receiving the royal grant of 25 marks in the name of the Oxford Convent[1407]. In 1299 he was entrusted with 10 marks out of the royal exchequer for the expenses of Hugh of Hertepol and William of Gainsborough, who were going to the General Chapter at Lyons[1408]. In 1301 he was sent with instructions to find the Provincial Minister with all speed, and received of the royal bounty 24s. 3d. for his expenses[1409].

John Russell was private chaplain to Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, in 1293. In a letter to Raymund, General Minister of the Friars Minors, dated Aug. 29, 1293[1410], the Earl thanks the Minister

Russell wrote about the same time to dominus R. de M. (Roger de Merlawe):

This John Russell was contemporary, and probably identical, with the twenty-second master of the Franciscans at Cambridge[1413].

Postilla in Cantica Canticorum. Inc. ‘Cogitanti mihi Canticum.’

Lectura super Apocalypsim. Inc. ‘Statuit septem piramides.... Accedens ad expositionem.’

De potestate imperatoris et pape.

Henry de Sutton was warden of the Grey Friars, London, in 1302[1414], and 1307, when the King (Edward I) gave him 40 marks

He procured a legacy of 2 marks annually from Henry Waleys, Mayor of London, for his convent[1416]. The evidence of his connexion with Oxford is very slight. His name occurs as the author of a sermon in a collection of sermons which were probably delivered at Oxford at the end of the thirteenth century[1417].

William Mincy, William de Newport, Roger de Barton (Cheshire), Robert de Gaddestyn or Gaddesby, John de Westburg, Robert de Mogynton (Derby), Franciscans at Oxford in 1300, were on the 26th of July in that year presented at Dorchester by Hugh of Hertepol the Provincial, and licensed by Dalderby, Bishop of Lincoln, to hear confessions, grant absolution, and enjoin penances, in the Archdeaconry of Oxford. They were not at this time, and probably never became, doctors of divinity[1418].

John de Stapleton, A. D. 1300, was similarly presented by the Provincial, but rejected by the Bishop. The Register of the Friars Minors at London says:

It is doubtful whether this refers to the same person[1419].

Adam de Corf, Peter de Todworth, Walter Bosevile, and Roger de Alnewyck, were in like manner presented by the Provincial and rejected by the Bishop, A. D. 1300. They were not at this time D.D’s. Nothing further is known of them, unless Roger de Alnewyck is to be identified with William of Alnwick, 42nd reader at Oxford[1420].

John Duns Scotus[1421] was a Franciscan at Oxford in 1300. In the list of friars presented to the Bishop of Lincoln he appears as ‘Johannes Douns’[1422]; the Bishop refused to grant him license to hear confessions. Soon afterwards Duns lectured on the four books of the Sentences as B.D. at Oxford[1423]. At the end of 1304 he was called to Paris to incept as D.D. The letter of the General Minister recommending this choice is given by Wadding[1424], who however has misunderstood it. For this reason, and because it illustrates some points in the educational system of the Minorites, the letter may be quoted in full[1425].

Duns probably taught at Paris till 1307. Wadding, indeed, asserts that he was sent to Cologne by the General Minister in 1305[1426]; but this is almost impossible, and the description which Wadding gives of the scene is derived from later and unhistorical tradition. The statement, however, that he was appointed Regent by the friars in the General Chapter at Toulouse in 1307 sounds more plausible[1427]; he may have been made the first Regent at Paris, or he may have been sent at this time as lector or Regent of the Franciscan schools at Cologne. At any rate there seems no reason to distrust the notice of his death which Wadding quotes from the list of friars who died at Cologne[1428].

This entry, though certainly not contemporary, was probably derived from some authentic record. Duns’ title of Doctor Subtilis, though it does not seem to have been given him in his lifetime, is of considerable antiquity. It is mentioned by Bartholomew of Pisa at the end of the fourteenth century[1429], and by the MS. Catalogue at Assisi, written in 1381[1430].

A collected edition of his works was printed at Lyons in 1639. Many of the works included in these twelve folio volumes are considered doubtful by the editors[1431].

Some few treatises not included in this edition are assigned to him.

Johannis Scoti super Apocalypsin notulae. Inc. liber: ‘Liber iste principaliter dividitur in tres partes.’ (Doubtful.)

[Ejusdem?] super S. Matthaei Evangelium notae. Inc. ‘Liber generacionis,’ &c.: ‘Sicut fluvius de loco voluptatis egrediens.’ (Doubtful.)

MS. ibid. f. 75.

‘Utrum pluralitas formalitatum possit stare cum simplicitate divine essencie.’

De perfectione statuum[1432]. Inc. ‘Quod status prelatorum sc. pastorum ecclesie.’

Opusculum Doctoris Subtilis super aliquos canones Arzachel. (Doubtful.)

Tractatus Johannis Dons Scoti de lapide philosophorum. (Apocryphal.)

Robert Cowton, or de Couton (co. York), according to W. Woodford, entered the Order when young[1433]. He was at Oxford in 1300, when the Provincial asked the Bishop of Lincoln to license him, among others, to hear confessions, but Robert was among the rejected[1434]. At this time he was not a doctor. According to Bale and Pits he studied philosophy at Oxford and theology at Paris: there can be little doubt that he obtained the degree of D.D. in the latter University. His title of ‘the pleasant doctor[1435]’ is not vouched for by any early authority.

If we may draw any inference from the number of MSS. preserved, few works by any Franciscan were more in demand in England[1436] in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries than the Commentaries of Robert Cowton on the Sentences. The following MSS. contain them, or parts of them.

Malachias of Ireland is said by Wadding to have been a Franciscan and B.D. of Oxford, c. 1310. According to the same writer, he preached before Edward II, and was not afraid to rebuke the King to his face[1437].

Libellus septem peccatorum mortalium, or, Tractatus de Veneno (often wrongly ascribed to Grostete.)

Walter Brinkley or Brinkel (co. Cambridge), called by Willot ‘the Good Doctor,’ ‘the ancient Doctor and Sophist[1438],’ is said by Bale to have been a doctor of Oxford and to have flourished A. D. 1310. Bale and Pits give a list of his works, but nothing of a trustworthy nature appears to be known about him[1439].

John of Winchelsea, S.T.P. and Canon of Salisbury, a fellow of Merton in the reigns of Henry III (?) and Edward I, entered the Minorite Order in his old age at Salisbury, and died during the year of his noviciate, A. D. 1326[1440].

John Canon is said to have flourished c. 1320, and to have attended the lectures of Duns Scotus at Oxford and Paris[1441]. Wood, referring to the regestrum Oriell, says that his

Comment. in libros octo Physicorum Aristotelis. Inc. prol. ‘Venite ad me omnes qui laboratis.’ Inc. opus. ‘Utrum substancia finita.’

John Stanle, friar, was appointed to receive at the Exchequer the royal grant of 25 marks payable at Easter 1323 to the Friars Minors at Oxford[1444].

‘Philippus a Castellione Aretino’ (Castello near Arezzo) in the Tuscan province, is described by Wadding as, ‘in theologia magister insignis apud Oxonienses.’ He flourished 1316, and wrote treatises on the poverty of Christ[1445].

William of Ockham, ‘Auctor nominalium,’ ‘Doctor singularis,’ ‘Doctor invincibilis[1446],’ was born probably towards the end of the thirteenth century. Whether he was a pupil of Duns Scotus is doubtful. He studied at Oxford in the early years of the fourteenth century, and became B.D. there[1447]. After this he was called to Paris, where he incepted as D.D. Here he became acquainted with Marsiglio of Padua, over whom, according to Pope Clement VI, he exercised a powerful influence[1448]. It is probable that he was present at the famous Chapter of Perugia (1322), though he was not (as is usually asserted) Provincial of England[1449]. From the first he took a prominent part in the struggle against the Pope[1450]. He was imprisoned at Avignon about the end of 1327, and a process was instituted against him in the Curia

He remained in custody for seventeen weeks, and refused to modify his opinions. It is said that a ‘rich and noble lady,’ in admiring recognition of his staunch defence of ‘Evangelical Poverty,’ gave him 70 florins[1452]. On May 25, 1328, he fled from Avignon with Cesena, the General Minister, and Bonagratia, joined the Emperor in Italy, and was excommunicated[1453]. In Feb., 1330, he accompanied Louis to Bavaria, and lived henceforth for the most part in the Franciscan Convent at Munich[1454]. His literary activity was enormous, as may be seen from the list of his works. He took a direct part in the affairs of state, being present at the Councils of Rense and Frankfurt in 1338[1455]. From this time his writings, hitherto largely theological, became more distinctly political[1456]. In spite of excommunication, he continued to support the Emperor’s cause till Louis’ death in 1347, and even later[1457]. But now few only of the rebel friars were left: Cesena died in 1342, Bonagratia in 1347; and in 1349 Ockham sent back the seal of the Order to the orthodox General Minister, and professed his desire to be reconciled to the Church[1458]. Clement VI authorized the General Minister to absolve Ockham and his associates on their confessing in set form their errors and heresies, and promising to obey the Pope and his successors. Whether Ockham subscribed the papal formula, nothing remains to show. The date of his death is uncertain; it may however be concluded that he died at Munich not before 1349[1459].

Philosophical and Theological Works.

Commentarii in Porphyrii librum: in Aristotelis Praedicamentorum librum (or De decem generibus): in Aristotelis de Interpretatione libros duo: in libros Elenchorum.

In his Catalogue of the Bruges MSS., Haenel reads ethicorum instead of elenchorum. Ockham seems to have written no distinct work on morals, though another is attributed to him by a careless blunder. Caius College MS. 200, § 3, contains, according to Smith’s catalogue, Correcciones Occami (Occani in the old catalogue of 1697) in Oculum moralem. The MS. really reads:

In other words, it is merely a fragment of chapter viii. of the well-known Oculus moralis attributed to Grostete or Peter de Limoges. See e.g. MS. Bodl. Laud. Misc. 677, fol. 180 b, 2nd column.

Summa logices (ad Adamum): 3 parts. Inc. ‘Dudum me frater et amice.... Omnes logicae tractatores.’

Quaestiones in octo libros physicorum. Inc. ‘Valde reprehensibilis.’

Questiones Ockam super phisicam et tractatus ejusdem de futuris contingentibus.

Summulae in libros physicorum (called by Leland, De introitu scientiarum): 4 parts. Inc. prol. ‘Studiosissime saepiusque rogatus.’ Inc. Pars. I. ‘Solent ante preambula indagare sapientes ante scientie ingressum de ipsis scientiis.... Primo de ejus unitate.’

Quaestiones (or Commentarii) in quatuor libros Sententiarum. Inc. ‘Circa prologum primi libri Sententiarum quero primo utrum sit possibile intellectui viatoris.’

Ockham’s commentary on the first book of the Sentences was probably composed when he was B.D. of Oxford; it is longer than his commentaries on the other three books together, and is often found separate.

It is possible that the commentaries on the last three books exist in a fuller form in the following MSS. than in the printed editions:—

Quodlibeta septem. Inc. quodl. i. qu. i. ‘Utrum possit probari per rationem naturalem quod tantum unus sit deus: quod sic.’

De motu, loco, tempore, relatione, praedestinatione et praescientia Dei, et quodlibetum.

De successivis. Inc. ‘Videndum est de locis.’

Propositio an sit concedenda; essentia divina est quaternitas.

De sacramento altaris, and De corpore Christi: 2 treatises[1463]. Inc. i. ‘Circa conversionem panis.’ Inc. ii. ‘Stupenda super munera largitatis.’

Centiloquium theologicum. Inc. prol. ‘Anima nobis innata eo potius naturaliter appetit cognoscere suum finem, quo pre ceteris appetentibus omnibus corruptibilibus creatis ratione ditata ad ymaginem et similitudinem dei celsius eminentiusque figuratur.’

Quaestiones Ocham in terminabiles Alberti de Saxonia.

Sermones Occham, by William or Nicholas of Ockham?

Notes or disputations on theology and philosophy, to which the name ‘Okam’ is appended.

Gul. Ocham quedam scripta.

Political Works.

The dates are taken for the most part from Riezler.

Opus nonaginta dierum (written between 1330 and 1333). Inc. prol. ‘Doctoris gentium et Magistri Beati Pauli.’

Epistola ad Fratres Minores in Capitulo apud Assisium congregatos, A. D. 1334. Inc. ‘Religiosis viris fratribus minoribus universis A. D. Millesimo CCCXXXIIII. in festo Petri apud Assisium congregatis frater Guilhelmus de Ocham fidem defensare.’

