NIVERSITY OF CA RIVERSIDE, LIBRARY 
 
 3 1210 01782 5736 
 
 --AHis:
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 RIVERSIDE 
 
 PAULINE FORE MOFFITT 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
 
 4.54£ 
 
 EOBEKT GKOSSETESTE
 
 EOBEPiT GROSSETESTE 
 
 BISHOP OF LINCOLN 
 
 A CONTRIBUTION TO THE RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL 
 
 AND INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 THIRTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 FEANCIS SEYMOUE STEVENSON, M.P. 
 /// 
 
 AVTHOR OF ' HISTORIC PERSONALITY," ETC. 
 
 ILontion 
 MACMILLAX AND CO., Limited 
 
 NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 1899 
 
 All 7-ights reserved

 
 PREFACE 
 
 The contemporary authorities on which the present work is 
 based are : — 
 
 (1) Grosseteste's own Letters, edited by Dr. Luard, Rolls 
 Series, 1861. 
 
 (2) The first volume of the Monumenta Franciscana, edited by 
 Dr. Brewer, Eolls Series, 1858. It includes, inter alia, Thomas 
 Eccleston's De Adventa Minorum, and the Letters of Adam 
 Marsh, a large number of which are addressed to Grosseteste. 
 
 (3) The Historia Major, for which Matthew Paris is partly 
 responsible, as transcriber and corrector, for the period anterior 
 to 1235, and solely responsible, as author, from that date 
 onwards, edited by Dr. Luard, Rolls Series, 1872 sqq^. The 
 Additamenta in vol. vi. include several documents of importance 
 relating to Grosseteste, and the admirable index in vol. vii. is of 
 the utmost value in connection with the history of the times. 
 
 (4) The Historia Anglorum, or Historia Minor of Matthew 
 Paris, edited by Sir F. Madden, Rolls Series, 1866 sqq. 
 Although it is an abbreviation of the former work, it contains 
 here and there some additional matter. 
 
 (5) The Annates Monastici, edited by Dr. Luard, Rolls 
 Series, 1864 sqq. Even when transcribed by later hands, they 
 may be regarded as essentially contemporary records. Those of 
 Burton and of Dunstable are of most importance in their
 
 vi ROBERT GROSSETESTE 
 
 bearing on Grosseteste's life, but those of Tewkesbury, Waverley, 
 Osney, and Thomas Wykes are occasionally of use. 
 
 (6) The Calendar of Papal Registers, edited by Mr. Bliss, 
 Calendars of State Papers. It describes numerous documents 
 hitherto unknown, helps to fix the chronology with greater 
 accuracy, and throws a new light upon several portions of 
 Grosseteste's career, particularly upon the period which 
 followed the Council of Lyons. 
 
 (7) The Opus Tertium, etc., of Eoger Bacon, edited by Dr. 
 Brewer, Rolls Series, 1859. 
 
 (8) Grosseteste's Rolls, of which I have consulted the 
 copious extracts made by Matthew Hutton, Harl. MSS. 6950-51, 
 British Museum. 
 
 (9) Various authorities, illustrating particular points, might 
 also be mentioned in the same category, such as the letter of 
 Giraldus Cambrensis to William de Vere, written in 1199 
 {Giraldus Camhrensis, vol. i., ed. Dr. Brewer, EoUs Series, 1861) ; 
 some of the documents contained in the Charters, etc., relating 
 to the Diocese of Scdishury, ed. Jones and Macray, Rolls Series, 
 1891 : the Register of St. Osmund, ed. Jones, Rolls Series, 
 1883 ; the Lettres de Jourdain de Saxe, ed. Bayonne, Paris, 1865 ; 
 and others, to which reference will be made in the notes. 
 
 Among authorities which are nearly contemporary, or based 
 upon contemporary information, may be cited the following : — 
 
 (1) Trivet's Annales, edited by T. Hog, for the English 
 Historical Society, 1845. 
 
 (2) Rishanger's Chronicles, including the one edited by J. 
 0. Halliwell for the Camden Society in 1840, and the one edited 
 by Mr. Riley among the Chronicct Monasterii Sancti Alhani, 
 Rolls Series, 1863 sqq. 
 
 (3) The Lives of the Bishops of Lincoln, by John de Schalby, 
 printed as an appendix to Giraldus Camhrensis, vol. vii., ed.
 
 PREFACE vii 
 
 by Dimock, Eolls Series. Although written as late as 1330, or 
 about that year, the narrative derives some importance from 
 the fact that it purports to be founded upon the Lincoln 
 Cathedral Eegisters. It does not, however, add materially to 
 the fund of information to be obtained from other sources. The 
 same volume also contains the will of Hugh de Wells and other 
 documents relating to the Diocese of Lincohi. 
 
 (4) The Flores E'istoriaru7n, commonly known as "Matthew 
 of Westminster," founded mainly upon Matthew Paris, for the 
 period now under consideration, and edited by Dr. Luard, Rolls 
 Series, 1890. 
 
 (5) The Chronicon de Lanercost, edited by the Eev. J. 
 Stevenson for the Bannatyne and Maitland Clubs, 1839. 
 
 (6) Various documents contained in the Lincohi Cathedral 
 Statutes, edited by Bradshaw and Wordsworth, Cambridge, 
 1892-97. 
 
 The Twelfth Report of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, 
 Appendix 9, gives some account of the papers concerning 
 Grosseteste, which are preserved at Lincoln. They relate 
 principally to the attempts to procure his canonisation, a subject 
 on which the Historical Papers and Letters from the Northern 
 Registers are also of use. 
 
 The scanty traditions preserved by Leland in his Itinerary, 
 his Collectanea, and his De Scriptorihus Britanniae, with reference 
 to Grosseteste's early life, are collected in Tanner's Bibliotheca, 
 s.v. Grosthead. Owing to the loss of some of the sources of 
 information to which Leland had access, his statements, even 
 when unsupported, require serious consideration, though they 
 must be treated with great caution. Still greater reserve is 
 needed in regard to statements, based upon documents now lost, 
 contained in Wood's History of the University of Oxford and in 
 Du Boulay's Histoire de V Universite de Paris.
 
 viii ROBERT GROSSETESTE 
 
 The metrical Life, of Ch-osseteste by Eichard, a monk of 
 Bardney, written in 1503, and printed in Wharton's Anglm 
 Sacra, together with certain other materials relating to Grosse- 
 teste, is a work of fiction, devoid of historical value. 
 
 A brief sketch of Grosseteste's life is prefixed to the edition of 
 his DeCessationeLegalivm, London,1658. The appendix to Edward 
 Brown's edition of the Fasciculus of Orthuinus Gratius, London, 
 1690, contains some of Grosseteste's sermons and dicta, as well 
 as the memorandum which he caused to be read at Lyons in 
 1250 in the presence of the Pope and Cardinals. The letters 
 printed in the Fasciculus are all included, with a corrected text, 
 and with the addition of many others, in Dr. Luard's edition. 
 
 Among works written in the English language, Pegge's Life 
 of Grosseteste, published in 1793, and Dr. Luard's preface to the 
 Letters, published in 1861, are the most important contributions 
 to the knowledge of the subject. The former is rather a 
 collection of materials than a biography, and the progress of 
 historical research has superseded much of its interest. It 
 embodies, however, a large amount of useful labour, and contains 
 some valuable appendices dealing with particular points, such 
 as the origin of vicarages, etc. Owing, it is said, to a fire in 
 the printing establishment, the book is unfortunately very scarce. 
 Dr. Luard's preface sets at rest most of the chronological 
 difficulties connected with Grosseteste's career. Its substance is 
 reproduced in the article which he contributed to the Dictionary 
 of National Biography. 
 
 Archdeacon Perry's interesting little work entitled The Life 
 and Times of Robert Grosseteste, ^\\\A\^hQd in 1871 by the Society 
 for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, confines itself 
 almost exclusively to his career as an ecclesiastical reformer. 
 In regard to matters connected with the Diocese of Lincoln 
 it possesses a special value, but its treatment of the larger
 
 PREFACE ix 
 
 questions at issue is somewhat unsatisfactory. I have availed 
 myself here and ther^ of his paraphrases and translations. 
 Among shorter studies relating to Grosseteste may be mentioned 
 a lecture by Dr. Creighton, delivered in St. Paul's Cathedral 
 on the 21st of November 1895, before he became Bishop of 
 London, and briefly reported in the CImrch Times of the 29th 
 of November; and a pamphlet by Mgr. W. Croke Robinson, 
 published for the Catholic Truth Society in 1896. 
 
 In Germany Dr. Pauli issued as his Tiibingen Progromim in 
 1864 a brief dissertation on Robert Grosseteste and Adam Marsh, 
 a Contribution to the Earlier History of the University of Orford. 
 In 1867 Dr. G. V. Lechler delivered before the University of 
 Leipzig a lecture on Grosseteste, in commemoration of the 350th 
 anniversary of the German Reformation. It appears in an 
 English garb, with some variations, in vol. i. pp. 28 sqq. of his 
 work on John Wiclif and his English Precursors, translated by 
 Lorimer, London, 1878. In 1887 a fuller account of Grosseteste 
 appeared from the pen of Dr. Joseph Felten, now Professor at 
 the Faculty of Catholic Theology at Bonn University, and 
 author of the Life of Gregory the Ninth, under the title of Robert 
 Ghvsseteste, Bischof von Lincoln ; ein Beitrag zur Kirchen- und 
 Culturgeschichte des dreizehnten Jahrhunderts, Freiburg, 1887. 
 
 M. Charles Jourdain's erudite, but rather fanciful essay, 
 entitled Doutes siir V authenticity de quelques ecrits contre la cour 
 de Rome attribuds a Robert Grosse-TSte, 4veque de Lincoln, which 
 appeared originally in 1868, has been reprinted posthumously 
 in his Excursions historiques et i^hilosoyhiques d travers le Moyen 
 Age, Paris, 1888. Dr. Felten discusses the question in an 
 appendix. My views will be found on pp. 315, 316, 319 sqq. 
 
 Among the other works which I have found helpful in con- 
 nection with the subject may be mentioned the Piev. H. 
 Rashdall's Universities of Europe during the Midxlle Ages ; Mr.
 
 X ROBERT GROSSETESTE 
 
 Little's Grey Friars at Oxford, as well as certain other publica- 
 tions of the Oxford Historical Society ; M. Emile Charles's Roger 
 Bacon; M. Haureaii's Histoirc de la Philosophic scholastique ; 
 Prof. Prantl's Geschichte der Logik im Ahcndlande ; Dr. Ferdinand 
 Kaltenbrunner's Vorgeschichte dcr Gregorianischen Kalender- 
 reform ; the Eev. Ed. Taunton's Black Monks of St. Benedict ; 
 some of Prof. Maitland's contributions to the English Historical 
 Review ; M. Sabatier's Vie de St. Francois cV Assise, and Canon 
 Jessopp's essay on the Coming of the Friars. Bishop Stubbs's 
 Constitutional History and his Registruni Sacrum Anglicanum 
 have been frequently consulted. Although I have only dealt 
 with Simon de Montfort within the limits indicated by his 
 connection with Grosset'este, I have often turned to the pages 
 of Dr. Pauli, Prof Prothero, and M. Bemont. 
 
 With respect to the district in which Grosseteste was born 
 I have consulted the Davy MSS. (Suffolk, Hoxne, and Hartismei-e 
 Hundreds) in the British Museum, and have to thank Canon 
 Raven, Vicar of Pressingfield-cum-Withersdale, and author of 
 the History of Suffolk and other well-known works, for his 
 replies to certain inquiries which I addressed to him thereon. 
 
 Although I have endeavoured to give some account of most 
 of Grosseteste's writings, and have examined nearly all his 
 printed works as well as several of the manuscripts, I have 
 refrained from including a systematic bibliography, or catalogue 
 raisonn^. Lists, more or less accurate, are to be found in Boston 
 of Bury, Leland, Bale, Pits, Oudin, Cave, Wharton, Tanner, 
 Fabricius, Pegge, and the Histoire Litt^raire de la France. 
 Pegge's list extends to twenty-three quarto pages, but Tanner's 
 is more useful for purposes of reference, as it gives, in the 
 majority of instances, the name of the place where each MS. 
 was at the time when he wrote. Dr. Luard, M. Brunet, Dr. 
 Feltcn, Bishop Lightfoot (in his Introduction to the Epistles of
 
 PREFACE xi 
 
 St. Ignatius), and others provide supplementary information, 
 and the notes to the present volume contain sundry additions 
 and corrections which may, perhaps, be of use to the future 
 bibliographer. 
 
 Anxious as I am that the present work should come to be 
 regarded as the standard Life of Grosseteste, I am nevertheless 
 fully conscious of the possibility that the discovery of fresh 
 materials may throw a new light upon certain aspects of the 
 earlier part of his career. As far, however, as the period which 
 followed his accession to the See of Lincoln is concerned — with 
 the partial exception of the interval from the end of January 
 1251 to the middle of March 1253, during which the Papal 
 Registers do not supplement the information obtainable else- 
 where — it may be affirmed that the existing materials are now 
 sufficient to enable a definite and final judgment to be pro- 
 nounced, and that any future additions they may receive are 
 only likely to affect the consideration of details. May I add 
 that, although there is much in Grosseteste's life, and in the 
 great movements he directed, or with which he was otherwise 
 associated, that lends itself to controversial treatment, I have en- 
 deavoured to approach the questions at issue singly with a view 
 to historic truth. The preparation of this volume has necessarily 
 involved a considerable amount of research, undertaken in the 
 midst of other work. If it succeeds in inspiring the reader 
 with a true conception of Grosseteste's place in history, it will 
 not have been written in vain. 
 
 FRANCIS SEYMOUR STEVENSON. 
 
 Platford Mount, 
 Near Woodbridge, July 1899.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 1175-1209 — Origin and early life — First stay at Oxford — Condition of the 
 University at the time — Introduction to the Bishop of Hereford — Probable 
 visit to Paris — Return to Paris — Nature of Grosseteste's studies. 
 
 Pages 1-23 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 1209-1232 — Many-sided activity of Grosseteste during that period — Successive 
 ecclesiastical preferments — First Chancellor of the University of Oxford — 
 Works on theologj', philosophy, mathematics, and natural science — Asser- 
 tion of the principle of the unity of knowledge — Roger Bacon's estimate of 
 his intellectual achievements — His relation to earlier and to later thinkers, 
 
 24-58 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Grosseteste's connection with the Friars — Origin of the Dominicans and Francis- 
 cans — Their arrival in England — Settlement at Oxford — Grosseteste's 
 lectiires at the Franciscan school — His subsequent relations with the two 
 orders — Friendship with John de St. Giles and with Adam Marsh 59-87 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 1231-1235 — Grosseteste's contemplated journey to Rome and the reasons 
 for its abandonment — Anti-Roman tumults of that year — Grosseteste's 
 connection with Richard Marshall — His interest in the Jewish question — 
 His work on the Ceasing of the Law — Serious illness — Surrender of most of 
 his ecclesiastical preferments . ..... 88-110
 
 ROBERT GROSSETESTE 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 1235— Grosseteste's election to the See of Lincoln in succession to Hugh de 
 "Wells — His consecration at Reading — Respective attitude of St. Edmund 
 and of the Canterbury monks with respect to the place of consecration — 
 Grosseteste's refusal of improper presentations — His determination to redress 
 abuses — Extent and importance of the diocese of Lincoln . Pages 111-125 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Grosseteste's reforming energy — His letter to the Archdeacons — Thorough 
 visitation of his diocese — His own account of the method of pi-ocedure — His 
 Constitutions — Endeavour to secure the unity, harmony, and efficiency of the 
 whole of the religious work within the diocese — Effort to improve the status 
 of the parish clergy — Hostility to appropriations — Encouragement of 
 vicarages ........ 126-146 
 
 CHAPTER VH 
 
 Grosseteste's attitude towards the monks and canons regular — The golden age of 
 English monachism — Condition of the religious houses in the diocese of 
 Lincoln — Severity of Grosseteste's visitations — His dispute with the Abbot 
 of Bardney, the monks of Christ Church, Canterbury, and the King — The 
 nunneries — Grosseteste's ideal of the monastic state . . 147-167 
 
 CHAPTER Vni 
 
 1236-1239 — Grosseteste's increasing activity in connection with public affairs — 
 Defence of the rights and privileges of the Church — Attitude towards tlio 
 question of legitimation by subsequent marriage — Council of Merton — 
 Opposition to the King's encroachments — Grosseteste's manifesto, addressed 
 to the Archbishop of Canterbury — The Canon Law — Sustained interest in 
 the maintenance of the Great Charter — Legatine Council of 1237 — Its 
 results — Commencement of the dispute with the Dean and Chapter of 
 Lincoln — Its subsequent vicissitudes — Questions at issue — Grosseteste's' 
 conception of the episcopal ofllce ..... 168-201 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 1239-1244 — Constitutional struggles — Grosscteste leads the opposition to Henry 
 the Third's demands in the Parliament of 1244 — His interest iu the conflict
 
 CONTENTS XV 
 
 between the Pope ami the Emperor — The Papal demands — Grosseteste's 
 relations with the King and the Queen — His share in the settlement of the 
 questions connected with the bishoprics of Hereford, Durham, Winchester, 
 and Cliichester — Grosseteste the virtual head of the Church in England — 
 The Committee of Twelve ..... Pages 202-222 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 1239-1244 — Grosseteste's renewed interest in the revival of learning — His trans- 
 lations and supervision of translations from Greek into Latin — The Testament 
 of the Twelve Patriarchs and other writings — John de Basingstoke and 
 Nicholas the Greek — Methods of translation — Works on rural and domestic 
 economy — Sustained interest in the affairs of the University of Oxford — 
 Subsequent share in its organisation .... 223-240 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 1244-1246 — Mission of the Nuncio Martin to England — Departure of Grosseteste 
 for Lyons — Letter to his Archdeacons — Settlement of the dispute with the 
 Dean and Chapter of Lincoln — Proceedings of the Great Council of Lyons — 
 Grosseteste's attitude with regard to the questions at issue — Account of his 
 homeward journey — Interview with the King . . . 241-258 
 
 CHAPTER XH 
 
 1246-1250 — Grosseteste's attitude with respect to the Papal demands — His 
 interest in the Crusades — His opinion as to the Sacred Blood — Further 
 difiiculties with the King — Grosseteste's relations with Simon de Montfort — 
 The freedom of the State and the freedom of the Church . . 259-278 
 
 CHAPTER Xni 
 
 1250-1253 — Grosseteste's second visit to Lyons — The exempt orders and the 
 establishment of vicarages — Difficulties Avith Archbishop Boniface — Grosse- 
 teste's "sermon" before Innocent IV. on the external dangers and internal 
 abuses of the Church — Its effect — Return to England — Depression of spirits — 
 The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops — Grosseteste's resistance of 
 unjust taxation — The maintenance of the Charters . . 279-305
 
 ROBERT GROSSETESTE 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 1250-1253 — The struggle against the Papal Provisions — Grosseteste's letter con- 
 cerning Frederick de Lavagna — Examination of his line of action — Results 
 achieved ....... Pages 306-318 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 1253 — Failure of Grosseteste's health — His last illness — Conversations with John 
 de St. Giles — His death — Legends — Attempts to procure his formal canoni- 
 sation — Anecdotes — Grosseteste's personality, as depicted by Adam Marsh, 
 Roger Bacon, and Matthew Paris— His influence during his lifetime and 
 during the generations that followed — Review of his work, and estimate of 
 his character and of his place in history .... 319-337 
 
 INDEX ......... 339
 
 CHAPTEE I 
 
 1175-1209 — Origin aud early life — First stay at Oxford — Condition of the 
 University at that time — Introduction to the Bishop of Hereford — Probable 
 visit to Paris — Return to Oxford — Nature of Grosseteste's studies. 
 
 The importance of the place occupied by Robert Grosseteste in 
 the life and thought of the thirteenth century, and the remark- 
 able and, in certain respects, dominant character of the influence 
 which he exercised over the revival of religion, the revival of 
 learning, and the revival of the national spirit in this country, 
 not only during his own times, but for several generations that 
 ensued, render all the more regrettable the scantiness of 
 materials relating to his early years. Concerning the locality 
 in which he was born, however, no serious doubt can be raised, 
 as Matthew Paris, Trivet, and Capgrave are at one in declaring 
 that he owed his origin to the county of Suffolk, whilst the 
 compiler of the Florcs Historiarum, formerly known as Matthew 
 of Westminster, adds that the actual place of his birth was 
 Stradbroke.^ That county, which originally derived, from the 
 number of its churches and from the strength and simplicity of 
 its faith, the epithets of " holy " and " silly," in the obsolete 
 sense of the term, by which it became known in early times, 
 has, indeed, justified its ecclesiastical reputation by producing a 
 long array of distinguished prelates, amongst whom Wolsey in 
 
 ^ Hist. Anylorum, ed. Madden, iii. of the Florcs Histm-iarum. It ought 
 
 148 ; Trivet, ed. Hog, p. 242 ; Cap- to occur either on page 3S8 or on 
 
 grave's Chron. of England, ed. Hinge- page 392 of vol. ii. The insertion of 
 
 ston, p. 156; Mattheio of West- an interpolation from one of the manu- 
 
 minster, Frankfort edition, 1601, scripts doubtless led to the omission, 
 
 p. 354. The sentence appears to have Luard refers to the passage on p. 31 
 
 dropped accidentally in Luard's edition of his Introduction to the Letters.
 
 2 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 the sixteenth and Sancroft in the seventeenth centuries are, after 
 Grosseteste himself, the most conspicuous figures. Hardly any- 
 thing is known as to his parentage and early training. That he 
 was of humble origin is proved by the united testimony of several 
 chroniclers,^ and by the fact that the canons of Lincoln, at the 
 time of his dispute with the dean and chapter of that cathedral, 
 are stated to have resented the appointment of a Bishop of such 
 lowly birth to rule over them, and to have expressed their 
 discontent even in his presence." In all likelihood his father 
 was a small farmer. Howell, the historiographer, in one of his 
 Ejpistolae Ho-Elianae, written in the seventeenth century, men- 
 tions, on the authority of some old tradition incorporated in a lost 
 work, that Grosseteste had a brother, to whom he once said, " A 
 husbandman you are, and a husbandman you will remain," ^ Of 
 his relatives, however, there is no trace to be found in his 
 correspondence beyond the fact that he had a sister named 
 Juetta, who took the veil in a nunnery near Oxford, probably at 
 Godstow, and to whom he communicated his doubts and diffi- 
 culties in the year 1232, in which, under the stress of bodily 
 suffering, he resigned the offices he held in the Church, with the 
 exception of his Lincoln prebend."* Her death is mentioned in 
 one of Adam Marsh's letters.'^ Reference is also to be found 
 there to two of Grosseteste's kinsmen, who were in poor circum- 
 stances, and whom he was asked to befriend and support in 
 connection with their University studies. That brief enumera- 
 
 1 Hist. Anglorum, I.e. ; Chronicon point of preferment; but the Bishop 
 
 de Lanercost, ed. J. Stevenson, where told him that if he wanted money to 
 
 he is described as genere infimus. mend his plough or his cart, or to buy 
 
 Trivet uses the words de iina gente tacklings for his horses, with other 
 
 Suthfulchiae. things belonging to his husbandry, he 
 
 - Histuria Major (ed. Luard), iii. should not want what was fitting ; but 
 
 528. wished him to aim no higher, for a 
 
 ^ Howell, Epistolwi Ho-Elianac, p. husbandman he found him, and a 
 
 420 (ed. of 1754). " I liave read a tale husbandman he will leave him." 
 
 of Robert Grosthead, Bishop of Lincoln, •* Letters. 
 
 that being come to his greatness, he " Monumenta Franciscana (ed. 
 
 had a brother who was a husbandman, Brewer), pj). 95, 164. 
 
 and expected great things from him iu " Ibid. p. 137.
 
 I ORIGIN AND NAME 3 
 
 tiou exhausts, however, what is known with regard to his 
 family. It is even uncertain whether the name of Grosthead, 
 or Greathead, or Grosseteste was one which he inherited from 
 his father, or whether it was a surname given to him by reason 
 of some physical or other peculiarity. The former view is in 
 harmony with the fact that among his contemporaries there 
 were at least two who bore the name of Grosseteste, one of 
 whom w^as at Oxford in 1238, whilst the other was rector of 
 Wissenden, in the county of Eutland, in 1245.^ It is also borne 
 out by the form of signature which he used before he became 
 Archdeacon.^ On the other hand, both Matthew Paris and 
 Trivet speak of his " cognomen " of Grosseteste in terms which 
 imply that it was given to him personally,^ possibly for the 
 reason suggested by Fuller that " he got his surname from the 
 greatness of his head, having large stowage to receive, and store 
 of brains to fill it." ■* The variations in the spelling of his name 
 are almost as numerous as those which occur in that of Shake- 
 speare. It was sometimes latinised into Capito, but Eobert of 
 Lincoln, Lincolniensis, and St. Eobert are the designations by 
 which he was best known during the two following centuries 
 to the readers of his works. 
 
 Few as are the materials which throw light upon the history 
 of Grosseteste's early years, even the glimmer they cast has 
 been, to some extent, darkened by two documents of no historic 
 value, which have served merely to perplex successive biographers. 
 The first is a genealogy of the year 1666, on the strength of 
 which Thoresby, in his History of Leeds, was induced to connect 
 him with the Yorkshire family of Copley, one of whom was 
 
 ^ See Pegge's first Appendix, pp. ^ Matthew Paris speaks of " Roberto 
 
 292-296. cognoniento Grosseteste," and of 
 
 - Dugdale's Moiiasticon, v. -p. 191, "Roberto dicto Grossum Caput." 
 
 where he witnesses, as "Master Robert Trivet says that he "nominatus est a 
 
 Grosseteste," without any addition, a pluribus Grossum Caput." "His to- 
 
 confirmation by Hugh de "Wells, Bishop name is Grosseteste," says Robert de 
 
 of Lincoln, of all the benefactions made Brunne in the poem to be mentioned 
 
 to the priory of St. Andrew's at later, p. 334. 
 
 Northampton. ■* Fuller's Church History, iii. p. 65.
 
 4 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 alleged to have married the daughter of Sir Eichard Walsingham 
 of Suffolk, and to have been the father of the future Bishop of 
 Lincoln. It is, no doubt, possible that a branch of the Copleys 
 may have settled in Suffolk, and that Grosseteste may even 
 have owed to them his origin and his name, which he may have 
 exchanged for the one by which he became known; but the 
 authority for the statement is so slender, and its probability so 
 infinitesimal, that it may safely be disregarded in the absence of 
 confirmatory evidence, and it is hardly conceivable that a 
 contemporary chronicler would have described a grandson of 
 Sir Richard Walsingham, in the language used by Matthew 
 Paris, as being ex liumillima stirpc procrcatus} The other delusive 
 document is the metrical life of Grosseteste by Richard, a monk 
 of Bardney, who wrote in 1503. It must be regarded as a work 
 of fiction, destitute of serious importance, and the majority of 
 the statements which it embodies are devoid of all foundation. 
 The place of his birth is wrongly given as Stow, and he is 
 represented as knocking in a ragged condition at the door of 
 the Mayor of Lincoln, and refusing to accept alms on the 
 condition that he would undertake never to be Bishop of that 
 See. Both the pedigree and the poem, however, have been 
 sufficiently discussed and discredited by Pegge and by Dr. 
 Luard.^ 
 
 Although the precise date of Grosseteste's birth is uncertain, 
 the year 1175 is approximately indicated by the fact that 
 Giraldus Cambrensis, in the letter in which in 1199 he recom- 
 mends Grosseteste to the attention and protection of William 
 de Vere, Bishop of Hereford, speaks of him as a magister or 
 regent of arts, implying that he nnist have been, in all likelihood, 
 not less than twenty-four years of age at the time.^ As he died 
 in 1253, the age of seventy-eight, to which he would, on that 
 supposition, have attained, renders intelligible the language said 
 
 ^ Hist. Anglorum, ii. 376. life of Grosseteste is given in Wliartoii's 
 
 '^ Pegge, Apfiendix II. pp. 297-302 ; Anglia Sacra. 
 Luard, Introd. to Grosseteste's Letters^ ^ Giraldus Cambrensis, ed. Brewer, 
 
 p. xxxi. Richard of Bardney's metrical i. 249.
 
 1 DATE AND PLACE OF GROSSETESTE'S BIRTH 5 
 
 by Matthew Paris to have been used with regard to him shortly 
 before his death by Pope Innocent IV., and also the tribute 
 paid by Eoger Bacon to the length of his days.^ 
 
 Stradbroke was, in relation to the circumstances of the time, 
 a place of greater importance than it is now. It was to receive 
 from Henry III., rather more than half a century later, a grant 
 of market rights,- and the large and stately church, which stands 
 on the site of an earlier edifice, and was supplemented by a libera 
 capella in another part of the parish, bears witness to what must 
 have been the existence of a considerable resident population. 
 Several manors were included in the parish,^ of which the largest 
 was granted in the days of Stephen to Ernald, son of Eoger Eufus, 
 or Eous, in the hands of whose descendants it remained for several 
 generations. If, as is probable, Grosseteste's father was what would 
 now be termed a tenant of the Eufus family, it is possible that the 
 Giles de Eous, or Eufus, who was appointed in 1246 by the Bishop 
 of Lincoln to the archdeaconry of ISTorthampton,* may have owed 
 his introduction to the Bishop's notice to some connection with his 
 native place. The principal manor of Stradbroke formed part of 
 the royal honour of Eye, as was also the case with the soke and 
 advowson of the church. The latter was also intimately con- 
 nected with the Benedictine priory of Eye, which was dependent 
 upon the famous abbey of Bernay in Xormandy ; and as it was 
 situated within a distance of about six miles from Stradbroke, it 
 is not unlikely that Grosseteste may have acquired from some 
 monk attached to that priory the rudiments both of Latin and of 
 French. The supposition, however, is hardly confirmed by the 
 appearance of the name of Eobert, Bishop of Lincoln, in the manu- 
 
 ^ Roger Bacon, Compendium Studii, made about two years earlier. Rot. Lit. 
 
 eJ. Brewer, p. 472, "solus dominus Claus. ed. Hardy, p. 68. 
 
 Robertus, propter longitudinem vitae ^ Not merely two, as stated in Kirby's 
 
 et vias mirabiles quibus usus est, prae Suffolk. See vol. xv. of the Davy MSS. 
 
 aliis hominibus scivit scientias." Dr. collections relating to Suffolk (Hoxne 
 
 Luard thinks that the date 1175 cannot Hundred) in the British Museum, 
 
 be far wrong. See p. 313. ^ Willis, p. 110 ; Grosseteste's Roll. 
 
 Possibly his pupil Adam Rufus (see 
 
 ^ Granted in 1227 to Hugh Rufus. p. 20) may also have belonged to the 
 
 Another grant appears to have been same family.
 
 6 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 script register of that priory^ in the list of its benefactors, a fact 
 which might be thought to indicate that in the days of his 
 subsequent greatness he was not unmindful of the aid rendered 
 to him in ascending the first rungs of the ladder ; for the two 
 undated charters which bear that name may be assigned, with 
 far greater likelihood, to one of the two Eoberts who presided 
 over the see of Lincoln in the course of the twelfth century, as 
 is shown, almost conclusively, not only Ijy the position in which 
 they stand in the cartulary, but also by the nature of their 
 contents." It may, perhaps, be supposed that the agricultural 
 knowledge exhibited at a later date in the rules which he 
 framed for the guidance of the Countess of Lincoln with 
 regard to the management of her estate, and the share which 
 he is believed to have taken in the translation of Walter of 
 Henley's treatise on husbandry into English, may have been 
 due, in some measure, to his recollection of the methods and prac- 
 tice in the important corn-growing district of which Stradbroke 
 was the centre, and of the practical experience he had acquired 
 on his father's holding. It is not necessary, however, to adopt 
 Eichard of Bardney's statement that Grosseteste, in his boyhood, 
 tended swine, like the Felice Peretti who subsequently became 
 Pope Sixtus the Fifth, although in a letter addressed to the 
 convent of Missenden, the Bishop shows incidentally a remark- 
 able acquaintance with the qualities needed in a swineherd, whose 
 
 ^ Taylor's Index Monasticus ; Davy It is unlikely that there was a school 
 
 MSS. Suffolk (Hartismere Hundred), at Hoxne at that time. The monks, 
 
 vol. xiii. pp. 197 sqq. who previously inhabited the Bishop's 
 
 ^ There was also a small Benedictine palace at Hoxne, do not appear to have 
 priory at Hoxne, even nearer to Strad- removed to the priory until some date 
 broke, founded by Herbert de Losinga, subsequent to the consecration of 
 Bishop of Norwich, as a cell to Norwich. Thomas de Blunville as Bishop of Nor- 
 Oanon Raven, in his History of Suffolk; wich in 1226. The school at which two 
 suggests that, as the Bishops of Norwich poor boys were educated gratis, in addi- 
 frequently stayed at Hoxne, Grosseteste tion to others, can hardly have been 
 may in his boyhood have come luider founded before the comjiletion of the cell, 
 the notice of John of Oxford, who was and jirobably belongs to a much later 
 Bishop of Norwich from 1175 to 1200, date. The latter stood near the chapel 
 and who was a patron of men of letters. whichcommemorated the site of the mar- 
 Daniel de Morley was assisted by him. tyrdomofSt. Edmund. See Davy MSS.
 
 I EARLY OPPORTUNITIES 7 
 
 calling he introduces into his argument by way of illustra- 
 tion.^ 
 
 An anecdote related in the Lancrcost Chronicle, if correct, 
 throws some light upon the class of life from which Grosseteste 
 sprang, and also upon the nature of his early training.^ Eichard 
 de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, whilst on a visit to the Bishop of 
 Lincoln, with whom he was on terms of intimacy, expressed 
 surprise at the unfailing courtesy and courtliness of his 
 dispensation of hospitality, in view of the humility of his 
 origin and the slender opportunities he had enjoyed in early 
 life of obtaining the requisite knowledge of the world. Grosse- 
 teste replied that it was quite true that his father and mother 
 were in lowly life, but that from his earliest years he had 
 studied the characters of the best men in the Scriptures, and 
 had endeavoured to conform his actions to theirs. Whatever 
 advantages he may have derived from the proximity of the 
 priory of Eye, it is clear that he must, like every other man 
 who has risen to greatness, have derived more from himself than 
 from any teachers. There is, indeed, no evidence of historical 
 value with respect to his early career. Leland, who bases 
 his assertions on the testimony of authorities no longer extant 
 and of traditions the exact value of which can no longer be 
 measured at this distance of time, states that he received his 
 early education in Suffolk, and that he displayed such remark- 
 able powers, such natural facility of expression, and so acute a 
 
 ^ Letter 85, cd. Luard, p. '269. to the Earl." The servants replied 
 
 Richard of Bardney's lines run thus that they could not find another so 
 
 (Wharton, ii. p. 336) : — large. " Then," said the Bishop, "set 
 
 Porcorum custos ascendit culmina Cleri ; aside the whole of this for alms, and 
 
 Fiaesulis officium rusticus aggreditur. give me a smaller one like the rest." 
 
 2 Chron. de Lancrcost, p. 44. The A somewhat similar story is related by 
 
 immediate occasion for the remark was Selden (pref. to the Titles of Honour, 
 
 this : It was a fish-day on which it ed. Wilkins, iii. part i. p. 96), with 
 
 was customary to eat choice sea-wolves. the difference that Henry the Third 
 
 The larger fish was placed before is represented as the questioner, and 
 
 Grosseteste, and the smaller one before not the Earl of Gloucester. Selden 
 
 the Earl, who sat on his right. "Take gives as his authority John de Athona's 
 
 that fish away," said the Bishop to the notes on the Constitutions of Ottoboni, 
 
 seneschal, "or give one of eeiual size tit. de Bonis Intestat. s.v. Baronum.
 
 8 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 judgment in proportion to his years, that he was sent by his 
 kinsmen,^ as soon as they were able to do so, to the University 
 of Oxford, which was then in a most flourishing condition. If 
 that statement be trustworthy, it disposes of the supposition, 
 suggested by Eichard of Bardney's lines, that Grosseteste may 
 have spent some time at the school of Lincoln previous to his 
 arrival at Oxford. Tlie possibility, however, must not be left 
 altogether out of sight ; for the Lincoln school was one of no 
 mean order, as is shown by the fact that Giraldus Cambrensis, 
 when nearly fifty years of age, thought fit to spend some years 
 there, from 1196 to 1199, whilst engaged in the study of 
 theology, and it is not inconceivable that it was in that manner 
 that Grosseteste made his acquaintance and obtained through 
 him his introduction to the Bishop of Hereford. It may also 
 be inferred that a lower -grade school was in existence in 
 the city of Lincoln.^ The probability, however, is that Grosse- 
 teste must have reached Oxford some years before 1196, as 
 otherwise he would not have had time to become a " magister " 
 by 1199; and consequently, Leland's account is, in the absence 
 of further evidence, the one best entitled to belief. If, however, 
 the date of the visit of Giraldus Cambrensis ^ to Lincoln could 
 be assigned to 1192 instead of 1196 — and there is some doubt 
 as to the chronology of that portion of his life — the hypothesis 
 that Grosseteste himself studied at that school by way of 
 
 ^ "A propinquis, " an expression theology. See also vol. v. ed. Diniock, 
 
 which might, however, mean his neigh- Introd. p. 53, note 2. Wharton, who 
 
 hours and not his kinsmen. Leland's is followed hy Sir R. Colt Hoare {Life 
 
 Collectanea. The passage is given at of Giraldus Camhrcnsis, London, 1806, 
 
 length in Tanner's Bihliothcca. p. 55) and by Dr. Brewer (Introd. to 
 
 - Cp. Mr. A. F. Leach's paper on vol. i. of Giraldus Cambiensis, j). 56), 
 
 the History of Endowed Schools, vol. was of opinion that 1192 was the date 
 
 V. p. 65 of the Report of the Royal when he went to Lincoln. Mr. 
 
 Commissimi on Secoiulary Education. Dimock, however, in the passage 
 
 A\so\\\9 E)igliHh Sclwols at lite Reforma- cited, sliows almost conclusively that 
 
 tion, p. 8, etc. the duration of his stay at Lincoln 
 
 ■' Giraldus Cambrensis, ed. Brewer, must have been from 1196, and not 
 
 vol. i. 93, 109, 110, 294. It was owing from 1192 to 1199. See also vol. iv., 
 
 to the outbreak of hostilities between preface, p. 37. The outbreak of war 
 
 England and France that Giraldus went was in 1196. On William de Monte 
 
 to Lincoln and not to Paris to study and the Lincoln school see p. 16.
 
 I FIRST STAY AT OXFORD 9 
 
 preparation for his University career, after he had left Stradbroke, 
 would receive additional and perhaps preponderating support. 
 
 "Whether or not Grosseteste used one of the Lincoln schools 
 as an intermediate stage between his native place and the 
 University which he was destined to adorn, the contrast between 
 the calm of the former and the activity of the latter must have 
 appealed with special force to one who had already learnt to be 
 a keen observer of men and of things. The Oxford of that day 
 was not, as has been sometimes supposed, a semi-monastic 
 organisation removed from the turbulence of the outer world. 
 It was, on the contrary, a microcosm in which might be dis- 
 cerned the tendencies of the age, and in which almost every 
 aspect of life was represented. The city itself ranked in wealth 
 and population among the foremost in the kingdom ; it was a 
 fortress of considerable importance ; its Jewry was one of the 
 largest in the country, and its merchants carried on their trade 
 and their intercourse, not only with the capital and the inland 
 districts of England, but with the lands beyond the sea. Alike 
 in the days of Canute and in those of Stephen, it had witnessed 
 the meeting of great national assemblies, and, within a compara- 
 tively brief span of years, it was to play an even more important 
 part in the Parliamentary history of the realm.^ 
 
 The University was rapidly advancing in importance at the 
 close of the twelfth century, probably as the result of a migra- 
 tion which had taken place from Paris in 1167, and which had 
 led to the almost immediate development of Oxford into a 
 studium geiuraUf and had enormously increased the reputation 
 it derived from the existence of its earlier schools. It possessed 
 an extensive book trade, as is shown by the fact that one 
 document relating to a transfer of property in Cat Street 
 shortly after 1180 contains, among its parties or witnesses, no 
 fewer than three illuminators, one bookbinder, one writer, and 
 two parchmenters of that immediate neighbourhood.^ Students 
 
 ^ See Green's Stray Studies. ^ Raslidall, ii. p. 343, and the fac- 
 
 - Rashdall's Universities of Europe simile at the commencement of vol. ii. 
 in the Middle Ages, ii. 329-332 and 340. part ii.
 
 10 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 flocked in from various parts of the world, and in 1192 Eichard 
 of Devizes speaks of the clerks of Oxford as so numerous that 
 the city could hardly feed them/ and the members may be 
 estimated roughly — though they doubtless varied greatly from 
 year to year — from the contemporary statement that the 
 academic population amounted in 1209 to at least three thousand 
 souls.'' It is interesting to note that in 1197, as Jocelyn de 
 Brakelond relates, the celebrated Abbot Samson of Bury St. 
 Edmunds, whilst serving on a commission together with Hubert, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, and St. Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, for 
 the purpose of restoring the expelled Coventry monks, enter- 
 tained in his Oxford lodgings a large party of Oxford Masters 
 and others ; and it may perhaps be surmised that Grosseteste, 
 in view of his position in the University and his connection 
 with the Abbot's county, was one of the guests on that 
 occasion.^ 
 
 The most important reference, however, to the Oxford of that 
 time is contained in the celebrated description given by Giraldus 
 Cambrensis of the manner in which he had read in public his 
 Topography of Ireland ; and it is not a matter for surprise 
 that, in view of the place which he must, according to that 
 account, have filled in the eyes of all for several ensuing years, 
 Grosseteste should have turned to him for a letter of recommenda- 
 tion, even if he was not previously acquainted with him at Lincoln. 
 The following is the description, in which Giraldus, following 
 the example of Csesar and anticipating that of Moltke, speaks 
 of himself in the third person. " Wishing," he writes, " not to 
 hide the candle he liad lighted under a bushel, but to place it 
 on a candlestick, so that it might give light, he arranged to 
 read his work aloud before a large audience in Oxford, where 
 the clergy were more flourishing than elsewhere in England, 
 
 ' Rashdall, ii. p. 347 ; Richard of of St. Edmund's Bury, i. 295. The 
 
 Devizes, ed. J. Stevenson, p. 61. entertainment was given at Oxford, 
 
 '•^ Hist. Maj. ii. 526. and not, as one writer supposes, at 
 
 ^ Jocelyn of Brakelond, ed. Camden Bury St. Edmunds. 
 Society. Also in Arnold's Memorials
 
 I CONDITION OF THE UNIVERSITY ii 
 
 and excelled in the knowledge appertaining to a clerk. There 
 were three parts to his book, of which he recited one each day, so 
 that the recitation lasted three successive days. And on the 
 first day he invited for the purpose all the poor (that is, the 
 poor scholars) of the whole city, and entertained them hospitably 
 and publicly. On the following day he entertained all the 
 doctors of the various faculties and their better-known and more 
 distinguished pupils, and on the third day the rest of the scholars, 
 together with many knights, townsmen, and burgesses. It 
 was indeed a costly and a noble function, for it was, in a way, 
 a renewal of the genuine old times of the poets, and neither 
 during the present age nor in the days of old has England 
 witnessed such a spectacle." ^ 
 
 Of the opportunities afforded by his stay at Oxford, it is 
 evident that Grosseteste must have made abundant use. The 
 details, indeed, of his University career during that period of his 
 life are unknown to us ; it would be interesting, for instance, if 
 some memorial had been preserved of the sequence and precise 
 nature of his studies, of the means of information to which he 
 had access, of the lecturers whose courses he attended, and of 
 the mode by which he was able to maintain himself, in spite of 
 his poverty, during the years which preceded his admission into 
 the household of the Bishop of Hereford. The collegiate 
 system, as need hardly be observed, had not yet come into 
 existence. Of the colleges which now exist, the three oldest, 
 Balliol, Merton, and University, were not called into being 
 until the second half of the thirteenth century, and the students 
 resided either in private lodgings or in small hostels, which 
 were not replaced by, or merged into the larger institutions 
 until a later date, and the lectures were delivered in the 
 various schools, of which a considerable number had already 
 sprung up. Only a small percentage of students, in all likeli- 
 hood, lodged in the monasteries of St. Frideswyde's and 
 
 ^ Giraldus Canibrensis, De Rchus 1186, or almost immediately after- 
 a se Gestis, ii. p. 73. This was in wards.
 
 12 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 Osney. It is possible that Edmuud Eich of Abingdon, better 
 known in after years as St. Edmund of Canterbury, may have 
 taught at Oxford for some time previous to the year 1200, in 
 which case the tradition which mentions Grosseteste among 
 his pupils may refer to that period. It is more probable, how- 
 ever, that Grosseteste, in common with several other distinguished 
 men, such as Eobert Bacon and Eichard Fishacre, attended these 
 lectures at a considerably later date, some years after he had 
 taken his degree. On the other hand, it is by no means unlikely 
 that he may have derived from the teaching of Thomas de 
 Marleberge, afterwards Abbot of Evesham, some of the know- 
 ledge of canon and of civil law which he undoubtedly 
 acquired.^ 
 
 Although the details, however, are obscure, the general 
 results of his Oxford training are clear. The following letter, 
 addressed, in all likelihood, in 1199 by Giraldus Cambrensis to 
 William de Vere, Bishop of Hereford, affords some indication of 
 what they were. " In the words of Symmachus," writes that 
 celebrated chronicler, " ' he who intervenes on behalf of good 
 men appears to commend his own judgment in no less a degree 
 than he conduces to their advantage.' Hence it is tliat I only 
 ask on behalf of Master Eobert Grosseteste, whom you have 
 recently welcomed, as I have learnt with gratification, into your 
 household and your intimacy, that his rewards should equal his 
 merits. I am indeed aware that his assistance in your various 
 affairs and in your determination of causes, as well as in the 
 task of securing and preserving your bodily health, in all of 
 which matters he is signally proficient, will soon be doubly, or 
 rather I should say manifoldly, necessary to you. In his case 
 those faculties which in our days are above all others profitable 
 in temporal affairs, have been built upon the sure foundation of 
 the liberal arts and an abundant knowledge of literature, and 
 are illuminated and adorned by the praiseworthy excellence of 
 his character ; for, whilst it often happens that those who are 
 
 ^ On Thoma3 fie Marleberge see Dugdale'sJ/o7ias<iCo?;, vol. ii. p. 5 ; Raslidall ii.p.347.
 
 I LETTER OF GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS 13 
 
 skilled in the aforesaid faculties are vacillating in their good 
 faith, you will perceive that he is conspicuous by his good 
 faith and by his fidelity, in addition to his other virtues 
 and the endowments of his mind. In short, to crown all, 
 he possesses such natural gifts and so much industry, that you 
 will find in him, if I am not mistaken, a man after your own 
 heart, and one in whom your spirit will find itself most at ease." ^ 
 The foregoing letter, which is obviously one of recommenda- 
 tion, and not of introduction to the Bishop of Hereford, into 
 whose household Grosseteste had just entered, may have been 
 preceded by an earlier letter from the same writer, the record of 
 which has been lost. It indicates a close acquaintance on the 
 part of Giraldus with the attainments and the character of 
 Grosseteste. It also shows that, in addition to the seven liberal 
 arts included in the " trivium " and the " quadrivium," - of which 
 the former embraced grammar, rhetoric, and logic, while the 
 latter consisted of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy, 
 he must have advanced considerably beyond the limits of that 
 curriculum. The references to " the preservation of health " 
 and " the determination of causes " point to the knowledge of 
 medicine, and to that of canon, if not of civil law. He certainly 
 shows in his correspondence that he was skilled in both those 
 branches. To what extent, however, he had applied himself at 
 that stage to the three subjects which chiefly engrossed his 
 attention, namely, theology, physical science, and the study of 
 ancient languages, is a question which the letter of Giraldus 
 leaves unsolved. "John, Abbot of Peterborough," following, 
 probably, the statement of Matthew Paris, mentions that he was 
 deeply versed in the seven liberal arts,^ and Leland has preserved 
 the tradition that, within a few years of his arrival at Oxford, 
 
 ^ Giraldus Cambrensis, ed. Brewer, Grosseteste was ' ' eleganter tarn in 
 
 i. p. 249. The letter is also given trivio quani in quadrivio eruditus, " ii. 
 
 in Wharton's Anglia Sacra, ii. p. 376, and again as "vir in Latino et 
 
 344. Graeco peritissimus," ii. 467. 
 
 ^ In the Historia Angloriom, ed. ^ "John, Abbas Petriburg." p. 107, 
 
 Madden, Matthew Paris states that in Sparke's Collection (London, 1723).
 
 14 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 he had earned the reputation of being most acute in dialectics 
 and in philosophy supreme.^ 
 
 The fact that Grosseteste should have turned to Giraldus 
 Cambrensis for a letter of recommendation, and the tone in 
 which that letter is couched, are creditable alike to the learned 
 and versatile chronicler whose work and whose merits had 
 received their recognition in the century then about to expire, 
 and to the earnest and brilliant scholar whose career forms part 
 of the history of the next fifty years, and whose influence 
 extended over many succeeding generations. Any hopes of 
 advancement, however, which Grosseteste may have entertained 
 in connection with his admission into the Bishop of Hereford's 
 household were doomed to speedy disappointment, as William 
 de Vere died in December of 1199. It is probable that the loss 
 of that opportunity must have appeared to Grosseteste at that 
 time as a serious blow to the aspirations he cherished. In the 
 light of subsequent experience it must have appeared as a 
 blessing in disguise. Had he become dependent upon one man, 
 however excellent and however eminent, he would have been 
 deprived of many of the advantages of which he was able to 
 avail himself when thrown back upon his own resources. His 
 time would have been occupied with the performance of duties 
 which others would have been equally competent to fulfil. He 
 would have been debarred, in a large measure, from access to the 
 sources of information open to him at Oxford, and have been 
 thereby prevented from broadening and deepening the know- 
 ledge to which he had already attained ; he would not have 
 been able to teach and to influence the ablest intellects of the 
 country ; and he would not have been brought into that intimate 
 connection with the Mendicant Orders which was, in later 
 years, at one and the same time the result of his insight and, to 
 a certain extent, the secret of his power. 
 
 Es bildet ein T.alent sich in der Stille, 
 
 Sich ein Character in deni Strom der Welt, 
 
 ^ Leland, ap. Tanner's Bibliotheca, s.v. Grostliead.
 
 I PROBABLE VISIT TO PARIS 15 
 
 says Goethe. If Grosseteste had remained in tlie service of the 
 Bishop, he would, on the one hand, have lost the opportunity 
 afforded by quiet study for further intellectual improvement, 
 and, on the other hand, he would have been stranded at some 
 point short of the channel in which flowed the main current of 
 national life and of national activity. 
 
 It was probably on the death of the Bishop of Hereford 
 that Grosseteste proceeded to Paris for the purpose of continuing 
 his studies. There is, it is true, no contemporary evidence 
 relating to his visit, but Du Boulay (Bulaeus), in his history of 
 that University, which is largely based upon documents no 
 longer in existence, states that he studied there for several 
 years, and took the Master's degrees, and in another passage he 
 speaks of him as having been formerly an illustrious professor 
 in the University of Paris.^ Although Bulaeus is often inac- 
 curate, his statement is in accord with inherent probability as 
 well as with tradition. It was a constant occurrence for scholars 
 to proceed from Oxford to Paris with the object of perfecting 
 themselves in certain branches of knowledge ; the migrating 
 habits of students in the Middle Ages were a conspicuous 
 feature in the University life of that period ; and Grosseteste, 
 in taking the course which he adopted, was following in the 
 footsteps of many distinguished men, including John of Salis- 
 bury, St. Thomas of Canterbury, Stephen Langton, Daniel de 
 Morley, Giraldus Cambrensis, and Edmund Eich, the last of 
 whom defrayed the expenses of his journey and of his mainten- 
 ance by asking alms, in accordance with a j)ractice common to the 
 poorer students, Grosseteste's intimate acquaintance with such 
 men as William de Cerda and William Arvernus, Bishop of 
 Paris, his familiarity with the details of the theological course 
 
 ^ Bulaeus, vol. Hi. pp. 260, 709. sitas," i.e. the whole bodj' of the 
 
 " Diu in hac Academia litteris operam French and of the English clergy, 
 
 dedit, in qua Gradus omnes Magisterii Cp. Hist. Litt. de la France, vol. xviii. 
 
 consecutus est." Bulaeus also empha- pp. 437 sqq. Pits, Relationes Historicae 
 
 sises the words of Cardinal Egidius, as dc Rebus Anglicis, Paris, 1619, p. 965, 
 
 recorded by Matthew Paris: '"novit mentions Grosseteste amongst the 
 
 hoc gallicana et anglicana cleri univer- alumni of the University of Paris.
 
 1 6 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 of studies pursued there, as shown in his letter to the Eegents in 
 theology at Oxford, and the references of Cardinal Egidius to his 
 fame throughout the whole body of the French and of the 
 English clergy, all tend to confirm the view expressed by 
 Bulaeus. The date of his visit, however, is open to doubt. It 
 is not likely to have taken place before the letter of recom- 
 mendation sent by Giraldus Cambrensis, as in that case it would, 
 in all probability, have been mentioned by that writer as an 
 additional qualification for the post, and it is better, therefore, 
 to assign it to the years which immediately followed the Bishop 
 of Hereford's death. The account given by Bulaeus, however, is 
 compatible with the occurrence of a second visit, and it is quite 
 possible that, as will be mentioned at a later stage, he spent 
 some of the years covered by the Great Interdict, during which 
 next to nothing could be done at Oxford, or, indeed, in England, 
 in the task of teaching the students who in 1209 migrated from 
 the English to the French University, as well as others who 
 wished to attend his lectures, and at the same time of completing 
 some of his studies. 
 
 Although the Paris schools were not formally incorporated 
 as a " university " until the early part of the thirteenth century, 
 they had attained to the highest reputation under William of 
 Champeaux, Abelard, and other distinguished teachers of the 
 twelfth, and had nearly developed in practice the organisation 
 which was definitely crystallised some years later.^ The celebrated 
 school on Mont St. Genevieve had, however, fallen from its liigh 
 estate and sunk into a position of subsidiary importance ; - if 
 Grosseteste really went to Lincoln before he proceeded to 
 Oxford, he might have listened there to one of the last of the 
 eminent teachers who had taught theology at " the Mount," and 
 had, indeed, derived from it his appellation of William de 
 Monte ; ^ and it was the old Cathedral school which was at once 
 
 ' Rashdall, i. ])p. 293-321. Neckam wrote in his De Laudihus 
 
 ' Ibid. p. 270. Divinac Sajricntiae, ed. Wright, Rolls 
 
 ^ Giraldus Cambrensis, ed. Brewer, Series, line 845 : 
 
 i. p. 93, It was of hiui that Alexander Transiit ad nionteiii Mcnitaiuis inonte relicto.
 
 I REPUTATION OF THE PARIS SCHOOLS 17 
 
 the basis and the nucleus of the University, The division into 
 four distinct "nations," the French, the Normans, the Picards, 
 and the English, a classification according to which the French 
 embraced all the Latin races, whilst the English included the 
 Germans and other inhabitants of Northern and Eastern Europe,^ 
 had not yet come into definite existence, and it may therefore 
 be assumed 'that there was at that time closer intercourse and 
 more frequent interchange of ideas between the students belong- 
 ing to various nationalities than was possible after they were 
 sorted and penned up in separate groups, as appears to have 
 been the case after 1219 - for a few months, and permanently 
 after 1231. 
 
 The principal object of Grosseteste's visit to Paris was 
 probably the study of theology. According to Leland's account, 
 founded either on earlier documents or on tradition, " he there 
 read with great accuracy almost all the theologians, and thereby 
 became himself one who would have been acclaimed as such 
 even by the most learned period of early Christianity." Little 
 can be surmised either as to the date or as to the length 
 of his sojourn. It is, however, in accordance with probability 
 that he also devoted himself, whilst there, to philosophical 
 studies, and that he found better opportunities than at Oxford for 
 extending his knowledge of Greek and of Hebrew, the former of 
 which, and possibly the latter, he had already commenced to 
 learn in a rudimentary fashion,^ thus setting a noble example in 
 a direction which lay altogether outside of the beaten track. 
 Grosseteste's degree in divinity was undoubtedly taken at 
 Oxford,'* and it must therefore be supposed that he graduated in 
 that faculty in his old University after his return from Paris, 
 though the precise date cannot be fixed. If, however, the state- 
 ment of Bulaeus is to be harmonised with the other accounts, it 
 would appear that Grosseteste graduated in arts at Oxford in or 
 
 1 Rashdall, i. p. 320. ■* See Hearne's note to the Dunstable 
 
 ^ Ibid. i. p. 316. Annals, i. p. 299 ; Luard's Introd. to 
 
 ^ Leland, apud Tanner. Grosseteste's Letters, p. xxxiii. 
 
 C
 
 1 8 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 before 1199, at Paris in the same faculty after that date, and 
 again at Oxford in divinity after his return. 
 
 Although, in the absence of further materials, it has been 
 impossible to follow the details of Grosseteste's studies and of 
 his career at the two universities, the general results of the 
 training he acquired are sufficiently clear. In spite of the 
 extraordinary proficiency to which he attained both in theology 
 and in dialectics, his mental bias was in favour of keeping those 
 studies as far as possible distinct one from another, and not 
 intermingling them in the manner which had become fashion- 
 able during the twelfth century. The important place assigned 
 to logic and cognate studies in the Oxford, as well as in the 
 Paris curriculum, was, no doubt, intended to promote the 
 development of the reasoning faculties, as distinguished from 
 the mere cultivation of the memory. The effect, however, of 
 paying excessive attention to logic was that the abler intellects 
 of the twelfth century were diverted from the consideration of 
 the facts of human experience, past and present, to that of 
 abstract questions of the kind which divided the Eealists from 
 the Nominalists, whilst the Aristotelian doctrines which formed 
 the basis of the teaching, acquired an artificial abstruseness and 
 unreality by reason of the circumstance that they were studied 
 not in the original Greek, but in Latin versions of Boiithius. 
 The ingenuity was sharpened, but the mind was not directed to 
 the search after truth. The system, indeed, was one which 
 enabled a man possessing Abelard's depth of insight and lucidity 
 of thought to achieve great philosophical triumphs, but in the 
 case of the ordinary student it had a tendency to make him 
 look to the soundness of the syllogism as the sole test, and to 
 neglect to inquire into the accuracy or inaccuracy of the 
 premises. When the mental process thus acquired came to be 
 applied to theology, it was apt to lead to the neglect of the 
 positive sources of knowledge. The Scriptures and the early 
 Fathers were comparatively little read, and the main object 
 appeared to be to prove or to disprove on abstract grounds
 
 I AIDS TO THE STUDY OF THEOLOGY 19 
 
 certain theological propositions, the test of success being found 
 in the consonance of the argument with the accepted rules of 
 dialectic. Similarly, when the process was applied to other 
 branches of knowledge, it resulted in a disregard of original 
 authorities, a neglect of the study of languages, and a disinclina- 
 tion to spend time in the observation of physical phenomena. 
 
 The Sentences of Peter Lombard, which became before 
 the close of the twelfth century the standard text-book in the 
 theological schools, may be regarded as constituting, in a sense, 
 a reaction against the excessive admixture of logic with theology, 
 and, from another point of view, an attempt to reconcile reason 
 with authority, rather than authority with reason. The object 
 of the work was to collect under the heads of the various theo- 
 logical questions which had been propounded, the statements 
 contained in the Scriptures and in the Fathers which bore, or 
 were thought to bear, upon the solution of the points at issue. 
 It was based, to some extent, upon a similar work written by 
 Eobert Pullen, who had lectured at Oxford in 1133.-^ Although 
 it was intended, however, to supply a final solution of many 
 of the difficulties which had presented themselves, it became 
 the starting-point of an entirely new set of commentaries, of 
 which Pits enumerates no fewer than one hundred and sixty 
 composed in England alone, without counting other countries, 
 by an equal number of writers." 
 
 Grosseteste's point of view approximated rather to the 
 positive than to the scholastic system of theology, and his 
 training in that respect appears to have been largely guided by 
 the Sentences. At the same time he perceived that the work 
 was in danger of being treated as an authority in itself, instead 
 of serving merely as a stepping-stone to the study of the original 
 texts on which it was based, and it was doubtless the recollection 
 of the inadequate mental diet thus afforded which dictated, in 
 later years, his celebrated letter to the Eegents of theology at 
 
 1 Ann. Jfonast. (Osney), ed. Luard, - "Pits, Eelationes Bistoricae de Hebus 
 
 iv. p. 19. See Raslidall, iii. jj. 335. Anglicis, Paris, 1619, p. 947.
 
 20 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 Oxford. His early manner and the influence of Peter Lombard 
 may be discerned in Grosseteste's treatment of the question 
 " Deus est prima forma et forma omnium," and his brief essay 
 on the nature of angels, both of which are combined into one 
 letter, which occupies the first place in Dr. Luard's collection,^ 
 and is addressed to his pupil,- master Adam Eufus. It must 
 have been written before Grosseteste obtained his first prefer- 
 ment, and probably at a much earlier date. Its structure and 
 its method of reasoning suggest the Sentences. It forbears 
 to cite Aristotle, though it is imbued with Aristotelianism, but 
 appeals to the authority of the Scriptures, introduces numerous 
 quotations from the writings of St. Augustine and of St. Ambrose, 
 and strengthens arguments founded upon authority by means of 
 arguments derived from analogy. Some of his illustrations are 
 singularly apposite, and perhaps original, as, for instance, that of 
 the silver seal supposed to be endowed with life, intellect, and will.^ 
 As in theology, so in the other departments of intellectual 
 activity the principles which Grosseteste took for his guidance 
 during his University career, and endeavoured to carry out in 
 his writings and in his life, were (1) the desirability for resorting, 
 whenever possible, to what lawyers would call "the book at 
 large," that is the actual text, and not a translation or abridg- 
 ment of it ; (2) the consequent necessity for acquiring the 
 Greek and Hebrew languages ; (3) the value and importance of 
 physical science and mathematics, and (4) the need for a better 
 classification of the departments of knowledge. In the next 
 chapter it will be possible to show the practical outcome of the 
 first, third, and fourth of those propositions. At this stage it 
 will be sufficient to touch briefly upon his efforts during the 
 early part of his life to learn the two languages mentioned in 
 the second. 
 
 ^ Letter 1. Peter Lombard's influ- ism. See pp. 42, 43. Prantl, Geschichtc 
 
 ence does not extend, however, beyond der Loglk, iii. 85 sqq. 
 the nictliod of treatment. Grosseteste's '^ See Letter 38. 
 
 leading principles of philosophy are ^ Letter 1, pp. 4, 5. 
 
 akin to realism rather than to nominal-
 
 I NATURE OF THE CURRICULUM 21 
 
 How remarkable that effort must have been is indicated by 
 the fact that at that time hardly any even of the most learned 
 scholars of the West were acquainted with Greek, whilst Hebrew 
 was studied only by a few who bad been brought into special rela- 
 tions with the Jewish communities. With the exception of John 
 of Salisbury, it is almost impossible to name any Englishman of 
 the twelfth century who was acquainted with that language, a 
 contrast to the days in which the Venerable Bede could write 
 that there were many scholars of Theodore, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, who knew Greek as well as their mother tongue. 
 In France, however, several learned men, foremost among whom 
 was Macaire, Abbot of Fleury, addicted themselves to its 
 study ,^ and it is stated that both Abelard and Heloise had 
 some knowledge of it, though no one in that country appears 
 to have done as much towards its encouragement as was effected 
 in Italy by Bourgoudion, chief magistrate of Pisa, who, about 
 the year 1150, translated from Greek into Latin the works of 
 St. Chrysostom, of St. Gregory of Nyssa, and of John of Damascus. 
 Grosseteste, in approaching the subject, appears to have had the 
 advantage of the assistance given by a certain Greek named 
 jSTicholas, who may have been a contemporary of his, though 
 slightly junior, both at Oxford and at Paris. The tradition, 
 however, so far as the early connection is concerned, is 
 doubtful, and rests mainly on the authority of a document 
 cited by Wood, which has now been lost ; but there is no doubt 
 whatsoever with regard to the friendly relations which subsisted 
 in later years between Grosseteste and Nicholas, and the help 
 which he derived from his co-operation in the work of trans- 
 lation. Nicholas was a clerk connected with the Abbey of 
 St. Albans, and was presented by that body to the living of 
 Datchet in Buckinghamshire. When, some years after the 
 commencement of his episcopate, Grosseteste directed his 
 attention once more to the study of Greek, and determined to 
 arrange for the translation of certain of the writers in that 
 
 ^ Hist. LitUraire de la France, xiii. 313 sqq. (new edition) ; cp. ix. 151, 152.
 
 2 2 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 language, it was to Nicholas as well as to John of Basingstoke 
 that he turned for the purpose of enabling him to carry out his 
 task, and to supply him with fresh material.^ The probability 
 is, on the whole, that Grosseteste must have been acquainted 
 with Nicholas during his University days, as otherwise it would 
 have been practically impossible for him to have made a begin- 
 ning, in the almost entire absence of Greek manuscripts from 
 England," though the difficulty would not have been as great if 
 the foundations of his knowledge were laid whilst he was study- 
 ing at Paris ; and it must be remembered that several years 
 elapsed after the Latin conquest of Constantinople in 1204 
 before any of the literary treasures found in that city were 
 brought to the West. 
 
 In view of the large number of Jewries then in existence, 
 it is strange that the knowledge of Hebrew had not become 
 more widely spread than appears actually to have been the case. 
 The Jewish medical schools, too, were to be found in many 
 cities of Europe. Perhaps the feeling that dictated the 
 Cistercian prohibition which forbade the monks of that order 
 to seek the aid of the Jews for the purpose of learning Eastern 
 languages, and which led to a monk of Poblet in Catalonia 
 being punished for that offence, may have been a symptom of a 
 prevailing prejudice, and may account for the general ignorance 
 of Hebrew. There were, however, exceptions, amongst which 
 Heloise is, as usual, reckoned.'^ It is possible tliat Grosseteste 
 may have had recourse to the precise method which the 
 Cistercians condemned, and have sat at the feet, for that parti- 
 cular purpose, of some Gamaliel connected with the Oxford 
 Jewry.'^ The proceeding does not appear to have been uncom- 
 mon, but to have been discountenanced through fear of the 
 
 ^ Hist. Major, iv. 233. See pji. 224 sake ; or, perhaps, "Gre ..." stands 
 
 sqq. The Nicholas Gre . . . who was for "Gretton." As Roger Bacon says, 
 
 canon of Lincohi in 1278, and whom Grosseteste sent for numerous Greeks. 
 