This has not been printed and is not mentioned by Riezler; it is distinct from the letter of Cesena to the Friars Minors about to assemble in Chapter at Perpignan or Avignon, dated April 25, 1331 (printed Lyons 1495), and the letter of Cesena to all the Friars Minors, dated Jan. 24, 1331 (printed ibid.; Goldast, II. 1238, and Riezler, 248, give 1333 as the date of this last letter).

Dialogus[1464] inter magistrum et discipulum de Imperatorum et Pontificum Potestate; 3 parts:

i. De fautoribus haereticorum libri septem (written A. D. 1342 or 1343). Inc. ‘In omnibus rebus curiosus existis.’

ii. De dogmatibus Johannis XXII, tractatus duo (A. D. 1333 or 1334). Inc. ‘Verba oris ejus iniquitas et dolus.’iii. De gestis circa fidem altercantium, (A. D. 1342-3). (1) De potestate papae et cleri; 4 books. (2) De potestate et juribus Romani imperii; 3 books. Inc. ‘Discip. Salomonis utcumque sequendo vestigia.’

Part III, according to the scheme drawn up in the Prologue[1466], was to consist of nine treatises:

i. De potestate papae et cleri; ii. De potestate et juribus Romani Imperii; iii. De gestis Johannis XXII; iv. De gestis Domini Ludovici de Bavaria; v. De gestis Benedicti XII; vi. De gestis fratris Michaelis de Cesena; vii. De gestis et doctrina fratris Geraldi Odonis; viii. De gestis fratris Guilhelmi de Ockham; ix. De gestis aliorum Christianorum, regum, &c.

The edition of 1495, of which Goldast’s is a reprint, ends at the 23rd chapter of the 3rd book of Treatise II, with the words:

The last sentence Goldast surmises to be an addition of the editor, Ascensius; but it occurs at the end of the Dijon MS., and both Goldast and Riezler are probably mistaken in thinking that Ascensius had the whole work before him and arbitrarily omitted Treatises III-IX[1467]. These were probably never written. The Lambeth MS. (the only MS. in England which contains Part III) and one version in the Mazarine MS. end with the words ‘passibilis et mortalis,’ like the printed editions, with the colophon (in Lambeth MS.): ‘Dyalogorum venerabilis Guillermi Okam finis.’ The five other MSS. in Paris, which contain Part III, leave out the last seven chapters of the printed edition, and the Auxerre and Toulouse MSS. likewise do not go beyond the third book of Treatise II. It is possible that the Vatican and Basel MSS. may supply the remaining treatises; but this is unlikely. About the year 1400, Peter d’Ailly, who must have had exceptionally good opportunities for getting information[1468], wrote a summary of the Dialogus[1469]. In this he omits Treatise I of Part III, and concludes with the 16th chapter of the third book of Treatise II (like the Parisian MSS.), adding:

Several of Ockham’s other works correspond in substance to the projected treatises of Part III; these will be noted in due course.

Defensorium (de paupertate Christi) contra Johannem XXII (written between 1335 and 1349). Inc. ‘Universis Christi fidelibus.... Primus error est quod Dominus noster.’

De imperatorum et pontificum potestate; 27 chapters or paragraphs. Inc. prol. ‘Universis Christi fidelibus presentem tractatulum inspecturis, frater Willelmus de Okkham.’ Inc. cap. i. ‘Si reges et principes ecclesiarum.’

Tractatus adversus errores Johannis XXII, or Compendium errorum papae (written between 1335 and 1338). Inc. ‘Secundum Bokkyg (?) super sacram scripturam.’

Opusculum adversus errores Johannis XXII. Inc. ‘Non invenit locum penitencie Johannes XXII.... Ut pateat evidenter, quod retractatio quam Johannes XXII fecisse refertur, ipsum ab hereticorum numero non excludit.’

Tractatus ostendens quod Benedictus Papa XII nonnullas Johannis XXII haereses amplexus est et defendit; 7 books (written c. 1338). Inc. prol. ‘Ambulavit et ambulat insensanter non re sed nomine Benedictus XII in viis patris sui Johannis vidz. XXII.’ Inc. lib. i, ‘Dogmatum perversorum que Johannes XXII pertinaciter tenuit.’

Tractatus oqua (sic) de potestate imperiali. Inc. ‘Inferius describuntur allegaciones per plures magistros in sacra pagina approbate per quas ostenditur evidenter quod processus factus et sentencia lata in frankfort per dominum lodowicum quartum dei gracia Romanorum imperatorem.’ The decree of Louis referred to is dated Aug. 6, 1338[1471].

Octo questiones super potestate ac dignitate papali, or De potestate pontificum et imperatorum (written between 1339 and 1342). Inc. ‘Sanctum canibus nullatenus.’ Inc. quest. 1. ‘Primo igitur queritur utrum potestas spiritualis et laicalis suprema.’

De jurisdictione Imperatoris in causis matrimonialibus, A. D. 1342. Inc. ‘Divina providentia disponente.’

De electione Caroli IV (written 1347-9). Inc. ‘Quia sepe viri ignari.’

The following treatises by Ockham are mentioned by Leland, Wadding, and others, but have not been identified.

I. Philosophical.

seen by Leland in the Franciscan Library, London (Collect. III, 49): Tanner identifies it with Defensorium Logices. Perhaps it is the same as Dialectica Nova: inc. ‘Contradictio in Deo non est.’ (Bale, Pits).

Comment. in Metaphysicam.

Tanner refers to MSS. Peterhouse 217 (where however no mention of it occurs), and Caius Coll. K. 5 (?), perhaps a mistake for H. 5 = 464, which contains Ockham’s logic.Leland adds:

De perfectione specierum (Wadding). Inc. ‘Quia Magister.’

II. Political.

Note.—In his catalogue of Vatican MSS., Montfaucon mentions, among Praecipui codices MSS. Bibliothecae Vaticanae, ‘947, ad 956 Guill. Occhami opera.’ See Montfaucon, Bibl. Bibliothecarum MSS. p. 100.

Henry de Costesey or Cossey (Norfolk) is reckoned among the Oxford Franciscans by Bale and others, but without evidence. He was forty-sixth Master of the Minorites at Cambridge (c. 1336)[1472], and is said to have died at Babwell[1473].

Commentarius super Apocalypsim. Inc. ‘Apocalypsis Jhesu Christi quam.... Dividitur enim iste liber sicut alii libri in prohemium et tractatum.’

Comment. super Psalterium. Inc. ‘Aperiam in psalterio.’

John de Hentham was a Minorite in the Oxford Convent in 1340, when he acted as attorney for the warden[1475].

Hugh de Willoughby or Wylluby, S.T.P., was the Chancellor of the University in 1334. He held the prebend of Barnby, in the diocese of York, in 1338. It is not known when he became a Franciscan; but it was no doubt in his declining years[1476].

Peter de Gaieta was elected in the General Chapter at Assisi, c. 1340, to take the degree of B.D. and lecture on the Sentences at Oxford. When the appointment of a friar to read the Sentences at Paris was discussed in the General Chapter at Marseilles in 1343, Peter obtained many votes. In the same year the degree of Master in the University of Naples was conferred on him by the command of Pope Clement VI. He had previously lectured on the Sentences there, and been Minister of the Provinces of Apulia and Terra Laboris[1477].

John Lathbury (Bucks), said to have been a native of the Reading friary[1478], was D.D. of Oxford and flourished about the middle of the fourteenth century[1479]. The evidence for the date is found in his own most famous work[1480]; the passage may be quoted as an authentic specimen of a subject of conversation between two Oxford Franciscans:

There appear to have been two contemporary Minorites of the same name and family. Bale, after mentioning the commentaries of John Ridevaus on the letter of Valerius to Rufinus and the mythologies of Fulgentius, adds[1481]:

The elder died at Reading at an advanced age in 1362, the younger at Northampton in 1375[1482]. It is not clear which of the two was the author.

The best known work of John Lathbury is his Commentary on Lamentations, or Liber moralium in Threnos Hieremiae, or Lectura super librum Threnorum. Inc. ‘Juxta mores modernorum.’

Distinctionum liber theologicarum, or Alphabetum morale. Inc. ‘Abstinendum est a carnalibus delitiis.’

De luxuria clericorum.

De timore et amore Domini, &c., secundum Johannem Lathbury, Thomam de Alquino ... aliosque.

Super Acta Apostolorum. Inc. ‘Superedificati estis supra fundamentum apostolorum.’

Hermann of Cologne was a contemporary and friend of John Lathbury at Oxford, c. 1343[1483]. It is impossible to identify him with any of the other Hermanns who belonged to the Minorite Order at this time: e.g. Hermann of Saxony, the lawyer (fl. 1337), or Hermann Gygas, the historian[1484].

Robert (or John?) Lamborne,

He became confessor to Queen Isabella in 1327[1486], and he still occupied this office, ‘though he was so attenuated that he was almost or quite blind,’ in 1343, when Clement VI granted him certain privileges[1487]. It is however very doubtful whether he was ever at Oxford. The name occurs in the Old Catalogue of Fellows of Merton College, under the reign of Edward III. If the two are identical, Lamborne ought to be placed in the Catalogue under Edward II, as he was clearly a friar in 1327; but there is no good reason for assuming their identity: Robert Lamborn of Merton may be a mistake for Reginald Lamborn[1488]. Friar John (?) Lamborne, confessor to Queen Isabella, was buried in the choir of the Grey Friars Church, London[1489].

Reginald Lambourne was B.D. of Merton College (c. 1350-1360), where he was a pupil of the famous mathematicians, William Rede and John Ashendon[1490]. He then entered the Benedictine Order, was at Eynsham Abbey in 1363/4 and 1367, and incepted D.D. as a monk[1491]. He afterwards took the Franciscan habit at Oxford, and died at Northampton[1492].

Epistola a Reginaldo Lambourne, monacho simplici Eynshamensi, ad quendam Johannem London, de significatione eclipsium lunae ‘hoc anno instante, 1363.’

Epistola a Reginaldo Lambourne monacho Eynshamensi [ad. Gul. Rede ut videtur] a^o 1367, de conjunctionibus Saturni Jovis et Martis cum prognosticatione malorum inde in annis 1368-1374 probabiliter occurrentium.

MS. Bodl.:—Digby 176, fol. 50, and 40 (sec. xiv).

Robert Eliphat flourished in the middle of the fourteenth century; he is placed among the Masters of the English Province by Bartholomew of Pisa[1493]. Pits states that he was famous at Oxford and Paris[1494]. There can be little doubt that he is identical with Robert Alifax or Halifax, the fifty-sixth Master of the Franciscans at Cambridge[1495].

Robertus Haliphax de sententiarum libris I et II.

Primus Eliphat super sententias.

Quaestiones Rob. Eliphat.

Gilbert Peckham, fellow of Merton in 1324 and 1339, may be identical with the fifty-ninth Master of the Minorites at Cambridge[1497].

William Tithemersch (co. Northampton), ‘of the custody of Oxford,’ was sixty-first Master of the Minorites at Cambridge, and twenty-first Provincial, about 1350; he was succeeded by Roger Conway, and was buried at Bedford[1498].

William Scharshille (co. Stafford),

The date is not specified. A William de Shareshull, who is no doubt the same person, was ordered to attend a parliament in Scotland for the confirmation of a treaty between Edward III and Edward Balliol, in 1333; he is mentioned as a justice of assize in 1337, and he was appointed one of the examiners of some ecclesiastical petitions to Parliament in 1351[1500]. In 1356 ‘Dominus Willhelmus de Scharshull’ appears among the witnesses to an indenture between the University of Oxford and Richard d’Amory[1501].

Richard Lymynster and Giuliortus de Limosano are mentioned in a University decree as ‘wax-doctors’ of the Mendicant Orders at Oxford in 1358. It is uncertain to which Order the former belonged. The latter was a Minorite from Sicily, who tried to obtain the degree of B.D. by means of letters from the king of England[1502].

Jerome of St. Mark is said to have been a Minorite and Bachelor of Oxford, and author of a treatise on logic. His date—or even the century in which he lived—is unknown[1503].

John of Nottingham was a member of the Oxford Convent in the middle of the fourteenth century: he was one of the witnesses to the will of Robert de Trenge, Warden of Merton, and perhaps his confessor; the will was executed 1351, and proved 1357[1504].