 Mr. Wordsworth {Trncts of Clement ^ See Pegge's Appendix 10, pp. 345, 
 
 Maydeston, ed. for the Henry Hradshaw 346. 
 
 Society, p. 168) supposes to have been •' Hist. Litt. dr. la France, xii. p. 630. 
 
 NicliolasGraecus, mayliavebeenaname- ^ Wood, p. 46. See note on p. 98.
 
 I EARLY STUDY OF GREEK AND HEBREW 23 
 
 effect whicli intercourse with Jews might produce upon the 
 Christian's faith: in 1222 a deacon was hanged at Oxford for 
 becoming a Jew.^ It would not be surprising if Grosseteste's 
 subsequent interest in the conversion of Jews, as shown in his 
 writings, especially in his work on The Ceasing of the Lav: 
 and his translation of the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, 
 as well as the feeling, more kindly than was at that time enter- 
 tained in ecclesiastical circles, which he expresses in his letter 
 to the Countess of Winchester,'' could be traced to his earlier 
 relations with some learned member of that community. The 
 question, what progress Grosseteste effected in his Hebrew 
 studies, is one which cannot well be answered. Eoger Bacon, 
 who testifies that both he and Adam Marsh used the Hebrew 
 text, also affirms that his knowledge of Greek and of Hebrew 
 was not sufficient to enable him to effect his translations with- 
 out the assistance of others.^ Trivet and Boston of Bury both 
 state that he extracted much from the " glosses " of the Heb- 
 rews.* It was by efforts of that description in a virtually new 
 field that Grosseteste added to the stores of learning which were 
 the wonder of his own and of the following generations. His 
 great merit, however, in that respect consisted not so much in 
 his own contributions, important as they were, to the advance- 
 ment of linguistic attainments, as in the stimulus which he gave 
 to the desire to search for knowledge at the fountain-head. In 
 his view the study of Greek and of Hebrew formed part of a 
 comprehensive and all-embracing system, which included the 
 whole of knowledge then known. In the domain of intellectual 
 activity Grosseteste must, as will be shown, be regarded as the 
 founder and inspirer of what may be termed the encyclopiedic 
 school of the thirteenth century, imparting to it a unity of pur- 
 pose and a loftiness of conception to which those who followed 
 him hardly ever attained, although in particular branches and 
 on specific subjects they advanced beyond his teaching. 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. iii. 71. - Letter 5. 
 
 3 Roger Bacon, ed. Brewer, pp. 330, 472. ^ Trivet, ed. Hog, p. 243.
 
 CHAPTEE II 
 
 1209-1232 — Many-sided activity of Grosseteste diiriug that period — Successive 
 ecclesiastical preferments — First Chancellor of the University of Oxford — 
 Works on Theology, Philosophy, Mathematics, and Natural Science — 
 Assertion of the principle of the unity of knowledge — Roger Bacon's estimate 
 of his intellectual achievements — His relation to earlier and to later thinkers. 
 
 Whatever may have been the precise date of Grosseteste's 
 return from Paris to Oxford, it is evident that he brought with 
 him an enhanced reputation as a scholar, a wider circle of 
 acquaintances and friends, and a determination to devote his 
 best efforts to the task of increasincr the usefulness and the 
 renown of the English University. Some time after he had 
 taken his degree in divinity he was appointed to the post which 
 was commonly called that of Chancellor, but which Hugh de 
 Wells, Bishop of Lincoln, and in that capacity diocesan of the 
 University, preferred to call that of Master of the Schools, or of 
 the Scholars. In the register of Oliver Suttou,^ who was 
 Bishop of Lincoln in 1294, it is stated that Grosseteste, " who 
 filled the office (of Chancellor) at the time when he was Ptegent 
 at the said University, declared, just after he had been made 
 Bishop, that his immediate predecessor in that see had not 
 allowed him to be called Chancellor, but Magister Scliolarum 
 or Scholarmm.'^ Hugh de Wells presided over the see of 
 Lincoln from 1209 to 1235 ; and although it is possible that 
 Grosseteste had been appointed to the office before 1209, and 
 that the question of the precise designation by which lie should 
 be called was still in abeyance at that time, it is more prob- 
 able that his appointment belongs to a period subsequent to 
 
 ' Twyne, xii. p. 7, 'luoted l»y Wood, Pegge, Luard, and Rashdall.
 
 CHAP. II RETURN TO OXFORD 25 
 
 that year, though the exact date cannot be fixed. The first 
 formal mention of " the Chancellor whom the Bishop of Lincoln 
 shall set over the scholars" is to be found in the Legatine 
 Ordinance of 1214, the earliest Charter of the University, and it 
 may perhaps be inferred that Grosseteste, who was undoubtedly 
 the first Chancellor of the University, only occupied that posi- 
 tion after the date named.^ 
 
 The chronology, indeed, of the period of about thirty years 
 which elapsed between Grosseteste's return from Paris and the 
 year 1235, when he became Bishop of Lincoln, is somewhat 
 obscure. In 1209 his name appears, without any addition, in 
 the list of witnesses of the deed by which Hugh de Wells con- 
 firmed the donations and benefactions made to the priory of 
 St. Andrew's, Xorthamptou, and it was probably about that time 
 that he was brought into close personal contact with the new 
 Bishop, who had been installed in that very year, and whom 
 he was destined to succeed twenty-six years later. His first 
 ecclesiastical preferment, according to the doubtful authority 
 of Eichard de Bardney, was to the prebend of Clifton in the 
 Cathedral of Lincoln. In 1210 he appears to have become 
 Archdeacon of Chester,- though there is some doubt with regard 
 to the matter. In 1214 he probably exchanged that office for 
 the archdeaconry of Wilts. His name appears in the Salisbury 
 registers in that capacity in 1214 and in 1220,^ and he also held 
 
 ^ See Kashdall, ii. p. 351. Mr. letter from the convent of Eynsham, 
 Rashdall also mentions (p. 355 and printed in the Liiicoln Cathedral 
 Appendix 21) that a papal Bull Statutes, ed. by Bradshaw and Words- 
 addressed to the Chancellor of Oxford worth, part ii. (Cambridge, 1897), 
 in 1221 remained unexecuted on the Introd. p. 67, and referring to the 
 ground that no Chancellor of Oxford " Cancellarius " of Oxford, appears to 
 was then in existence, but that in 1225 have been written not long after 
 there is a record of a definite act having 1209. 
 
 been performed by that official in con- ^ Whitelocke, quoted by "Wharton, 
 
 nectiou with a tithe suit, Rot. Claus. Anglia Sacra, i. p. 457. See Luard, 
 
 9, Hen. III. m. 8. It is tempting, Introd. to Grosseteste's Letters, p. 
 
 therefore, to infer that Grosseteste xxxiv.; Pegge, pp. 20 sj*?. See p. 231. 
 
 may have become Chancellor between ^ Ecgistcr of St. Osmuiul, ed. Jones, 
 
 those two dates. On the other hand, Rolls Series, 1883, i. 380, ii. 16, and 
 
 the vacancy in 1221 may have been of ii. 133. In 1214 he was present at 
 
 a merely temporary character. A the framing of the nova constitutio, at
 
 2 6 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 the living of Calne, in which connection he was brought in 
 contact with Fulk Basset, rector of Winterbourn Bassett, subse- 
 quently Bishop of London, and his lifelong friend. He had 
 an amicable dispute with him at that time with respect to the 
 tithes of Berwick Bassett, During the latter portion of his 
 residence in the Sarum diocese he came under the influence of 
 Eichard Poore, who became Bishop in 1217, and whose import- 
 ance in relation to the liturgical history of England during 
 the Middle Ages can hardly be over-estimated. It is also 
 worthy of note that Edmund Eich, afterwards Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, and in or about 1219 Treasurer of Salisbury, was 
 Grosseteste's successor as Eector of Calne.^ In 1221 or 1222 
 he gave up his connection with the diocese of Salisbury and 
 became Archdeacon of Northampton, holding at the same time 
 the prebend of Empingham in Lincoln Cathedral. Lastly, he 
 exchanged the archdeaconry of Northampton for that of 
 Leicester, which he retained until 1232, when he resigned all 
 his preferments with the exception of his Lincoln prebend.^ 
 In 1225 he was collated to the church of Alboldesley, or 
 Abbotsley, in Huntingdonshire, and he also held the rectory 
 of St. Margaret's, Leicester, probably at the same time as the 
 archdeaconry of that name. More will be said at a later stage 
 with regard to some of those preferments. 
 
 It will be observed that the portion of that period with 
 respect to the chronology of which there is most doubt is that 
 
 the time when the removal from Ohl to Salisbury, ed. by Jones and Macray, 
 
 Sarum to the new Cathedral at Salisbury Rolls Series, 1891, pp. 111-113. The 
 
 was in immediate prospect. In 1220 decision relating to the Berwick Bas- 
 
 he acted as scrutineer of the votes in sett tithes is dated August 18, 1221. 
 
 the election of W. de Wanda as Dean Possibly " Ricardus " mentioned on 
 
 of Sarum. In the third passage we page 121 as Archdeacon of Wilts 
 
 find that he presented to the Cathedral (January 17 1222) may also l)c Robert 
 
 some vestments. He had ceased, how- Grosseteste. 
 
 ever, to be Archdeacon of Wilts some - The words " R. fuit tunc Archidiac. 
 
 time before the first service which was Leircest." in the Rolls of Hugh de 
 
 held in the new Cathedral in 1225. Wells, ann. 12, refer to Grosseteste. 
 
 His name generally appears as " Ricar- The years are reckoned from the com- 
 
 dus" in the Salisbury registers. mencement of the Rolls in 1217, not 
 
 ^ Charters and Documents relating from that of the episcopate.
 
 II SUCCESSIVE ECCLESIASTICAL PREFERMENTS 27 
 
 which extends from 1209 to 1214. The interval almost 
 exactly coincides and synchronises with the duration of the 
 Great Interdict.^ That formidable weapon, employed by the 
 growing power of the Papacy for the humiliation of the temporal 
 power, had been brought into requisition on three occasions 
 since the date of Grosseteste's birth, first against Scotland in 
 1180, secondly against Normandy in 119G, and thirdly against 
 France in 1198, but it was in the case of England that it was 
 put in force with the greatest rigour, ' It is probable that 
 chroniclers like Ealph of Coggeshall have to some extent 
 exaggerated the ecclesiastical stagnation produced by the Inter- 
 dict, but even if more work was actually done by the parish 
 priests during that time than has been sometimes represented, 
 the absence of almost every bishop from these shores must have 
 brought to a standstill the greater part of the administration 
 and organisation of affairs within the Church.- The see of 
 Coventry, in which diocese was included the archdeaconry of 
 Chester, was vacant, so that if Grosseteste obtained that post in 
 1210, it must have been by the action of the chapters of Coventry 
 and Lichfield, which were guardians of the spiritualities during 
 the vacancy.^ It is possible that the appointment may, in the 
 special circumstances of the case, have been of an almost 
 nominal character, and have involved few duties. Hugh de 
 Wells was consecrated abroad,'* but may have appointed Grosse- 
 teste to the Clifton prebend in Lincoln Cathedral between 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. ii. 522, 575. special reference to the foiin of words 
 
 - R. de Wendover's words are : used by Pope Alexander III. The 
 
 " Cessarunt in Anglia omnia ecclesi- rules of Hugh de Wells as to the 
 
 astica sacramenta, praeter confessionem observance of the Interdict in his 
 
 et viaticum in ultima necessitate et diocese are in a MS. of Lincoln 
 
 baptisma parvulorum." The usual Cathedral, Twelfth Report of the 
 
 form, however, was to pronounce Historical MSS. Commission, App. 9, 
 
 " sacrorum et divinorum omnium p. 565. The form used by Innocent 
 
 officiorum interdictionera, excepto III. is given in Martene and Durand's 
 
 baptismate parvulorum et poenitentia Thesaurtis N'oinis Anecdotorinn (1717), 
 
 morientium." See the comments of vol. i. col. 812. 
 
 Cujacius {Opera, Xaples, 1758), vol. * See Pegge, p. 20. 
 
 vl. p. 1064, on Tit. I. book iv. ch. ii. of -• Hist. Maj. ii. 528 ; Stubbs, Reg. 
 
 Gregory the Ninth's Decretals, with Sacrum Anglicaimm, p. 54.
 
 2 8 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 the date of liis election and that of his consecration, just in the 
 same way as he exercised his episcopal functions with respect 
 to the priory of St. Andrew's, Northampton, and other matters. 
 In addition, however, to the general Interdict which affected 
 the whole country, special conditions had arisen at Oxford, 
 also in consequence of the tyranny of King John, who in 
 1209, after a " town and gown " riot, ordered the execution of 
 two or, according to another account, three scholars who had 
 been imprisoned for an offence which had really, we are assured, 
 been committed by others who had sought safety in flight.^ 
 The result was a rapid dispersion of masters and of students, 
 some of whom migrated to Reading, some to Cambridge, and 
 some to Paris. In view of the statements previously quoted 
 from Bulaeus, which suggest that Grosseteste may have been 
 twice to the University of Paris, first as scholar and then as 
 teacher, and considering the state of affairs which then pre- 
 vailed both in England as a whole and at Oxford in particular, 
 it is by no means unlikely that he may have been one of those 
 who found their way in 1209 from the Isis to the Seine. The 
 reasons which may have rendered his absence from England 
 desirable ceased to exist in 1214, when King John's submission 
 to the Pope was followed by that of the citizens of Oxford to 
 the legate, Nicholas of Tusculum, and the first charter which 
 placed upon a definite basis the organisation of the University 
 was embodied in the Legatine Ordinance of that year,^ There 
 is no valid ground for supposing that Grosseteste cannot have 
 held the office of Chancellor during a portion, at any rate, of the 
 period from 1214 to 1232, during which he Avas successively 
 Archdeacon of Wilts, Northampton, and Leicester ; for the 
 practice of continuous residence enforced in the case of the 
 Chancellor in later years may not have come into operation at 
 that period, and it is clear that in 1224, and during the following 
 years, he was able to combine his lectures to tlie Franciscans, to 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. ii. 525, 526, 560 ; Chron. " Jbid. ii. 569 ; Anstey's Mwiimenta 
 
 dc Luncrcost, p. 4. Otlier authorities Academiat, p. 1. 
 are mentioned by Raslidall, ii. p. 348.
 
 II CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY 29 
 
 which reference will be made later on, with his tenure of the 
 last of the above-mentioned archdeaconries. 
 
 If, then, we examine Grosseteste's life, in the light of such 
 materials as are available, from December of 1199, when his 
 patron, William de Yere, Bishop of Hereford, passed away, down 
 to the commencement of 1232, when he was compelled by ill- 
 health to resign all his preferments with one exception, it will be 
 found that it divides itself roughly during that period into three 
 portions, during the first of which (from 1200 to 1209) he was 
 enabled to devote himself unreservedly to academic studies, whilst 
 during part of the second (1210 to 1214) he may have lectured in 
 Paris, though holding w^hat were perhaps nominal appointments in 
 England, and during the third (from 1214 to 1232) he combined 
 the active discharge of important pastoral duties with the care of 
 the University of Oxford, where, besides the lectures which he 
 gave on various subjects to all who chose to attend, and in 
 addition to his organising work as Chancellor, he became in 
 1224 in a special sense reader in theology to the Franciscans ; 
 and although, as has been pointed out, the exact number of 
 years during which he filled the Chancellorship is unknown, 
 there can be no doubt that, whether in an official or an 
 unofficial capacity, he devoted much of his time and of his 
 energy to the advancement of learning and the promotion of the 
 best interests of the University, which in later years he continued 
 to further in other ways. The most salient feature, however, of 
 the thirty-two years is that they constitute the period of 
 Grosseteste's greatest intellectual activity, to which the majority 
 of his writings are probably to be assigned. Again and again, 
 during the latter portion of his life, he found renewed and ever- 
 increasing interest in literary work, but the pressure of other 
 duties prevented him from bestowing upon it as much time as he 
 might have desired.^ 
 
 It may be well to endeavour at this stage to classify, as far 
 as possible, the works which Grosseteste may be supposed to 
 
 ^ See, for instance, Letter 77, p. 173.
 
 so ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 have written during the years of his life now under considera- 
 tion. It is impossible, however, to assign precise dates, or even 
 to indicate the probable order of composition. In so doing it is 
 necessary to eliminate for the present certain works which 
 unquestionably belong to a later period, such as the treatise 
 De Cessatione Legalium, written either in 1232 or in 1233, the 
 sermons which he preached whilst Bishop of Lincoln, the 
 numerous pamphlets issued during his episcopal days,^ the 
 translations from the Greek which he carried out with the 
 assistance of others during his last ten or twelve years,^ and his 
 Kules of Estate Management and similar writings,^ as well as the 
 vast majority of the letters which have been preserved. It is 
 also needful to leave out of sight his postillation of the Psalms, 
 which, as the Lanercost Chronicle and Gascoigne ^ inform us, was 
 effected continuously as far as the 100th Psalm, and was 
 interrupted only by the prelate's death, thus clearly belonging 
 to his later and not, as has been thought, to his earlier years. 
 His interest in the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle may also 
 be referred, for reasons stated in another chapter,^ to the latter 
 part of his career, though he was certainly acquainted during 
 his Oxford days with the Eudemian Ethics. It is also well to 
 bear in mind that some works have been erroneously attributed 
 to Grosseteste by those who have attempted to compile a 
 bibliography ; for instance, as Dr. Luard shows,^' the Oculus 
 
 ^ For instance, his pami)hlets con- earlier commentary on the Psalms, in 
 
 cerning the attacks on the liberties of addition to his later postillation. Cp. 
 
 the Church (Letter 72), and concerning Rogers's edition of Gascoigne, pp. 126- 
 
 tlie episcopal right of visitation (Letter 128, with p. 177. " Vidi ego, Thomas 
 
 127), both of which are printed in Dr. Gascoigne, hoc scriptuni siium super 
 
 Luard's Collection, the so-called sermon Psalterium jiropria manu sua scrijitum, 
 
 tlelivcred at Lyons in 1250 in the et est Oxoniae inter fratres minores, et 
 
 presence of the Pojie and Cardinals, registratur ille liber Epistolae Pauli A. 
 
 and the ]iamj)hlet entitled " De Et scripsit idem doctor super Psal- 
 
 Princii)atu Regni et Tyrannidis," terium usque ad Psalmum centesimum 
 
 mentioned by Adam Jlarsli {Mon. inclusive," etc. On p. 177 Gascoigne 
 
 Francisc. p. 110). See pp. 31, 270. refers to a commentary not written in 
 
 '■^ See pp. 223 sqq. Grosseteste's own hand. 
 
 * See pp. 229 sijo. . _ „,_ 
 i r, ■ < T-1 ir -4 ,■ See p. 247. 
 
 * Gascoigne s Liber Vcritatis, s.v. * 
 
 "Christus." He wrote, liowever, an '' Introd. p. xi.
 
 II EXTRAORDINARY LITERARY ACTIVITY 31 
 
 Moralis of Archbishop Peccham and the Stimulus Con- 
 scientiae of Kichard Eolle of Hampole, both of which belong 
 to a later date, and the Parvus Cato, written in the twelfth 
 century, have been wrongly assigned to him. The treatise De 
 Summa Jnstitiae was probably the work of John Wallensis,^ 
 and the tract Lc Dignitatc Conclitionis Humanae, which 
 Grosseteste himself quotes as if from St. Augustine, has been 
 included by mistake in some lists of his works." On the other 
 hand, the bibliographies of his writings are by no means com- 
 plete, as may be inferred from the fact that none of them 
 mentions the treatise on " The Principle of a Kingdom and of a 
 Tyranny," which he wrote for the instruction of Simon de Mont- 
 fort, and to which Adam Marsh refers in one of his letters.^ And 
 it is only of recent years that Bishop Ussher's hypothesis, which 
 pointed to Grosseteste as the author of the Latin version of what 
 is known as the Middle Recension of the Ujjistles of St. Ignatius, 
 has been definitely confirmed by the researches of scholars.^ 
 All due allowance being made for unwarranted insertions, the 
 extraordinary range and profundity of his powers, as exhibited 
 in the works which are unquestionably his, entitle him to a 
 place in the history of intellectual progress even more important 
 than that which has been usually assigned to him, whilst the 
 evidences of his multifarious activity excite wonder and admira- 
 tion. "Without attempting, therefore, to arrange in chronologi- 
 cal sequence the works belonging to that period of Grosseteste's 
 life, or to give an exhaustive list of them, it may be convenient 
 to group them under certain heads. 
 
 In theology he was one of the most prolific writers of the 
 Middle Ages.^ The bibliographers mention the titles of between 
 
 ^ Dr. Felten, p. SO. 176 of Rogers's edition. "Ego Thomas 
 
 '■^ Letter 1, ]). 10; Luard's Introd. Gascoigne saepe vidi et credo firmiter, 
 
 p. xi. quod opera quae doniinus Lincolniensis 
 
 ^ Mon. Francisc. \\ 110. doctor Robertus Grosseteste edidit et 
 
 •* See p. 223 ; Lightfoot's Apostolic propria manu sua scripsit, quae opera 
 
 Fathers, part ii. (2nd ed. 1889), vol. ego saepe ^^di, extendunt se in (juanti- 
 
 i. pp. 76 sqq. tate scripti ultra quantitateni doctoris 
 
 ^ Q^.Ga.%Q.o\g-ae, Lihcr Vcritatis, s.v. Nicholai de Lyra supra scripturani 
 
 "Deus" and ' ' Infernus, " pp. 12 and sacram."
 
 32 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 two and three liundred of his sermons, more than sixty of his 
 longer treatises, and a collection of 147 Dicta} or short discourses 
 on particular points of Christian doctrine and Scriptural interpre- 
 tation. AVhilst many of the sermons clearly belong to the time 
 when he was Bishop of Lincoln, others may have been preached 
 by him in his archdeaconries, and some, as, for instance, the one 
 in praise of poverty,^ at Oxford. The importance of the spoken 
 word was emphasised by him on every possible occasion. He 
 wrote more than one treatise on the art of preaching, encouraged, 
 as will be seen, the Friars Preachers, and set the example himself 
 with a force and a fervour which were the marvel of his generation. 
 Towards the end of his episcopal career he frequently preached 
 in English, but his practice during the earlier portion of his 
 episcopate was to preach in Latin to the clergy, and to instruct 
 them to use the English language in their sermons to their con- 
 gregations, in order that they might address themselves to the 
 largest possible number in the language best understood.^ The 
 reason why few or none of his English sermons have been 
 preserved * is doubtless due to the fact that they were preached 
 extempore, whilst his Latin sermons were committed to writing. 
 In encouraging and occasionally using the English language for 
 that purpose, he was following the example set in his native 
 county by Abbot Samson, who, according to Jocelyn of Brake- 
 lond, had caused a pulpit to be erected in the Abbey Church of 
 Bury St. Edmunds, from which he and others preached in the 
 vernacular.^ There can be no doubt, however, that Grosseteste's 
 sermons during the period of his connection with the University 
 and his four archdeaconries were in Latin, with the prob- 
 able exception of those which he preached in the parishes 
 of which he was at various times incumbent. His sermons 
 were not based, as a rule, upon texts, but he was in the 
 
 ^ Nineteen, however, of the 147 344 sqq., mentions some English ser- 
 
 Dida are properly sermons. nions, but they may have been transla- 
 
 '^ Mon. Francisc. i. p. 69. tions from Latin originals. 
 
 * Seep. 296. Grosseteste's Cojis^tYw- 
 
 tions. Letter 52*, p. 155, etc. ** Memorials of St. Edmund's Abbey, 
 
 * Wharton, Anglia Sacra, ii. pp. ed. T. Arnold, i. p. 245. 

 
 II SERMONS 33 
 
 habit of choosing some definite subject, and developing it and 
 illustrating it by arguments and quotations derived from Scripture. 
 The relation between the sermons and the dicta is indicated 
 in a note appended to two of the manuscript collections of his 
 Dicta Theologica : " In this volume are contained 147 chapters, 
 some of which are short ' sayings ' which I wrote down briefly 
 whilst I still lectured in the schools. They were composed to 
 assist the memory, and they deal with different subjects and are 
 not continuous. I have given to them titles in order to enable 
 the reader to find them with greater ease. Some, however, are 
 sermons, which I addressed at the same time to the clergy or to 
 the people." ^ Out of the 147 chapters which form the collec- 
 tion, 19 are sermons and 128 are dicta. The foregoing note, 
 however, hardly does justice to the merit of the latter ; for 
 although they have neither the arrangement nor the length of a 
 sermon or of an essay, they generally comprise within narrow 
 limits a clear statement of the subject with which they deal, 
 and a survey of its most salient features, accompanied by apposite 
 reflections and terse and often luminous definitions. One of their 
 most noteworthy characteristics is to be found in their constant 
 appeal to the authority of Scripture, and in the writer's extra- 
 ordinary familiarity with its contents. Dr. Luard's observation ^ 
 that Grosseteste's " wonderful knowledge of Scripture might 
 perhaps be the object of remark in our day, though in his own 
 it was probably not more than was possessed by almost all 
 theological students, at least by such as at all approached to 
 his stamp," may be thought to overrate the familiarity exhibited 
 in the thirteenth century with the text of the Bible, and is not 
 altogether borne out by the words of Eoger Bacon, written in 
 1267, about thirty years later, in his Opus Minus^ to the effect 
 that " at Paris," where, be it remembered, the theological teaching 
 was, according to Grosseteste, superior in some respects to that 
 
 1 Cotton MSS. Otho, D. x., and the - lutrod. p. 90. 
 
 Merton MS. quoted by Tanner and by ^ Roger Bacon, ed. Brewer, pp. 328, 
 
 Pegge, pp. 272, 273. 329. 
 
 D
 
 34 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 at Oxford, " the bachelor who reads the text is sacrificed to the 
 one who reads the Sentences," and that " elsewhere the one who 
 reads the Seiitenccs takes part in disputations, and is accounted 
 a master, whilst the one who reads the text is unable to take 
 part in them, as has been shown at Bologna and in several other 
 places " ; and he proceeds to contrast the state of things then in 
 existence with the practice adopted by Grosseteste, Adam ]\Iarsh, 
 and other teachers of the greatest calibre, who only used the 
 original texts. It is evident, therefore, that Grosseteste must 
 have been one of a comparatively small band of men who had 
 recourse to the fountam-head,^ instead of satisfying themselves 
 with second-hand extracts, passages taken out of their context, 
 and skeleton outlines. At the same time a certain familiarity 
 with the passages quoted is doubtless assumed to exist in the 
 minds of the hearers or readers. Great as was the debt which 
 Grosseteste probably owed to the writings of Peter Lombard, 
 he had never regarded them as a substitute for the study of the 
 original Scriptures, but simply as a help to their comprehension ; 
 and Dr. Luard is absolutely correct in his remark that " Grosse- 
 teste's reverence for Scripture as the ultimate appeal in all con- 
 troversies is unbounded " ; and he not only speaks of the 
 " auctoritas irrefragabilis Scripturae," ^ but acts upon that 
 principle throughout his life. His skill in the interpretation 
 of the Bible excites, in the following century, the unqualified 
 admiration of Tyssington, who says that "to compare him to 
 the modern doctors is as the comparison of the sun to the 
 moon when the latter is eclipsed." ^ 
 
 Twelve of the Dicta are printed in Edward Brown's 
 appendix to his edition of the Fasciculus of Ortuinus Gratius.* He 
 transcribed them from a manuscript in Trinity College, Cambridge. 
 Tlieir titles are (1) concerning Faith ; (2) on Grace, whicli is 
 
 ' " Ut dulcius ex ipso fonte biberen- of tlie study of the Hebrew and Greek 
 
 tur aquae," Roger Bacon, ed. Brewer, original, and that of the studj' of the 
 
 p. 330. The view here expressed must, Latin " text at large." 
 
 however, be (jualified bj' the considera- -' Letter 2, p. 18. 
 
 tion that in the passage quoted Bacon •* Fasciculi Zizaniorum, ed. Shirley, 
 
 mixes up two different questions, that p. 135. * London, 1690.
 
 II DICTA, OR NOTES FOR LECTURES 35 
 
 defined as " bona voluntas Dei," and Justification ; (3) and (4) on 
 Praying and on Prayer ; (5) on Pride ; (6) on Detraction and its 
 evils ; (7), (8), and (9) on Humility ; (10) on Patience ; (11) on the 
 Mercy and Justice of God, and (12) concerning true and false 
 prophets.^ The clearness of the definitions which they contain, 
 and the remarkable appropriateness of some of the similes 
 employed for the purpose of illustrating the arguments, help to 
 explain the reputation which he acquired as a lecturer in 
 theology at Oxford, and the influence he obtained over the 
 Franciscans. It is impossible, by snatching a seuteuce here or 
 there out of its context, to convey an accurate impression of the 
 style and purport of the Dicta, but one or two sentences may, 
 perhaps, be quoted. Pride is defined as " an inordinate fondness 
 of one's own excelling," envy as " an inordinate fondness of 
 the depression of others," humility as " the love of remaining 
 firmly in the state of life fitted to one under all conditions," 
 patience as " the inflexibility of the soul as respects troubles." - 
 In another place Grosseteste speaks of humility as "the virtue 
 which enables a man to know himself," but that " the more it is 
 consciously sought, the less is it likely to be attained." His 
 view of the relation between the Divine grace and the operation 
 of the human will is stated in the following manner : " Every- 
 thing which is in us is from the grace of God, for there is no 
 good thing which He does not wish to be, and His will is the 
 cause of being. There is no good thing, therefore, which He 
 does not make. The aversion of the will from evil, its con- 
 version to good, its perseverance in good. He makes. Never- 
 theless these same things our free will also makes, just as a grain 
 of corn germinates by a kind of germinative power which is 
 exterior to it, by the heat of the sun and the moisture of the 
 earth. For if we could not turn ourselves away from evil and 
 
 1 A few passages from the Dicta are sliould do for the JISS. of the Dicta 
 
 translated iuto English by Canon what Dr. Luard did for those of the 
 
 Perry, pp. 47-50, and into German by Letters. 
 
 Dr. Felten, pp. 77-79. It is time that - Brown's Fasciculus, ii. pp. 284, 
 
 some competent theological editor 288, 290, 293 ; Perry.
 
 26 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap, 
 
 turn ourselves to good, we should not deserve praise for this, 
 nor in Scripture should we be enjoined so to do. And if we 
 could do this without grace, God would not need to be prayed 
 for this, nor would His will be the doing of it." ^ His methods 
 of illustration may be gauged by the following passage relating 
 to the subject of united prayer : " As many heavy things when 
 bound together descend the quicker, and many light things 
 when united ascend with greater velocity, inasmuch as the 
 inclination of each of the separate things has a general effect 
 upon the combined aggregate ; so many individuals joined 
 together by the bond of love and prayer are moved upwards 
 more easily and more swiftly, as the prayer of each one of them 
 has its influence upon that of each of the others. For as polished 
 objects, when placed close together and illuminated by the power 
 of the sun, in proportion to their number, shine with greater 
 brightness on account of the multitude of the reflections of the 
 light's rays, so too the more souls that are illuminated by the rays 
 of the sun of righteousness, the more they shine by reason of 
 the reflection of their mutual love." No fair idea can, however, 
 be formed of the Dicta from brief extracts of that description." 
 
 In addition to sermons and Dicta must be mentioned the 
 numerous tracts, treatises, and commentaries which Grosseteste 
 wrote on theological subjects, principally during his pre-episcopal 
 days. They devote, as a general rule, more attention to the 
 practical, pastoral, and ethical side of Christianity than to its 
 purely doctrinal aspects ; in fact, the more abstruse doctrines are 
 generally introduced for the purpose of enforcing moral precepts, 
 or explaining and emphasising the personal application to the 
 reader. The writer never succumbs to the temptation, to which 
 most contemporary theologians were prone, of writing religious 
 treatises in the spirit and after the manner of dialectical dis- 
 
 ^ Brown's Fasciculus, ii. p. 282. Biscliop Maister Robert Grostede, 
 ^ Cajjgrave, Chronicle of Emjlaml, which man we clepe in Schole ' Lin- 
 ed. Hingeston, p. 153, speaking of colniensis.' For he wrot much thing 
 Grosseteste's election by the canonn of u])on Philosophye ; he made eke a 
 Lincoln, sayn : "Tliey chose to her noble book tlicy clepe his Dictes."
 
 II OTHER THEOLOGICAL WORKS 37 
 
 quisitions ; and he dwelt rather, if the phrase may be permitted, 
 upon the dynamics than upon the statics of theology. At the 
 same time it must not be imagined that he deviated in any 
 degree from the received faith of the Church because he accen- 
 tuates certain features in its teaching more than others ; and, 
 indeed, the contrary might easily be proved by reference to his 
 works ; but it was precisely the practical bent of his teaching 
 which tended most, as will be seen, to create a close bond of 
 union between him and the early Franciscans. 
 
 The titles of some of his more important theological tracts 
 or treatises ^ are (1) on Truth ; (2) on the Divine Names ; (3) on 
 the Seven Sacraments ; (4) on Confession ; (5) on the seven 
 deadly sins ; (6) meditations on the words and actions of St. 
 Anselm ; (7) moral expositions concerning the works of the seven 
 days ; (8) on free will ; (9) on the knowledge and will of God ; 
 (10) on God as the Formative Principle of all things, a treatise 
 possibly identical with the first part of the letter to Adam 
 Eufus, previously quoted ; (11) on the order and efficiency of the 
 Divine causation ; (12) on the reparation for the fall ; (13) on 
 wisdom and knowledge ; (14) on the articles of faith and the 
 priestly office — a w^ork which was translated at a later date 
 from Latin into French ; (15) on the Ten Commandments ; (16) 
 on assiduity in prayer — apparently different from the dictum 
 with a similar name ; (16) on man ; (17) a summary of St. 
 Augustine's Be Civitate Dei;- (18) notes on the Epistles of St. 
 Paul, especially on those to the Corinthians and to the Galatians ; ^ 
 (19) meditations or moral comments on the four Gospels, in 297 
 
 ^ Pegge, pp. 267-278 ; T. Gascoigne, tatis" s.v. '"Fides") to the " expositio 
 
 Liber Veritatis, ed. Rogers, pp. 12, Domini Lincolniensis in epistolam 
 
 102, 126-129, 140, 142 ; Tanner, Biblio- Pauli ad Corinthos, et super omnes 
 
 tlieca, s.v. "Grosthead." epistolas Pauli, sparsim manu propria 
 
 ^ The vol. of St. Augustine's De in margine communis glossae ; et liber 
 
 Civitate Dei (Bodleian MSS. 198) once ille est Oxoniae inter Fratres Minores 
 
 belonged to Grosseteste, and is full of in Libraria Conventus, sed non est in 
 
 his marginal annotations. See Rogers, libraria scholarum, quoniam ibi sunt 
 
 Introd. to T. Gascoigne, p. 7. duae librariae," relates to this work or 
 
 "* It is doubtful whether Gascoigne's to some notes which he made in later 
 
 reference {Diet. Theol. "liber Veri- life.
 
 38 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 short chapters ; (20) on the tongue and the heart ; (21) on repent- 
 ance, with additional notes written at later dates ; (22) a collection 
 of homilies, distinct from the sermons ; (23) on the Cross ; (24) 
 on the humility of Christ ; (25) on the proper pronunciation of 
 Biblical names ; (26) on prophecy; and (27) on sacrilege. He 
 also wrote commentaries on Genesis, on Job, and on Jeremiah, 
 In addition to his moral comments on the four Gospels, he 
 appears to have written more elaborate dissertations on the one 
 according to St. Luke and on the one according to St. John ; 
 and it is possible that his commentary on the Psalms may be 
 distinct from the postillation of the Psalms which he had not 
 completed at the time of his death. ^ The treatises on the 
 pastoral power and on the duties of a Bishop clearly belong to 
 the episcopal portion of his life. 
 
 Of the two principal French works of a theological or semi- 
 theological character which have been ascribed to Grosseteste, 
 the Chasteau d' Amour, commencing with the words " Ki ben 
 pense, ben pent dire," is the only one which can be attributed 
 to him with any degree of certainty. It is a kind of religious 
 romance, dealing with the fundamental articles of Christian 
 belief under the guise of a romaunt of chivalry, — a pious Roman 
 de la Hose, as M. Jusserand puts it, — which was widely read 
 in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and was translated 
 into English in the early part of the latter, probably in the 
 reign of Edward I., by a writer whom Warton^ conjectures 
 
 ^ Ohron. de Lanercost, Trivet. But Furnivall, Early English Text Society, 
 
 Richard Taveruer's translation of 1892; and the CasteZ^ o/ iow, an Early 
 
 Q3,\>ito's Pray arson the Psalms (LondiOw, English translation of an old French 
 
 1539) is not from Grosseteste, but from poem by Robert Grosseteste, Pliilo- 
 
 Wolfgang Capito. logical Society, 1864. See M. Jusse- 
 rand, Hist. litt. du peujyle anglais, p. 
 
 '^ Warton's English Poetry, i. 79-88 ; 217, and Mr. W. J. Courthope's 
 
 Pegge, p. 286. The French original History of English Poetry, \y. 139. 
 
 is printed in Cooke's Carmina Anglo- See also Morris's edition of the 
 
 Normannica, Caxton Society, 1852. Cursor Mivndi for the Early English 
 
 For the various English versions see Text Society. Dr. Felten is inclined 
 
 the Castle of Love, ed. by lialliwell, to tliink tliat Grosseteste inspired the 
 
 1849 ; the minor poems of the theme, but was not the actual writer 
 
 Vernon MS., ed. by Horstmann and of the verses, pp. 87, 88.
 
 II THE CHASTE AU D' AMOUR 39 
 
 to be Eobert Mannyng de Brunne, whose Lincolnshire origin 
 attracted him to the Bishop's works, though the likelihood is 
 that the version is due to another. It is composed after the 
 fashion of the songs of the troubadours, and is sometimes called 
 the " Eoman des Eomans." It might have been called " Paradise 
 Lost " and " Paradise Eegained," as far as the subject matter is 
 concerned, as it is a rudimentary attempt to produce, within the 
 compass of about 1750 lines, the sort of poetic narrative for 
 which Milton found fit expression four centuries later. The 
 Latin preface, evidently written by another hand, states that 
 " although the French language has not the savour of sweetness 
 in the estimation of clerks, the work is intended for laymen, 
 who have less knowledge ; and the wise reader, who knows how 
 to extract honey from a rock, and oil from the hardest stone, will 
 find the little work full of pleasantness, as in it are contained all 
 the articles of the Faith, relating to the Divine as well as to the 
 human nature." In the following century the translation of the 
 work into English makes a similar apology for the use of the latter 
 language.^ Other English versions also exist. The Pricke of 
 Conscience, composed by Eichard Eolle of Hampole in the 
 fourteenth century, and erroneously ascribed to Grosseteste, is 
 based partly upon his Chasteau d' Amour and partly upon 
 some of his Dicta, as well as upon other foundations, though 
 it is apparently a version of a Latin piece called the Stimulus 
 Conscientiae, which may have been by Eichard Eolle himself.^ 
 The other French work of the same order as the Chasteau d' Amour 
 
 ^ AVarton's English Poetry, i. p. 80. '^ Pegge, p. 287. See the Pricke 
 
 The English version of the Chasteau of Conscience, ed. by Morris, Philo- 
 
 (£'^moKr contained in the Vernon MS., logical Society, 1863. The translator's 
 
 fol. 292 (Bodleian Library), says : — title runs: "Here begynneth the 
 
 ,, , t 4- ^- boke that men clepyn in Frenshe 
 
 Her begynnet a tretise ^ ■' 
 
 That is ycleped Castel of Love, Manuel Peclie, the which boke made 
 
 Fofle^^i^''m;!?rbehove"''^' ^■''''' J'^ frenshe Robert Groosteste byshop 
 
 Ritson's iJitZiofifraji^att Poe<ica (London, 1S02). of Lyncoln." Lydgate says (Bochas, 
 
 Similarly Robert de Bruune's Pricke ' ' 
 
 of Conscience contains the lines Richard hermite, contemplative of 
 
 sentence, 
 For lewed men I imdyrtoke Drough in Englishe " the prick of 
 
 In Englyshe tonge to make this boke. conscience."
 
 40 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 with which Grosseteste has been credited is the Manuel des 
 P4cMs or des Pechiez, sometimes called the Enchiridion, which 
 was translated into English verse by Kobert Mannyng de Brunne, 
 under the title Handlyng Synne ; ^ but the reference which it 
 contains to the great prelate shows that it cannot have been 
 written by Grosseteste, though it may have been based in part 
 upon his treatise on the seven deadly sins, as well as upon the 
 Liter Floreti ascribed to Jean de Garlande." The actual writer 
 appears to have been "William de Widdindune or Wadington. 
 The author was evidently conscious of his imperfect mastery of 
 French, as is indicated in the lines 
 
 De le frangais ni del rimer 
 Ne me doit nul horn blamer, 
 Car en Angleterre fus ne 
 Et nourri, ordin^ et eleve, 
 
 lines which could not have been written by Grosseteste, who 
 enjoyed ample opportunities of attaining to proficiency in the 
 language. With respect to the English theological works ascribed 
 to Grosseteste,^ it is possible that he may have written some 
 which have not survived ; but the two which have been 
 specially identified with him, namely, the above-named Prickc of 
 Conscience, commencing with the words " The might of the 
 Fader in Heaven," and a short tract on the Lord's Prayer, are 
 precisely the two the authenticity of which is most open to 
 dispute ; and both of them may be assigned, with far greater 
 probability, to Richard Eolle of Hampole.^ The statement of 
 the author of the preface to the 1658 edition of tliei)e Cessatione 
 Legalium, that Grosseteste wrote verse patrio sermone, cannot, 
 
 1 Handlyng Synne, cd. for the Rox- of Chart by Leeds, Kent, written in 
 
 burghe Club by Furnivall, 1 862. See the Kentish dialect of the fom'teentli 
 
 Pegge, p. 286; .Jusserand, p. 216; century (ed. Wright, vol. xxviii. of the 
 
 "W a,rton's English Poetry, i. 59. Percy Society publications, 1849), are 
 
 ^ W. J. Courthope's Hist, of English based on Grosseteste's theological writ- 
 
 Poetrji, ]i. 141. ings. One of them (p. 134) has at the 
 
 ■' Whiivton's Anglia Sacra. end: " Oretis pro anima Domini Koberti 
 
 * Pegge, ]i. 287. Several of the Grosseteyte, quondam episcopi Lin- 
 poems by William de Shoreham, vicar colniae."
 
 II STUDY OF ARISTOTLE 41 
 
 therefore, be sustained by any manuscript hitherto discovered ; 
 and as his French writings appear to be limited to the Chasteau 
 d' Amour and the Beules Seynt Roherd^ whilst his work in the 
 English language is confined (as far as has been definitely 
 ascertained) to a certain number of extemporary sermons, and 
 possibly to the translation of Walter of Henley's Treatise on 
 Husbandry^- it is clear that an overwhelming proportion of 
 what he wrote was composed in Latin. 
 
 From Grosseteste's theological works it is necessary to pass 
 to his contributions to philosophy, mathematics, and natural 
 science, as it was upon them, even more than upon his other 
 achievements, that his reputation chiefly rested during the 
 generations which immediately followed. In spite of Eoger 
 Bacon's reference to Grosseteste's neglect of Aristotle,^ a refer- 
 ence which obviously relates partly to his disregard of the third- 
 hand and inaccurate versions of that philosopher derived from 
 the Arabic manuals of Averroes and Avicenna, and partly to 
 his dissatisfaction with the physical treatises, it is evident that, 
 at any rate during his career at Oxford, and possibly also at 
 Paris, he devoted much attention to the Stagirite. In that 
 respect Oxford at that time had the advantage over the French 
 University, inasmuch as at the latter rigid measures were 
 adopted, in 1210 and 1215,* to prevent the study of "the books 
 of Aristotle upon Natural Philosophy and his Commentaries," 
 and several years elapsed before the prohibition was removed. 
 The logical works of Aristotle had, of course, been long familiar, 
 but the Categories, the De Inter^pretatione, and the Organon 
 alone appear to have been made the subjects of lectures. 
 According to Pioger Bacon,^ Edmund Eich was the first who 
 read the Sophistici Elenclii at Oxford. Grosseteste shortly 
 
 1 See p. 230. i. p. 279, thinks that it must hare 
 
 2 See pp. 229 sqq. been about 1227. His opinion is based 
 ■* Compendium Studii, ed. Brewer, upon the statement of Roger Bacon in 
 
 p. 469. the Opus Tcrtium, written in 1267, 
 
 ■* Rashdall, i. pp. 3,o6, 357. relating to the condemnation of certain 
 
 ^ Compendium Studii Theologiae, books of Aristotle at Paris "about 
 
 quoted by Rashdall, ii. p. 754. AVood, forty years before."
 
 42 
 
 ROBERT GROSSETESTE 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 afterwards wrote a commentary on that work, and also on 
 the Predicaments, the Prior Analytics, and the Posterior 
 Analytics;^ the last-named commentary was frequently issued 
 after the invention of the printing press.- His influence was 
 distinctly on the side of Eealism, as against Nominalism ; ^ but 
 it was a realism which differed widely from the crude system of 
 thought with which William de Champeaux had been identified, 
 and which ascribed to universal notions an objective reality. In 
 the eyes of Grosseteste universals are ante rem, in re, or post rem, 
 according to the point of view ; pure thought perceives them to 
 be principles of being, whereas thought which falls short of that 
 standard regards them as merely principles of cognition ; and 
 they exist ante rem in the mind of the Creator, are expressed 
 in re in the phenomenal world, and can be reconstructed post 
 rem in the mind of the thinker by induction and abstraction, 
 following upon observation and experiment, but pure thought 
 views them from the Creator's standpoint.^ 
 
 The impulse given to the revival of Aristotelian studies by 
 the Latin versions of Arabic translations affected, however, in 
 the main, the physical treatises of that philosopher, rather than 
 those which related to lo^ic. It would be interesting to know 
 
 ^ Prantl {Geschichte der Logik, iii. 
 p. 121) attributes to Grosseteste the 
 Sijiicategorematka fratris Eoberti, the 
 wovdfrati-isheiug assumed to have been 
 inserted by mistake. Grosseteste in his 
 De veritate propositionis shows some 
 acquaintance with Byzantine logic, and 
 it was his friend William of Shirewood 
 (p. 247 of this work) who first adapted 
 Psellus. 
 
 - It was printed at Venice in 1494, 
 and again in 1497, 1504, 1514, 1537, 
 and 1552. Bound up with the British 
 Museum copy of the 1494 edition of 
 Grosseteste's commentary on the 
 Fosierior Analytics are the " liuberti 
 Linconiensis bonaruni artium optimi 
 interpretis opuscula dignissima nunc 
 primum in lucem edita et accuratissime 
 emendata," published at Venice in 
 
 1514. They include the treatises (1) 
 de artibus liberalibus, (2) de generatione 
 sonorum, (3)decalore solis, (4)degenera- 
 tione stellarum, (5) de coloribus, (6) de 
 statu causarum, (7) de veritate proposi- 
 tionis, (8) de unica forma omnium, (9) 
 de intelligentiis, (10) de veritate, (11) 
 de impressionibus elementorum, (12) de 
 motu corporal! et luce, (13) de finitate 
 motus, (14) de angulis et iiguris, (15) 
 de natura locorum, (16) do inchoatione 
 formarum, (17) an homo sit minor 
 mumlus, (18) de motu supercoelestium, 
 and (19) de ditterentiis localibus. 
 
 •' See Haureau, ZTi's/. dela liliilosophic 
 scholastique, i. pt. ii. p. 178 ; Prantl, 
 Geschichte der Logik, iii. pp. 85 sqq. 
 
 •* Covuncnt.in Poster. Arist.i. 7,14; De 
 Artibus Liberalibus, {o\. 2. The former 
 passage comments on Plato's "ideas."
 
 II PHYSICS AND METAPHYSICS 43 
 
 what was the exact date of Grosseteste's siimmary of the eight 
 books of Aristotle's Physics, accompanied by a commentary, but 
 it may be assigned, in all likelihood, to the latter portion of his 
 life at Oxford, within a few years of his appointment to the See 
 of Lincoln. The Summa Boberti Idncolniensis super VIII Libros 
 Physicorum was frequently printed in later centuries, sometimes 
 in connection with the commentaries of St. Thomas Aquinas 
 on the same subject.^ In regard to the physical sciences, how- 
 ever, Grosseteste found it necessary to depart from the teaching 
 of Aristotle : " the lord Eobert," says Eoger Bacon, " neglected 
 altogether the books of Aristotle and their methods, and by 
 his own experiments, and with the aid of other authors, and by 
 means of other sciences, employed himself in the scientific ques- 
 tions which Aristotle had treated ; and he knew and described 
 the questions with which the books of Aristotle deal a hundred 
 thousand times better than they can be understood from the 
 perverse translations of that author." " Bacon's reference is 
 doubtless to Grosseteste's numerous treatises on scientific 
 subjects, such as those on meteorology, on comets, on the rain- 
 bow, on light, on colour, on optics, and, above all, to his Com- 
 pendium Scientiae, about which something will be said later on. 
 The value of scientific works necessarily becomes less from year 
 to year in proportion as they are supplemented or superseded 
 by new discoveries and new inventions ; but the importance of 
 Grosseteste's contributions to physical science consisted not 
 merely in the additions which he made to the existing stocks of 
 knowledge, but in the fact that he gave to experiment the same 
 place in scientific method which it holds in the writings of Eoger 
 Bacon, and to which it was not again restored until after the 
 lapse of several centuries. 
 
 Althoufrh there are but few indications that Grosseteste was 
 closely acquainted with Aristotle's Metaphysics,^ and a short 
 
 1 It was printed at Venice in 1498 ^ And yet William le Breton says 
 
 and 1500, and at Paris in 1538. that Aristotle's Metaphysics were read 
 
 - Compendium Studii, ed. Brewer, at Paris in 1209, having just been 
 
 p. 469. brought from Constantinople, and
 
 44 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 treatise which he wrote on the subject has been lost/ a large 
 portion of the Physics, as well as of the Posterior Analytics, is 
 in reality devoted to metaphysical questions, and supplies 
 the commentator with a text for inquiries of that nature. 
 Some glimpses into Grosseteste's notion of " forms " has 
 been already given in the reference to the letter addressed to 
 Adam Rufus, in which he gives reasons for asserting the pro- 
 position that God is " the First Form of all things." ^ In the 
 commentary on the Physics he defines " form " as that which is 
 the cause of being — quod dat esse rei. He distinguishes three 
 kinds of " forms," namely (1) that which is immanent in matter, 
 which constitutes the subject of natural science ; (2) that which 
 is rendered abstract by the operation of reason, a " form " with 
 which the mathematical branches of knowledge are concerned ; 
 and (3) the immaterial form, with which metaphysics deal. By 
 immaterial forms are meant " spiritual substances," such as 
 God, the soul, and so forth. Further light is thrown upon 
 Grosseteste's metaphysical views by the statement of Eoger 
 Bacon with reference to the question whether the intcllectus 
 agens — that is, Aristotle's vov<i iroLr^riKo^ — does or does not 
 form part of the soul, that both Grosseteste and Adam Marsh 
 answered the question in the affirmative, whereas he had heard 
 William Arvernus, formerly Bishop of Paris, maintain the 
 contrary.^ The psychological side of metaphysics was perhaps 
 of greater interest to Grosseteste than the ontological. 
 
 It has been seen that in the domain of theology Grosseteste 
 
 translated from Greek into Latin. ^ Ojwws yc?'<m9H, ed. Brewer, p. 74, 75. 
 
 Bouquet, t. xvii. p. 84, quoted by Rasli- William Arvernus was an esteemed cor- 
 
 dall, i. p. 354. respondent of Grosseteste. See Letter 
 
 ^ Among the books belonging to 78. Some of Grosseteste's minor philo- 
 
 Durham College, Oxford, in 1315, were sophical disquisitions on causes, on the 
 
 Grosseteste's work on the Posterior freedom of the will, on the nature of 
 
 Analytics, and his " Exjiosicio super tlie soul, etc., are printed in a volume 
 
 metaphisica, ex procuracione eiusdem." of Opnscula varia philosophica, Venice, 
 
 Durham College Jtulls, ed, lilakiston, 1574. In letter 1, p. 31, Grosseteste 
 
 Oxford Hist. Society's C7o^^cctenOT, vol. writes: " Sicut Deus simul totus est 
 
 iii. p. 37. ubique in universo, ita anima simul 
 
 - Letter 1. tota est ubique in corpore animate."
 
 II MORAL PHILOSOPHY 45 
 
 was more intent upon Christian ethics than upon Christian 
 dialectics. In the domain of general philosophy he also devoted 
 greater attention to the more practical than to the more theoreti- 
 cal divisions of knowledge. To the Ethics of Aristotle he paid 
 close attention, both in his University days and during the latter 
 portion of his episcopal. There are reasons, however, for think- 
 ing that during the former period the work which he studied 
 was the Eudemian Ethics, whereas in later years it was the 
 JSPicomachean Ethics} The translation of the latter work, with 
 which he is credited, and which he probably carried out with 
 the assistance of others, belongs to the last ten years of his life, 
 and will be noticed in that connection. Some notes, however, 
 on questions connected with Aristotle's Ethics belong to his 
 academic days, and he also commented on the Consolation of 
 Philosophy by Boethius." Some of the works assigned to him 
 under this, as under other heads, are possibly notes of his 
 lectures, put into shape by his pupils, with or without revision 
 by himself ; but their value and importance are not greatly 
 diminished by that consideration, as they serve in any case to 
 indicate the progress which he effected in the methods of 
 thought and of teaching, and to illustrate his steadfast adher- 
 ence to the rule never to depend upon a translation, or a 
 summary, or a paraphrase when you can go back to the original, 
 and always to verify your premises by practical experiment 
 when the nature of the subject is such as to admit of its possibility. 
 If Trivet's statement be correct that Grosseteste wrote his com- 
 mentary on the Posterior Analytics whilst he was a Master of 
 Arts,^ and if, on the other hand, it be true, as M. Haureau "* 
 
 ^ See p. 247, where the reasons are Conches and before them. I venture 
 
 given. to infer, from the language and from 
 
 ■^ Ch. Jourdaiu, £tudes historiqv.es et the sentiments of the jiassages quoted, 
 
 philosophiques, pp. 54,55, traces certain that the commentator in question may 
 
 passages which occur, in almost identi- have been Grosseteste. Grosseteste's 
 
 cal terms, in Trivet's commentary on glosses on Boethius are in JIS. 14,380 
 
 the Consolations of Boethius, and in of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, 
 
 that which is ascribed to St. Thomas ^ Trivet, p. 243. 
 
 Aquinas, to a commentator who must ■* Hist, de la philosophie scJiolastiqve, 
 
 have lived later than Guillaume de i. pt. ii. p. 176; Dr. Felten, p. 73.
 
 46 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 thinks, that his commentary on the Physics shows traces of 
 Gregory the Ninth's declaration in 1231 that Aristotle's works 
 should be studied in expurgated editions/ it may, perhaps, be 
 inferred that the former work must be assigned to a still earlier 
 period in Grosseteste's life, whereas the latter would belong 
 to the three years which elapsed between the resignation of his 
 preferments in 1232 and his elevation to the See of Lincoln in 
 1235, in which case the ethical notes occupy an intermediate 
 position. On the whole, however, it is more probable that they 
 cannot be arranged in precise chronological order, and that he 
 was engaged simultaneously in the various branches of study, 
 though additions were doubtless made, as time went on, to the 
 materials at his disposal. 
 
 According -to the Dominican chronicler Trivet, Grosseteste's 
 treatises on " the Sphere " and on " Art " were amongst those 
 which did most to increase his fame. The former work is cited 
 again and again by writers of the thirteenth and following 
 centuries, especially by Eoger Bacon, as one which marks an 
 important advance in astronomical research. It appears to have 
 been anterior to the treatise on the same subject by John Holy- 
 wood {Johannes de Sacro Bosco), by which it was superseded, for 
 educational purposes, during the remainder of the Middle Ages, 
 but it is doubtful in what relation it stands to the notes which 
 INIichael Scot is generally stated in the manuscripts to have 
 written on John Holywood's De Sphaera, though a comparison 
 of dates would seem to indicate that what Michael Scot wrote 
 
 ^ The first, however, is doubtful. another version) is the treatise De 
 
 As Mr. Rashdall sliows (i. p. 358), Generatione ct Conccptione. As Prantl, 
 
 William Arvernus, who was Bishop of however, shows (Geschichte der Logik, 
 
 Paris from 1228 to 1248, made free use iii. p. 85), Grosseteste had access to 
 
 of the suspected books, and the New other translations of the Posterior 
 
 Aristotle had triumphed by the middle Analytics besides that of Boethius, 
 
 of the century. Michael Scot's trans- and was also acquainted with the 
 
 lations, made at Toledo, appeared in commentary of Theniistius. He says, 
 
 Northern Europe before ]'230, but the i. 10: "Littera aliarum translationum 
 
 only version made by him on which et sententia Tliemistii neutri i)raedic- 
 
 Grosseteste appears to have commented tarum sententiarum videtur coucor- 
 
 (and it may possibly have been on dari."
 
 II MATHEMATICS AND NATURAL SCIENCE 47 
 
 was really an independent work, which was subsequently 
 appended to the longer treatise. Michael Scot, at any rate, 
 died in or about the year 1235, whilst John Holy wood probably 
 survived Grosseteste by three years, and died in 1256.^ The 
 subject, however, requires further elucidation. It would also be 
 of interest and importance if the relation in which Grosseteste 
 stands, in that respect, to Arabic writers, such as Alphraganus, 
 could be defined or approximately surmised, as well as the extent 
 of his acquaintance with their writings.^ There can be no doubt, 
 however, that, whatever the sources of his inspiration may have 
 been, Grosseteste did more than any one else to give a strong 
 impulse to the study of astronomy and of mathematics in the 
 thirteenth century.^ The other treatise mentioned by Trivet, 
 entitled " On Art," is probably identical with the one known as 
 the De utilitate artium, and has been erroneously described as 
 the Be arte computandi.^ 
 
 Grosseteste also wrote various mathematical treatises, on 
 " lines and figures," on " angles," on " numerical notation," and 
 on " practical geometry." A Computus and a Compiitus Ecclesi- 
 asticics may both be ascribed to him. Both in his work on 
 " the Sphere " and in his Computus Ecclesiasticus he antici- 
 pates Eoger Bacon's views as to the errors of the unreformed 
 Julian calendar, and as to the necessity for the changes which 
 were ultimately introduced in the sixteenth century through 
 the medium of the Gregorian calendar, and which were not 
 adopted in this country until the eighteenth.^ The same subject 
 
 1 On Michael Scot's -works see the computandi, " whereas in Hog's edition 
 
 Rev. J. Wood Browne's Life and Legend of Trivet it is called simply ' ' de arte. " 
 
 of Michael Scot, Edinburgh, 1897. Probably the word Computandi was 
 
 ^ Prantl, GescMchtc dcr Logik, iii. pp. inserted by some copyist who knew 
 
 88, 89, discusses the question briefly of of Grosseteste's Computus and confused 
 
 Grosseteste's logical and metaphysical the two works. Pierre d'Ailly si^eaks 
 
 indebtedness to the Arabs. of Grosseteste's work on the years 
 
 ^ Episcopi Roberti Lincolniensis, and months of the Arabs "de quibus 
 
 Sphaerae Compendium, Venice, 1518. Lincolniensis diffuse tractavit." F. 
 
 * Archdeacon Perry, p. 37, quotes Kaltenbrunner, Die Vorgcschichte 
 
 the passage from Trivet from the Spici- dcr Gregorianischen Kalenderreform 
 
 legium of Dacher, which makes it (Vienna, 1876), p. 47. 
 appear as if the treatise were "de arte ^ See Bacon's Opus Tertium, pp. 221
 
 48 
 
 ROBERT GROSSETESTE 
 
 CHAP, 
 
 was treated almost simultaneously by Eoger Bacon and by 
 Campano :^ the former work was written in 1263, the latter prob- 
 ably a year or two before or after that date. (Irosseteste's 
 Computus is therefore anterior to both by many years, and may 
 doubtless be regarded as the foundation upon which they built. 
 In the sixteenth century Maurolycus cites as his authorities on 
 that subject Robert of Lincoln, John Holy wood, and Campano."^ 
 Grosseteste does not appear, however, to have been convinced 
 of the hopelessness of squaring the circle, if any inference may 
 be drawn from the title of the Bodleian manuscript De quad- 
 ratura circuli ^jer Hneas reputed to be his. The extent to 
 which he was prepared to apply mathematical principles, or, in 
 other words, to assert the existence of the reign of law, in the 
 domain of science is shown in his little treatise, Dc j^^i-'l/sicis 
 lineis angulis et figuris jjer quas omnes actiones naturales com- 
 jplentur.^ 
 
 The treatise called by the name of Tractatus Domini Lincolni- 
 ensis de artihus liheraWbus may or may not be identical with the 
 work " on art " mentioned by Trivet, to which reference has pre- 
 viously been made ; but it appears to be the same as the first of 
 the nineteen tracts, entitled " On the Utility of Arts," printed at 
 Venice in 1514, and it is possible, therefore, that the title of the 
 part was given to the whole."* That particular tract also forms 
 part of the so-called Siimma PhilosopJdae of Grosseteste, a 
 somewhat miscellaneous collection mentioned by Leland, con- 
 
 sqq. ; Charles, Itoger Bacon, p. 275. 
 Cp. F. Kaltenbi'umier, Die Vorgcschichte 
 der Grcgorianischen Kalendcrreform, 
 pp. 18-21, 44, 46, 47, 69. Dr. Kal- 
 teiibrunner sliow.s clearly the indebted- 
 ness both of Roger Bacon and of 
 Pierre d'Ailly to Grosseteste's Com- 
 2mtv.s. See also the "Notitia de 
 Kalendario Linconiensis " printed on 
 p. 125 from the Vienna MS. 5508, 
 fol. 205a. 
 
 1 Canii)ano died in 1267. His Covi- 
 putus was printed at Venice in 1518, 
 in the same year as Grosseteste's work. 
 
 - Maurolycus, OpusculaMathematica, 
 Venice, 1578. 
 
 ^ Printed at Nuremberg in 1503, 
 and described by Mr. Boole in the vol. 
 of the Archajological Institute for 
 1850, p. 139. Among the MSS. in 
 Pembroke College, Cambridge, are 
 Grosseteste's "Computus," "Dicta, 
 cum Tabula," " De Lingua," and " Do 
 Literas Componendi forma." Grosse- 
 teste's Computus is in the Harl. MS. 
 (British Museum), 7402, his De 
 Spha^ra in Harl. MS. 4350. 
 
 ■* See p. 42, note 2.
 
 II THE UNITY OF KNOWLEDGE 49 
 
 taining essays on forms, light, colours, the rainbow, and comets, 
 as well as on the utility of the liberal arts. Amongst other 
 writings of Grosseteste of a scientific or philosophic character 
 which have been printed at Venice in 1514 may be enumerated 
 treatises on the origin of sounds, on the heat of the sun, on the 
 origin of stars, on the colours, on the nature of causes, on truth, 
 on the impressions of the elements, on the movements of the 
 body, on the finite character of time and motion, on the nature 
 of places, and on man as a microcosm, in addition to some of 
 the minor treatises previously mentioned. 
 
 The most important, however, of Grosseteste's works, from 
 the point of view of the history of the advance of knowledge, 
 and of his relations with his predecessors and with his pupils, 
 amongst whom Eoger Bacon must certainly be classed, was the 
 Gompendmm Scientiarum, in which he attempts a classification 
 of all the departments of knowledge then known. The manu- 
 script was seen by Tanner in the last century,-^ The headings 
 furnish some clue to the general arrangement which he adopted, 
 and to the nature of the system he employed. They are (1) the 
 divisions of philosophy, (2) a compendium of natural philosophy, 
 (3) mathematics, (4) metaphysics, (5) grammar, (6) rhetoric, (7) 
 logic, (8) the art of medicine, (9) arithmetic, (10) music, (11) 
 geometry, (12) astronomy, (13) optics, (14) astrology, (15) astro- 
 nomy, (16) mathematical sciences in general, (17) politics, (18) 
 economics, (19) ethics, (20) on the unity and simplicity of 
 knowledge. Truly Grosseteste was one of the great encyclo- 
 piedic thinkers of the world, and one who, in view of the limited 
 opportunities then afforded for the acquisition and diffusion of 
 learning, and the difficulty of procuring the materials of study, 
 must be ranked among the foremost who have sought to reduce 
 
 ^ It used to be in the Uuiversity be coufused with the Sunima Fhiloso- 
 
 Library at Cambridge, Hh. iv. 13. phiae mentioned by Leland (p. 48), 
 
 Haureau was unable, however, to liud contains twenty chapters which are 
 
 it there, i. part ii. p. 174. The MS. identical with those of the C'o//ij:je?irfiM??i 
 
 Ji. iii. 19, however, which I have ^ciV'«<tarz(;/i, with the addition of Poetry 
 
 seen in that Library, entitled Summa and Mechanics, and tlie omission of 
 
 Philosophic Lincolnicnsis, and not to Metaphysics and Astronomy (12). 
 
 E
 
 50 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 diversity to unity, and to survey the whole extent of what is 
 knowable, with the aid of observation and experiment, and in 
 the light of all-embracing principles, 
 
 Eoger Bacon's estimate of Grosseteste's achievements in the 
 domain of science derives special value not only from the range 
 of the writer's own attainments, but also from the fact that he 
 was not inclined, as a general rule, to praise either his im- 
 mediate predecessors or his contemporaries. It is well, there- 
 fore, to compare and to contrast that estimate with the opinion 
 he formed and repeatedly expressed with regard to the three 
 most widely read writers of his own age, Alexander de Hales, 
 Albertus Magnus, and Thomas Aquinas. Of Alexander, the 
 Doctor Irrefragahilis of the Franciscans, whose Summa was 
 on one occasion proclaimed by an assembly of seventy doctors 
 to be infallible. Bacon declares that the Summa in question, 
 though it was as heavy as the weight of a horse, was full of 
 errors, and displayed ignorance of physics, of metaphysics, and 
 even of logic.^ Of Albertus Magnus, the Doctor Universalis of 
 the Dominicans, he writes that what is useful in his works 
 might be summed up in a treatise twenty times as short as 
 they are." Thirdly, in speaking of Thomas Aquinas, who, it is 
 true, had not attained at the time when Eoger Bacon wrote to 
 the commanding position of authority which was afterwards 
 accorded to him in the schools, he couples him with Albertus 
 Magnus, and says that they both became teachers before they 
 had been adequately taught, and lectured on a philosophy and 
 a theology which they had imperfectly learned. Without 
 adopting the somewhat harsh judgment passed upon those great 
 men by Eoger Bacon, whose disregard for authority led him to 
 be 
 
 NulHus addictus jurare in verba magistri, 
 
 1 Opus Minus, ed. Brewer, pp. 325- Albertus Magnus. See also Ojms 
 
 327 ; Opus Tcrtium, p. 30. Minus, p. 327. Tlie Order is that of 
 
 - Opus Tertium, p. 30. I have the Dominicans, and not (as the 
 followed E. Charles (p. 107) in the marginal note says) that of the Fran- 
 supposition that the passage refers to ciscans.
 