Roger Conway, of the convent of Worcester and D.D. of Oxford, in 1355 obtained papal license to live in the Franciscan Convent of London

who were said to flock in great numbers to this friary; Roger was to be subject to the rules of the house like any other friar[1505]. In 1357 he came forward as the champion of the Mendicant Orders against the Archbishop of Armagh, and wrote and preached in London ‘on the poverty of Christ’ and the right of the friars to hear confessions[1506]. According to one account

In 1359 Innocent VI issued a bull confirming the decree Vas electionis of John XXII,

He was twenty-second Provincial Minister of England[1509], and perhaps held the office at the time of the controversy with Richard Fitzralph[1510]. Bale and Pits state that he died in 1360; it is not improbable that he lived several years longer. He was buried in the choir of the Grey Friars Church, London[1511].

A book formerly belonging to Roger Conway is preserved among the MSS. of Gray’s Inn; Codex 1, formerly 17 (= 1584 in Bernard)—

Defensio Religionis Mendicantium, against Armachanus, or De confessionibus per regulares audiendis contra informationes Armachani; known also by the opening words of the treatise (preface): ‘Confessio et pulchritudo.’

Intellectus fratrum de constitutione Vas electionis quo ad Negativam ibidem definitam. Inc. ‘Verumptamen quia iste dominus Reverendus dicit quod intellectus fratrum est erroneus.’

Quaestiones tres de Christi paupertate et dominio temporali. Inc. ‘Questio est hic de mendicitate;’ or ‘Utrum Christus hominum perfectissimus.’

Simon Tunstede, de Tunstude, or Donstede, is said by Bale to have entered the Order at Norwich, where, according to Blomefield, he afterwards became Warden of the Franciscan Convent[1513]. He was Regent Master of the Friars Minors at Oxford in 1351[1514], and according to contemporary evidence was ‘skilled in music and in the seven liberal arts[1515].’ He wrote on the Meteorics of Aristotle[1516], and made some alterations in the horologe called Albion, invented in 1326 by Richard of Wallingford, Abbat of St. Albans, and in the book which the Abbat wrote about his invention[1517]. He became twenty-third Provincial Minister in succession to Roger Conway about 1360[1518]. He was buried among the Poor Clares of Brusyard in Suffolk[1519]; Bale and Pits mention 1369 as the year of his death.

A work on music, Quatuor principalia musicae, or De musica continua et discreta, cum Diagrammatibus, has been erroneously ascribed to Tunstede[1520]; it was composed by a Minorite during Tunstede’s regency at Oxford, and perhaps under his supervision.

Robert de Wysete, Wyshed, or de Wycett, D.D. of Oxford, succeeded Tunstede as twenty-fourth Provincial (c. 1370?)[1521]. He was buried in the choir of the Grey Friars’ Church in London[1522].

John Mardeslay or Mardisle[1523], probably a Yorkshireman, incepted as D.D. at Oxford before 1355. Early in this year he disputed with the Dominican, William Jordan, in the Chapter-house and Chancellor’s schools at York, de conceptione B. Mariae Virginis, upholding the Immaculate Conception[1524]. His manner of disputation gave offence, and the Chapter of York issued letters testifying to his good conduct (April 10, 1355)[1525]:

He was certainly an able debater. In 1374 he was summoned with three other Doctors of Divinity to a council at Westminster, over which the Black Prince and the Archbishop of Canterbury presided[1526]. The subject of discussion was the right of England to refuse the papal tribute. The Archbishop and bishops said: ‘The pope is lord of all, we cannot refuse him this tribute.’ A monk of Durham brought forward the old argument about the two swords. Mardeslay at once replied with the text ‘Put up again thy sword into his place,’

At the end of the day’s sitting, the Archbishop said, ‘There were good counsels in England without the friars.’ The prince answered, ‘We have had to call them because of your fatuity; your counsel would have lost us our kingdom.’ The next day the papal party yielded. Between this date and 1380 Mardeslay was twenty-fifth Provincial Minister[1527]. The date of his death is uncertain; he was buried at York[1528].

Thomas of Portugal studied at Oxford and Paris, c. 1360, and lectured at Lisbon and Salamanca. He was elected in the General Chapter to lecture on the Sentences at Cambridge, and was promoted to the degree of D.D. in the University of Toulouse by Pope Gregory XI in 1371[1529].Philip Zoriton (?), according to Wadding ‘professor in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge,’ received the insignia of the magisterium at the hands of Friar Francis de Cardaillac S.T.P. in 1364[1530]. Zoriton appears to be a mistake for Torinton or Torrington. Philip Torrington S.T.P. was made Archbishop of Cashel in 1373[1531]. He was sent by Richard II as ambassador to Urban VI, and, on his return in 1379, urged the English king to invade France in support of the Pope, against the Antipope Clement VII. Philip died in 1380[1532].

Dalmacus de Raxach and Franciscus de Graynoylles of the kingdom of Aragon, friars Minors residing at Oxford for the purposes of study, obtained royal letters of protection on Feb. 22nd, 1378[1533].

Francis de S. Simone de Pisis, called ‘of Empoli,’ is mentioned by Bartholomew of Pisa as having studied at Oxford[1534], where he perhaps became D.D. He flourished in the fourteenth century; according to Wadding, 1376.

Determinatio Magistri Francisci de Empoli de materia montis (?)

John Hilton, D.D. of Oxford, ‘determined’ in the schools against Ughtred Bolton monk of Durham, in defence of his Order. Bale and Pits state that he died at Norwich, 1376[1535].

Determinationes de paupertate fratrum, et de statu Minorum, lib. ii. Inc. ‘Articulus pertractandus sit.’

Quaestiones.

Hubert of Halvesnahen (?) Bachelor of Paris, Oxford and Cambridge, and ‘destinatus Lector Oxoniae,’ received the degree of Master in 1376 by papal commission at the hands of Friar Philip (Torrington), Archbishop of Cashel, who was then staying at Avignon[1537].

William de Prato, of the Order of Minorites, a native of Paris, was in 1363 raised to the degree of Master in the University of Paris by the Pope. In the papal letter[1538] to the ‘Chancellor of the Church of Paris,’ it is stated that he had

The Pope bids the chancellor admit him freely on the papal authority

just as though he were D.D. of Paris. The letter is dated XV Kal. Dec. A^o II. In 1370 he was sent to the Tartars by the pope, as bishop of Pekin and head of the Franciscan mission in Asia[1539]. The papal letter[1540] constituted him ruler of the Friars Minors in the lands

De eruditione Principum, by William de Prato, ordinis Praedicatorum (?)[1541].

John Somer, of the Convent of Bridgwater[1542], was at Oxford in 1380[1543]. It does not appear whether he was a doctor either at this time or afterwards. He enjoyed a great reputation as an astronomer, and is said to have made use of the astronomical researches of Roger Bacon[1544]. Chaucer refers to him in his treatise on the Astrolabe[1545].Somer is often coupled with the contemporary astronomer Nicholas of Lynn[1546], and it is possible that the following passage in Mercator’s Atlas, which is supposed by Hakluyt and others to refer to Nicholas, relates to John Somer[1547].

To this account John Dee[1550] adds the date 1360, and calls the friar a ‘Franciscan of Lynn’; Hakluyt (among other details) gives the name as ‘Nicholas de Lynna a Franciscan Friar.’ Nicholas of Lynn was a Carmelite[1551]. On the other hand, supposing that the story has a good foundation, it is more likely that the adventurous Friar was a native of some seaport on the East coast than of a Western town like Bridgwater.

Tertium opusculum Kalendarii (A. D. 1387-1462), composed

Cronica quaedam brevis fratris Johannis Somour ordinis sancti Francisci de conventu ville Briggewater.

His astronomical and astrological writings are frequently quoted:

Hugh Karlelle (Carlisle) and Thomas Bernewell, Oxford Minorites, were among the Doctors of Theology who condemned Wiclif’s twenty-four conclusions at the council held at Blackfriars, London, on May 21st, 1382[1552].

William Woodford or Widford was one of the most determined opponents of the Wicliffites. Wadding’s desire[1553] to claim this ‘extirpator of heretics’ as a fellow-countryman has led him to identify William Woodford with the comparatively unknown Friar William of Waterford. There is no ground for this identification, and dates make it almost impossible[1554]. In his earlier days at Oxford, probably when he was B.D., Woodford was on friendly or even intimate terms with Wiclif. When the two were lecturing on the Sentences, they carried on a courteous interchange of arguments and opinions on Transubstantiation[1555].

Woodford’s earliest extant work, of which the date is known, was composed in 1381; it consists of theological lectures under the title, ‘72 questiones de Sacramento Altaris,’ in answer to Wiclif’s ‘Confession,’ and was written in great haste; these lectures were delivered, perhaps at the Grey Friars London, within five weeks of the publication of the ‘Confession[1556].’ He does not seem to have been D.D. at this time. On the subject of his inception, a curious piece of information has been preserved in a MS. of the 15th century;

In 1389 he was regent master in theology among the Minorites at Oxford, and as such lectured in the schools of the Minorites against the adherents of Wiclif[1558]. In 1390 when he also lectured at Oxford on the same subject, he was vicar of the Provincial Minister[1559]. Among his pupils was Thomas Netter of Walden, afterwards Provincial of the Carmelites and reputed author of the Fasciculi Zizaniorum[1560]. Woodford appears now to have resided mainly at the Grey Friars, London: in 1396 he obtained from Boniface IX a papal sanction of the special privileges and graces which he enjoyed in this convent; the chief of them was the right to a private chamber or house[1561]. According to Bale and Pits he died, and was buried at Colchester in 1397[1562]. His name however appears among those buried in the choir of the Grey Friars Church, London.

The date of his death is uncertain; but one of his works seems to have been written in the reign of Henry IV[1564].

Woodford’s writings, dealing as they did for the most part with the question of the hour, were very popular and often copied.

Commentaries on Ezechiel, Ecclesiastes, S. Luke (cap. 6-9), S. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans.

De sacramento Eucharistiae, or, 72 quaestiones. Inc. ‘Ratione solemnitatis jam instantis.’

Determinationes quatuor; lectures at Oxford 1389-1390. Inc. ‘Utrum motiva.’

De causis condempnacionis articulorum 18 dampnatorum Johannis Wyclif, 1396. Probably written later; Henry is mentioned as King of England (Fasc. rer. p. 264).

De sacerdotio novi testamenti. Inc. ‘Utrum sacerdotium Novi.’

Defensorium mendicitatis contra Armachanum, or, Defensorium contra Armachanum, in Octavo libello de mendicitate Christi. Inc. ‘Postquam dominus Armachanus.’

De erroribus Armachani, or, Excerptiones xlii. errorum Armachani. Inc. ‘Quoad errores domini Armachani contentos.’

Responsiones contra Wiclevum et Lollardos, or, ad lxv. quaestiones Wiclevi contra fratres. Inc. ‘Primo quaeritur quot sunt ordines.’

De veneratione imaginum.

Epistola Episcopo Hereford. de decimis et oblacionibus contra Gualterum Britte:

Super quinque capitula Evangelii S. Matthaei:

Questions on God and angels, ‘fratris Willelmi ex Wodeford junioris.’

Other works attributed to him:

De oblationibus fiendis in locis sanctorum, and De peregrinationibus ad loca sancta, mentioned by Tanner (Bibl. 785), appear to be the same as Determinatio, An sancti sint orandi, vel oracio fienda sit sanctis, an anonymous treatise in Harl. MS. 31, § 7.

Summa de Virtutibus is identical with the Summa by William de Wodeford, Abbat, in Caius Coll. Cambridge, MS. 454.

Tractatus de Religione, addressed to Cardinal Julian Caesarinus in 1433, was the work of William of Waterford (Tanner Bibl. p. 364, Wadding ix, 129).

Peter Philargi or Philargus de Candia (afterwards Pope Alex. V) is said to have been of very humble origin, and to have begged his bread of necessity[1566]. Early in life he joined the Franciscans, who soon recognised his ability. He was sent to England in his youth and studied first at Norwich, and then at Oxford, where he became Bachelor of Theology[1567] (c. 1370?). He lectured on the Sentences at Paris in 1378[1568], and obtained the degree of D.D. in that University[1569]. In 1402 he became Archbishop of Milan, in 1405 Cardinal, and in 1409 he was elected Pope at the Council of Pisa, being then more than seventy years old and famous for learning and piety[1570]. His brief pontificate was chiefly remarkable for the favours and privileges which he lavished on the Mendicant Friars. He died on May 3rd, 1410, it was believed of poison administered by order of his successor John XXIII[1571]. He is described by an English chronicler as

Lectures on the Sentences.