 II ROGER BACON'S ESTIMATE OF GROSSETESTE 51 
 
 and whose disappointments in his career were apt to embitter 
 his feelings with respect to those ^hose success was recognised 
 in their own generation, it is evident that the very independ- 
 ence of his judgment and the keenness of his critical faculty 
 impart additional importance to his estimate of Grosseteste. 
 
 What, then, was that estimate ? The expressions of his 
 views on the subject are to be found scattered throughout his 
 works, and are invariably marked by a profound admiration of 
 the great teacher's genius. One passage has already been 
 quoted.^ In another he states that " one man alone had really 
 known the sciences, namely, Robert, Bishop of Lincoln," - and 
 again, that whilst Boetliius was the only translator who had an 
 adequate knowledge of languages, " the Lord Eobert alone, on 
 account of his long life and the wonderful methods which he 
 employed, excelled all men in his knowledge of the sciences." ^ 
 In his work on mathematics, Eoger Bacon says : " Xobody can 
 attain to proficiency in that science by the method hitherto 
 known, unless he devotes to its study thirty or forty years, as is 
 evident from the case of those who have flourished in those 
 departments of knowledge, such as the Lord Eobert of holy 
 memory, sometime Bishop of Lincoln, and Friar Adam Marsli, 
 and Master John Hendover, and the like, and that is the reason 
 why so few study that science." * On the same subject he says, 
 in the Oims Majus, in a passage of which the reading and 
 the meaning are somewhat obscure, that " there were found 
 some famous men, such as Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, and Adam 
 Marsh, and several others, who were aware that the power 
 of mathematics is capable of unfolding the causes of all things, 
 and of giving a sufficient explanation of human and divine 
 phenomena ; and the assurance of this fact is to be found 
 in the writings of those great men, as, for instance, in their 
 
 ^ Compendium Studii Philos(yphiae, ^ Compendium Stadii Philosophiae, 
 
 p. 469. See p. 43. p. 472. 
 
 "^ Opus Tertium, p. 33. Cp. Opus •* Quoted by Wootl, i. p.82. C\>. Opus 
 
 Majus, ed. Jebb, p. 45 ; ed. Bridges, i. Tertium, p. 472. 
 p. 67.
 
 52 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 works on tlie impressions, on the rainbow and the comets, on 
 the generation of heat, on the investigation of geography, on 
 the sphere, and on other questions appertaining both to theology 
 and to natural philosophy." ^ If by " the power of mathe- 
 matics " Bacon means something akin to what would now be 
 termed the " reign of law," ample recognition of that principle is 
 to be found in Grosseteste's writings, without the addition of the 
 fanciful comparisons by the aid of which Bacon expresses theo- 
 logical and moral truths in terms of mathematical phraseology.^ 
 Grosseteste and Adam Marsh, says Bacon in the Opus Tertiumf 
 " rank among the greatest of the clergy the world has produced : 
 they were perfect in divine and human wisdom." In another 
 passage he repeats that thought with even greater emphasis : ^ 
 " Few have attained to consummate wisdom in the perfection of 
 philosophy : Solomon attained to it, and Aristotle in relation to 
 his times, and in a later age Avicenna, and in our own days the 
 recently deceased Eobert, Bishop of Lincoln, and Adam Marsh." 
 Lastly, in a passage, to which brief reference has already 
 been made, relating to the translation of ancient authors,^ Roger 
 Bacon, after commending Boethius for his knowledge of 
 languages, says : " No one really knew the sciences except the 
 Lord Eobert, Bishop of Lincoln, by reason of his length of life 
 and experience, as well as of his studiousness and zeal. He 
 knew mathematics and perspective,*^ and there was nothing 
 which he was unable to know ; and at the same time he was 
 
 ^ Opus Majus, ed. Jebb, p. 64 ; ed. light of the sun irradiates the organ of 
 
 Bridges, i. p. 108. vision and things visible, enabling the 
 
 ^ For instance, llacon compares the former to see and the latter to be seen, 
 
 Trinity to an equilateral triangle, so too the irradiation of a spiritual light 
 
 argues that the divine liglit of grace brings the mind into relation with that 
 
 reaches the good in a direct perpendic- which is intelligible. Cp. his De 
 
 ular ray, the weak in a refracted ray, Vcrltate, fol. 3 ; Prantl's Geschichte 
 
 and the bad in a reflected ray, and dcr Logik, iii. p. 87. 
 
 compares the virtues to tlie rational 3 Qpr^g Tertium p. 75. 
 
 numbers, and the ])assions to tlie irra- 4 r, • 7 ^^ 
 tional, etc. Grosseteste, however, is 
 
 also fond of illusti'ations taken from " -'^^^^- P' ^^• 
 
 optics. For instance he says (C'(y??imc?i<. ^ Perspective included optics. See 
 
 ■ill Poster. Arist. i. 17) that just as the Part V. of the Opws Majus.
 
 II INFLUENCE OF ARABIAN THOUGHT 53 
 
 sufficiently acquainted with languages to be able to understand 
 the saints and the philosophers and the wise men of antiquity ; 
 but his knowledge of languages was not such as to enable him 
 to effect translations until the latter portion of his life, when 
 he summoned Greeks, and caused books on Greek grammar to 
 be brought together from Greece and other countries." And 
 although the translations thus carried out were few in number, 
 they compare favourably, adds Bacon, " with the numberless 
 ones which were made by Gerard of Cremona, Michael Scot, 
 Alfred of England, the translator employed by Manfred,^ and 
 others who knew neither the languages nor the sciences." The 
 last portion of the statement relating to Grosseteste must be 
 taken with certain reservations, as it is probable that he had 
 commenced his studies of Greek and of Hebrew during his 
 academic days, and indeed there is nothing in the passage to 
 contradict either that supposition or the tradition that he was 
 acquainted with Nicholas, the Greek, at that period of his life, 
 and he may have had the advantage of his assistance then, as 
 in later years ; but the words of Bacon must be understood to 
 refer specially to the mission of John of Basingstoke to Athens 
 and elsewhere in search of Greek manuscripts, and to the trans- 
 lations which Grosseteste commenced in 1241 or 1242 with the 
 aid of Nicholas and others."' In one place Bacon suggests that 
 in order to increase the knowledge of Greek, some should 
 journey to Italy, in some portions of which — for example, in 
 Apulia — the clergy and the people were really Greeks, and that 
 Bishops, Archbishops, rich men and old men should follow the 
 example set by Grosseteste, and send to those parts in search of 
 
 ^ Manfred, son of Frederick II. , was Historical Review for April 1S98, 
 
 killed in 1266 at the battle of Bene- suggests that the Scot MS. which 
 
 vento, where he was defeated by declares that one of Scot's treatises was 
 
 Charles of Anjou. Hence Roger written for Frederick's son Manfred 
 
 Bacon, in the passage above quoted, in 1256, may have mistaken the 
 
 written in 1267, speaks of him as "translator ilanfredi " for Michael 
 
 " nuper a rege Carolo devicti." Mr. Scot. 
 
 Archer, in reviewing the Rev. J. "Wood - See pp. 223 sqq., " Habuit multos 
 
 Browne's Life ami Legend of Michael adjutores," Comf. Studii Philosopliiae, 
 
 Scot, Edinburgh, 1897, in the English p. 472.
 
 54 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 books as well as of persons acquainted with Greek ; and he 
 adds that several of the persons for whom he had thus sent 
 were still in England at the time when he wrote.^ Concerning 
 Grosseteste's efforts, however, to revive the study of Greek 
 during the latter part of his life more will have to be said in a 
 subsequent chapter. 
 
 In one important respect, and in one only, does Eoger Bacon 
 appear to have had the advantage over his teacher. His know- 
 ledge of Arabic brought him into direct contact with the 
 thoughts and writings of Avicenna and Averroiis and others of 
 the school of Cordova, while Grosseteste was obliged, in study- 
 ing them, to rely upon inferior Latin translations or summaries, 
 and to depart to that extent from the principle which he so 
 often advocated, that recourse should be had to the original 
 text. To what extent the manuals at his disposal enabled him 
 to appreciate the results at which they had arrived is a question 
 beset with difticulties ; but it may be safely assumed that, in 
 whatever form they may have reached his hands, they facilitated 
 his endeavours to work out for himself, by means of his own 
 experiments and observations, the questions to which they had 
 applied themselves, and stimulated, even if they did not direct, 
 his efforts in particular departments of knowledge. Their im- 
 portance, however, from the point of view of their effect upon 
 the development of the European intellect, consisted not so 
 much in their own achievements as in the fact tliat they served 
 as the channel through whicli tlie majority of the writings of 
 Aristotle other than those which dealt with logic found their 
 way into Europe ; and as Grosseteste's life synchronised not 
 only with the influx of Latin versions of the Arabic commenta- 
 tors and translators of Aristotle, but also witli the facilities 
 afforded by the Crusades, and more especially by the Latin con- 
 quest of Constantinople for the acquisition of Greek manuscripts, 
 he was able to avail himself of both movements,and, within certain 
 limits, to correct and supplement the one by means of the 
 
 ' Compendium Stitdii Fhilosophiae, p. 434.
 
 II THE THIRTEENTH-CENTURY ENCYCLOPEDISTS 55 
 
 other. His impulse to the study of mathematics and physical 
 science was derived principally from the former, his impulse to 
 the study of ethics chiefly from the latter. What Grosseteste 
 does is to collect the scattered threads. He thinks out for 
 himself the various problems, combines the solutions in the 
 light of certain general principles, the truth of which he tests by 
 observation and experiment, and endeavours to regard know- 
 ledge as a whole and to classify its component elements. He 
 stands forth as the first and, in some respects, as the greatest of 
 the encyclopcedic thinkers of the thirteenth century. If, on 
 the one hand, his teaching gives an impetus to the successive 
 generations of schoolmen who, with increased material at their 
 command, though with less boldness, perhaps, than had been 
 exhibited in the twelfth century, devote themselves to the task 
 of reconciling reason with faith, on the other hand he lays the 
 foundations of the systematisation of universal knowledge 
 attempted, on various principles, in various ways and with vary- 
 ing results, by Roger Bacon, Albertus Magnus, and Thomas 
 Aquinas. Of the three, Eoger Bacon is the one whose methods 
 and whose range of studies are most akin to those of Grosse- 
 teste ; there are indeed few of the leading ideas to be found in 
 the writings of the Franciscan friar which may not be traced to 
 the teaching of "Eobert of holy memory"; and although the 
 filiation of the two great Dominican writers is less direct, there 
 can be no doubt that, not only at the University of Paris, through 
 William Arvernus and others, they were able to become acquainted 
 with his works, but also that Jordan of Saxony,^ the second 
 general of the order, John de St. Giles, and other prominent 
 Dominicans who were intimate friends of Grosseteste even before 
 he had been raised to the episcopal see, were instrumental in 
 making his opinions and his researches known.- 
 
 ^ See pp. 66, 67. by Grosseteste shows the nature of the 
 
 - Albertus JIagnus seldom quotes debt he owed. Prantl, Geschiclite der 
 
 living writers by name, but a com- Logik, iii. pp. 89. 107, assumes that 
 
 parison of his commentary on the they both derived simultaneously from 
 
 Posterior Analytics with the ea.vliQT one the Arabic the distinction between
 
 56 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 In Grosseteste's writings may be found the germ of at least 
 two of the scholastic controversies which agitated Oxford and 
 Paris during the latter part of the thirteenth century, that of the 
 unity or plurality of forms, and that which concerned the 
 principle of individuation. It is a testimony to the true great- 
 ness of his intellect that his influence should be traceable in two 
 writers such as Eoger Bacon and Thomas Aquinas, who at first 
 sight appear to belong to entirely different types of thought ; 
 but the former was more than a scientist, and the latter was more 
 than a schoolman. 
 
 " Friar Bungay," writes an ecclesiastical historian,^ " had a 
 profound knowledge of mathematics, which he owed either to 
 the inspiration of the demon or to the teachings of Eoger Bacon." 
 It is not a matter of surprise that in an age in which the vast 
 majority of the laity were steeped in ignorance, and the studies 
 of the clergy were confined, with comparatively few exceptions, 
 to narrow and well-beaten tracks, the men who rose head and 
 shoulders above their contemporaries in tlie range of their 
 knowledge and the breadth of their views should have been 
 supposed by popular imagination to owe their intellectual 
 superiority to fictitious advantages derived from the use of 
 magic. It is worthy of note, however, that tlie legends embody- 
 ing those fancies clustered exclusively round those who devoted 
 most attention to the pursuit of mathematics and of natural 
 science. The old dislike of mathematics, which finds expression 
 in the prohibitions contained in the Theodosian code, was of 
 long continuance. Grosseteste's reputation did not escape from 
 the charge, and l)efore long he, Albertus Magnus, Eoger Bacon, 
 
 dejinitio formnlis and definiHo mrderi- wlioseiiifluencehe traces in St. Tliomas. 
 
 alls; bnt it seems more likely to have Cp.tlie passages quoted from St. Thomas 
 
 come to Albertus through Grossetestc. in vol. i. pp. 170 sqq. of his work with 
 
 M. Charles Jourdain's e.x'cellent Pltilo- those which Prantl quotes from Grosse- 
 
 sophic de St. Thomas d'Aquin (Paris, teste, Geschichte der Lor/ik, iii. pp. 
 
 1858) was written before he had turned 85 sqq. 
 his attention to Grossete.ste, and he 
 
 failed to realise that the latter liadprob- ' Hist. Eccles. Magdchurgensis, t. 
 
 ably written before William Arvernus, iii., (quoted in Charles's Bacon.
 
 II LEGEND OF THE BRAZEN HEAD 57 
 
 Thomas of Bungay, and several others had been invested by the 
 
 credulity of a subsequent generation with the possession of 
 
 supernatural powers. John Gower, in his Confessio Amantis,^ 
 
 says : — 
 
 For of the grete clerk Grostest 
 I rede how redy that he was 
 Upon clergy an hede of brass 
 To make and forge it for to telle 
 Of such thyngs as befelle ; 
 And seven yeres besinesse 
 He layde but for the lacknesse 
 Of half a mynute of an houre, 
 For fyrst that he began laboure 
 He lost all that he had to do. 
 
 The making of the brazen head is in most story-books ascribed 
 to Eoger Bacon, and in the Elizabethan age the idea was worked 
 out by Eobert Greene in his Historic of Fricir Bacon and Friar 
 Bungay, a play of which the scene is placed in the very district 
 in which Gtosseteste was born,- a coincidence which suggests 
 that the identity of the legends may have led to a confusion 
 between the persons to whom they relate. In Greene's play 
 Friar Bacon misses the critical moment, much in the same way 
 as Grosseteste misses it in Gower's poem, and allows the brazen 
 head to utter the words, " Time is " and " Time was," before its 
 third utterance, " Time is past," tells him that the opportunity 
 of obtaining an insight into the hidden nature of things has 
 gone for ever. In Greene's play, again. Friar Bacon's wish is to 
 " circle England round with brass," just as Marlowe's Dr. Faustus 
 
 seeks to 
 
 Circle Germany with walls of brass, 
 
 and the legends connected with Dr. Faustus in the sixteenth 
 
 1 Book iv. Richard de Bardney Frankfort in 1587 under the title of 
 
 writes of an infernal horse, named Historic von Dr. Joliann Fausten, Dr. 
 
 Beal, which conveyed Grosseteste in Faust is made to ride to Rome upon 
 
 one night from England to Rome, to Mephistopheles, who has transformed 
 
 enable him to officiate there on behalf himself into a horse with "the wings 
 
 of the Bishop of Salisbury, who was of a dromedary. " 
 
 old and infirm. Similarly in the - Fressingfield is within four miles 
 
 "Volksbuch," published by Spies at of Stradbroke.
 
 58 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap, ii 
 
 century have much in common with those which are associated 
 in the thirteenth with the name of Albertus Magnus, who, like 
 Grosseteste and Eoger Bacon, was credited with a " brazen head." 
 Similar stories had been told in the tenth century of Gerbert, 
 the learned mathematician and scholar, who became Pope 
 Sylvester II. It has been seen that Grosseteste wrote a short 
 treatise on astrology, which forms part of his Compendium 
 Scientiae, and if it be true that he also wrote on the philosopher's 
 stone and on the astrolabe, it must be confessed that he did not 
 take such precautions as were needed in that age to prevent the 
 growth of imputations of that character. It is probable, how- 
 ever, that those two works, if he was their author, were really 
 treatises on chemistry, as then understood, and on astronomy, 
 and were a part of his scheme for dealing in a systematic way 
 with the whole of science at the stage which it had reached ; 
 and, after all, as Emile Charles observes in his Life of Roger 
 Bacon, legends of that description represent merely the homage 
 paid by ignorance to knowledge. 
 
 Enough has, perhaps, been said in this chapter to show that 
 Grosseteste is entitled to a place of no mean order amongst the 
 encyclopiedic thinkers whom the world has produced. He had, 
 indeed, become possessed of a secret more precious than that of 
 the philosopher's stone : he had grasped the essential idea of the 
 unity of knowledge, the interconnection and interdependence of 
 all that relates to nature and to man.
 
 CHAPTEE III 
 
 Grosseteste's connection witli the Friars — Origin of the Dominicans and Fran- 
 ciscans — Their arrival in England — Settlement at Oxford — Grosseteste's 
 lectures at the Franciscan School — His subsequent relations with the two 
 Orders — Friendship ^s-ith John de St. Giles and with Adam Marsh. 
 
 Before passing to the circumstances which induced Grosseteste 
 at the end of 1231 or beginning of 1232 to relinquish most of 
 his ecclesiastical duties and to restrict in a large measure the 
 sphere of his activity, it is necessary to give some account of 
 his relations with the two orders of Friars which, making their 
 appearance on these shores a few years previous to that date, 
 had begun to rouse England out of the moral and spiritual 
 lethargy into which she had been plunged at the time of the 
 Great Interdict, to appeal to new social strata barely touched 
 by existing organisations, and to teach men that religion was as 
 compatible with a life of activity as with a life of contemplation. 
 It is among Grosseteste's merits that he was one of the first to 
 divine the new ideas thus presented to the world, and to 
 encourage and guide the new forces thus called into existence. 
 
 The first Dominicans landed in England in 1220, the first 
 Franciscans in 1224 ; and in view of the fact that they both 
 sought Grosseteste's protection and advice, and that to both he 
 remained a firm and faithful friend, though specially associated 
 with the latter as the earliest reader to their school at Oxford, 
 it is desirable to refer briefly to the origin and importance of the 
 two orders, as well as to their introduction into this country and 
 their settlement at the University in which he was the foremost 
 scholar.
 
 6o ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 The Dominicans and the Franciscans were imbued alike 
 with the missionary spirit which aims at the salvation of souls. 
 The methods, however, by which they sought to attain to that 
 object differed as widely as did the character and temperament 
 of their respective founders. The followers of the Castilian St. 
 Dominic were essentially an order of preachers, whilst the fol- 
 lowers of St. Francis of Assisi were essentially an order of 
 workers. The former took pride in their severe and even 
 fanatical orthodoxy, and relied mainly on the eloquence of the 
 spoken word for the furtherance of their efforts ; the latter 
 relied mainly on the eloquence of practical example, and looked 
 for their ideal to the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount. The 
 Black Friars appealed rather to the feeling of fear, the Grey 
 Friars to that of love. They both, as distinguished from the old 
 monastic orders, found scope for their work in the towns rather 
 than in the country, and addressed themselves to the masses 
 rather than to the few. St, Francis had " taken poverty as his 
 bride," and had imposed the same vow upon his disciples, an 
 example which was followed by St. Dominic, who had not 
 originally intended to include it in his rule. In comparison 
 with them the great Benedictine monasteries, with their wealth, 
 their culture, and their relative exclusiveness, stood at a dis- 
 advantage when the question was how to reach the people's ear. 
 The Dominicans suited their style of speech to their hearers, 
 addressing the learned with arcjuments which derived their 
 strength from the subtlety and ingenuity of their dialectic, whilst 
 they spoke to the unlearned in language which aroused in turn 
 their hopes and their apprehensions. The Franciscans, without 
 disdaining the merits of a persuasive utterance, paid more atten- 
 tion to the practical works of charity, nursing the sick, and 
 especially those who were afflicted with the more loathsome 
 forms of disease, such as leprosy, which had at that time acquired 
 a strong hold in Europe, and extending their care not only to 
 their human brethren, but also to dumb animals, in emulation of 
 their founder, who had preached a sermon to birds, and had
 
 Ill PREVAILING CONDITIONS 6i 
 
 declared on one occasion, " If I could only be presented to the 
 Emperor, I would pray him to issue an edict prohibiting any 
 one from catching or imprisoning my sisters, the larks, and 
 ordering that all who have oxen or asses should at Christmas 
 feed them particularly well." 
 
 The extraordinarily rapid advance effected in the course of a 
 few years by the new orders, and the hold which they obtained 
 over men's minds, were due in part to the fact that they supplied 
 a moral and spii'itual want which had long been felt, and with 
 which existing religious bodies were either unable or unwilling 
 to cope. The age, moreover, was one of intellectual ferment, 
 and was favourable to the growth of generous enthusiasm and 
 fervent emotion, which generally assumed a religious form, 
 though in other cases it partook of a different character. The 
 feelings which liad brought about the Crusades had not yet been 
 extinguished, although the fall of Jerusalem in 1187 had pro- 
 duced a widespread sense of gloom and consternation. Contact 
 between East and West had familiarised Europe with other modes 
 of thought. In Southern and Central Italy the Cathari, a corrupt 
 offshoot of the strict and even puritanical sect of the Patarenes,^ 
 threatened, with their Manichaeism, their revival of old-world 
 ceremonies, and their abolition of marriage, to sap the founda- 
 tions of society at the centre of Christendom. In the north of 
 the peninsula, apart from the Patarenes, who were to be found 
 chiefly in and about Milan, the Waldenses, striving after a purer 
 form of faith, gradually withdrew from communion with the rest 
 of their compatriots. In the centre of what is now France the 
 " poor men of Lyons," to whom the Waldenses owed their in- 
 spiration, and probably their origin, had formed themselves into 
 a guild of charity, bound by solemn vows, of which the vow of 
 poverty was one. In Gascony the Albigenses, who, like the 
 Patarenes, had derived their ideas from Eastern sources, at first 
 hand from the adherents of the Bogomilian sect in Bosnia, and 
 
 ^ For the precise distinction between Tocco's Eresia nel medio evo, Florence, 
 the Patarenes and the Cathari see F. 1884.
 
 62 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 at second hand from the Paulicians of Armenia, adopted a form 
 of belief for which they paid a terrible penalty at the hands of 
 the fourth Simon de Montfort, whose name is as infamous in 
 the annals of repression as the name of his greater son is illus- 
 trious in the history of freedom.^ In Germany the year 
 1213 had witnessed the extraordinary outburst known as the 
 children's crusade," and a few years later the sect of the Catini, 
 or Stadinger, was subjected to wholesale massacre.^ On the 
 other hand scepticism, also derived in part from contact with 
 the East, was making its appearance in high places. Philip 
 Augustus threatened to become a Mahometan when the Inter- 
 dict was used as a weapon against him ; King John of England 
 was said to be so indifferent to the responsibilities of Christian 
 kingship that he offered at one time to place himself under the 
 suzerainty of the Moorish Khalif, and, not many years later, 
 similar stories were current concerning the Holy Eoman 
 Emperor himself, Frederick the Second of Germany, and were 
 thought to receive some countenance from the conciliatory dis- 
 position which he manifested towards the Saracens in Sicily and 
 in the Holy Land. The Almarician heresy, which came to the 
 front at the University of Paris, was rigorously suppressed in 
 1210.* In England, almost alone among nations, heresy had 
 obtained no footing. 
 
 Such were the conditions which prevailed at the time when 
 the mendicant orders sprang into existence. From the first the 
 Dominicans were the faithful servants of the Eoman see ; no 
 question was raised as to their willingness to obey implicitly 
 
 1 In the Hist. Maj. iii. 78 it is stated ities are tliere quoted. Adherents of tlie 
 
 that tlie Pope of the All)if,'enscs and of Bogomilian doctrines are still to be 
 
 the Patarenes resided "between the found in some of the remoter valleys 
 
 confines of Bulgaria, Croatia, and Dal- of the Herzegovina. Large numbers 
 
 matia, " i.e. in Bosnia. The filiation of them were massacred in 1238 by 
 
 of the Albigenses and Patarenes to the Koloman, brother of the King of 
 
 Bogomiles, and through them to tlie Hungary. 
 
 Paulicians, is explained by Mr. Arthur ' Hist. Maj. ii. 558. It was headed 
 
 Evans in the historic sketch prefixed by a French (? Franconian) boy. 
 
 to his Through Bosnia and Herze- ■' Ibid. iii. 267. 
 
 fjovina (London, 187G), and the author- * Rashdall, ii. 355-357.
 
 ni ARRIVAL OF THE DOMINICANS 63 
 
 the orders which they received. The case of the Franciscans 
 was somewhat different, and it is impossible to read the account 
 of their founder's life without coming to the conclusion that, 
 had. it not been for the tact and good management of Cardinal 
 Ugolino/ he and his followers would have drifted away from 
 the main body of the Church, and have become a separate sect, 
 much in the same way as the Waldenses. A comparison has 
 often been drawn between the Franciscans and the Wesleyans. 
 As Canon Jessopp puts it, " St. Francis was the John Wesley of 
 the thirteenth century, whom the Church did not cast out." " Dr. 
 Kuenen compares the relation of the Franciscans to the Church 
 with that of the Buddhists to Brahmanism, adding that the 
 connection with the parent tree was retained in the one case 
 and lost in the other. 
 
 Comparatively little is known with regard to the first settle- 
 ment of the Dominicans in England. In 1221,^ the very year 
 after the chapter held at Bologna, at which they virtually 
 transformed themselves from an order of Austin canons into 
 one of mendicant friars by the adoption of constitutions framed 
 in imitation of those of St. Francis, the first party of Black 
 Friars, twelve in number, in addition to Gilbert de Fraxineto, or 
 de Fresnoy, under whose leadership they were placed, landed on 
 these shores, were well received by Stephen Langton, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, preached in London on the 10th of 
 August, and reached Oxford on the 15th of that month. Almost 
 immediately after their arrival they established a fi'iary, with 
 church and schools attached, though it must be remembered 
 that the Dominican church of St. Nicholas, which was destroyed 
 during the reign of Henry the Eighth, was not dedicated until 
 1262, that is to say, more than forty years after their arrival, 
 and it is known that they occupied in the meantime a 
 
 ^ The Cardinal failed, however, in - The Coming of the Friars. 
 
 his endeavour to bring about an ^ Trivet, p. 209. 
 
 amalgamation between the two orders. ^ Wood, City of Oxford, ed. Clark, 
 
 See Sabatier. ii. p. 321.
 
 64 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 temporary habitation.^ Leland says that two schools were 
 connected with their friary, one for divinity in the chapter-house, 
 and one for philosophy in the cloisters. Robert Grosseteste 
 was among the first to welcome them, and it is by no means 
 unlikely, in view of the attitude towards them exhibited in his 
 letters, that they came to Oxford at his suggestion and invita- 
 tion. If, as is possible, he was Chancellor of the University at 
 that time, it was natural that their earliest communications 
 should be addressed to him. His views as to the importance of 
 preaching were in harmony with theirs. Three of his most 
 intimate and distinguished friends joined the order at an early 
 date, namely, John de St. Giles, Robert Bacon, and Pdchard 
 Fishacre. 
 
 John de St. Giles, in the middle of a sermon in which he 
 was commending the vow of poverty, determined to put his 
 principles into practice and to resign his worldly wealth, de- 
 scended from the pulpit, assumed the black garb of the Friars 
 Preachers, and then returned and finished his discourse.^ He 
 is believed to have been the first Englishman who joined the 
 Dominicans. The incident is related by Trivet under the year 
 1222, and took place apparently at Paris ; but it is evident 
 from the fact that the pulpit was in the Dominican Church 
 that John de St. Giles must have been in previous sympathy 
 with the order, if not an actual member, and it was in 1218 
 that he had presented to them the Hopital de St. Jacques, 
 probably out of the funds which he had accumulated as first 
 physician to Philip Augustus. It was doubtless by reason of 
 
 1 See Ann. Monast. (Worcester), iv. liouse in the parish of St. Edward's in 
 
 413. The older schools, according to 1245. Ann Monast. (T. Wykes), iv. 
 
 Leland, stood "infra locum quem 94. 
 
 nunc habitant." The early settlement -Trivet. See Mr. Kingsford's 
 
 was in the heart of the Jewry, where article on John de St. Giles in the 
 
 the church of St. Edward was handed Did. of Nat. £iogmj)hy and Denitie's 
 
 over to them by the Countess of Oxford " Quellen zur Gelehrtengeschichte des 
 
 and the Bishop of Carlisle. Rashdall, Predigerordens im 13ten. und 14teu, 
 
 ii. p. 376 ; Wood, Citij of Oxford, ed. Jahrhundert," in the Archiv fur 
 
 Clark, Oxford Historical Society, ii. Litteratur und Kirchengeschichte des 
 
 pp. 312 ii(jq. They entered their new Mittclaltcrs, ii. p. 165.
 
 Ill JOHN DE ST. GILES, ROBERT BACON, FISHACRE 65 
 
 earlier friendship, formed in all likelihood at Paris, that Grosse- 
 teste invited him in 1235 ^ to come and preach in his own 
 country. He accepted the invitation as soon as he was able 
 to return from his attendance in Germany on the Princess 
 Isabella, who had now become the wife of the Emperor Fred- 
 erick II.,' and he became the head of the Dominican School at 
 Oxford. His friendship with Grosseteste continued to the end. 
 He was presented by the Bishop to the prebend of Leighton 
 and the archdeaconry of Oxford, but soon asked to be released 
 from these preferments for reasons of health.^ In 1239 he was 
 Chancellor of the diocese of Lincoln.* He was repeatedly an 
 inmate of Grosseteste's palace, as a friend whose counsel was 
 eagerly sought, though not always implicitly followed, and also 
 as a physician whose skill was called into requisition on more 
 than one occasion during the Bishop's life, and more particularly 
 during his last illness.^ 
 
 Of the other two prominent friends of Grosseteste who 
 joined the order about that time, Eobert Bacon, probably uncle 
 of Roger Bacon, the Franciscan, is said to have become a Friar 
 Preacher in his old age, and in the height of his reputation 
 as a scholar and a theologian, and to have continued for several 
 years his lectures at St. Edward's Schools, as the schools 
 attached to the Dominican friary were then called.^ With 
 him were always associated in his own and in the following 
 generations the name and the memory of Eichard Fishacre, 
 best known as a commentator on Peter Lombard's Sentences 
 and a postillator of the Psalms. Although Fishacre's name is 
 not mentioned in Grosseteste's correspondence, the tradition 
 with respect to their intimacy is in harmony with the state- 
 ments of Matthew Paris and of Trivet that Piobert Bacon and 
 he were inseparable companions, lectured in the same schools, 
 and were as undivided in their death as in their life, both dying 
 
 ^ Letter 16. See also Letters 14, ^ Le Neve, Fasti, ii. 91. 
 
 15. 5 Hist. Maj. v. 705, 400, 401. 
 
 2 Hist. Maj. iii. 324. s Trivet, pp. 229, 230 ; Hist. Maj. 
 
 ^ Mon. Francisc. pp. 132, 172. v. 16 ; Leland. 
 
 F
 
 66 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 in 1248.^ It may therefore be assumed that the friends of the 
 first must also have been the friends of the second. About 
 Grosseteste's relations with Kobert Bacon there can be no 
 doubt. Their two names are associated, together with that of 
 the Chancellor of the University, in a mandate issued by Henry 
 the Third at Oxford in June 1234, in which the mayor and 
 bailiffs are instructed to take steps for the expulsion of women 
 of bad repute from the city, with the stipulation that if any 
 should remain there after eight days, they might be seized by 
 order of the Chancellor, or of Master Eobert Grosseteste, or of 
 Friar Eobert Bacon, and detained until the King's further 
 pleasure should be made known.^ It was shortly before that 
 date that Kobert Bacon advised the King publicly in a sermon 
 that he would never enjoy peace until Peter des Koches, Bishop 
 of Winchester, and Peter de Eievaulx were driven from the 
 kingdom.^ It was on the same occasion that a certain clerk, 
 who is stated to have been Eoger Bacon, asked the King the 
 riddle, "Wherein lies the greatest danger to those who are 
 crossing the straits ? " — the reply to which, suggested by the 
 propounder himself, was " Petris et Eupibus," a punning allusion 
 to the Latin name of Henry's evil counsellor. With the views 
 thus expressed Grosseteste, as the friend of the INIarshalls,^ 
 must have been in thorough accord. A reference occurs in one 
 of the Bishop's letters of the year 1235 to Eobert Bacon, whose 
 name appears in the manuscript, probably owing to some error, 
 as Eoger. Another connecting link between them was, in all 
 likelihood, the regard felt by Eobert Bacon for St. Edmund of 
 Canterbury, who was his teacher or, according to other accounts, 
 his pupil, and probably both, and whose life he subsequently 
 wrote.^ 
 
 In 1230 the head of the Dominican order. Friar Jordan of 
 
 1 Trivet, pp. 229, 230; Uist.Maj. v. 16. * See pp. 93, 108. 
 
 - Pegge, p. 34 ; Kennett's Parochial ^ Hist. Maj. v. 369. Eccleston 
 
 Antifpiitic.% i. 306, 307 ; Dodsworth {Mon. Francisc. p. 56) refers to the 
 
 MSS. (Bodleian), vol. ciii. fol. 168. entry of Robert Bacon into the 
 
 ' Hist. Maj. iii. 244, 245. Dominican order at an advanced age.
 