Officium Visitationis B. V. Mariae, compiled by Peter when Bishop of Novara.

Prosae vel Sequentiae quinque, by Peter then Archbishop of Milan.

Praefationes Ambrosianae.

Conclusiones Petri de Candida Cardinalis Mediolanensis, S.T.P., pro moderno schismate auferendo (urging that a general Council should be called).

De obligationibus Epistola.

Thomas Kyngesbery, Kynbury, de Kyngusbury, D.D. of Oxford, was twenty-sixth Provincial Minister from 1379 or 1380 to 1390 or 1392[1573]. At the beginning of his ministry, which coincided with the beginning of the great Schism, he obtained from the Minorites, both in Provincial Chapter and in the separate convents, an oath of obedience to Urban VI[1574]. He appears to have been on terms of some intimacy with the royal family[1575], and about 1390 or 1392[1576] Richard II urged Boniface IX to appoint him by provision to the next vacant bishopric: the king describes him as

This recommendation appears to have had no result: perhaps Kyngesbery died about this time. He was buried at Nottingham[1577]. Though none of his writings remain, it may perhaps be inferred, from the fact that he is twice mentioned in connexion with scientific works by Minorites, that he was a patron of science in the Order[1578].

John Tewkesbury, Minorite, gave a treatise called ‘Quatuor principalia musicae’

John Tyssyngton subscribed the decree of the Chancellor Berton, condemning Wiclif’s twelve ‘conclusions’ on the sacraments, in 1381[1580]; he is the only Franciscan among the ten doctors whose names appear, and was regent master of the Friars Minors at this time[1581]. Soon afterwards Tyssyngton made an elaborate reply to Wiclif’s Confessio on Transubstantiation in the Franciscan Schools at Oxford, and issued the lecture as a treatise[1582]; though this composition bears marks of undue haste, it was considered to be of great value and was ordered to be kept in the University Archives[1583]. In 1392 Tyssyngton was at the Council of Stamford where the heresies of Henry Crompe, consisting chiefly of conclusions against the friars, were condemned[1584]. He succeeded Thomas Kyngesbery as twenty-seventh Provincial[1585]. Bale and Pits give 1395 as the year of his death: he was buried at London[1586].

The only work of his extant is the Confessio contra confessionem Johannis Wiclif, above referred to.

John Schankton, of the Order of Minors, appears to have been confessor of John Okele, skinner of Oxford. The latter, in his will dated October 20th, 1390, left Schankton 20s. a year for three years,

‘to celebrate masses for my soul and the souls of all those to whom I am in any manner bound, and the souls of all the faithful dead, in the conventual church of the Minorites at Oxford:’

if Schankton died in the course of those three years, he was, before his death, to appoint another friar to fulfil the wishes of the testator[1587].

John Romseye, D.D., succeeded W. Woodford as regent master of the Friars Minors in 1389[1588]. He was buried in the Chapel of All Saints in the Grey Friars’ Church, London[1589].

John Wastenays, Inceptor in theology at Oxford, and possibly one of the ‘wax-doctors,’ is mentioned in the following letter given under the privy seal, temp. Richard II[1590]:

Jacob Fey of Florence studied at Oxford in 1393, when he transcribed a manuscript formerly kept in the library of Santa Croce, Florence, now in the Laurentian library[1591]. The colophon runs:—

Fey was inquisitor in his native land in 1402[1593].

Nicholas Fakenham (Norfolk) enjoyed the favour and patronage of Richard II. He was doctor of Oxford and twenty-eighth Provincial Minister of the Order in 1395. On the 5th of November in that year, on the occasion apparently of his inception, he ‘determined’ at Oxford on the papal schism by command of the king. This lecture has been preserved[1594]; the introduction may be given here, somewhat abbreviated.

Then he treats learnedly about the schismatical churches and shows that the Church can be reformed only by the punishment of those who have disturbed its peace—namely, the Cardinals.

He ceased to be Minister some years before his death. In 1405 he was with Friar J. Mallaert appointed papal commissary to examine into the charges made by the English Minorites against John Zouche, then Provincial Minister. The commissaries deposed Zouche; and on the latter’s reappointment by papal authority, refused to obey him[1595]. According to Bale he died 1407[1596]; he was buried at Colchester[1597].

At the end of the ‘determinatio’ in Harl. MS., 3768 (fol. 196) is the note:

Some ‘conclusions’ then follow.

(Richard) Tryvytlam or Trevytham seems to have flourished about 1400; Hearne suggests that he was the same as Robert Finingham, a Franciscan who lived about 1460[1598], but this is a quite unwarranted assumption. Tryvytlam is only known from his rhymed Latin poem, ‘De laude Universitatis Oxoniae,’ a defence of the friars and attack on the monks. From the poem it is clear that he was an Oxford friar, and one line points to his having been a Franciscan:

Among the assailants of the mendicants he mentions by name Ughtred of Durham, who flourished in the reign of Richard II. His poem has been edited by Hearne (Oxon. 1729), from a fifteenth century MS. then in the possession of Roger Gale, Esq.

William Auger or Anger, according to Leland[1600], studied in the Franciscan convent at Oxford, and was afterwards made Warden of the Grey Friars at Bridgwater, where he died and was buried, A. D. 1404[1601].

John Edes, Edaeus, or of Hereford, is said to have been a Minorite of Oxford, and to have written commentaries on many of Aristotle’s works, as well as on the Sentences and Apocalypse[1602]. He afterwards retired to Hereford, where he was elected warden, and where he died in 1406[1603].

Quedam constituta (?)[1604] Johannis Ede de ordine minorum. Inc. ‘Triplex fuit beneficium abrahe, viz. preeleccio, conversacio, propagacio ... Questio utrum personarum accepcio sit peccatum.’

William Butler or Botellere was regent master of the Minorites at Oxford in 1401, when he lectured against the translation of the Bible into English[1606]. He occurs as the thirtieth Provincial Minister and successor to John Zouche[1607]. He was probably the person elected by the Chapter at Oxford on the 3rd of May, 1406, on the deposition of Zouche[1608]. Though the latter was afterwards restored, he does not seem to have been generally recognised in England, and was in 1408 made Bishop of Llandaff[1609]. Butler’s tenure of office seems to have been reckoned from 1408. A new ordinance was made at this time that no Provincial of the Minorites should remain in office more than six years[1610]. William Butler resigned in 1413 or 1414, but was reinstated by Pope John XXIII[1611]. Whether he actually entered on his duties again does not appear. The date of his death is unknown. Bale and Pits state that he was buried at Reading[1612]. The Catalogue of Illustrious Franciscans, as quoted by Leland, calls him ‘Flos universitatis temporibus suis.’

Besides the treatise against the English translation of the Bible (Merton Coll. MS. 67) he is said to have written De indulgentiis papalibus. Inc. ‘Articulus pro finali cessatione lecture sentenciarum’[1613].

Vincent Boys, D.D. of Oxford, was elected thirty-first Provincial on the voluntary retirement of W. Butler in 1413. Butler was reinstated by the Pope and the election of Boys quashed; but no stigma was to attach to the latter[1614]. Tanner mentions a David Boys, Carmelite, c. 1450[1615].

Peter Russel was D.D. of Oxford[1616], and taught also in Spain. On November 25th, 1399, Martin, king of Aragon, gave him power

He was the thirty-second Provincial of England, and retired from the office in 1420, having presumably held it for six years[1618].

He wrote or lectured in defence of Mendicancy. MS. Bodleian, Digby, 90, f. 200, contains a reply to him:

Robert Wellys or Wallys, D.D. of Oxford, was elected thirty-third Minister on Russel’s retirement in 1420. Martin V empowered the Minister of the Roman province to confirm the election, but Wellys died in France before he had assumed the duties of his new office[1619].

Thomas Chayne, Minorite D.D., was one of the five friars appointed by Congregation in 1421 to decide what should be done with the pledges placed in the chests ‘before the first pestilence[1620].’ He was buried in the chapel of All Saints in the Church of the Grey Friars, London[1621].

Hugo David was D.D. and regent master of the Oxford Franciscans about 1420[1622]. On the deposition of Roger Dewe or Days, Provincial Minister, in 1430, Hugo David and John (?) Wynchelse were appointed vicars of the province[1623].

Determinacio Fratris et Magistri Hugonis Davidis, ordinis Fratrum Minorum, in Universitate Oxoniensi Regentis, utrum penitens, peccata sua confessus Fratri Licentiato, teneatur eadem rursus confiteri proprio Sacerdoti.

Robert Colman is said to have been a Minorite of Norwich[1624]. He was S.T.P. and Chancellor of the University in 1419[1625]. In 1428 he attended as Minorite D.D. the diocesan synod at Norwich, where inquisition was made into the heresies of William Whyte[1626]. He is said to have induced Walter Clopton, Knight, chief justice of England, to enter the Order in his old age[1627]. Leland says:

Matthias DÖring studied at Oxford in his youth[1629], and perhaps entered the Franciscan Order there. He was certainly a Minorite in 1422, when he matriculated at Erfurt as ‘lector Minorum’[1630]. He seems to have been lecturing in the Franciscan Convent at Erfurt some time before this event; his lectures on the first book of the Sentences were finished on April 21st, 1422. He may have been at Oxford about 1415 and perhaps took the degree of B.D. there. In 1423, at any rate, he appears as B.D., and became Provincial Minister of Saxony in 1427[1631]. He was one of the representatives of the University of Erfurt at the Council of Basel in 1432, where he played a leading part[1632]. In 1433 he was sent by the Council as ambassador to Eric, king of Denmark. Soon after this he returned to Erfurt. In 1438 he wrote a pamphlet entitled ‘Confutatio primatus papae,’ with the object of enlisting the support of the secular princes on the side of the Council against the pope. He seems himself to have been a trusted friend of his Margraf, Frederic of ThÜringen.

In his relations to his Order he appears as a consistent champion of the Conventuals against the stricter Observants. In 1443 he was elected General Minister of the former, and held the office till 1449. In 1455 his name occurs among the Conventual Provincial Ministers; after a struggle with the Archbishop of Magdeburg on behalf of the Conventuals he resigned the Provincialate in 1461, and retired to Kyritz, leaving the Archbishop in possession of the field. DÖring however seems to have been left in peace till his death, July 24th, 1469. His chief works besides the treatise already mentioned were a defence of Nicholas de Lyra against Paul Burgos, written between 1434 and 1440 (printed several times; e.g. at Basel, 1507); a defence of the miraculous blood of Wilsnach; and his Chronicle; the latter was compiled from notes taken at different times from the end of the thirties onwards; and embraces the period from 1420 to 1464. It has been twice edited, by Mencken and by Riedel; both editions are said to be inaccurate.

William Russell, ‘of the Convent of Stamford in the diocese of Lincoln,’ argued that a religious might lie with a woman without mortal sin; this thesis was discussed and condemned in the Convocation of Canterbury at St. Paul’s on October 12th, 1424, and Russell submitted to the decision of the clergy[1633]. On May 15th, 1425, he again appeared before Convocation to answer the charge of having publicly held and preached on Jan. 28th, 1425, that tithes need not be paid to the parish priest, but might be applied by the tithe-payer ‘in pios usus pauperum’[1634]. At this time Russell was warden of Friars Minors of London[1635]. At first he tried to defend his doctrine, then submitted. The Archbishop enjoined on him, as a penance, that he should next Sunday after service solemnly renounce his error in set form[1636] at Paul’s Cross. At the time appointed Russell did not appear and was in consequence excommunicated. The proceedings against him dragged on for some time. On July 11th, a letter of the University of Oxford in condemnation of his doctrines was exhibited, and later a similar letter from Cambridge; and on the 13th it was decreed

Meanwhile, Russell, now no longer warden, fled to Rome ‘to defende the forsaide erronye doctrine’[1637]. On August 12th, 1425, he was imprisoned by order of the Pope, first in the Pope’s, then in the ‘Soldan’s’ prison. The following January he escaped from prison and fled to England, where he was received for one night by the Friars Minors of London. He seems to have remained at large for more than a year. He surrendered or was captured in March, 1427, and on the 21st of that month, in accordance with the papal decision, he read in English a complete recantation of his doctrine on tithes at Paul’s Cross[1638], and was then handed over to the Bishop of London to be imprisoned during the Pope’s pleasure. He was at liberty again in 1429 when he incepted as D.D. at Oxford, and paid £10 to the University instead of giving a feast to the Regents[1639]. The University showed its hatred of his teaching by adding to the oaths which had to be taken by every inceptor in every faculty[1640], a disavowal of Russell’s teaching on tithes[1641]. The oath has already been quoted at length in Chapter VI.

Super Porphyrii Universalia compendium, by William Russell, Friar Minor.

Comment. in Aristotelis Praedicamenta, anonymous, but probably by the same author.

William de Melton in 1427 went about the country preaching against tithes,

He had probably taken a degree at Oxford, as the University was appealed to to stop his preaching. The University wrote to the Duke of Gloucester and the King’s Council, and secured his arrest. Melton was brought back to Oxford, and is said to have recanted over and over again on his knees[1642]. He is probably the same as William Melton of the Friars Minors, S.T.P.[1643], who was preaching at York in 1426, on the subject of the mystery plays.

Roger Donwe or Days, D.D. of Oxford, became thirty-fifth Provincial Minister in succession to John David between 1426 and 1430; in the latter year he was ‘for just causes deposed by the Minister General.’ He was buried at Ware[1645].

Richard Leke or Leech, D.D. of Oxford, was thirty-sixth Provincial Minister between 1430 and 1438. He was buried at Lichfield[1646].Thomas Radner or Radnor, of the custody of Bristol and the Convent of Hereford, D.D. of Oxford, was Provincial in 1438, being the thirty-seventh in order. He was buried at Reading[1647].

John Feckyngtone, ‘of the Order of Minors in Oxford,’ was one of the two Rectors of Balliol College in 1433, his colleague being Richard Roderham, S.T.P. The Rectors, having, at the instance of the College, inquired into the working of the statutes, recommended a change in the clause of the first statute which provided that the Master of the College, if he received a benefice of the clear annual value of £10, was thereby incapacitated from holding his office.

The matter was submitted to the Bishop of London, who cancelled the objectionable clause[1649].

John Whytwell, Minorite, on February 7th, 1448/9, was allowed to count twenty oppositions pro completa oppositione[1650]. On January 25th, 1449/50, it was decided in solemn congregation, that one-half of the £10 paid by this friar at his inception as D.D. should be placed in the Rothbury Chest to be used for the partial redemption of the University jewels, and that the other half should be given to the proctors in payment of certain sums owed to them by the University[1651].

John Argentine supplicated for B.D. on October 20th, 1449, on the ground that he had studied philosophy for nine years, theology for seven, and had opposed and responded formally four times. The grace was conceded[1652]. In 1470 a John Argentine challenged and disputed against all the Regents of Cambridge; he does not appear to have been a friar[1653]: he was probably the John Argentine, M.D. and D.D., who was physician to the princes Edward and Arthur, and held several prebends and livings in the dioceses of Ely, Lichfield, Wells, and London, between 1487 and 1508[1654]. One of the same name, with the degree of B.D. was Provost of King’s College, Cambridge, from 1501 to 1507[1655].

Antony de Valle or Vallibus was admitted B.D., February 6th, 1449/50[1656]. He incepted as D.D. before March 22nd, 1451/2, when he was permitted

John David, on March 4th, 1450/1, was allowed to curtail his period of opponency and take the B.D. degree, on condition that he would lecture on the first book of Isaiah in the public schools[1658]. He became D.D. before June 5th, 1454, when he received permission

Another of the same name was lecturer to the Franciscans of Hereford before 1416, D.D. of Cambridge, and thirty-fourth Provincial Minister in 1426[1660].

David Carrewe, S.T.P., in 1452 received 6s. 8d. under the will of Richard Browne, alias Cordon, LL.D., Archdeacon of Rochester, &c., and benefactor of the friars of Oxford and elsewhere[1661]. This Carrewe is probably identical with the Friar David Carron, S.T.P., who, in 1448, was with Friar Nicholas Walshe, S.T.B., appointed commissioner to elect a Provincial of the Minorites in Ireland on the deposition of William O’Really: their choice fell on Gilbert Walshe, a relative of Nicholas, but O’Really was afterwards reinstated by the Pope[1662].

John Foxholes (co. York) on April 14th, 1451, was allowed to count opponency from Michaelmas term to Easter as his complete opposition, on condition that he should preach one Latin sermon in addition to those which he was bound to deliver by the University statutes[1663]; this was equivalent to a supplication for B.D.We venture to identify John Foxholes with John Foxalls or Foxal, Minorite, who lectured at Bologna and some other University[1664]. In 1475 he was appointed Archbishop of Armagh by the Pope, but died in England within a year or two, probably without having visited his diocese[1665].

He was the author of several works[1666]—

Expositio Universalium Scoti. Inc. ‘Creberrime instantiusque rogatus.’

Opusculum super libros Posteriorum.

Opusculum de primis et secundis intentionibus, juxta mentem Scoti, Mayronis, Aureoli, Boneti, et Antonii Andreae. Inc. ‘Quoniam materia de primis.’

Expositio super metaphysicam Antonii Andreae.

John Sunday, on May 17th, 1453, was allowed to count ‘opposition in each of the schools’ for about seven months, together with eighteen additional oppositions, as equivalent to the statutable opposition of one year[1668]. On June 10th, he was admitted B.D.[1669] On February 5th, 1453/4, after finishing his lectures on the Sentences, he supplicated for D.D., and grace to incept was conceded under certain conditions[1670].

Richard Treners, S.T.B., obtained a grace on December 2nd, 1454, to substitute one additional Latin sermon after taking his degree (of D.D.) for two responsions before the degree[1671].

William Goddard the elder, ‘Doctor Oxoniae Disertissimus,’ succeeded Thomas Radnor, according to the Register of the Grey Friars of London, as thirty-eighth Provincial Minister[1672]. Radnor was minister in 1438, and it is probable that Goddard was not his immediate successor. At any rate, the latter was a leading man among the friars, and probably provincial minister between 1450 and 1460. Bishop Reginald Pecock wrote a letter addressed Doctori ordinis fratrum minorum Godard, in which

A little later, the friar had his revenge. On November 27th, 1457, Pecock, being convicted of heretical opinions, abjured at Paul’s Cross.

He was living in London many years after this event. In the will, dated March 6th, 1471/2, of John Crosby, ‘citezein and grocer and alderman of London,’ is the clause:

Similar bequests follow to the prior of the Austin Friars of London and to the provincial of the same Order. From this entry it would appear that Goddard was not provincial of the Minorites in 1472. From the distinguished position which he evidently occupied in 1457, and from the passage in the Grey Friars’ Chronicle quoted above, it might be assumed that he had already held the office and retired. But William Goddard is mentioned as provincial in a record dated Dorchester, October 4th, 1485[1676]. Was this Goddard senior or junior? For there were two Franciscans of this name in the fifteenth century. There is nothing to show that the younger Goddard was ever provincial minister; he was warden of the London convent, but was not buried in the choir, where all the ministers mentioned in the Register were buried[1677]. Further, the Register of the Grey Friars states that the younger Goddard died on September 26th, 1485, i.e. before the record was drawn up. The Register is, however, in the matter of dates absolutely untrustworthy. Without further evidence it seems impossible to decide with certainty which of the two was provincial in 1485; and, if it was the elder, whether he held office twice. William Goddard the elder was buried in the choir of the Franciscan Church in London.

Aqua vite secundum doctrinam magistri Godard per Johannem Grene medicum scriptum; a short receipt in English.

Richard Ednam supplicated on January 27th, 1454/5, that eight oppositions should stand for the complete opposition required by the statutes[1679]; the grace was conceded without conditions, and Ednam was admitted B.D., November 28th, 1455[1680]. On April 2nd, 1462, he supplicated for D.D., promising to pay £10 on the day of his inception; the grace to incept was granted on condition

He did not take advantage of this grace, and on May 24th, 1463, he again supplicated for D.D.; the grace was conceded on condition

He was at this time clearly not in the position of a simple mendicant. In March, 1464/5 he was made Bishop of Bangor[1683]. The next year[1684] he was allowed to appropriate a benefice ‘owing to the smallness of the income of the episcopal table.’ He died in 1496[1685].

Gundesalvus (Gonsalvo) of Portugal was admitted to oppose in theology in April, 1456[1686]. In February, 1456/7, he supplicated that he might reckon the two terms, during which he had been opponent, as a year, and proceed to the bachelor’s degree[1687]. On May 29th, 1459, having performed the exercises required for the doctor’s degree, he supplicated for grace to incept in theology, ‘notwithstanding that he had not ruled in Arts.’ The grace was conceded on condition that he should incept in the first week of the next term, and

Among the Observant friars of Portugal who died in 1504 to 1505 was

Gundessalvi Libri de Divisione Philosophiae, Bodl. MS. 2596 (Bernard) are probably not by this friar: cf. Cambridge MSS. No. 1025 (in Bernard): and Bibl. Nat. Paris, 16613 ‘Gumdissalvi Liber de anima’ (sec. xiii).

John Alien, B.D. of Cambridge, was on December 1st, 1459, incorporated as B.D. at Oxford under the following conditions: (1) he was to respond twice in the first year of his incorporation, and (2) to preach once to the University in the same period; (3) he was to pay 40s. to the building of the schools, and (4) oppose twice before his incorporation. The last two conditions were on the same day withdrawn at Alien’s request[1690]. He may be the same as Friar John Alen, S.T.P., sometime warden of the convent at London, where he was buried, in the Chapel of All Saints[1691].

Richard Rodnore and —— Roby, ‘friars of the Order of St. Francis,’ at Oxford, had a quarrel in 1461, in consequence of which Roby procured from the Archbishop of Canterbury an inhibition to prevent Rodnore being admitted to the degree of D.D. At the inception on June 27th, 1461, the Commissary refused to recognise the inhibition, Rodnore took his degree, and three persons who had been employed in presenting the Archbishop’s command were imprisoned by the Congregation of Regents as ‘disturbers of peace and violators of privileges,’ and suspended from their office in the University[1692].

Laurentius Gulielmi[1693] de Savona, a man of noble birth, and friar of the Province of Genoa, was for five years a pupil of Friar Francis of Savona (who in 1471 became Pope Sixtus IV), at Padua and Bologna[1694]. After this Laurentius lectured at Paris and Oxford[1695]. In 1478 he was at Cambridge, writing on rhetoric[1696]. In April, 1485, he dates a letter to William Waynflete, in praise of his foundation of Magdalen College, ‘in almo Conventu S. Francisci Londonii,’ where also he seems to have written his Triumphus Amoris Domini nostri Jesu Christi[1697]. He subsequently returned to Savona, where he died in 1495 at the age of eighty-one[1698].

His treatise Nova Rhetorica or Margarita eloquentiÆ, &c., was printed at St. Albans in 1480[1699].

Arenga fratris Gwilhelmi Sauonensis de epistolis faciendis. Inc. ‘Conquestus mecum es.’

MS. Munich:—Bibl. Regia, 5238 (sec. XV).

Fratris Laurentii Gulelmi de Traversagnis de Saona, ord. Min., S. Pag. Prof., in libros septem dialogorum, sive directorium vitae humanae, seu directorium mentis in Deum. Inc. prol. ‘Quum plures nationes:’ written at Savona, 1492[1700].

Isaac Cusack, or Cusag, in 1473, obtained letters from the University testifying to his learning and good conduct, and certifying that he had incepted as D.D., and

Armed with this testimonial, he went over to Ireland with a Dominican named Dionisius Tully; and the two friars

In 1482 the University, hearing of their doings, had them arrested with the co-operation of the Archbishop of Dublin, and sent back to Oxford. Being convicted of heresy, they were (according to Wood)

There seems to be no authority for Wood’s surmise, that they were afterwards reconciled to the University ‘by their complaints to great persons’[1701].

William Dysse in 1477 represented the Friars Minors of Oxford in the Court of Chancery. He may have been warden, more probably permanent or temporary ‘syndicus’ of the house[1702].

Menelaus (Menma) M^cCormic or M^cCarmacan is said to have studied at Oxford. He was promoted to the see of Raphoe in 1484, died on May 9, 1515 or 1516, and was buried in the Minorite Convent of Donegal[1703].