 Ill RELATIONS WITH THE DOMINICANS 67 
 
 Saxony, who had succeeded to St. Dominic in the office of 
 general, came to Oxford.^ An anecdote of his visit to England 
 is related by Eccleston,- Seven years later Grosseteste wrote to 
 him in affectionate terms, recalling the pleasant intercourse he 
 had enjoyed with him at Oxford, praising the work of the Friars 
 Preachers, and expressing the hope that John de St. Giles, among 
 other members of that body, might be permitted to remain at 
 his side, in order to assist him in the task of dealing with 
 the requirements of so vast a diocese as that of Lincoln.^ " I 
 hope," writes Grosseteste, " that he may remain with me to 
 strengthen my weakness, to supplement my insufficiency, to 
 stir me up when I am too easy-going, to sustain me when I 
 stagger, to push me forward when I hesitate, and to comfort me 
 in the days of tribulation." At an earlier date, in 1235, im- 
 mediately after his appointment to the bishopric, he had addressed 
 a similar request to Friar Alard, provincial prior of the order 
 in England, then holding a chapter at York, and had asked him 
 to send not only John de St. Giles, but also Geoffrey de Clive, 
 together with a third skilled in canon and civil law.'* From 
 another letter written apparently in 1242 ^ to Friar Matthew, 
 who was then provincial prior, it seems that the Pope had 
 granted to Grosseteste a privilege allowing him always to have 
 two Dominicans with him ; and he expresses the hope that 
 they may be changed less frequently. Other testimonies might 
 
 ^ Letlrcs de Jourdain de Saxe, ed. " Mo7i. Francisc. p. 11. 
 
 Bayonne(Paris, 1865),pp. 122s^^., 134. ^ Letter 40. The letter was written 
 
 "Apud studium Oxoniense, ubi ad in 1237. 
 
 praesens eram, spera bonae capturae ^ Letters 14, 15. 
 
 Dominus nobis dedit." And, again, ^ Letter 100. There is no complete 
 
 " sanus ante Puriticationem B. Yirginis list of the provincial priors of the 
 
 de Anglia vobis scripsi." The letters Dominican order in England, as there 
 
 are addressed to Diana, foundress of the is of the provincial ministers of the 
 
 convent of St. Agnes at Bologna, and Franciscans. Mr. A. G. Little, in the 
 
 give an account of the " conversions " English Historical Review for July 
 
 the writer was able to effect at Paris, 1893, attempts to supply the names 
 
 Padua, Vercelli, Bologna, and other and the dates from various sources. 
 
 Universities. Matthew Paris mentions Gilbert de Fresnoy was provincial 
 
 his death by drowning. Hist. Maj. prior in 1221, Alard in 1235, Henry in 
 
 iii. 390-391. 1240, and Matthew from 1245 to 1254.
 
 68 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 be quoted from his correspondence, pointing to the regard he 
 entertained for them, and to the value he attached to their help, 
 and showing that the relations commenced at Oxford continued 
 throughout his life. In a letter written in 1236 to Alexander 
 de Stavensby, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, Grosseteste, 
 referring to trustworthy reports which had reached his ears to 
 the effect that his correspondent had spoken ill of the Franciscans 
 at Chester, on the ground that they desired to settle there in 
 company with the Dominicans, speaks of the zeal and useful- 
 ness of both orders, and adds that their simultaneous presence 
 in a city, far from injuring each other's efforts, had the effect of 
 rendering their work more abundant and more effective by the 
 stimulus of friendly rivalry.^ It was natural that Grosseteste 
 should take an interest in a matter affecting a city where he 
 had once been Archdeacon, though it may only have been for 
 a short time,- and should be anxious to assist in effecting an 
 arrangement. There can, however, be no doubt that the Domini- 
 cans made less progress in England than was the case with the 
 Franciscans, and that the latter obtained over men's minds a 
 hold which the former were unable to secure. 
 
 Close as were the relations which Grosseteste maintained 
 with the Friars Preachers, it was with the Friars Minors that he 
 was most in sympathy, as might, indeed, have been expected in 
 one whose mind dwelt more on the moral and practical aspects 
 of Christianity than on those which were of a purely doctrinal 
 character. The coming of the Franciscans to England has 
 been so fully told by Eccleston, and so often retold since the 
 publication of Brewer's edition of that manuscript, that it is 
 unnecessary to deal with it here at any length. Grey Friars 
 they were often called from their garb, and also "Fratres 
 Minores," or Minorites, a designation which they originally 
 adopted partly out of humility, and partly, in all likelihood, 
 with indirect reference to the democratic party at Assisi, which 
 had long been known as that of the " minores," as distinguished 
 
 1 Letter 34. See jmst, p. 78. ^ ggg p. 25.
 
 Ill COMING OF THE FRANCISCANS 69 
 
 from the " majores," as the city oligarchs were termed. On the 
 11th of September 1224, two years after the arrival of the 
 Dominicans, and two years before the death of St. Francis, their 
 first band landed penniless at Dover, having been conveyed 
 across the Channel as an act of charity through the care of 
 monks of Fecamp. They consisted of four clerks, of whom, 
 however, only one, a Norfolk man named Eichard of Ingworth, 
 was in priest's orders, and of five laymen, under the guidance 
 of Friar Agnellus of Pisa, whom their founder had intended 
 for the post of first provincial minister of the order in England. 
 Eccleston has related in touching terms the narrative of the 
 hardships they encountered, of the simple faith by which they 
 were sustained, and of the zeal and fearlessness with which 
 they performed what might have appeared a well-nigh im- 
 possible task.^ Within five years they had established them- 
 selves in every important city in England. In a little more 
 than thirty years the members of the order had increased from 
 9 to 1242, had settled in no fewer than forty-nine different 
 localities, and had covered the whole country with a network 
 of organisation directed to the furtherance of their founder's 
 principles. They betook themselves, as a rule, to the suburbs 
 of the towns, in the midst of the poorest of the population 
 amongst whom they laboured. "We are told how in London, 
 after they had been entertained by the Dominicans on the 
 simplest fare for the space of a fortnight, they succeeded in 
 securing a house in the Cornhill, where they constructed separate 
 cells, stopping the interstices with dry grass. In November 
 two of them, Eichard of Ingworth and Eichard of Devonshire, 
 proceeded to Oxford, where they were hospitably received by 
 the Black Friars, and established a settlement in the parish of 
 St. Ebbe's, " where was sown a grain of mustard seed, which 
 grew to be greater than all the trees." It is interesting to note 
 that the first town to which, in the summer of the following 
 year, they travelled from Oxford was Northampton,- with which 
 
 ^ Mo7i. Francisc. pp. 5 sqq. - Hid. pp. 9, 10.
 
 70 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 Grosseteste had been connected shortly before in his capacity of 
 Archdeacon, and that they afterwards built themselves at Cam- 
 bridge a small wooden chapel, erected by a carpenter in one day 
 from fourteen couple of planks, doubtless with the help of clay.^ 
 To describe, however, how they passed from town to town, 
 making converts wherever they went, and meeting with a speci- 
 ally warm response at Lynn, Yarmouth, Norwich, and other 
 places in the eastern counties, would lie outside the scope of 
 this work. 
 
 Of their early settlement at Oxford several particulars are 
 recorded by Eccleston, who himself studied in the school which 
 they there established.- William of Esseby, a novice, was in- 
 vested with the garb of the order, and made their first warden, 
 As their numbers increased, and " as Oxford was the principal 
 place of study in England, where the whole body of scholars 
 was wont to congregate, Friar Agnellus caused a school of 
 sufficiently decent appearance to be built on the site on which 
 the Eriars had settled, and induced Eobert Grosseteste of holy 
 memory to lecture to them there ; and under him they made 
 extraordinary progress in sermons as well as in subtle moral 
 themes suitable for preaching," and continued to do so until 
 " he was transferred by Divine Providence from the professorial 
 chair to the episcopal see."^ It is not quite clear whether 
 Grosseteste began to lecture to the Eranciscans immediately 
 after their arrival at Oxford, or wdiether a short interval 
 elapsed. At any rate, he was the first who undertook the dis- 
 charge of those duties, and it is probable, therefore, that his 
 work began before the rapid extension of their property and of 
 their buildings. It must have been about twenty years before 
 they had added to their holding in the parish of St. Ebbe's the 
 marshy strip of ground outside tlie town wall, where they after- 
 wards resided."^ Grosseteste, indeed, appears to have warned 
 
 ^ Mon. Francisc. p. 18. ' Ibid. p. 37. 
 
 - Ibid. pp. 10, 18, 27, 28, 31, 37-39, * Grey Friars at Oxford, pji. 12 sqq., 
 
 etc. 22 sqq.
 
 Ill FIRST READER TO OXFORD FRANCISCANS 71 
 
 them, on sanitary grounds, not to build their houses too near 
 the water's edge,^ but they probably paid little attention to 
 advice which seemed to derogate from their self-sacrificing 
 enthusiasm. The school cannot have been of imposing propor- 
 tions if it resembled the hospital which they also constructed 
 at Oxford, and of which Eccleston says that it was so low 
 that the walls barely reached beyond the stature of a man.^ 
 The humility of their dwellings was akin to the simplicity of 
 their habits ; for several years the Oxford Franciscans slept 
 without pillows, and never used shoes except in cases of illness, 
 when special permission had to be obtained ; and yet we are 
 told that many bachelors of arts and many nobles entered the 
 order.^ It is added by Eccleston that readers were also ap- 
 pointed, apparently somewhat later, at Hereford, Leicester, 
 Bristol, and Cambridge, as well as at Oxford, and that " the 
 gift of wisdom so overflowed in the province of England, that 
 before the deposition of William of Nottingham * there were as 
 many as thirty lecturers in England, in addition to four who 
 lectured without ' disputations.' A regular succession of them 
 was provided in the universities." ^ 
 
 It is not known whether Grosseteste had any acquaintance 
 with the Franciscans previous to their arrival at Oxford. He 
 had doubtless heard much concerning them from his Dominican 
 friends, and from his correspondents in Paris, and possibly in 
 Italy. Although Adam Marsh does not appear to have become 
 a Franciscan until the year 1226,'' or shortly afterwards, when 
 
 1 3fon. Francisc. p. 66. ing to which the date would be 
 
 - Of their first house "fuit area bre vis 1254. 
 
 et arcta nimis," p. 17. Eccleston calls ^ Mon. Francisc. p. 38 ; Brewer's 
 
 the school "satis honestam." preface, p. 48. 
 
 ^ Mon. Francisc. pp. 17, 28. ^ Mon. Francisc. pp. 15, 16. Dr. 
 
 ■* Probably in 1251. See Mr. Little's Brewer's statement (p. 79) in the 
 
 article on the succession of the pro- preface that he assumed the habit at 
 
 vincial ministers of the Friars Minors Worcester "during the wardenship of 
 
 in England in the English Historical Agnellus, that is, between 1236 and 
 
 i2CT?>2« for October 1891, and his G^rey 1239," is clearly a slip. Agnellus 
 
 Friars at Oxford, p. 184. But see of Pisa was provincial minister from 
 
 also Mon. Francisc. p. 551, accord- 1224 to 1235. The Bishop of London
 
 72 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 he entered the order at Worcester, following the example set 
 by Adam of Oxford, he appears to have been in sympathy with 
 their views at an earlier period of his life ; and it is possible 
 that he may have written to Grosseteste on the subject from 
 Padua, where, according to one account of doubtful authenticity, 
 though inherent probability, he was studying at that time, and 
 where St. Anthony of Padua, one of St. Francis' disciples, is said 
 to have been amongst his friends.^ More probably Richard of 
 Ing worth, as an East Anglian, may have been acquainted with 
 Grosseteste in earlier days. And in this connection it is not 
 unimportant to emphasise the preponderance of the East Anglian 
 element among the pioneers of the movement, a fact which may 
 possibly account in part for its rapid spread in that part of 
 England, whilst, on the other hand, there must have been some- 
 thing in the attitude of the Minorites which appealed in a 
 special degree to the East Anglian mind, much in the same way 
 as the religious movements of the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, 
 and seventeenth centuries found most favour there. Perhaps 
 Milman's saying that Franciscanism was " the democracy of 
 Christianity," affords some explanation of the friendly reception 
 with which it met in a district in which similar tendencies of 
 thought have often manifested themselves. Canon Jessopp well 
 observes that " of the first eighteen masters of the Franciscan 
 school at Cambridge at least ten were Norfolk men, whilst of 
 the first five Divinity readers at Oxford whose names have been 
 
 inadvertently adopts Dr. Brewer's 11. See 'W adding' s Annales Minoruni, 
 statement in his article on Adam ii. 48, 240. It is possible that he may 
 Marsh in the Did. of National Bio- have been both to Bologna and to 
 gra'pliy, and says that Adam Marsh Padua. Wadding's account may, how- 
 entered the order about 1237. It was ever, be based upon a confusion with 
 Albert of Pisa who was minister from his alleged visit to Italy in 1230, when 
 1236 to 1239. he is said to have accompanied St. 
 
 Anthony of Padua to Rome in oppo- 
 ' If Adam Marsh studied at Padua, sition to the minister Helias. Accord- 
 it can hardly have been before 1222, ing to another account, also mentioned 
 as no regular lectures appear to have by Wadding, it was at Vercelli that 
 been delivered there until that year, he studied. See Mr. Little's Qrey 
 when a migration of students took Friars at Oxford, -[). \Z^. See also note 
 place from Bologna, Rashdall, ii. p. 4, p. 76, of the ])resent work.
 
 Ill HIS INFLUENCE 73 
 
 recorded, after [and including] those of Grosseteste and of Roger 
 de Wesebam, four were unmistakably East Anglians." ^ 
 
 Wbat was Grosseteste's main object in encouraging the 
 settlement of the Grey Priars at Oxford, and in undertaking 
 the task of becoming their first lecturer ? In the position 
 which he then occupied as former, or possibly actual. Chancellor 
 of the University, as its leading scholar, as regent in arts and 
 doctor of theology, and with the reputation of being summus 
 philosophus, it must have required a certain amount of moral 
 courage on his part to identify himself so prominently with a 
 body of men whose views and whose practice were little in 
 harmony with received notions. Eepresenting as they did to a 
 great extent the admixture of the laity in religious affairs — for 
 most of them were laymen, at any rate at first — they could not 
 be expected to be received with heartiness by the secular clergy. 
 Embodying as they did the voluntary principle, they were certain 
 to incur sooner or later the hostility of the monastic orders, 
 which depended mainly upon endowments. As independent 
 of class distinctions, they afforded a contrast alike to the ideas 
 inseparable from the feudal system, and to the aristocratic ex- 
 clusiveness of the monks. Oxford, however, was not monastic 
 in its nature or in its tendencies, except so far as St. Frideswyde's 
 and Osney were able to exercise any influence ; it had as yet no 
 endowments of any consequence, and it had already on various 
 occasions shown signs of the exercise of independent judgment on 
 ecclesiastical as well as on political matters. Moreover, Grosse- 
 teste's force of character, and the weight he carried in the Uni- 
 versity, were such as to enable him to overcome prejudices and 
 obstacles of that description. Doubtless he felt deeply the charm 
 and freshness of the movement, and admired the unselfish devotion 
 of its leaders. His object, however, in helping to bring about 
 and in strengthening their connection with the University 
 must have been twofold. He desired to promote the revival 
 
 ^ Dr. Jessopp's Coining of the Friars. teste and Roger de Weseham, Mon. 
 A certain Peter, afterwards Bishop in Francisc. pp. 37, 38. 
 Scotland, intervened between Grosse-
 
 74 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 of learning, and also the revival of religion. His action furthered 
 both ends. It brought the University into touch with a great 
 spiritual and moral influence which was calculated and quali- 
 fied to appeal to the people as a whole, whilst at the same time 
 it imparted to the friars a culture to which they would not 
 otherwise have attained. Every friar who passed from the 
 Franciscan school at Oxford to do his duty in the world in 
 accordance with his calling, would thus carry with him, and be 
 able to convey to others, some of the learning he had acquired, 
 or at any rate its spirit ; and, in turn, every friar who came to 
 the University would help to raise the tone of the studies, 
 and to direct them to the worthiest purposes. 
 
 Such was, in all probability, the ideal which Grosseteste had 
 in view. It differed, however, from the ideal of St. Francis, 
 who " had set his face against learninsj, and would have his 
 followers like the poor, not in dress only, but in understanding." ^ 
 " I am afraid," he once said, when he heard that a great doctor 
 of Paris, possibly Alexander of Hales, had been received into the 
 order, greatly to the joy of the clergy and of the city, " I am 
 afraid that such doctors will be the destruction of my vineyard. 
 They are the true doctors who, with the meekness of wisdom, 
 exhibit good works for the improvement and edification of their 
 neighbours. A man has no more knowledge than he works, and 
 he is a wise man only in the degree in which he loves God and 
 his neighbour." On another occasion he severely rebuked one 
 of his provincial ministers, Peter Stacia, for having organised 
 some kind of Franciscan school at Bologna.^ It is easier, how- 
 ever, for those who have tasted of the sweets of knowledge to 
 part with riclies than to part with learning, and it was at 
 Bologna that most of his early successors studied, such as 
 Peter of Catagna, John Parenti, Helias, Albert of Pisa, Haymo 
 of Favershara, and Crescentius.'^ 
 
 ^ Brewer's preface to the Mon. pp. 64-66, and pp. 332, 333 of the pre- 
 
 Francisc. p. 29. For anecdotes re- sent work. 
 
 lating to Grosseteste's career as a '^ Sabatier, Vie de St. Fran<;ois 
 
 lecturer at Oxford see Mon. Francisc. d' Assise, chapter xvi. * Ibid.
 
 Ill ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE FRANCISCAN SCHOOL 75 
 
 In view of the subsequent history of the Franciscan school 
 at Oxford, and of the influence exercised by the order in Eng- 
 land, as compared with other countries, it cannot be denied that 
 (irosseteste's attempt to combine the revival of learning with 
 the revival of religion was largely justified by its results. 
 Xowhere has the Franciscan order done so much as in England 
 for the advancement and dissemination of knowledge, nowhere 
 has it furnished so long a list of distinguished names, and 
 nowhere has it presented so clear and so clean a record of useful 
 work. With few exceptions every really great man of learning 
 belonging to the order came from these islands. It was from 
 the very school at which Grosseteste was the first lecturer, and 
 at which Adam Marsh, his most intimate friend, subsequently 
 read, that proceeded Eichard of Coventry, Eoger Bacon, John 
 Wallensis,^ Thomas Dockyng, Thomas of Bungay, Archbishop 
 Peccham, Eichard Middleton, Duns Scotus, Occham, and Burley. 
 As Dr. Brewer observes, "Lyons, Paris, and Cologne were 
 indebted for their first professors to the English Franciscans 
 at Oxford. Eepeated applications were made from Ireland, 
 Denmark, France, and Germany for English friars ; foreigners 
 were sent to the English school as superior to all others. It 
 enjoyed a reputation throughout the world for adhering the most 
 conscientiously and strictly to the poverty and severity of the 
 order ; and for the first time since its existence as a University, 
 Oxford rose to a position second not even to Paris itself. The 
 three schoolmen of the most original and profound genius, Eoger 
 Bacon, Duns Scotus, and Occham, were trained within its walls." ^ 
 Among the Dominicans Germany produced Albertus Magnus, and 
 Italy St. Thomas Aquinas ; among the Franciscans Italy had its 
 St. Bonaventura, and Spain its Eaymond Lully ; but " no nation 
 can show three schoolmen like the English, each unrivalled in his 
 way, and each working with equal ability in opposite directions. 
 
 ^ Not to be confused with Thomas Archdeacon of Lincoln in 1238, and 
 
 Wallensis, who succeeded Roger de Bishop of St. David's in 1248. 
 
 Weseham as reader at the same ^ Brewer, pref. to the Mon. 
 
 Franciscan school, and who became Francisc. p. 81.
 
 76 
 
 ROBERT GROSSETESTE 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 The influence of the English school was consequently more pro- 
 found, more brilliant the reputation of its teachers." To Grosse- 
 teste, more than to any other man, must the credit be accorded. 
 One of the most important effects, so far as Grosseteste's own 
 life was concerned, of the part he took in furthering the Franciscan 
 movement was to cement the bonds of friendship between 
 himself and Adam Marsh.^ That learned man, whose name is 
 constantly coupled with his by Eoger Bacon and others, and 
 the trend of whose theological and mathematical studies lay in 
 the same direction, is stated by Trivet to have been a native of 
 the diocese of Bath, was educated at Oxford, where he was a 
 pupil of Grosseteste," and held, according to the Lanercost 
 Chronicle, a living at Wearmouth, in the diocese of Durham, 
 previous to his admission into the order. His uncle, Eichard de 
 Marisco, who was Bishop of Durham from 1217 to 1226, 
 bequeathed to him his library in the latter year.^ The traditions 
 relating to his studies in Italy rest upon somewhat vague 
 foundations, but derive some support from the internal evidence 
 afforded by his letters.'* He was the first Franciscan who 
 
 ^ M. Charles Jourdain {Excursions 
 Historiques, p. 133) suggests, with 
 more fancifuhiess than probability, 
 that Adam Marsh may have been a 
 native, not of Somerset, but of Fonts 
 et Marais, formerly called de Marisco, 
 near Eu in Normandy, on the ground 
 tliat he was a correspondent of the 
 Archbishop of Rouen, that a certain 
 Peter of Pontoise was among his 
 friends, and that he communicated 
 indirectly with Blanche of Castile, 
 Queen of France. It may be replied 
 (1) that he may liave made the 
 acquaintance of Odo, who became 
 Archbishop of Rouen in 1248, on his 
 way back from the Council of Lyons 
 in 1245, before Odo, who was a Minorite, 
 had been appointed to that office ; (2) 
 that Pierre de Pontoise was in the 
 service of Simon de Montfort {Mon. 
 Francisc. p. 261) ; and (3) that his 
 letter to the Archbishop of Rouen (p. 
 
 80) and his indirect communication 
 with Blanche de Castile (p. 381) both 
 relate to Simon de Montfort's business. 
 In view, therefore, of Adam Marsh's 
 relations to that great man, no further 
 explanation is required of his acquaint- 
 ance with the correspondents in ques- 
 tion. Fuller in his Worthies {s.v. 
 Somerset) suggests Brent Marsh as the 
 place of his nativity. Trivet's state- 
 ment, which ^I. Jourdain appeal's to 
 have overlooked, may be accepted as 
 conclusive that he was born in the 
 diocese of Bath. Leland mentions 
 Somerset in this connection. 
 
 '^ Roger Bacon {Opus Tcrtiuin, p. 187) 
 speaks of Grosseteste as Adam's master. 
 
 ^ Close Roll, 10 Henry III. m. 6. 
 See the biographical notice of Adam 
 Marsh in Mr. Little's Grey Friars at 
 Oxford, pp. 134-139. 
 
 * E.g. Mon. Franciscana, p. 206, 
 wliere he speaks of liis old friendship
 
 Ill FRIENDSHIP WITH ADAM MARSH 77 
 
 lectured at Oxford,^ where the variety of his attainments and the 
 lucidity of his teaching earned him the name of doctor mirahilis. 
 His entry into the Franciscan order took place at Worcester' 
 shortly after 1226, and not, as has been erroneously supposed, 
 about the year 1237.^ Between him and Grosseteste there was 
 constant intercourse during the remainder of their lives, as well 
 as constant interchange of thoughts concerning the welfare of 
 the University and of the Minorites, the need for ecclesiastical 
 reform, and the social and political condition of the times. Nor 
 was Adam Marsh the only member of his family with whom 
 Grosseteste was on friendly terms. In later years Kobert 
 Marsh, who appears to have been his brother, was collated by 
 the Bishop of Lincoln soon after 1245 to the living of Aylesbury,^ 
 and in 1248 to the archdeaconry of Oxford, accompanied him to 
 Lyons in 1250, acted as his official in the latter days of his life,'* 
 and became Dean of Lincoln in 1258, five years after the death 
 of his friend and patron. Their intimacy may be inferred from 
 the fact that in one letter Adam Marsh notes that Grosseteste 
 had expressed a desire to be present at his brother's inception 
 at Oxford, and to preside at the ceremony,^ whilst in another 
 he requests that Eobert may be admitted to the priesthood by 
 the imposition of the Bishop's hands.^ Two of his kinsmen 
 appear to have been in Grosseteste's service ; one of them, 
 William, was Imiliff of Buckden," and the other, Thomas, was at 
 one time attached to his household.^ 
 
 Of Adam Marsh's letters which have been printed in the 
 
 with the Abbot of Vercelli, and, p. 306, - See pp. 71, 72 of the present work 
 
 where he writes to St. Bonaventura. and Little's G-rey Friars at Ox/oi'd, p. 
 
 The evidence, however, is not of value 135. His readershiji, of course, belongs 
 
 per se, but only in so far as it helps to a later date. 
 
 to confirm the traditional account. A s ff{s^_ Maj. iv. 425. 
 
 certain John de Vercelli was a Lincoln 4 ji-^ jgg 
 
 prebendary and a Buckinghamshire . ,, „ . ,.,, 
 
 . T}T ri 7 ^ ■ T^oi a ^^(^^- Francisc. p. 13o. 
 
 I'ector ; Buss, Calendar, 1. 181. See ^ 
 
 also p. 72, note 1. ' ^^^- ?• }^^- ^P- brewer's pre- 
 
 1 Mm. Francisc. pp. 38, 542, 549. ^^^^> PP- ''^' ^^• 
 
 He was a doctor of divinity before ^ ^^^on. Francisc. p. 252. 
 
 he entered. ^ Ibid. pp. 95, 223, etc.
 
 78 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 Monumenta Franciscana, more than sixty are addressed to 
 Grosseteste, whilst of the letters written by the latter and edited 
 by Dr. Luard, only two are addressed to Adam Marsh.^ The 
 earlier of them belongs either to the end of 1232 or to the 
 beginning of the following year, and the second to the year 
 1236. Although Adam Marsh's own letters are not arranged in 
 chronological order, the vast majority of them clearly belong to 
 the last few years of Grosseteste's life, and it is a matter of deep 
 regret that no trace should have been preserved of the Bishop's 
 own letters to which they reply. The two collections, however, 
 notwithstanding their manifest deficiencies, constitute a record 
 of unique importance, and throw a flood of light not only upon 
 the lives of the writers themselves, but also upon the history 
 and social and intellectual condition of the times. Upon many 
 of the topics to which they refer it will be necessary to comment 
 in subsequent chapters. Here it will be sufficient to point to a 
 few of the passages which illustrate the sustained interest which 
 Grosseteste continued to take, after his elevation to the see of 
 Lincoln, in the affairs of the Grey Friars whom he had befriended 
 in his academic days. 
 
 One of Grosseteste's early letters, written probably in 1225 
 or soon after, whilst he was Archdeacon of Leicester,- is ad- 
 dressed to Friar Agnellus of Pisa, provincial minister of the 
 Friars Minors in England, and the convent of St. Ebbe's, for the 
 purpose of consoling them on the occasion of tlie departure of 
 Friar Adam of Oxford, who was about to preacli to the Saracens, 
 and who, according to Eccleston, became famous throughout the 
 world.^ Grosseteste speaks in high terms of his noble qualities, 
 of the importance and value of his resolve, and of his eminent 
 fitness for missionary work,* and adds tliat he had assumed a 
 Friar's garb for the special purpose of being able to carry out 
 that duty with greater efficiency. In his ejjiscopal days he 
 
 ^ Letters 9, 20. ^ Letter 2. ubi densissiiiias infidelitatis tenebras 
 
 '■^ Mon. Francisc. pp. 15, 16. dissipet. Fervor quocpie ejus tautus, 
 
 ^ Lumen scientiae ejus tarn ful{:;ens ut corda lapidea et congelata divino 
 
 est, ut merito ibi maxiine collocetiir, adjutorio liquefaciat et accendat.
 
 Ill RELATIONS WITH THE FRANCISCANS 79 
 
 again and again commends the zeal, the piety, and the usefulness 
 of the Minorites. A letter to Adam Marsh in 1236 indicates 
 that one Friar Garinus had been at his side, but had been re- 
 called, and he now wishes for the assistance of some Francis- 
 cans, as their presence is of the utmost value both to him and 
 to the Church.^ In 1237 he sends to Friar Helias, Minister- 
 General of the Franciscans, a letter," similar in character to that 
 which he addresses at the same time to Friar Jordan of Saxony, 
 Prior-General of the Dominicans, requesting him to interest 
 himself in the affairs of the Lincoln diocese. In writing to Pope 
 Gregory the Ninth, about the year 1238, he bears testimony in 
 the following terms to the excellence of the Friars : ^ " Your 
 Holiness may be assured that in England inestimable benefits 
 have been produced by the friars ; for they illuminate the whole 
 country with the light of their preaching and learning. Their 
 holy conversation excites vehemently to contempt of the world 
 and to voluntary poverty, to the practice of humility in the 
 highest ranks, to obedience to the prelates and head of the 
 Church, to patience in tribulation, abstinence in plenty, and, in 
 a word, to the exercise of all virtues. If your Holiness could 
 see with what devotion and humility the people run to hear the 
 word of life from them, for confession and instruction in daily 
 life, and how much improvement the clergy and the regulars 
 have obtained by imitating them, you would indeed say that 
 ' upon them that dwell in the light of the shadow of death hath 
 the light shined.' " So, too, in the letter previously quoted,^ 
 addressed to the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield with reference 
 to the settlement of the Franciscans at Chester alongside of the 
 Dominicans, he emphasises the usefulness of the Friars Minors 
 to the people among whom they dwell, " since both by the word 
 of preaching and the example of a holy and heavenly conversa- 
 tion, and the devotion of continual prayer, they are indefati- 
 gable in causing peace and in illumiuatiug the country ; and in 
 
 1 Letter 20, p. 71. ^ Letter 58 ; Luard's preface, p. 22. 
 
 - Letter 41. * Page 67 ; Letter 34.
 
 8o ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 this part," he adds, with what is perhaps a humorous turn of 
 phrase, seeing that it is addressed to an episcopal correspondent, 
 " they supply in great measure the defect of the prelates." 
 
 One of the results of Grosseteste's views as to the necessity 
 for combining missionary work with culture is that he inter- 
 poses repeatedly for the purpose of endeavouring to secure such 
 relaxation of the strict rules of the order, in the case of parti- 
 cular individuals, as will enable them to obtain special books 
 and other means of study. Eoger Bacon relates, not many years 
 later, how difficult it was for him to obtain ink and parchment. 
 Under the influence of Adam Marsh, prompted by Grosseteste, 
 every effort was made to facilitate special studies on the part of 
 this or tliat friar. It must be remembered, however, that 
 writing materials were very expensive, that the price of books 
 was virtually prohibitive,^ and consequently that it was impos- 
 sible for men who had taken the vow of poverty to effect much 
 in that direction by their own unaided efforts. The care taken 
 of the volumes is indicated by Adam Marsh's request ^ that the 
 copy of St. Gregory's 3foralia, which, he had left at Eeading,aswell 
 as that of Eabanus's Be Natura Berum, and other works, may be 
 forwarded to him at Lyons, " packed neatly in a waxed cloth 
 with the wooden covers removed." ^ In some cases he asks for 
 books for this or that friar ; in another he expresses a wish for 
 parchment and vellum of calf's skin to be sent to him for writing 
 purposes at the earliest opportunity."* It may be noted that 
 
 ^ On the system which prevailed at Introd. to the Close Rolls, pp. 45 sqq. 
 
 the Universities of letting out books on Bartholomew of Pisa, in his Liber 
 
 hire to scholars see Rashdall, i. pp. Conformitatnm (Milan, 1510), p. 79, 
 
 191 sqq., 415 sqq. In the Countess says that Friar Agnellus sent ten 
 
 of Leicester's Household Roll of 1265, pounds sterling to the Curia for a copy 
 
 pp. 9, 24 (Bannatyne Club, 1841), it of the Decretals, in order that the 
 
 is stated that in order to make her Oxford Friars might study them, 
 
 pocket breviary, twelve dozen of line Mon. Francisc, p. 634. 
 
 vellum were purchased at the price of '^ In 1245, Moot. Francisc. p. 378. 
 
 ten shillings. The writing, executed See p. 247. 
 
 at Oxford, cost fourteen shillings. It * Bene, si placet, faciatis componi 
 
 must be remembered that one shilling libros praenominatos, ablatis asseribus, 
 
 then would imrchase as much as (ifteen in panno cerato. 
 
 shillings now. See Sir T. D. Hardy's * Mon. Francisc. p. 391.
 