—— Wy?ht. The proctors in their accounts for the year ending April 17, 1482,

Mauritius de Portu, or O’Fihely, a native of County Cork, studied first at Oxford, then became regent of the Franciscan Schools at Milan in 1488, and regent doctor in theology at Padua in 1491, where he was honoured with the title of ‘Flos Mundi.’ He was minister of Ireland in 1506 and took a prominent part in deposing the General, Ægidius Delphinus, in the first capitulum generalissimum at Rome in that year. In 1506 also, he was made Archbishop of Tuam by Julius II. He was present at the Lateran Council in 1512, and died the next year; he was buried among the Grey Friars of Galway[1705].

Petrus Pauli de Nycopia, friar, who transcribed a work of Duns Scotus at Oxford, c. 1491, was probably a Minorite[1707].

John Percevall, D.D. of Oxford, was Provincial Minister about 1500[1708]. There appears to have been a contemporary writer of the same name, a Carthusian, who studied at Oxford and Cambridge. Among those buried in the choir of the Grey Friars, London,

Thomas Roger, warden of the Grey Friars of Gloucester, is mentioned in the following record of the Chancellor’s Court; it is to be regretted that no explanation of the circumstances is forthcoming.

John Kynton is once only described as a Minorite in the records.

He was senior theologus in 1503, and acted as commissary or Vice-Chancellor in 1503, 1504, 1507, 1510, 1512, 1513; ‘Dr. Kyngton, senior theologus,’ was commissary in 1532[1712]. Kynton preached the University sermon on Easter Sunday in 1515[1713]. He was Divinity reader to Magdalen College, and afterwards third Margaret Professor of Divinity: the latter post he resigned on October 5th, 1530[1714]. He was one of the theologians deputed by the University to confer with Wolsey on the condemnation of Luther’s books in 1521; he was further one of the committee appointed by the king’s command to examine more thoroughly the Lutheran doctrines at Oxford in the same year[1715]. He also took a prominent official, though not very decisive, part in the proceedings at Oxford in connexion with the king’s divorce[1716]. He was buried in Durham College Chapel;

John Smyth, B.D., on June 30th, 1506, obtained grace to incept with the condition

In January, 1506/7, he supplicated for the same grace, which was granted,

He was licensed on January 22nd, and incepted on January 26th, under Richard Kidderminster, Abbat of Winchcombe, paying £5 for his composition. In July 1507, he was dispensed from the duty of ‘deponing’ for that term, and in June 1508 he was allowed to postpone a sermon till the next term[1718].

John Hadley was B.D. in June, 1506[1719].

Christopher Studeley supplicated for B.D. on November 18th, 1506, after studying for ten years. He was buried at the Grey Friars, London, ‘between the choir and the altars.’

Ambrose Kell, Friar Minor, and scholar of theology, in March, 1506/7 obtained from Congregation the right of free entry into the University library on taking an oath not to injure the books[1721].

Gerard Smyth, on May 4th, 1507, obtained grace to oppose and proceed to the B.D. degree, after fifteen years’ study, on condition

He was admitted B.D. on February 6th, 1507/8[1723]. He was still B.D. in 1510, when he was appointed to preach the University sermon on Ash Wednesday[1724].

Brian Sandon, Sandey, or Sanden was Syndicus, legal advocate and bursar of the Franciscan Convent at Oxford from 1507 or before till the dissolution. A sketch of his career has already been given[1725].

Peter Lusetanus, or de Campo Portugaliensis, supplicated for B.D. on June 15th, 1506, after studying for eight years. He was admitted to oppose on May 10th, 1507, and appears as B.D. in the following March. He supplicated for D.D. in June 1509[1726].

John Banester supplicated for B.D. on October 24th, 1508, after studying for sixteen years ‘in universitate et extra’.

Thomas Rose, scholar of theology, was admitted to oppose on March 1508/9[1728].

Thomas Anyden as B.D. supplicated for D.D. on November 20th, 1507: the grace was conceded on condition that he would proceed before next Easter. On the same day, at his request, the condition was graciously cancelled. He was still B.D. in December, 1512. He is probably identical with ‘Thomas Anneday, frater ordinis minorum et Inceptor in s. theologia,’ who supplicated on April 12th, 1513,

‘Friar Thomas Anyday’ incepted July 4th, with three other Minorites, and paid the above sum[1729].

Roduricus admitted to oppose in theology, June 12th, 1509; he is perhaps the same as Roderic Witton, Franciscan, mentioned by Pits and Tanner[1730].

Walter Goldsmyth was appointed to preach on Ash Wednesday, 1509/10[1731].

John Tinmouth, or Maynelyn, Franciscan of Lynn, was educated at Oxford and Cambridge. He was warden of the Grey Friars of Colchester in 1493. In 1511 he resigned the rectory of Ludgershall, Bucks. In 1510 he had been made suffragan bishop of Lincoln with the title bishop of Argos; he held this office till his death. He was vicar of Boston in Lincolnshire in 1518. In the same year he became a brother, and in 1579 Alderman, of the Gild of Corpus Christi in Boston. He died in 1524, desiring in his will to be buried at Boston,

He left £5 to each of the Franciscan houses at Lynn, Oxford, and Cambridge. He is said to have written a life of St. Botolph[1732].

Alexander Barclay, D.D. of Oxford, the translator and part-author of the Ship of Fools, entered the Franciscan Order after 1514. He died in 1552[1733].

Henry Standish, of Standish in Lancashire, was D.D. of Oxford, and appears to have studied also at Cambridge[1734]. He was one of the court preachers at the beginning of Henry VIII’s reign, and frequently received payments for his services: the earliest grant to him in the State Papers was a sum of 20s. for preaching in 1511[1735]. In 1514 the King gave £10 to Dr. Standisshe and the Friars Minors for charges at the general chapter to be holden at Bridgwater[1736]. The next year the friar was in debt to the extent of 100 marcs[1737]. Standish was probably at this time warden of the Grey Friars of London[1738]. The time during which he was Provincial Minister cannot be determined[1739]. In 1515 he attended a council of divines and temporal lords summoned by the King to consider a sermon preached by Richard Kidderminster, Abbat of Winchcombe, on benefit of clergy. The Abbat maintained that a recent act which deprived ‘murderers, robbers of churches, and housebreakers’ of their clergy if they were not in holy orders, was contrary to the law of God and the liberties of the Church. The Franciscan doctor defended the act, arguing that

Soon afterwards he was summoned to answer for his opinion before Convocation. He appealed to the King, and Henry quickly brought the bishops to submission by an assertion of the royal supremacy and a threat of praemunire[1740]. Standish thus won the goodwill of the court; he possessed the confidence of the people. The feeling against foreign traders was now very bitter in London, and in 1517 one John Lincoln, acting as spokesman of the citizens, urged the warden of the Franciscans

in a sermon he was to deliver on Easter Monday[1741]. Standish refused, wisely, as the event showed; for an inflammatory sermon the next day resulted in a serious riot. In 1518 Standish obtained the bishopric of St. Asaph by royal influence, in spite of the opposition of Wolsey[1742]. In 1524 he was sent as royal ambassador to Denmark[1743]. In 1528 he was one of the ‘counsellors appointed for the hearing of poor men’s causes in the King’s Court of Requests’[1744].

His administration of his diocese was not altogether blameless. His Vicar-General, Sir Robert ap Rice, was indicted for extortions on the King’s tenants in 1533, and relatives of Sir Robert had, three years previously, been indicted for maintaining thieves and had not yet been punished[1745].

But Standish is best known as a champion, probably the foremost champion, of the ‘Old Learning’ in England. He was, there can be little doubt, the Franciscan theologian who in 1516 tried to organize a combined critical attack on the writings of Erasmus[1746]. It was some years later—in 1520—that he preached at Paul’s Cross against Erasmus’ edition of the New Testament, and inveighed against his writings in conversation at court[1747]. He consequently became the object of the famous scholar’s satire and invective, and his memory has suffered accordingly.

In 1528, when the royal divorce suit was proceeding, he became Katharine’s chief counsellor, being apparently chosen by the queen herself[1748]. During the long trial, however, he showed little of the boldness which characterised Fisher’s conduct, and Katharine seems not unreasonably to have entertained some suspicion of his sincerity[1749]. He was present at the coronation of Anne Boleyn, June 1533[1750]. That he was willing to admit the royal supremacy[1751] is not surprising. He proposed to add to the King’s Articles (which required the surrender, by Convocation, of the legislative powers of the clergy), the words:

He died on July 9th, 1535[1753]. His will is dated July 3rd, 1535[1754]. He desired to be buried ‘inter fratres Minores’ (London?).

His bequest of £5 to buy books for the Oxford Franciscans, and his appointment of two executors to distribute his own library should make us hesitate to accept unreservedly the charge of ‘gross ignorance’ which Erasmus brings against him[1755]. Among other legacies may be noticed £40 to the Church of St. Asaph ‘pro pavimento chori,’ 20 marcs to the Carmelites of Denbigh ‘to build their cloister,’ £10 to the Minorites of London for thirty trentals, £40 to the parish church of ‘Standisshe,’ and a messuage in ‘Wrixham’ to Nicholas Rygbye. The will was not allowed to pass uncontested; ‘for the law is plain, that when a religious man is made a bishop, he cannot make a will’[1756]. Cromwell seems to have exacted heavy fines from the executors and legatees[1757].

Robert Sanderson supplicated for B.D. on Jan. 22, 1510/1, after studying twelve years. On May 30, 1511, he petitioned

In April 1513, as B.D., he obtained grace to proceed to D.D., stating that he had studied for eighteen years. In June his composition was reduced by four nobles (= 26s. 8d.), on condition

He incepted on July 4, 1513, paying £5 8^s. 8^d[1758]. At the time of the dissolution he was warden of the Grey Friars at Richmond in Yorkshire[1759].

John Brakell obtained grace to oppose and proceed to the B.D. degree on Jan. 27, 1510/1, after studying for fourteen years[1760].

John Brown, having studied for twelve years, supplicated for B.D. on Jan. 22, 1510/1; he obtained the Chancellor’s license Nov. 19, 1512. In June 1513, he supplicated as B.D. for D.D., after eighteen years’ study. The grace was conceded

The second condition was afterwards deleted. Brown incepted on Feb. 20, 1513/4, his composition being reduced by five marcs[1761]. On July 6, 1513, he appeared in the Chancellor’s Court as witness of the indenture between Dr. Goodfield, ex-warden, and Richard Leke[1762].

John Smyth was admitted to oppose in June 1511, after studying for fourteen years, and to the degree of B.D. in Dec. 1512. Six months later he was licensed in theology, and allowed to incept as having studied for eighteen years, with one responsion in the new schools and two sermons in diebus Parasceues at the Friars Minors. At his inception he paid £6 13s. 4d. He was dispensed from his necessary regency

Harmon, friar, who was admitted to oppose on Jan. 26, 1511/2, is perhaps identical with ‘Friar Simondez Harm,’ lector of the Grey Friars of Leicester in 1538[1764].

Gilbert Sawnders, after sixteen years’ study, was admitted to oppose in Nov. 1511, provided

In 1512 he was appointed to preach the sermon on Ash Wednesday[1765]. On April 13, 1513, he supplicated for D.D. In May he asked that 40s. might be deducted from his composition; he was allowed to deduct 20s.; this was afterwards increased to four nobles,

He incepted on July 4, and paid £4 6s. 8d. In the following November he was dispensed from his necessary regency, and in Feb., 1514, from a sermon[1766]. He died on July 16, 1533, and was buried in the Chapel of All Saints at the Grey Friars, London[1767].

John Sanderson, B.D., supplicated for D.D. on Dec. 14, 1512, having studied for sixteen years,

William German, or Germyn, or Germen, in Nov. 1511 obtained leave from the Chancellor to enter the University library[1769]. He supplicated for B.D. on July 3, 1513, after studying ‘logic, philosophy, and theology’ for twelve years[1770]. He was still only scolaris sacre theologie in June, 1515, when he asked

In Nov. 1516, he obtained grace to incept, and asked for a reduction of his composition by one-half, which was probably granted[1772]. He did not, however, become D.D. till June, 1518[1773]. He was one of the executors of Henry Standish, Bishop of St. Asaph (d. 1535), who left

Alyngdon, Doctor, friar Minor, in Jan. 1513/14

Richard Lorcan, an Irish Franciscan, ‘subtracted’ some goods and money of John Eustas, a scholar, who died intestate, in 1514, and was ordered by the Chancellor’s Court to restore them[1776].

John de Castro of Bologna was admitted to oppose on Dec. 6, 1514, and to read the Sentences four days later[1777]. He made the following entry with his own hand in the Register of the Chancellor’s Court (sub anno 1514):

Radulph Gudman on May 23, 1515, obtained grace to oppose, &c., after studying for twelve years

William Walle, having studied for twelve years, obtained grace to oppose, with the stipulation that six months should intervene between his opposition and responsion (July 3, 1513). He incepted in June or July, 1518, and half his composition was remitted. In Dec. 1518, he was dispensed from his regency for a fortnight[1780].

John Flavyngur or Flanyngur, scholar of Canon Law, supplicated on June 20, 1515,

It is curious that a scholar should, before attaining the degree of B.Can.L., lecture as a Doctor: most of the instruction in civil and canon law was given by Bachelors[1782].

Thomas Peyrson, elected Fellow of Merton College in 1520, is said to have entered the Order of Observant Friars while still a B.A.[1783] Perhaps he is confused with

who was buried at the Grey Friars, London, inter chorum et altaria[1784]. Thomas Peyrson was an Observant Friar at Lynn in 1534, probably as a prisoner: he was still there at the dissolution[1785].

John Porrett or Parott obtained leave, on Nov. 19, 1511, to enter the University library[1786]. He supplicated for B.D. on April 26, 1520, having studied for sixteen years. He was not admitted till May, 1526, after fourteen years’ study (?)[1787]. Early in the next year he applied to have his composition reduced to £4: this was granted on condition that he would proceed at the next act, say five masses for the regents, and interpret the epistles of Paul to the Galatians before Easter. He does not appear to have fulfilled these conditions: on May 23, the same grace was conceded,

with the condition that he should read the first epistle of the Corinthians publicly in his house, schedulis fixis hostio ecclesie b. Marie Virginis[1788], after graduating. He incepted on July 8. On Oct. 10, 1527, he was dispensed from his necessary regency as being Warden of the Grey Friars of Boston: he was, however, to continue to deliver his ordinary lectures till All Saints’ Day[1789].

David Williams, B.D., was allowed to incept, after fourteen years’ study, on condition of preaching at St. Mary’s and St. Paul’s, continuing his studies at the University for two years, and paying a ‘golden angel’ to repair the staff of the inferior bedell of arts (Jan. 24, 1520/1)[1790]. In April his examinatory sermon was at his request postponed till after his degree:

On May 13, he supplicated

The meaning of this is not clear; perhaps he had already ‘gone round’ once and failed to incept at the ensuing Congregation[1793]. Having secured a reduction of his composition to £4, he incepted on July 9[1794]. In Oct. he obtained a dispensation from all scholastic acts till the first Sunday in Advent, ‘because he has to preach on that day[1795]’. In Feb. of the next year, he was dispensed from his necessary regency[1796].William Curtes was admitted to oppose on April 20, 1520. Soon afterwards he obtained permission

In Feb. 1521/2, as B.D. he supplicated for D.D., having studied arts and theology for eighteen years.

Richard Clynton supplicated for B.D., after eight years’ study, April 26, 1521. Among the conditions imposed was one

Thomas Frances, B.D., had grace to incept (after sixteen years’ study) on condition of paying 40d. to mend the staff of the sub-bedell of arts, preaching at St. Paul’s within two years, and preaching an examinatory sermon before his degree (Jan. 24, 1520/1). He incepted on July 9, 1521, having three days before obtained a dispensation from his necessary regency,

The conditions on which this was granted were:

John Thornall, on Nov. 19, 1521, having studied for sixteen years, was allowed to proceed to B.D., on condition

He was admitted B.D. in June, 1523, and obtained grace to incept in May, 1524, after ‘studying fifteen years in this University.’ His composition was reduced to five marcs on condition

and that he should incept before Easter[1800]. He failed to do so, and on July 11, 1525, was permitted to pay £5, instead of his full composition, with the stipulation that he should distribute 10s. for the use of poor secular scholars[1801]. He incepted on July 17. In Oct. he was dispensed for all scholastic acts for twenty ‘legible’ days,

At the Dissolution he was living at the Grey Friars, London[1803].

Nicholas de Burgo an Italian Minorite, native of Florence, B.D. of Paris, was incorporated B.D. of Oxford in Feb. 1522/3[1804]. A year later (Jan. 25) he supplicated for the Doctor’s degree, stating that he had studied seventeen years, seven of them having been spent in Oxford[1805]. On the same day he prayed that his composition to the University on his inception might be remitted[1806].

A few days later he was dispensed from nearly all his necessary regency, promising to preach ‘on some day when there shall be a general procession[1807].’ In March, being ‘unable to procure all that was necessary to him,’ he was allowed to postpone his inception till after Easter, paying a fine of 20s. to the University. The fine was afterwards remitted and a sermon substituted, as Nicholas alleged extreme poverty (June 20)[1808]. He incepted shortly after this. His dispensation from necessary regency seems to have lapsed, for in Oct. he obtained leave to absent himself for ten ‘legible’ days,

‘because he had been bidden to preach a sermon within twenty days,’

and had not time to fulfil the duties of regent[1809]. He preached at St. Peter’s-in-the-East on Ash Wednesday, 1528[1810]. He was patronized by Wolsey, but whether he came to England at the Cardinal’s invitation is doubtful. In Nov. 1528, ‘Fryer Nicholas of Oxford’ received £5 as a reward from Wolsey[1811]. In 1529 the King desired that the friar should have a benefice[1812]; payments to him from the Privy Purse and other sources are frequently found[1813]. The Italian friar had made himself useful by advocating the King’s divorce[1814]. He was perhaps the

and who consorted with Dr. Barnes, the Austin Friar and friend of Luther[1815]. His advocacy of the divorce rendered him very unpopular[1816], and perhaps after the fall and death of his old protector, Wolsey, he felt his position less secure. In Dec. 1531, he came to London, having ‘disposed of his stuff at Oxford,’ to ask leave to return to Italy for his health. It was thought impolitic to let him go, ‘he being so secret in the King’s great matter as he has been,’ and means were found to keep him in England[1817].

Wolsey had already appointed him public reader in theology at Cardinal College, in succession to Thomas Brynknell, at a yearly salary of 53s. 4d., besides commons[1818]; and in 1532, Henry VIII. re-appointed him to the chair of divinity[1819]. He was also divinity lecturer in Magdalen College. In Jan. 1533, he writes to Thomas Cromwell,

This appeal was not fruitless: in June, 1533, Dr. Nicholas de Burgo received £6 13s. 4d. from Cromwell[1821]. In 1534 he was still at Oxford, and acted as substitute for the Commissary in the Chancellor’s Court[1822]. Next year he obtained permission to return to Italy. In Oct. he wrote to Henry VIII, expressing a hope that he would be allowed to retain his fellowship at Oxford (locus collegii), and his benefice[1823]. In the same year he resigned the divinity lectureship at Magdalen College[1824]. In July 1537 he again wrote to the King from Italy, renewing his previous request; he was at present prevented by trouble and illness from coming to England, but hoped to come next month[1825].

Thomas Kirkham was admitted B.D. in 1523, after twelve years’ study[1826]. In 1526 he supplicated ‘that four years’ study after the degree of Bachelor’ might entitle him to incept. He became D.D. in July, 1527, his composition being reduced to £4, ‘because he is very poor,’ and in November he was dispensed from the greater part of his necessary regency as warden of the Grey Friars at Doncaster[1827]. He continued to hold this office till the Dissolution[1828]. He was, in Wood’s words,

He seems to have obtained Church preferment immediately after the Dissolution. In Feb., 1539, Thomas Kirkham was admitted to the rectory of St. Mary’s, Colchester[1830], and in 1548, to that of St. Martin’s, Outwich: he resigned the latter living in 1553 or 1554[1831]. From these dates it is clear that he had joined the Protestant party.

Richard Brinkley (co. Cambridge), D.D. of Cambridge, and ‘Minister General of the Order of Minors throughout all England,’ was incorporated D.D. of Oxford on June 26, 1524[1832]. There is a discrepancy about the dates, which seems to admit of no satisfactory explanation. A Minorite called Peter Brikley was S.T.B. of Cambridge in 1524. ‘Brinkley frater minor’ was admitted D.D. of Cambridge in 1527, when he paid £5 6s. 8d. ‘pro non convivando[1833].’ He was buried at Cambridge[1834].

An illuminated copy of the Gospels in Greek, now MS. Caius College 403, was lent to him out of the Franciscan Library at Oxford, as the following inscription on p. 1 testifies,

Another MS. in the Caius College Library (No. 348), containing the Psalter in Greek, has this note (p. 113):

Edmund Bricott, Brycoote, or Brygott, born about 1495[1836], supplicated for B.D. in Jan. or Feb. 1525/6, having studied ten years ‘here and at Paris.’ He was admitted to oppose on June 13, and became B.D. on June 28. In Jan. 1527/8, he obtained grace to incept after fourteen years of study. He was licensed in Feb. 1529/30. In June he obtained a reduction of his composition to £5 on the score of poverty, and a dispensation (in advance) from his necessary regency, because he was warden of some house of Minorites. He incepted in July, 1530[1837]. He was warden of Lynn at the Dissolution[1838]. Like so many others, he seems to have gone with the times; he held the living of Thorley, Herts., from 1545 to 1562; was collated to the rectory of Wiley, Essex, in 1547, to that of Hadham, Herts, in 1548; and became Prebendary of St. Paul’s in 1554. He probably died in 1562[1839].

Thomas Knottis was admitted B.D. in May, 1527. He may be the same as the Thomas Knott who supplicated for B.A. in 1522; if so, he became a Franciscan after that date[1840].

Anthony Papudo, of Portugal, was admitted to oppose in June, 1526, and B.D. in May, 1527[1841].

William Walker supplicated for B.D., June 3, 1527, after studying fourteen years. The grace was conceded on condition

Robert Knowlys supplicated for B.D. in Jan. 1526/7[1843]. In Oct., 1529, as B.D., he obtained grace to incept, after eighteen years’ study,

His composition was reduced to £5, owing to his poverty (June 22, 1530). He was dispensed from his necessary regency,

He incepted D.D. in July, 1530[1845].

John Arture kept a horse in Oxford in 1528[1846]. In May, 1533, he supplicated for B.D., after fourteen years of study; he was to preach, before Christmas, a sermon at St. Mary’s,

In Dec. of the same year he sued Joanna Coper for libel: the scandal about him, and his doings ‘at the sign of Bear’ (May, 1534) have already been noticed. Soon afterwards he was again in trouble, and had to give bail for his appearance whenever he should be required to answer certain charges, which are not specified in the register[1848]. About this time (1534-5) he was appointed warden of the Grey Friars of Canterbury, according to his own account, by the King, ‘against the heart of the provincial[1849].’ There was continual war between himself and the brethren of the house. Each side accused the other of hostility to the King. Arthur wrote that he kept the observance somewhat strict because the friars rebelled against the King and held so stiffly to the Bishop of Rome[1850]. On the other hand a brother whom Arthur had imprisoned brought an accusation of disloyalty against him. This seems to have been founded on a sermon which Arthur was said to have preached in the Church of Herne on Passion Sunday, 1535[1851], in which he ‘blamed these new books and new preachers for misleading the people’ and discouraging fasts, prayers, and pilgrimages, especially to the shrine of St. Thomas.

Further he did not pray for the King as head of the Church, nor for the Queen. As the result of this charge, Arthur was thrown into prison by Cromwell’s orders, and an Observant, ‘his mortal enemy,’ was made his keeper, while another friar was appointed warden. Fearing to be starved, Arthur escaped to France, and wrote letters from Dieppe to a servant of Cromwell, and to Browne, the Provincial Prior of the Austin Friars, praying for his own recall and urging the punishment of his enemies[1852]. He appears to have returned, if the dates in the Calendars are correct, and to have been again arrested on Aug. 21, 1537 at Cromwell’s command by ‘Cardemaker[1853].’

John Baccheler was vice-warden or sub-warden of Grey Friars in 1529 and in 1534. At the latter date he became one of the sureties for Friar Robert Puller. In June, 1533, supplicated for B.D., after studying twelve years: the grace was conceded on condition of his preaching at St. Mary’s and Paul’s Cross, but it does not appear whether the friar took advantage of it[1854].Gregory Based, or Basset, B.D., was at one time suspected of heretical leanings and subjected to persecution.