 Ill THEIR ACTIVITY AND UBIQUITY 8i 
 
 requests made to Grosseteste's generosity on Ijehalf of poor 
 students as well as for other purposes meet with ready response. 
 In one of his letters Adam Marsh mentions that the Bishop of 
 Lincoln had contributed twenty-four shillings, no small sum in 
 those days, towards the expenses of the Minorites in their late 
 chapter at Gloucester/ that is, to an object which could have 
 l)ut little relation to his own diocese. Of his benefactions within 
 that diocese, and more especially in connection with Oxford, 
 there are numerous evidences.^ 
 
 If the wide range of Grosseteste's interests, and the extent to 
 which his counsel was sought and followed by men of all ranks 
 and all conditions,^ are illustrated in the correspondence of Adam 
 Marsh, a side-light is also thrown upon the apparent facility 
 with which, in spite of the existing difficulties of communica- 
 tion, the friars passed from place to place and from country to 
 country. Grosseteste frequently made use of them for the 
 purpose of conveying or receiving messages of importance, and 
 his hand may be traced in the decision taken by those of the 
 bishops who met in 1241, under the presidency of the Arch- 
 bishop of York, to send a mission of friars to the Emperor 
 Frederick II. for the purpose of urging him to give breathing 
 time to the Church.* The reason for their selection on that 
 occasion was embodied in the quotation from Juvenal : 
 
 " Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator," 
 
 a line which Grosseteste is said to have cited also in one of his 
 death-bed conversations with reference to the friars, though 
 ^vith a different application.^ The activity and ubiquity of the 
 friars are exemplified in the case of Adam Marsh himself, who, 
 in addition to his Oxford lectures and all the work he was 
 obliged to perform in connection with the University as a whole 
 
 ^ Afon. Francisc. p. 242. for Grosseteste's advice on various ques- 
 
 - For instance, on one occasion he tions as they arose, and also Eccleston's 
 
 sends 13 shs. towards the maintenance anecdotes, Mon. Francisc. pp. 64-66. 
 
 of poor scholars, Mon. Francisc. p. 135. See also p. 332 of the present work. 
 
 ^ Cp. the Lanercost Chronicle, p. 45, * Hist. Maj. iv. 173. 
 
 for the way in which the Friars asked ^ See p. 321 ; Hist. Maj. v. 401.
 
 82 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 and the administration of the Franciscan school, was in constant 
 consultation or communication with Grosseteste himself at Lin- 
 coln, at Buckden, and elsewhere.^ At one time we hear of him 
 in France, at another at Rome, at another he is asked to go over 
 to Ireland. He is said to journey in 1230 to Kome with St. 
 Anthony of Padua in opposition to the policy which Helias 
 was endeavouring to impose upon the Franciscan organisa- 
 tion ; - in 1245 he accompanies Grosseteste, as will be seen, 
 to the Council of Lyons ; he acts as adviser to the King 
 and to the Queen, to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and also 
 to the Earl and Countess of Leicester; attends Parliament at 
 Grosseteste's desire ; preaches a crusade ; serves on more than 
 one commission relating to ecclesiastical disputes, and is able 
 at the same time to maintain his reputation as a scholar, a 
 theologian, and a mathematician, as well as his general interest 
 in literary questions.^ That he was able to combine so much 
 is a tribute to the well-ordered economy of his intellect, and to 
 his unlimited capacity for work. Neither did the performance 
 of those various duties interfere with the attention which he 
 paid to the needs of the numerous persons in humble life w^ho 
 came within the scope of his charitable endeavours, concerning 
 whom he often appeals to Grosseteste's ever open purse, and 
 writes to others who are able and willing to assist their special 
 requirements. In all these departments of activity he and the 
 Bishop of Lincoln assist and supplement one another, but it is 
 easy to discern in the correspondence that Grosseteste's is the 
 stronger will, his the spirit which impresses itself upon the age, his 
 the mind which moulds other minds in accordance with his own.^ 
 It must not be supposed that because Grosseteste helped the 
 friars and discerned their merits, he was blind to their imperfec- 
 
 ^ On one occasion Grosseteste en- ^ See Brewer's preface to the Mon, 
 
 deavoured to bring about a mission of Francisc. pj). 82-85. 
 
 Franciscans to Denmark (Dacia), Mon. * It will be necessary in later chap- 
 
 Francisc. p. 91 ; Liiard's pref. to ters to revert to the relations between 
 
 Grosseteste's Letters, p. 23. Grosseteste and Adam Marsh. 
 
 "^ Wadding, ii. 240. But see Little's 
 Grey Friars at Oxford, \). 135.
 
 Ill DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY FRIARS 83 
 
 tions. Although at a chapter held at Oxford he preached a 
 sermon in praise of poverty and mendicancy, he told William 
 of Nottingham in private that there was a rung of the heaven- 
 ward ladder which stood even higher, and that was that a man 
 should live by his own labour ; and on that account he com- 
 mended the newly founded sisterhood of the Beguines, who 
 recognised the principle, and did not burden the world with 
 their exactions.-^ It would, no doubt, be a serious error to 
 ascribe to the mendicant orders, in the early stage of their 
 existence, any of the corruptions which subjected them, in the 
 following century, to the fierce invective of the author of Piers 
 the Ploioman, the good-natured satire of Chaucer, and the lash 
 applied to them by Wycliffe during the last few years of his life. 
 Yet even at that time they manifested some of the tendencies 
 which in later years brought them into disfavour. As long as 
 Grosseteste lived he was able to prevent them from having any 
 serious quarrel with the University, but it was with the utmost 
 difficulty that he smoothed over disputes in which they became 
 engaged by reason of their invasion of monastic territories, or 
 their encroachments on the rights of the parish clergy. As 
 early as the year 1235 Matthew Paris makes himself the 
 mouthpiece of the feeling prevailing on the subject in the 
 
 Benedictine monasteries when he writes : " At this time some 
 
 I 
 
 of the Minorite brethren, as well as some of the order of 
 Preachers, unmindful of their profession and the restrictions of 
 their order, impudently entered the territories of some noble 
 monasteries, under the pretence of fulfilling their duties of 
 preaching, as if intending, after having done so, to depart on the 
 following day. On the ground of illness, or on some such pre- 
 text, however, they remained, and, constructing an altar of wood, 
 
 ^ Mon. Francisc. p. 69. Wadding, originally i:)reached on the feast of 
 
 Annates Mino'nim, i. 364, mentions St. Martin, and contains the words, 
 
 two sermons which Grosseteste be- " suniusque in loco paujiertatis et inter 
 
 queathed to the Oxford Franciscans, professores paupertatis. " Little's G^re;/ 
 
 one being de laude paupertatis, and one Friars at Oxford, pp. 58, 69. 
 de scala paupertatis. The former was
 
 84 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 they placed on it a consecrated stone altar which they had 
 brought with them, and clandestinely and in a low voice cele- 
 brated mass, and even received the confessions of many of the 
 parishioners, to the prejudice of the priests." ^ Allowance must, 
 no doubt, be made for the jealousy with which the monks 
 and the parochial clergy looked upon the new orders, as the 
 necessary consequence of the not unnatural antagonism between 
 endowments and voluntaryism, and between the parochial 
 system and the non-parochial. It is evident, however, that 
 Grosseteste, whilst giving to the friars all the assistance in his 
 power, was anxious that they should avoid, as far as possible, 
 conflict with the existing religious organisations, and should 
 confine their activity to places where it was really needed. 
 His attitude may be illustrated by his letter, written about 
 1244, to the abbot of the Cistercian convent at Scarborough, 
 who was desirous of getting rid of the Franciscans who had 
 settled in that town, and of obtaining the demolition of their 
 house." Grosseteste reviews briefly the legal arguments which 
 had been urged for two days before the official appointed on his 
 behalf and on the third day in his own presence, and mentions 
 that on the latter occasion the proctor who represented the 
 friars acknowledged that the law was on the side of the 
 Cistercian contention, but maintained that " ordinary law and 
 right must give place to the salvation of souls." In view, 
 however, of the fact that " their profession was the Gospel, 
 which bids us offer the right cheek to the smiter, they were 
 willing freely to recede from their moral right, and abandon the 
 place which had given rise to the dispute." Grosseteste comes 
 to the conclusion that, as the friars are prepared to act in such 
 a spirit of Christian humility, it would not be wise, in the 
 interest of the Cistercians themselves, that the abbot should 
 press his advantage. There is evidence in the letter that he 
 must have brought considerable personal influence to bear on 
 
 ' Hht. Maj. iii. 332. Fmndsc. pp. 406, 642 ; Ilisi. Maj. 
 
 " Letter 109. See also Mon. iv. 291.
 
 Ill EFFORTS TO ALLAY DIFFERENCES 85 
 
 both sides with the object of bringing about an amicable 
 arrangement. 
 
 It was, perhaps, the absence of some such diplomacy which 
 led to the unfortunate dispute at Bury St. Edmunds between 
 the Benedictine abbey and the Grey Friars. The quarrel, 
 which lasted from 1257 to 1263, ended in the temporary 
 discomfiture of the latter, who were compelled by an order from 
 Pope Urban IV. to remove to Babwell, beyond the precincts of 
 the liberty of St. Edmund. It may be noted that, according to 
 the Dunstable Annals, the Franciscans attempted to settle at 
 Bury as far back as 1233,^ but that the dispute did not take a 
 definite shape until twenty-four years later, that is to say, four 
 years after Grosseteste's death, and about the same time, in all 
 likelihood, as that of Adam Marsh ; - and it may be more than 
 a mere coincidence that the outbreak of that dispute occurred 
 wlien the two men who had exercised so strengthening and, at 
 the same time, so restraining an influence upon those who were 
 responsible for the central administration of the Franciscans in 
 England, had been removed from the earthly scene.^ 
 
 Moreover, as long as Grosseteste lived, he made a point of 
 concentrating the energies of the Grey Friars on the evangelising 
 work assigned to them by their founder, whilst endeavouring 
 at the same time, as has been shown, to utilise their services for 
 the revival of learning as well as for that of religion. In after 
 years it often happened that the friars were regarded merely as 
 
 ^ ^nn. Monast. (Dunstable), iii. - Adam Marsli probably died on the 
 
 134. The monastic chronicle, how- 18th day of November 1258. W. of 
 
 ever, given in the Memorials of St. "Worcester's Itinerary, p. 81 ; Little's 
 
 Edmund's Bury, ed. by T. Arnold Grey Friars at Oxford, p. 138. The 
 
 (Rolls Series), ii. 264, endeavours to Lancrcost Chronicle is mistaken in 
 
 make out that the Franciscans had assigning 1253 as the date, 
 only been at Bury for five and a half ^ Cp. his indignation, as recorded by 
 
 years previous to 1257, and that an Matthew Paris, with the methods of 
 
 earlier settlement of 1238 had been Friar John, provincial minister of the 
 
 futile. It does not refer to the Franciscans in Provence, who had been 
 
 attempted settlement of 1233. The sent to England by Innocent IV. for 
 
 Dunstable Annals are hardly likely to the purpose of collecting money. See 
 
 be mistaken on a point of that kind. p. 260 ; Hist. Maj. iv. 599.
 
 86 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 papal agents, and earned additional unpopularity on that 
 account. In the early part of the thirteenth century such a 
 description would certainly not have been applicable to the 
 Franciscans as a body, and only with certain reservations to the 
 Dominicans. In after years, too, the simplicity of the Minorite 
 rule yielded place to a less exalted standard, and the volun- 
 taryism which had been their strength became to them an 
 occasion of stumbling and a rock of offence. Even in his own 
 lifetime Matthew Paris thought he had occasion to contrast the 
 growing luxury of their buildings with the humility of their 
 profession.^ It would be altogether outside the present purpose 
 to follow the subsequent fortunes of the Franciscans in this 
 country ; but it may perhaps be noted as a strange instance of 
 the irony of fate that the body of men upon whom the first blow 
 fell in the reign of Henry the Eighth, when the Eeformation 
 was imposed from without, should have been the very one 
 which, three centuries earlier, in the reign of Henry the Third, 
 had attempted a Eeformation from within. 
 
 In his friendship with Adam Marsh and his goodwill to the 
 Franciscans Grosseteste was faithful to the last. It will be seen 
 how in his will he bequeathed his books to their convent at 
 Oxford.- It was there tliat Thomas Gascoigne was able 
 frequently to consult them in the fifteenth century. He calls 
 attention to the notes written in the Bishop's own hand in the 
 margin of St. Paul's Epistles, and observes that the volume was 
 in the library of the convent, but not in that of the students, for 
 the Friars Minors have two libraries."^ He also possessed 
 Grosseteste's copy of St. Augustine's De Civitatc Dei, full of his 
 marginal annotations. It had been given to him by the Friars 
 under their seal in 1433, or shortly before, and was afterwards 
 bestowed by liim upon Durham College, from which, after 
 various vicissitudes, it passed to the Bodleian Library, where it 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. iv. 279. ^ Gascoigne's Did. Theol. {Liber 
 
 - Trivet, p. 243 ; Mon. Francisc. p. Vcritatis) art. Fides ; Wood's His- 
 
 185. tory of the University of Oxford, p. 78.
 
 Ill SUBSEQUENT VICISSITUDES 87 
 
 now rests.^ Other works, too, composed, translated, or anno- 
 tated by Grosseteste, were seen in the convent library by 
 Boston of Bury and by Thomas Netter of Walden, as well as 
 by Gascoigne." The books, however, were inadequately cared 
 for, and were gradually dispersed, some being given to Durham 
 College,^ and some being sent, it is said,'* to Durham. If the 
 latter statement be correct, the removal of these volumes may 
 perhaps be attributed to Richard de Bury, Bishop of Durham, 
 and author of the Phildbiblon, who was an indefatigable and (on 
 his own showing) a somewhat unscrupulous book-collector,^ 
 though his object was to rescue valuable manuscripts from 
 destruction. At any rate when Leland, the celebrated anti- 
 quarian, visited the convent in 1535,^ he found that the books 
 which remained had fallen a prey to moths and to dust, and 
 that those which had been of most value had long since been 
 removed, 
 
 ^Bodleian MSS. No. 198. See Ca^^cc?ra?, ed. Botfielil(Surtees Society, 
 
 Hearne's Collections, printed for the vol. vii.), pp. 27, 36, 43, 82, 83, 104, 
 
 Oxford Historical Societj', vol. iv. 129. On p. 24 it is stated that in 
 
 (1898), pp. 325, 326. 1391 the monks had a copy of Grosse- 
 
 ^ Little's Grey Friars at Oxford, pp. teste's Distinctiones de Virtutihus, in 
 
 57-59. uno quaterno ; but on p. 100 (1416) 
 
 ^ See note on p. 43, Durham College a marginal note, probably by John 
 
 Rolh, ed. Blakiston, Oxford Historical Fyshborne, says that the work in ques- 
 
 Society's Collectanea, vol. iii. p. 37. tion was by a certain Dominican, and 
 
 •* Brown's Fasciculus, ii. p. 329 ; not by Grosseteste. 
 Pegge, p. 231. For the list of Grosse- ' Philohihlon, chapter viii. 
 
 teste's works at Durham see the ^ Leland, Script. Brit. p. 286, quoted 
 
 Catalogues of tJie Library of Durhavi in Tanner's Bibliotheca.
 
 CHAPTEE IV 
 
 1231-1235 — Grosseteste's contemplated journey to Rome, and the reasons for its 
 abandonment — Anti-Roman tumults of that year — Grosseteste's connection 
 with Richard Marshall — His interest in the Jewish question — His work 
 on the Ceasing of the Law — Serious illness — Surrender of most of his 
 ecclesiastical preferments — Other occupations. 
 
 It has been necessary, in the foregoing chapter, to anticipate in 
 some measure the subsequent march of events, in order to give 
 a more connected view than would otherwise be possible of 
 Grosseteste's relations with the Mendicant Orders. It is now 
 possible to turn to the consideration of certain incidents which 
 occurred in 1231, and in the years which immediately followed, 
 and which constitute a turning-point in his career. In 1231 
 Grosseteste, besides being divinity lecturer to the Franciscans, 
 may still have been (though there is no direct evidence on the 
 subject) Chancellor of the University. In addition to his Oxford 
 work, he was also engaged in duties of a pastoral character. 
 He was Archdeacon of Leicester, and held the Lincoln prebend 
 of Empingham, which included the impropriation of the Eectory 
 of Empingham, in the county of Rutland, and the advowson of 
 the Vicarage.^ He was also Eector of St. Margaret's, Leicester.^ 
 Moreover, in May 1225 he had been collated by Hugh de Wells, 
 Bishop of Lincoln, to the church of Alboldesley, or Abbotsley,^ 
 
 ' Pegge, p. 22. In 1221 Grosseteste ^ In Baroness de Paravicini's Early 
 
 had presented a certain clerk to the History of Balliol College (London, 
 
 Vicarage of Empingham. Brown 1891) several interesting documents 
 
 Willis, p. 181. It is evident that relating to Alboldesley are ])rinted 
 
 Grosseteste did not reside at Emping- from the lialliol College archives. A 
 
 ham. grant of about 125G from Ralph Riddell 
 
 2 Luard's Introduction, p. 34. to the Abbot of Jeddeworth (Jedburgh)
 
 CHAP. IV INTENDED JOURNEY TO ROME 89 
 
 in Huntingdonshire, wliicli had been vacant since November of 
 the previous year, and to which the Bishop was consequently 
 entitled to present by virtue of a decree of the fourth Laterau 
 Council of 1215, which gave to the immediate superior the right 
 of presentation to churches which had been vacant for more 
 than three months. At a time when pluralities were in vogue 
 there was nothing unusual in the number of ecclesiastical offices 
 which he held. His conscience, however, reproached him on 
 the subject ; and an interesting piece of autobiography, which 
 throws light upon that portion of his career, is contained in the 
 letter which Grosseteste, when Bishop of Lincoln, addressed, 
 probably in 1239, to the Cardinal Legate Otho, who had 
 requested a Lincoln prebend for his clerk Atto. In his reply 
 Grosseteste observes, among other things, that he is not disposed 
 to give a cure of souls to Atto, as he himself, who once held a 
 prebend of that description and a parish simultaneously, resigned 
 the latter after consulting the Pope. " It is true," he says, 
 " that many are of opinion that it is possible for a prebend with 
 a cure of souls and a parish church to be held together lawfully ; 
 but, for my part, I am still in doubt on the point, as there was a 
 time when I held the two simultaneously ; but as my conscience 
 pricked me, I consulted the Pope through the medium of a wise 
 and God-fearing man, who brought back the reply (which he 
 
 of the advowson of Abboldesley, with of Jedburgh's riglits, with permission 
 
 a confirmation by Malcolm, King of to Sir William to give it to the master 
 
 Scotland, would appear to indicate and scholars of Balliol notwithstanding 
 
 that by that time the Abbey of Reading the Statute of Mortmain. Sir William 
 
 had ceased to be concerned in its Felton bestowed upon Balliol College 
 
 fortunes. In 1340 the Abbot and the Rectory and various fruits, rents, 
 
 convent of Jedburgh granted to Sir and revenues arising out of the parish, 
 
 William Felton, for his life and that and the appropriation was confirmed 
 
 of his heir, an annual pension of three by Pope Clement VI. The gift was 
 
 marks which they had from the parish for the purpose of helping scholars of 
 
 church of Abbodesley, with the right that College after they had become 
 
 of patronage. There is also a grant ^Masters in Arts. It thus happened 
 
 by Edward the Third to Sir AVilliam that revenues arising out of the parish 
 
 Felton, dated Ajiril the 12th, in the of which Grosseteste had been rector 
 
 14th year of his reign, of the advowson were used ultimately for an object 
 
 of the church, which had come into of Avhich he would certainly have 
 
 his hands by the forfeiture of the Abbot approved. See p. 237.
 
 90 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 was unable, however, to obtain in writing) that I could not 
 lawfully combine a prebend of this particular kind with a 
 parish." ^ It will be seen that towards the end of 1232, after a 
 severe attack of illness, which was probably brought on by the 
 physical and mental strain involved in the discharge of so large 
 a number of duties, he decided to resign all his ecclesiastical 
 preferments with the exception of his Lincoln prebend," The 
 passage above quoted appears, however, to refer to some other 
 step of a definite and specific character which he took, but the 
 precise nature of which is not altogether clear. 
 
 Archdeacon Perry ^ is of opinion that the journey to Eome 
 which Grosseteste contemplated in the latter months of 1231, 
 and on which he intended to start on the 6th of January 1232, 
 was probably connected with the qualms of conscience felt by 
 him on the subject of his preferments. The letter which has 
 already been cited shows, however, that he actually consulted 
 the Pope through an intermediary and obtained a verbal 
 answer. That being so, there was no reason why he should on 
 that account alone have thought of travelling all the way to 
 Pome, on what was after all a personal matter of comparatively 
 small importance. It is clear, partly from an indirect reference 
 contained in a letter he wrote to the Abbot and convent of 
 Eeading on the subject of a troublesome claim which they had 
 made for arrears of rent-charge, said to be due from Alboldesley, 
 and partly from the mention of the distinguished prelates who 
 interested themselves in his plans, that the errand on which 
 he desired to go was one of deeper moment. In the letter he 
 states that he had been unable to meet the representatives of 
 the Abbot and convent at Durham before Christmas (1231) by 
 reason of the pressing urgency of the occupations in which he 
 was engaged.^ He had made arrangements to start on his 
 journey to Eome immediately after the feast of the Epiphany 
 
 ' Letter 7-1. * Letter 4. 
 
 '^ See p. 10.'). ° Pro negotioruni arctius urgentium 
 
 ^ Page 63. occupatione.
 
 IV ABANDONMENT OF THE PROJECT 91 
 
 1232, and says: "My witnesses in this matter are men most 
 worthy of credence, and to whom no exception can possibly be 
 taken," and adds that, as his departure has now been postponed, 
 he is willing to refer the question at issue with regard to the 
 Alboldesley rent-charge to the arbitration of the Bishop of 
 Durham, and to meet the convent when and where they pleased. 
 In another letter, written a few days earlier, to the Dean and 
 Chapter of Lincoln,^ Grosseteste says : " My reason for delaying 
 my journey is this : I was fully equipped for my departure, 
 when I went to our venerable father, the Lord Bishop of 
 Lincoln,- to bid farewell, as was meet, to him whose license had 
 previously been obtained through your good offices. A discussion 
 took place about my journey, in the presence of the Bishop of 
 Bath,^ as well as of the Archdeacons of Lincoln, Huntingdon, 
 Northampton, and Bedford, and many other discreet and far- 
 sighted men, who, in the sincere affection which they bore me, 
 were not a little anxious concerning my safety. In accordance 
 with their unanimous advice the Bishop strictly prohibited my 
 proposed journey, and asked me to wait until more was known 
 about the disturbances which had arisen owing to the plunder 
 and capture of certain Eomans and, according to rumour, 
 the murder of some of them. It was feared that if I were to 
 fall into the hands of the Eomans at a time when, owing to 
 their recent injuries, they are still craving for revenge, I might 
 incur grave peril, or at any rate some serious loss. I accordingly 
 resolved to abide by the friendly advice of men so numerous 
 and so wise, as, if I were to disregard it and consequently fall 
 into danger through want of foresight, I should not only expose 
 myself to the well-deserved indignation of so many eminent 
 friends, but also be stigmatised as contumacious and presump- 
 tuous. I hope, however, that the Lord, according to whom,* in 
 matters of this kind, there should be no long tarrying, will not 
 impute to me this delay." And he proceeds to express the hope 
 
 ^ Letter 3. ■' Jocelyn de Wells, brother of the 
 
 Bishop of Lincoln. 
 - Hugh de Wells. ^ Eccles. xxxi. 27.
 
 92 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 that he will not be numbered with those who are described in 
 the Epistle to the Ephesians as " tossed about with every wind 
 of doctrine," or with the swimmers of whom Seneca says that 
 they are carried along by the current, and quotes St. Augustine 
 as an authority in favour of the view that action should have 
 some relation to time and circumstance, and that a right decision 
 should not be unduly pressed when the time is inopportune, 
 but rather that its execution should be postponed to a more 
 suitable occasion. 
 
 The wording of the foregoing letter would appear to indicate 
 that the matter concerning which Grosseteste was desirous of 
 going to Eome was one about which he felt deeply and keenly, 
 and one which was of greater consequence than any relating 
 merely to the exact number of his parochial livings. Perhaps 
 it may be permissible to suggest, as more probable one of the 
 two following explanations of Grosseteste's project. He may 
 have been asked by Adam Marsh, who is said to have been at 
 Eome only a few months before, in 1230,^ to go there for the pur- 
 pose of emphasising, with his well-known eloquence and with all 
 the weight which he derived from his reputation as a scholar and 
 a divine, the usefulness of the Franciscans in England, and at the 
 same time of using his influence as an amicus curiae to help in 
 the task of hindering the efforts of Friar Helias to turn the Order 
 from its founder's purpose. Certainly no man was better quali- 
 fied than Grosseteste to explain the efficiency of the Minorite 
 work in England, and the necessity for its continuance, and no 
 man was more likely to be acceptable as a mediator. The suc- 
 cessive deposition and restoration of Helias, followed a few years 
 later by a second deposition," placed a severe strain upon the 
 Franciscan organisation. The supposition that Grosseteste was 
 asked to take some part in the controversy as a peacemaker 
 derives some countenance from the affectionate terms in which 
 Grosseteste writes to Father Helias in 123G and 1237,^ whilst 
 
 ' Wadding, ii. 240. ^ Mon. Francisc. p. 44 ; Sabatier. 
 
 •' Letters 31 and 41.
 
 IV RELATIONS WITH RICHARD MARSHALL 93 
 
 Adam Marsh must certainly have submitted to him the other 
 side of the case. Or again, it is possible that Grosseteste's 
 projected visit may have been connected with the desirability of 
 placing before the Pope certain considerations relating to the 
 existing state of the English Church. As the friend and adviser 
 of Eichard Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, to whom he addresses in 
 1231 two letters of spiritual counsel,^ and who was about to 
 become the head of a party in the State in antagonism to the 
 foreign influence represented by Peter cles Eoches and in support 
 of the principles with which Stephen Langton used to be identi- 
 fied, Grosseteste may have had special reasons for wishing to 
 explain to the Pope in person the new situation M-hich was 
 arising, and to urge upon him the need for redressing the 
 grievances due to the encroachments of the Italian clergy. Just 
 as in later years Grosseteste, as will be seen, endeavoured to 
 imbue Simon de Montfort with a sense of the necessity for 
 co-operation between those who desired to reform and strengthen 
 the Church and those who desired to reform and strengthen the 
 State, so it is possible that he had at that time conceived the 
 plan of finding in Eichard Marshall a fit instrument for the 
 execution of a design fraught with possibilities beneficial to the 
 ecclesiastical as well as to the political organism. In order, 
 however, that there might be co-operation between the two 
 forces, it was necessary, on the one hand, that the friends of 
 civil liberty should help to defend the liberties of the Ciiurch, 
 and, on the other hand, that the champions of the latter should 
 
 ^ Letters6and7. Although they both Grosseteste was also a friend of Richard 
 
 deal apparently with spiritual matters Syward. See Letter 29. It is also 
 
 only, they contain one or two passages worthy of note that in December 1233 
 
 which are susceptible of a twofold it was Agnellus, Provincial Minister of 
 
 interpretation. E.g. on page 40 the Franciscans in England, and the 
 
 Grosseteste writes : " Quia non decet very one who had invited Grosseteste 
 
 tantum virum, militiae cingulo prae- to become the lector at the Franciscan 
 
 cinctum, banc viam quae ducit ad school at Oxford, who offered his 
 
 patriam segniter super pedes incedere, services as peacemaker between the 
 
 ascendatis equum sancti et caelestis King and Richard Marshall. Mon. 
 
 desiderii, cujus frenum sit discretio, Francisc. p. 52 ; Little's Grey Friars 
 
 sella circumspectio, " etc. Richard at Oxford, pp. 7, 177. 
 Marshall was killed in Ireland in 1234.
 
 94 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 do their best to remove all obstacles which impaired its popu- 
 larity and its efficiency. It so happened that the year 1231 
 witnessed the outbreak of the anti-Eoman tumults to which 
 Grosseteste refers in his letter to the Dean and Chapter of 
 Lincoln ; and as the existence of the specific grievances against 
 which they were directed was one of the principal obstacles 
 which stood in the way of harmonious action, it may have been 
 among the objects which he had in view to impress upon 
 Gregory the Ninth the desirability for the spontaneous intro- 
 duction of the required reforms. 
 
 In order to understand the nature of those tumults of 1231, 
 it is necessary to glance briefly at the history of the previous 
 years. Since the days of the Great Interdict, the Papacy had 
 increased its hold yet further upon these islands, first by virtue 
 of the feudal homage paid by King John, and secondly owing 
 to the fact that, during the minority of Henry the Third, Pope 
 Honorius the Third had been able, as guardian, to impose his 
 will, through his legates, in no small degree upon the direction 
 of public affairs, besides earning the young King's gratitude for 
 the support accorded to him against the French.^ At a time, 
 however, when, partly owing to the loss of Normandy in King 
 John's time, and partly owing to other causes, England was 
 becoming more isolated and insulated, and a healthier national 
 feeling was coming into existence, the claim of the Pope to 
 dispose of ecclesiastical revenues without regard to the special 
 conditions and requirements of the country encountered a spirit 
 of resistance which found expression in the rejection in 1226 of 
 his demand for two prebends from every cathedral and a corre- 
 sponding contribution from every monastery. Two years later 
 followed the death of Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, whose influence had been exercised on the side of the 
 maintenance both of national and of ecclesiastical rights ; and 
 almost immediately afterwards, in 1229, Gregory the Ninth 
 
 ^ See Henry the Tliird's conversa- Letter 117, which shows that in 1245 he 
 tion on that subject with Grosseteste, was not unmindful of his obligations.
 
 IV ANTI-ROMAN TUMULTS OF 1231 95 
 
 endeavoured to levy a tenth of all property in the realm.^ The 
 laity resisted, but the clergy, being unable to offer successful 
 opposition, agreed to the demand. In addition, therefore, to the 
 recognised collection of Peter's pence, and to the thousand marks 
 a year promised by King John, an additional source of revenue, 
 of a more important character, was thus secured for the papal 
 coffers. Moreover, the practice of filling English benefices with 
 foreigners was rapidly increasing, to the annoyance alike of the 
 clergy, whose chances of promotion were thus curtailed, and who 
 in other respects sympathised with their countrymen's feelings, 
 and of the laity, whose money was handed over to persons 
 ignorant of the language and neglectful of their duties. 
 
 The growing feeling manifested itself in 1231 in a remark- 
 able movement organised by laymen. A secret society was 
 formed, the members of which despatched in all directions letters 
 sealed with a new seal, on which were engraved two swords." 
 The letters were addressed to Bishops and to chapters in the 
 name of " the whole community of those who would rather die 
 than be put to shame by the Eomans," and after setting forth 
 the nature of the grievances of which they complained, asserted 
 their determination " to rescue the Church as well as the King 
 and the kingdom from the yoke of such oppressive slavery," 
 and warned the recipients not to interfere with the condign 
 punishment which would be meted out to the Eomans, under 
 penalty of sharing their fate. Similar letters were sent to those 
 who held churches in farm from the Italian beneficiaries, ordering 
 them not to pay to the Eomans the rent of the lands which they 
 held from them, but to pay the money to agents of the society 
 on the Sunday on which is chanted the psalm " Let Jerusalem 
 rejoice." ^ The " plan of campaign " thus sketched out was not 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. iii. 102. thiel." See Pegge, Appendix 18, pp. 
 
 - Ihid. iii. 210 sqq., 217, 218; 364-368 ; Perry, pp. 249 s^g-. ; Stubbs, 
 
 Ann. ilonast. (Dunstable), iii. 129. Constitutional History, ii. 43 ; Dr. 
 
 Orders were issued in the name of Felten, Papst. Gregor. IX., pp. 187 
 
 " \Villiam Wither," and the members sqq. 
 
 of the society called themselves "Lewy- ^ Mid-Lent.
 
 96 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 confined to words. At Wingham, on Christmas Day 1231, a 
 fortnight before the date of Grosseteste's proposed departure, 
 masked men plundered the barns belonging to a Eoman ecclesi- 
 astic, put the sheriffs men off the scent by exhibiting to them 
 forged letters purporting to come from the King, and sold the 
 corn cheap, or distributed it gratuitously to the poor, in order to 
 enlist their sympathy on behalf of the movement. Similar 
 tactics were adopted elsewhere, bands of armed and masked 
 men appearing suddenly in various parts of England and seizing 
 the property of the foreign clergy. Cincio, an Italian canon of 
 St. Paul's, was captured on his way from St. Albans to London, 
 and John de Ferentino,^ Archdeacon of Norwich, narrowly 
 escaped a similar fate. It was ascertained afterwards that the 
 principal organiser of the society was a certain Sir Eobert de 
 Twenge, of Lytham, in Lancashire, who held various manors in 
 Yorkshire and in Westmoreland, and who had a special grievance 
 of his own, as a living in his gift had been seized twice con- 
 secutively in order to be given to a Eoman. Hubert de Burgh 
 was suspected, but apparently on insufficient grounds, of 
 connivance in the movement. It is unnecessary to relate 
 how subsequently Sir Eobert de Twenge went to Eome, made 
 his peace with the Pope, and brought back to those who 
 had sent him a conciliatory letter from Gregory the Ninth, 
 declaring that it was not his wish to interfere with rights of 
 presentation enjoyed by the laity in England.- The bearing of 
 the incidents upon Grosseteste's life is that the disturbances 
 thus caused were the occasion of the postponement of his journey 
 to Eome ; that the movement of which they were the outcome 
 was likely, if unchecked, to render co-operation between the 
 friends of the Church and the friends of the State difficult, and 
 
 ' John de Ferentino was a friend and detractors and forwarded his business, 
 correspondent to whom Grosse teste Koger de Wendover speaks of him in- 
 addressed two letters (43 and 66) prob- correctly as Florentinus, but the error 
 alily in 1238, when he was at Rome is corrected by Matthew Paris, 
 as the Pope's chamberlain. Grosseteste 
 thanks him for having silenced his - Hist. Maj. iii. 609-613.
 