He afterwards abjured, and, to prove his orthodoxy, took a prominent part in the examination and condemnation of Thomas Benet, who was burned at Exeter in 1533[1856]. On December 20, 1534 (?), he came forward as one of the sureties of Friar Robert Puller, for a debt of 25s., in the Chancellor’s Court at Oxford[1857]. He was still alive in Mary’s reign, and is mentioned by Foxe as ‘a rank papist,’ in connexion with the trial of Prest’s wife, a half-witted woman, who was burned as a heretic at Exeter in 1558[1858]. In 1561 a warrant was out for the arrest of ‘Friar Gregory, alias Gregory Basset, a common mass-sayer,’ who was lying hid, it was thought, in Herefordshire[1859].

Robert Beste was summoned before the Chancellor’s Court on September 30, 1530, to answer a charge of ‘incontinence and disturbance of the peace:’ he does not appear to have been convicted. He continued to reside at Oxford during the next few years. In 1539 he became vicar of St. Martin’s in the Fields; he supported the reformation, and was expelled from his vicarage on Mary’s accession. He was afterwards reinstated, and resigned the living before January, 1572[1860].

Nicholas Sall, admitted B.D. March, 1531/2[1861].

John Rycks, according to Wood, spent some time among the Grey Friars at Oxford[1862]. In 1509, John Rickes, M.A. (who may have been the same person), was elected fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge[1863]. In a list of Franciscans written in Cromwell’s hand, and dated September 13, 1532, ‘Father Rykys’ appears as warden of the Observant Convent at Newark (Notts.)[1864].

He died at London A. D. 1536[1866]. His works are as follows:—

The image of divine love. Inc. ‘Consideryng in my mind how.’

Against the blasphemies of the papists[1868].

Otto Brunsfelsius. A very true Pronosticacion with a Kalendar gathered out of the moost auncyent Bokes of ryght Holy Astronomers for the yere of our Lorde MCCCCCXXXVI, and for all yeres hereafter perpetuall. Translated out of Latyn into Englyshe by John Ryckes Preest[1869].

John Nottingham, or Nottynge, supplicated for B.D. in October, 1532, after studying for twenty years. He was admitted to oppose in November of that year; but in an entry two years later he is not described as B.D[1870].

Edward Ryley was allowed to proceed B.D. in June, 1533, after sixteen years’ study, on condition of preaching at St. Mary’s and St. Paul’s[1871]. He was warden of the Franciscan Friars of Aylesbury in 1534, and as such took the oath of Succession[1872]. He seems to have remained loyal to the old religion; he held several livings in Mary’s reign, namely, Wakering Parva, and Peldon in Essex (A. D. 1555), St. Mary at Axe (1556), which was united to the parish of St. Andrew Undershaft in 1561; he resigned the living St. James Garlickhithe, London, in 1560, and that of Stisted, Essex, in 1561[1873].

John Williams was admitted to oppose in 1533, after studying fourteen years. On May 4, 1534, in the dispute about a horse, already referred to, between Dr. Baskerfeld and Richard Weston, he was called as a witness on behalf of the former. In January, 1536/7, Baskerfeld bound himself on pain of imprisonment to produce John Williams when required, to answer charges brought against him; the nature of the charges does not appear[1874].

William Browne was admitted B.D. in January, 1534/5. He was at Oxford when the friary was dissolved[1875].

John Tomsun, ‘Ordinis Franciscani,’ was admitted to oppose on October 17, 1534[1876]. The name appears among the twenty-seven names appended to the deed of surrender of the Grey Friars, London, November 12, 1538[1877].

Robert Puller was at Oxford about 1534; Richard Roberts, scholar of Broadgates Hall, brought an action against him for the recovery of

John Bacheler and other friars engaged to pay the debt[1878].

John Notly, or Snotly, Minorite, was appointed to preach the University sermon at St. Peter’s (in the East?) on Ash Wednesday, 1535/6[1879].

David Whythede was at Oxford in January, 1535/6, when the warden bound himself to produce him in the Chancellor’s Court whenever required[1880].

John Joseph, a Minorite of Canterbury, supplicated for B.D. in June, 1533, after studying for twelve years. He was licensed D.D. in 1541, and incepted in 1542, as vir litteris ac moribus ornatissimus. He was dispensed from his necessary regency

It is evident that he held some benefice at this time. In 1542/3, he was dispensed from a sermon owing to ill-health[1881].He was one of Cranmer’s chaplains, and a zealous member of the reforming party, and was appointed preacher at Canterbury by Cranmer[1882]. In 1546 he became Rector of St. Mary-le-Bow[1883]. In 1547 he was made one of the commissioners for the visitation of the dioceses of Peterborough, Lincoln, Oxford, Coventry, and Lichfield[1884]. In 1549 he preached at Paul’s Cross against the observance of Lent[1885], and, on another occasion, as substitute for the Archbishop, against the rebellions in that year, concerning

In 1550 he was presented to a prebend in the Church of Canterbury[1887]. On Mary’s accession he was deprived of his preferments, being married. He fled to the Continent[1888].

Hugh Payne, Observant Friar of Newark, who opposed the King’s divorce and upheld the papal supremacy in 1533-4, may have studied at Oxford before he entered the Order; a Hugh Payne supplicated for B.A. in 1523[1889].

Richard Risby, warden of the Friars Observant at Canterbury, was executed on May 5th, 1534, for being implicated in the conspiracy of the Nun of Kent. It is doubtful whether he was identical with Richard Rysby, B.A., Fellow of New College in 1506[1890].

William David supplicated for B.D. in November, 1534, after studying arts and theology for thirteen years[1891]. The grace was conceded, and in February, 1535, he obtained permission to defer his ‘Opposition’ until after he had taken the degree[1892]. He may be the Dr. David, Grey Friar, who assisted at the condemnation of Thomas Benet for heresy at Exeter in 1533[1893].

Richard David, ‘Ordinis Franciscani,’ admitted to oppose, October 17, 1534[1894].Thomas Tomsun supplicated for B.D. in November, 1534, after studying philosophy and theology for fifteen years hic et CantabriÆ, and was admitted on January 29, 1534/5[1895]. With Gregory Basset, he became surety for his fellow friar Robert Puller in December, 1534 (?)[1896].

One of this name was rector of Lambourne, Essex, in 1546 (and died before April 16, 1557), and rector of Beamont, Essex, in 1555 (died before 1559)[1897].

John Billing was admitted B.D. in 1537, after seven years’ study[1898]. His name occurs in a list of Observant Friars of the year 1534, as having fled to Scotland[1899].

Guy Etton, or Eton, was admitted to oppose in January, 1534/5, and was admitted B.D. in the same month. In October, 1535, he was allowed to substitute for a sermon at St. Mary’s,

In 1553 (in Edward VI’s reign) he was granted license to preach. In Mary’s reign he took refuge at Strasburg with John Jewell. In 1559 he obtained the archdeaconry and a prebend of Gloucester, which he held till 1571 or later. In 1576 he was instituted Vicar of St. Leonard’s, Shoreditch, and died before June 14, 1577[1901].

Anthony Brookby (Brockbey, Brorbe), sometime student in Magdalen College, a man learned in Greek and Hebrew, entered the Franciscan Order apparently after leaving the University. Bourchier calls him licentiate in theology at Oxford; Francis a S. Clara, Doctor of Theology. He attacked the King’s anti-papal and anti-monastic measures, was thrown into prison, tortured, and at length (July 19, 1537) strangled with his own cord[1902].

John Forest, who entered the Franciscan Order at Greenwich, about the age of seventeen, is said by Wood to have been instructed afterwards in theology among the Friars Minors of Oxford, and to have supplicated for B.D. There seems to be no evidence in support of this statement. Forest was burnt in 1538, aged sixty-four, for denying the royal supremacy[1903].

John Taylor alias Cardmaker, of Exeter, entered the Franciscan Order when under age[1904]. In Dec. 1532, after studying sixteen years at Oxford and Cambridge, he obtained grace to proceed to B.D.[1905] He was warden of the Grey Friars at Exeter in 1534[1906]. At the time of the Dissolution he preached against the Pope[1907]. In 1543 he became vicar of St. Bride’s in Fleet Street[1908], then prebendary, and in 1547 Chancellor of Wells[1909]. In the reign of Edward VI. he married a widow (by whom he had a daughter)[1910], and was appointed reader in St. Paul’s, where he lectured three times a week[1911];

On the accession of Mary he tried to escape to the continent, disguised as a merchant; he was caught, committed to the Fleet, and afterwards removed to the Compter in Bread Street[1913]. Convened before Gardiner and others, he appears to have shown some signs of wavering at first.

He was convicted of heresy, deprived of his preferments, and burnt with others at Smithfield on May 30, 1555[1915].

John Crayford or Crawfurthe supplicated for B.D. in April, 1537, after studying fourteen years at Oxford and Cambridge[1916]. He was the last warden of the Grey Friars at Newcastle-on-Tyne, and surrendered his house to the King on Jan. 9, 1538/9[1917]. In 1543 he was presented by Henry VIII to a canonry in Durham Cathedral. He became vicar of Midford in Northumberland in 1546, and resigned the living in or before 1561. He died in 1562, bequeathing legacies to several of the canons, grammar-scholars, and others connected with the church of Durham. To the library he left St. Augustine’s works in ten volumes, St. Basil in Greek and Latin, and Rabbi Moses in print; and to Sir Stephen Holiday, all St. Cyprian’s works. He willed his body to be buried in St. Michael’s, Wytton-Gylbert, if he died there; otherwise in Durham Cathedral[1918].

Hugh Glaseyere supplicated in 1535 that fourteen years’ study might suffice for his admission to oppose and read the Sentences. He was admitted to oppose on July 13, and B.D. on July 14, 1538[1919], i.e. on the day of the dissolution of the Oxford friary. His name, however, does not appear in the list of Minorites at Oxford ‘who would have their capacities.’ He conformed to the various changes in religion. In November, 1538, he was instituted to the rectory of Hanworth, Middlesex, on the presentation of the King; he resigned it in 1554. In 1546 he was appointed to the rectory of Harlington, which he held till his death[1920]. In 1541 he was appointed by Cranmer to the difficult post of commissary-general of the Archbishop at Calais[1921]. In 1542 he was made canon of Christchurch, Canterbury[1922]. In Edward’s reign he was reckoned ‘an eager man for reformation,’ and preached at Paul’s Cross (1547) that the observation of Lent was only

In 1553 he was presented by Queen Mary to the rectory of Deal[1924]. In March, 1558, Cardinal Pole appointed certain commissioners for the suppression of heresy in his diocese, among them being Hugh Glazier, S.T.B.[1925] Hugh did not survive the persecution in Kent which followed. On the 27th July, 1558, ‘Magister Glasier, sacellanus cardinalis,’ was buried at Lambeth[1926].

Henry Stretsham supplicated for B.D. in May, 1538, having studied twelve years at Oxford and Cambridge; he was to preach at St. Mary’s and in some other church intra Universitatis precinctum[1927].

Richard Roper, B.D., was one of the Franciscans at Oxford who desired ‘to have their capacities’ at the dissolution[1928].

Radulph Kyrswell, or Creswell, was an Observant Friar at Reading in 1534, having probably been sent there as a prisoner for refusing to acknowledge the royal supremacy. At the time of the dissolution he was at Oxford, and as priest supplicated for a ‘capacity’[1929].

Robert Newman was one of the priests among the Oxford Franciscans at the dissolution who asked for ‘capacities.’ He became vicar of Hampton in 1541, joined the reforming party, and was deprived of the living on the accession of Mary[1930].

John Comre (?), James Cantwell, Thomas Cappes, William Bowghnell, James Smyth, Thomas Wythman, were among the priests in the Franciscan Convent who asked for ‘capacities’ at the dissolution[1931].

John Staffordeschyer, priest, was at Oxford when the friary was suppressed[1932]. John Stafford, who was warden of the Grey Friars at Coventry in 1519 and 1538, when he surrendered his house to the King on the 5th October, seems to have been a different person[1933].John Olliff, sub-deacon, after asking for a ‘capacity’ on the dissolution of the Oxford friary, joined the Grey Friars of Doncaster and was among the ten brethren who signed the surrender of that house on November 20th, 1538[1934].

Thomas Barly, William Cok, and John Cok, who were not in holy orders, desired ‘capacities’ at the suppression of the Oxford Convent[1935]. A John Cooke subscribed the surrender of the Grey Friars of Cambridge[1936].

Simon Ludford was a Minorite at Oxford at the dissolution. An account of his subsequent career has been given in Part I, Chapter VIII[1937].