 IV INTEREST IN THE JEWISH QUESTION 97 
 
 thus to undo the beneficial effects of Stephen Langton's influence ; 
 and that, as it was clearly in the interest botli of the Church 
 itself and of those who, on political grounds, were opposed to 
 the policy of Peter des Eoches, to obtain from the Pope a 
 speedy removal of the objectionable " Provisions," Grosseteste 
 may have thought, in the first instance, that a personal inter- 
 view with Gregory the Ninth would help to effect the desired 
 end. It must not, indeed, be supposed that he had at that 
 time definitely assumed the attitude which he adopted in the 
 course of his episcopal career towards the papal Provisions. 
 It is clear, however, from the anxiety displayed by Hugh de 
 Wells and his other friends on his behalf, that he was believed 
 even then to be antagonistic to the intrusion of foreign bene- 
 ficiaries, and on that account in danger of being subjected to 
 retaliatory proceedings if he went to Italy. In any case the 
 occurrences of that year must have made a deep impression 
 upon Grosseteste, and have contributed towards the development 
 of the views which he subsequently expressed with so much 
 courage and energy. 
 
 The question of the position and prospects of the Jews was 
 exciting at that time widespread attention, and appears to have 
 exercised a special fascination over Grosseteste's mind. He had 
 in various ways been brought in contact with members of that 
 race. In his early years in Suffolk he had doubtless heard 
 much talk concerning the massacre of Jews which took place at 
 Bury St. Edmunds in 1190,^ after the coronation of Eichard I., 
 and the subsequent expulsion by Abbot Samson of those who 
 remained. In the discharge of his ecclesiastical duties con- 
 nected with his various archdeaconries he must have had fre- 
 quent occasion to take into account their financial relations 
 with the clergy and with the monastic houses, of which Jocelyn 
 of Brakelond has left so curious a description.- In his Hebrew 
 studies he probably derived assistance, as tradition affirms, from 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. ii. 358 ; Memorials of - Memorials of St. Edmund's Abbey, 
 
 St. Edynund's Abbeij, ed. Arnold, ii. 5, 6. ed. Arnold, i. 210. 
 
 H
 
 98 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 one of the Eabbis connected with the Oxford Jewry/ and, as 
 Chancellor, he was doubtless obliged to concern himself, as he 
 did in later years when Bishop of Lincoln, in questions affect- 
 ing loans advanced to students by members of that community. 
 At Paris he must have had other opportunities of becoming 
 acquainted with the educational advances which they had 
 effected ; for they had their academies not only there, but also 
 at Narbonne, Beaucaire, Aries, Marseilles, Lunel, and several 
 other cities. Until the advent of the Friars they almost 
 monopolised the art of medicine ; but the most learned Jew of 
 that period, Maimonides, though a native and a student of 
 Cordova, and though he died at Cairo as early as 1204, does not 
 appear to have been known by name to Grosseteste, and hardly 
 comes within the European orbit.^ 
 
 In England, in spite of the existence of their schools at 
 Oxford and in London, they do not seem to have played so 
 prominent a part as an intellectual force as they did in France. 
 Here they were chiefly known in their financial aspect. Sir 
 Walter Scott's picture of Isaac of York in Ivanhoe, though 
 probably in accordance with historic truth as far as the 
 period was concerned which immediately followed the massacre 
 of 1189-90, and which extended into the reign of King John,^ 
 can hardly be regarded as a faitliful representation of the 
 general condition of the Jews ; for although they were subject 
 to the King's exactions, they also enjoyed the King's pro- 
 tection, and the excellence of their stone houses, some of 
 which may still be seen at Lincoln, Bury St. Edmunds, and 
 elsewhere, must of itself have placed their leading members in a 
 
 1 See Tovey, Anglia Judaica, pji. Doctor PerpUxorwn, came into use iu 
 
 244 sqq. Mr. Neubauer, who denies the course of the thirteenth centxiry. 
 
 that the Oxford, or, indeed, the English See Friedliinder's i)ref. to his German 
 
 Jews generally j)Ossessed mucli secular translation of that work. An English 
 
 learning, fully admits that students edition was published for the English 
 
 wereable to learn Hebrew from the Jews and Foreign riiilosophical Library 
 
 in Oxford. ColUdanta of the Oxford (London, 1885). 
 
 Hist. Society, vol. ii. (1390), p. 287. ^ See, for instance, Hist. Maj. ii. 
 
 '^ A translation of his March, or 528, 531,
 
 IV LETTER TO THE COUNTESS OF WINCHESTER 99 
 
 position of advantage, when compared with the mud hovels and 
 wooden structures by which they were surrounded. Stone 
 architecture was, in fact, confined to ecclesiastical buildings, 
 castles, and the private houses of the Jews. They had, more- 
 over, privileges of their own and a special jurisdiction.^ Never- 
 theless the popular feeling against them had not died out, and 
 found expression in the eagerness with which the accusations 
 to which they were exposed were received ; ^ it rendered pos- 
 sible Henry's sale of the Jews in 1255 to his brother Eichard, 
 Earl of Cornwall, in order, as Matthew Paris says, that the Earl 
 might disembowel those whom the King had skinned ; ^ and it 
 ultimately led, in 1280, to the passing of the Act of Parliament 
 which expelled them altogether from the kingdom, a statute 
 which remained in operation until 1655, when Oliver Cromwell 
 recalled them to England at the suggestion of Manasseh ben Israel. 
 In 1231 two proposals relating to the Jews were attracting 
 attention. The first, the outcome apparently of the individual 
 initiative of certain s;reat landowners, was that the Jews who 
 were expelled from certain estates should be collected together, 
 as far as possible, on other estates, where they would be en- 
 couraged to work with their hands. The second, which appears 
 to have been inspired by the clergy, though the King took the 
 leading steps in the matter and the Exchequer provided the 
 funds, was that a determined effort should be made to bring 
 about a wholesale conversion of the Jews to Christianity by the 
 methods of persuasion. As a means to that end a " Domus 
 Conversorum " was established in that year in London, and an 
 annual pension of seven hundred marks was issued out of the 
 Exchequer towards its maintenance, until such time as the 
 King could endow it more amply. In later years Edward the 
 First assigned to it the deodands all over England.* It was 
 
 ^ See, for instance, Shirley's Jioijal 377; v. 516, 519 sqq. 
 
 Letters of Henry III. vol. ii. Letter ^ Ibid. v. 488. Earl Ricliard, 
 
 451, and Madox, Hist, of the Ex- however, seems to have treated them 
 
 chequer, ii. p. 3 ; see also Hist. Maj. with more consideration. 
 
 iii. 369, etc. ■* See also Hall's Red Book of the Ex- 
 
 - Hist. Maj. iii. 305, 543 ; iv. 30, chequer. Introd. i. p. 139.
 
 loo ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 known in recent times as the Eolls Chapel in Chancery Lane.^ 
 A " Domus Conversorum " was also built at Oxford ; and in 
 other cities, too, similar fabrics were erected, with the same 
 object in view, but on a humbler scale. 
 
 On both proposals Grosseteste had something to say. His 
 views with regard to the first are contained in a letter which 
 he addressed, whilst Archdeacon of Leicester, to Margaret de 
 Quincy, widow of the Earl of Winchester, and sister of Eobert 
 ritz Parnell, Earl of Leicester.- Out of the goodness of her 
 heart she had conceived the plan of sheltering on her property 
 the Jews whom Simon de Montfort had expelled from the town 
 of Leicester,^ " in order that they might no longer oppress the 
 Christians who resided there unmercifully with usury." "^ The 
 purport of Grosseteste's letter has been somewhat misunder- 
 stood. It must not be construed as objecting altogether to the 
 plan, but as putting forward certain reservations and qualifica- 
 tions. After a brief review of the history of the Jews since the 
 dispersion, as well as of the causes which brought it about, and 
 after some reference to the fulfilment of Scriptural pro- 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. iii. 262. It was begun year Simon received, for a cousidera- 
 
 in 1231, and opened in 1233. Pegge, tion, a formal cession of his rights from 
 
 p. 30, note. his elder brother, Amaury. Shortly 
 
 - Letter 5 ; Luard's note, p. 453. after the death of Ranulf, Earl of 
 
 ^ Municipium. Chester, in October 1232 [Hist. Maj. 
 
 * Page 33. Dr. Pauli (Simon de iii. 229), Henry III. contirmed to Earl 
 
 Montfort, Tubingen, 1867, p. 39) was Simon his moiety of the honour of 
 
 under the impression that the Leicester. A copy, dated January 24, 
 
 " dominus Leircestriensis " here men- 1236, now in the possession of the 
 
 tioned was Ranulf, Earl of Chester, Leicester Corjtoration, is printed on 
 
 and not Simon de Montfort. But M. pp. 35-37 of Miss Bateson's Eccords of 
 
 Bt'mont {Simon de Montfort, pp. 4, 5, the Ij07-02u/7i of Lcicestej- (hondon, 1S99). 
 
 Paris, 1884) shows that Ranulf gave The other moiety belonged to the Earl 
 
 uj), at any rate, liis moiety of the honour of Winchester. Ibid. i^. 37. For Simon 
 
 of Leicester and a good deal else in 1231 de Montfort's subsequent charter of 
 
 to Simon. ^GdExcerptaerotulisfinium, 1253 for the complete banishment of 
 
 August 1231, vol. i. p. 217 ; Shirley's the Jews from Leicester, see Thompson's 
 
 Royal Letters, i. p. 401 ; Mrs. Green's English Municipal History, p. 62 ; 
 
 Livesof the Princesses, vol. n. -pp. 65, G6. Mr. Leonard's paper on the " Expul- 
 
 The lands, consisting of the town of sion of the Jews by Edward I." in the 
 
 Leicester and the moiety of the Earl- 'Transactions of the Roijal Historical 
 
 dom, with the office of seneschal, were Society for 1891, and M. Bemont's 
 
 delivered in 1231. In the following Simon de Montfort, p. 62.
 
 IV JEWS AND CAURSINS loi 
 
 phecies, he lays down the two following propositions. Firstly, 
 with the recollection of the massacre of 1189-90 still vivid in 
 his mind, he protests against the notion that they should 
 be injured, still less exterminated ; for (a) it was to them that 
 the Law and the Prophets were given, and consequently they 
 bear imconscious testimony to the truth of Christianity, and (h) 
 it must be expected that they will ultimately embrace the 
 Christian faith. In the meantime they were undergoing a 
 second captivity, in which it was their lot to be subservient to 
 princes, and their duty to work Avith their hands in order to 
 maintain their existence. The second proposition is that, if 
 their punishment should not be increased, neither should it be 
 diminished ; and they should not be encouraged by Christian 
 princes to oppress Christians with usury and live in luxury on 
 the proceeds, the first duty of Christian rulers being to their 
 Christian subjects. Princes who act on a contrary principle, 
 and give to the Jews special facilities for lending money to 
 Christians at an exorbitant rate of interest, must be regarded 
 as their accomplices, and ought to share their punishment. 
 AVorst of all are the princes who act thus in order that 
 they may derive their share of profit from the moneys which 
 the Jews are able to extort from the Christians. " Take 
 heed, therefore, dearest lady, not to be polluted by becoming 
 a party to the offences of such (rulers), or to incur the 
 penalties of the kind to which a strict judgment would render 
 them liable." 
 
 It is evident that Grosseteste's object is not so much to deter 
 the Countess from the execution of her plan, as to warn her not 
 to encourage the settlers in usurious practices, and still less to 
 derive any indirect benefit from them herself, but rather to 
 induce them to earn their livelihood by manual labour instead 
 of money-lending. The letter, which shows a kindlier feeling 
 towards the Jews than was then customary, may also be 
 regarded as containing an attack upon the methods by which the 
 King enriched the Exchequer. Grosseteste's hatred of usury
 
 I02 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 was by no means confined to its practice by members of the 
 Jewish race, though it was excusable to use language of strong 
 condemnation in regard to men who advanced money to monks 
 at 43 per cent interest,^ and to students at the rate of more than 
 43^ per cent," and exacted the uttermost farthing. One of his 
 last utterances,^ if one may trust the death-bed conversations 
 attributed to him by Matthew Paris, was directed against the 
 Caursins or Christian usurers, of whom the St. Albans historian 
 declares * in 1235 that " there was hardly any one in all England, 
 especially among the Bishops, who was not caught in their 
 net, and the King himself was indebted to them in an incalcul- 
 able sum of money, and that they circumvented the needy in 
 their necessities, cloaking their usury under the show of trade." 
 In spite of the fact that Matthew Paris describes them else- 
 where as "transalpine usurers," that they undoubtedly acted as 
 agents for the Eoman court for the purpose of collecting and 
 transmitting funds, and that some of them came from Siena, it 
 is a mistake to confuse them with the Italian financiers, chiefly 
 from Lombardy and Florence, who, later on, during the hundred 
 years' war, provided the moneys needed for the English cam- 
 paigns in France. The Caursins derived their name not, as has 
 sometimes been supposed, from the Florentine family of the 
 Corsini, but from the city of Cahors, in Aquitaine, which was at 
 that time a commercial and financial centre. It was with 
 reference to them that Dante, in his hatred of usury, says 
 
 E pero lo minor giron suggella 
 
 Del segno suo e Sodoma e Caorsa,^ 
 
 ^ Jocelyu of Brakelond. Gregory IX. to certain merchants of 
 - Liiard's Introd. to the Letters, p. Siena concerning the accounts of their 
 69. That was fixed as the maximum receipts and expenditure in England, 
 in 1248, and must therefore have France, the Papal States, and else- 
 been exceeded before that date. where. Muratori proceeds to quote 
 •' Hist. Maj. V. 404, 40.5. several documents relating to the 
 ■• Ihid. iii. 328 sqq. Caursins. An edict of Philip, son of 
 ^ Dante's Inferno, cant. xi. line 50. St. Louis, differentiates the Caursins 
 Muratori's sixteenth dissertation in from the Lond)ards, the former term 
 his Aniiquitates It.alkae Medii Aevi, being applied to those from Gaul, and 
 vol. i., contains a letter of Pope the latter to those from Italy.
 
 IV THE Z>^ CESSATIONE LEG A LI UM 103 
 
 coupling Cahors with Sodom in the intensity of his poetic 
 wrath. From Matthew Paris's account it appears that they 
 charged interest on loans which were not paid off by a certain 
 date at the rate of ten per cent for two months, or sixty per 
 cent per annum, in addition to certain incidental charges which 
 included, among other things, the travelling expenses of one 
 merchant, with one horse and one servant, wherever the mer- 
 chant might be, until the full repayment of the money advanced, 
 together with the aforesaid interest. Grosseteste's words on the 
 subject, according to the account of his last conversations given 
 in the Historia Major,^ denounce the Caursins, " whom in our 
 time the holy fathers and teachers have driven out of France 
 by their preaching, but who are protected by the Pope in 
 England, which did not formerly suffer from the pestilence 
 which they bring with them ; but if any one complains or 
 rebukes them, he exposes himself to difficulties and to loss, as 
 has been shown in the case of Eoger, Bishop of London." And 
 he then proceeds to point out that usury is contrary to the teach- 
 ing of the Old and the New Testaments, and that the terms 
 exacted by those pests of society are even worse than those 
 imposed by the Jews. " When you return to a Jew," he says, 
 " the money he has lent you, he will receive it with good grace, 
 and with interest commensurate only with the time during 
 which the money has been advanced ; but the Caursin, on the 
 other hand, lends you, say, one hundred marks," in return for 
 which you sign an acknowledgment that you owe him one 
 hundred pounds,^ to be paid at. the year's end ; and if you wish 
 to pay him back within a month, or some such shorter period, 
 he makes no allowance, but exacts the full sum of one hundred 
 pounds." There are reasons for thinking that the Caursins 
 were by no means strangers to the outcry w^iich was raised 
 against the Jews throughout England in 1255, two years after 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. V. 404, 405. ^ At twenty shillings to the pound. 
 
 - One mark = thirteen shillings and 
 fourpence sterling.
 
 I04 
 
 ROBERT GROSSETESTE 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Grosseteste's death, on account of the supposed murder by them 
 of a boy named Hugh at Lincohi ; ^ and it is interesting to note 
 that, at a moment when the members of that persecuted race 
 were exposed to an outbreak of popular fury, it was Grosseteste's 
 beloved Franciscans who intervened to save certain of them 
 from punishment and the danger of massacre.- 
 
 With respect to the second proposal which has been 
 mentioned as having been put forward in 1231 in regard to 
 the conversion of the Jews, it was probably in that year^ 
 that Grosseteste wrote his celebrated treatise, De Cessatione 
 Legalium, on " The Ceasing of the Law," which was widely 
 circulated in his own and in the succeeding generations, and 
 which was printed for the first time three centuries and a 
 quarter later, in the days of the Commonwealth.* The primary 
 
 1 See especially Hist. Maj. v. 519. 
 For the incident itself see Hist. Maj. v. 
 516, the recent work of Mr. Jacobs on 
 the subject, and also Canon Jessopp's 
 Life of St. William of Norwich. 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. V. 546. In the Lanercost 
 Chronicle, p. 24, it is stated with 
 regard to Adam Marsh, presumably in 
 connection with the episodes of 1255, 
 that "when the Jews had transgressed 
 against the peace of the kingdom, so 
 that both by the judgment of the 
 King and the princes of the land they 
 were judged worthy of death, he alone 
 resisted their arguments and forbade 
 that they should be put to death." 
 Little's Grey Friars at Oxford, p. 137. 
 According to the Burton Annals the 
 Dominicans also tried to save the Jews 
 on that occasion, ylnn. Monast. (Bur- 
 ton), i. 346-348. 
 
 =» Pegge, pp. 31, 269 ; Luard's In- 
 troduction, p. 36. 
 
 4 Liber de Cessatione Legalium, 
 printed at Lyons in 1652, and in Lon- 
 don in 1658. The preface to the latter 
 edition says incidentally: " Episcojii 
 nomen, per saecula augustum, ipsique 
 religioni Cliristianae coaevum, jam- 
 
 pridem sorduit ; quidquid Romanum 
 est, etiam ipsa lingua Romana, super- 
 stitionis damnatur ; eo usque, ut non 
 desint nonnulli adeo suis furiis agitati 
 ut Italian! fere ipsam exterminandam 
 putent, quia Papae subsit, et vix amni 
 Tiberi ignoscant, quia Romam praeter- 
 fluat." It is only a portion of the 
 treatise which was printed. See 
 Brown's Fasciculus, ii. pp. 246 sqq. ; 
 Dr. Felten, p. 76. Of the MSS. in the 
 British Museum, the fullest is Bibl. 
 Beg. 7 F. ii. fol. 121 : " De Cessatione 
 Legalium, in tribus particulis." The 
 MS. Bihl. Beg. 5 C. iii. fol. 264 is an 
 abbreviation. Several copies of both 
 are in existence. In his treatise, "De 
 Anno Civili Veterum Judaeorum," 
 vol. i. pt. i. i>. 59 of his Avorks, ed. 
 AVilkins, Selden sa}'s of the subject 
 " de cessatione legalium " : " Egregius 
 de ea re extat liber Roberti Capitonis 
 (Grosseteste vocitant)Lincolniensisolim 
 episcoj)i nonduni typis editus, qui luce 
 sane dignissimus." Selden's opinion 
 of Grosseteste's learning is ex2)ressed 
 in his ej)igram, vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 
 1717:— 
 
 Robcrtns an tu 
 Perdoctus Capito ? etc.
 
 IV ILLNESS, AND RESIGNATION OF PREFERMENTS 105 
 
 object of the work is evidently to supply, in a connected and 
 closely reasoned form, materials and arguments which may be used 
 in controversy with the Jews, for the purpose of bringing about 
 theirconversiontoChristianity,and is intended to refute the notion 
 of the permanence of tlie Mosaic law, as well as to trace and to 
 explain the various points of difference between the old dispensa- 
 tion and the new. It might be described as a thirteenth-century 
 Epistle to the Hebrews. It appears to have inspired the treatise 
 by JohnBaconthorpe and also the one ascribed in error to Wycliffe, 
 whicli bear the same title ; and among tliose who in a later age 
 derived most benefit from its perusal must be cited Selden, and 
 also Sir John Eliot, the resolute friend of freedom in the reign 
 of Charles I. The latter appears to have drawn from its manu- 
 script pages, which he doubtless found in the Cotton library, some 
 of the arguments which he applies, in his Monarchy of Man, to 
 the task of proving the need for replacing the old system of govern- 
 ment by one more in accordance with the requirements of the 
 people, and for substituting the law of love for the law of fear.^ 
 Grosseteste's treatise on the Ten Commandments,- which is a sequel 
 of the De Cessatione Legalium, would seem to have been M-ritten 
 shortlyafterwards,possiblyduringthethree years of relativeleisure 
 to which it will now be necessary to refer ; and it may be noted 
 that the subject continued to be in his thoughts for several 
 years, as may be inferred from the statement of Matthew Paris 
 that his translation of the Testament of the Tvjelve Patriarchs, 
 which he effected with the assistance of Nicholas the Greek in 
 1242,^ was intended for the refutation of the Jews.'* 
 
 It is not surprising that the strain involved in Grosseteste's 
 devotion to his pastoral and to his educational duties, as well as 
 in his literary activity and extensive correspondence, should 
 have brought on, just before November of 1232, a sharp attack 
 of illness, which acted as a warning to him not to overtax his 
 
 ^ Sir John Eliot's treatise was printed - A fragment is printed in Brown's 
 
 in 1879 by Dr. Grosart. With regard Fasciculus, ii. p. 308. 
 
 to Selden, see the passage previously ^ See pp. 222 sqq. 
 
 quoted. * Hist. Maj. v. 285.
 
 io6 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 strength, and induced him to resign all his preferments, or at 
 any rate his fixed sources of income, with the exception of his 
 Lincoln prebend.^ Two letters written at this crisis in his life, 
 both showing signs of physical depression consequent upon his 
 illness, though the intellect which inspires them is as keen as 
 ever, have been preserved. The first is addressed to his sister 
 Juetta, who was a nun in a convent near Oxford, probably at 
 Godstow, and who had exhibited some anxiety lest the decision 
 at which he had arrived should injuriously affect his subsequent 
 career. The second is written to Adam Marsh. " As you are 
 anxious," he writes to his sister, " to know how I am, and are, 
 as you express it, greedy to hear the latest news in a letter from 
 me, let me say briefly that before the feast of All Saints I was 
 seized with a sharp attack of fever, but by the blessing of Divine 
 Providence have been restored to my former and usual health. 
 I have resigned all my fixed sources of income, with the ex- 
 ception of the prebend I hold in the Church of Lincoln. You, 
 who wear a nun's garb, and have uttered the vows of religion, 
 must not be affected or saddened if I have of my own accord 
 become poorer in order that I may become richer in virtues ; if 
 I am of less importance in the world in order that I may become 
 more acceptable to the denizens of Heaven ; and if on account 
 of the merit of obedience I have given up certain temporal 
 advantages, seeing that no virtue can obtain its celestial reward 
 save through obedience. The good which you cherish in your- 
 self you ought to cherish in me also, and with all the more 
 ardour by reason of our close relationship. True religion 
 renounces the world, in accordance with the word of truth 
 which declares that ' Whosoever forsaketh not all that he hath 
 cannot be My disciple.' Considering, therefore, that you, who 
 
 ^ Letter 8. " Onines rcditus quos from that, Init only the payment 
 
 liabui, resignavi, praeter praebendam of fees. In the will of Bishop 
 
 ipiam habeo in ccclesia Lincolniensi." Hugh de Wells, however, which is 
 
 Archdeacon Perry, [k 64, conjectures dated 1st June 1233 (see p. 109), his 
 
 that Grosseteste may have retained his name does not appear in that connec- 
 
 archdeaconry, as there was no redihis tion.
 
 IV RELIGIOUS FERVOUR 107 
 
 have made a profession of religion, value in yourself these and 
 other blessings which it confers, do not, I pray you, grudge me 
 my effort, feeble though it may be, to attain to them ; bear with 
 equanimity that I have laid aside the heavier part of the burden 
 which oppressed me, and rejoice from the bottom of your heart 
 that which, were I not free from it, would grievously weigh me 
 down." 
 
 The tone of the foregoing letter, and the religious fervour 
 which it displays, confirm the statement of Matthew Paris that, 
 at one period of his life, he conceived the plan of taking the vow 
 of poverty and joining the "Franciscans, much in the same way 
 as Eobert Bacon joined the Dominicans in spite of his advanc- 
 ing years.^ He does not appear, however, to have received any 
 encouragement from Adam Marsh, who, as his most intimate 
 friend, and as virtually the foremost Franciscan at that time in 
 England, might have been expected to exercise over him a 
 special influence in that direction. Perhaps Adam Marsh 
 understood the bent of his mind more clearly than he did him- 
 self, and foresaw that he would be more useful to the cause 
 which the Minorites had at heart if he retained his independ- 
 ence, and was enabled to attain to a position in which he could 
 find fitting scope for the exercise of his administrative abilities. 
 It is evident, from Grosseteste's letter written to him at this 
 juncture,'^ that Adam Marsh had conveyed his congratulations, 
 and had expressed his sympathy with him in the decision at 
 which he had arrived, a sympathy which was all the more 
 welcome by reason of its contrast with the contempt felt by 
 some of his so-called friends for his act of self-sacrifice, and 
 with the abuse hurled at him by others, probably pluralists who 
 thought that the step he had taken cast a reflection upon them, 
 as well as with the well-meaning but unappreciative counsels of 
 injudicious friends who told him that he was injuring his own 
 interests. There is, however, nothing to show that Adam Marsh 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. iv. 579. Semper ordinis erit convolaudi, exstiterat. 
 aemulator et amator singiilaris, adeo 
 ut ad ordinem eorum propositiim habu- ^ Letter 9.
 
 io8 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 had made any overtures to him with the object of inducing him 
 to become a Minorite. In the course of his reply Grosseteste 
 writes : " I know that the perils of an exalted station are neither 
 few nor inconsiderable. I know its pitfalls, how hard it is to 
 repress pride, how rare is the sense of one's own weakness, how 
 easy it is to feel contempt for others, how difficult to adapt one- 
 self to the needs of the weaker brethren : it is the shadow of 
 power, and the reality of servitude. I know also from experi- 
 ence, and still suffer from the knowledge, how many thorns 
 there are in riches, how many occasions they afford for acting 
 wrongly, how often they are misused, how true it is that they 
 impoverish instead of enriching their possessors, and how those 
 same possessors, who are really themselves owned by the wealth 
 of which they are the reputed owners, find their intellects 
 blinded and rendered torpid and dormant." With reference to 
 the charge brought by some that he had abandoned the pastoral 
 office, he replies : " I was urged to take the course I adopted, 
 on the one hand, by my utter inability to discharge the duties 
 which, with too little circumspection and too much boldness, 
 I had undertaken, and, on the other, by the obedience which I 
 owe to the constitutions of the Apostolic See. It is, however, 
 true that a pastoral charge, once undertaken, should not be 
 given up," except under certain conditions which he proceeds to 
 enumerate. He concludes by asking for the aid of his friend's 
 prayers, in order that, if what he has done has been wrong, it 
 may be forgiven, and that if, as he hopes, it has been right, God 
 may cleanse away the blemishes which circumstances may have 
 wrought in this and any other good thing that he may have 
 done. 
 
 The intensity of Grosseteste's religious fervour at that time 
 may be inferred, not only from the correspondence here in- 
 dicated, as well as from the two letters, of which mention has 
 already been made, which he addressed to the Earl of Pembroke 
 in 1231,^ one of which relates to "the glory and riches of 
 
 ' Letters C, 7.
 
 IV WORK BETWEEN 1232 AND 1235 109 
 
 Heaveu," while the other has for its thesis the difference be- 
 tween " the wisdom of the just " and " the wisdom of the world," 
 but also from a letter^ which he wrote not long after his 
 illness, that is to say, at the end of 1232 or early in 1233, to a 
 clergyman whom he describes as older than himself, who had 
 long been his friend, but who had fallen away from a high 
 standard of conduct into luxurious and licentious habits. The 
 scathing severity of its denunciations and the persuasiveness of 
 its exhortations to repentance have rarely been equalled. It 
 reveals the secret of Grosseteste's moral force, which enabled 
 him to exercise so profound an influence over his generation. 
 
 Little is known with respect to Grosseteste's actions during 
 the period which elapsed between the date of his illness at the 
 end of 1232 and that of his appointment to the see of Lincoln 
 in 1235. Apart from his Lincoln prebend, he does not appear 
 to have held any ecclesiastical appointment during that interval, 
 and the suggestion that he retained his archdeaconry of 
 Leicester is sufficiently refuted by the fact that in the will of 
 Bishop Hugh de Wells, dated June 1, 1233, his name does not 
 appear in that connection.- Eichard of Bardney's statement 
 that he acted as the King's private secretary, and subsequently 
 became guardian of the privy seal, is the invention of a later 
 age, is based upon no historical foundation, and is contrary 
 alike to intrinsic probability and to contemporary evidence.* 
 It is probable that part of his comparative leisure was 
 employed in the composition or completion of some of the 
 works enumerated in an earlier chapter, and it is certain 
 that he was engaged, at any rate at one time, in the dis- 
 
 ^ Letter 10. I1 Regis mensa prior inter Regis amicos 
 ■I mi_ -11 r TT 1 3 ITT- 11 ■ Efficitur. Probitas emerat illud ei. 
 
 - ihe wiU ot Hugli de \\ eUs is Secretarius hie Regi, Custosque Sigilli 
 printed iu the Appendix to Giraldus Postea Privati, Rege jubente, fuit. 
 
 Cambrensis, vol. vii. pp. 223 - 2-31. ^.^ , ,, t, . ^i ^.i i i 
 
 , _, , ! , 1 r-r- , „ Matthew Pans, on the other hand, 
 
 Kobert, Archdeacon ot Lincoln, p. , tt- i ^ i ■■ n-^\ rr n 
 
 „„„ . ', ^ n TT 1 1 <<T. , sa,YS [Ilist. Anglorum, 11.3^6) : " Prae- 
 
 228, is Robert de Hayles, and " Robert , . . , . 1 . 
 
 , . ,, . % sentan regi nolens, siugularis erat 
 
 my chaplain is another person. .- ■ . • , , 
 
 •i T^. 1 1 n T, 1 , 1- conversationis, et propriae sectator 
 •* Richard of Bardney s lines, in i x x- • -i. j i.- 
 
 .rrr, , > ,. , .. voluntatis. suae innitens prudentiae. 
 
 Wharton s Anaha ixicra, u. p. 334, i • . -I- ^ •. .• ' 
 
 •' ' 1 ) quod perspicue postea nianifestavit.
 
 ROBERT GROSSETESTE 
 
 CHAP. IV 
 
 charge of administrative duties connected with the University 
 of Oxford, though he had ceased to act as Chancellor. The 
 King's mandate of 1234, to which reference has previously been 
 made, imposes upon him and upon Friar Eobert Bacon, as well 
 as upon the Chancellor, certain duties of a disciplinary character,^ 
 That being so, it is by no means unlikely that he resided at 
 Oxford during the greater part of the time, and was present in 
 1233 at the celebrated protest which Eobert Bacon uttered, in 
 the presence of Henry III., against the continued presence of 
 Peter des Eoches in England.^ In view of his relations with 
 Eichard Marshall, Grosseteste must have sympathised deeply 
 with that protest, and have followed with special anxiety the 
 course of events which led to his friend's temporary triumph in 
 1233, in conjunction with Hubert de Burgh, and to his murder 
 in Ireland in the following year. Eccleston's account, more- 
 over, implies that Grosseteste continued to lecture in the 
 Franciscan school until his elevation to the episcopate,^ and a 
 similar view is embodied in the Laiicrcost Chronicle.^ It may 
 therefore be assumed that, whatever may have been the occu- 
 pations which he found it necessary to abandon, his practical 
 interest in the welfare of the University, and more especially of 
 the Franciscans, was sustained and unabated throughout those 
 years. 
 
 Kennett's Parochial 
 p. 307 ; Dodsworth 
 
 1 Page C6. 
 Antiquities, 
 MSS. vol. ciii. p. 168. 
 
 - If the document printed in tlie 
 Collectanea of the Oxford Historical 
 Society (1885, voh i. pp. 39-47, ed. 
 Fletcher), which describes Grosseteste's 
 election to the office of rex natalicius, 
 and his confirmation by tlie genius of 
 Christmas, be genuine, it may perhaps 
 be referred to one of these years. It is 
 certainly in comjjlete harmony with 
 tlie sj)irit of Robert Bacon's protest. 
 The MS. seems to have been written 
 
 by a Franciscan student, and the fact 
 that Grosseteste is described as 
 "Magister" indicates apparently that 
 he was not yet a Bishop. It is pos- 
 sible, however, that the document may 
 merely be a political skit of a later 
 date, and that Grosseteste's name is 
 used to attract attention. 
 
 ^ 31071. Francisc. p. 37. Ipso igitur 
 a cathedra magisteriali in catliedram 
 pontificalem providentia divina trans- 
 late, etc. 
 
 ■• CJiron. de Lancrcost, p. 45.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 1235 — Grosseteste's election to the see of Lincoln, in succession to Hugh de 
 Wells — His consecration at Reading — Respective attitude of St. Edmund 
 and of the Canterbury monks with respect to the place of consecration — 
 Grosseteste's refusal of improper presentations — His determination to redress 
 abuses — Extent and importance of the diocese of Lincoln. 
 
 The year 1235, which witnessed Grosseteste's appointment to 
 the see of Lincoln, forms the principal landmark in his life. 
 Already he had reached what must have been the age of 
 sixty, and he was now called upon to commence a practically 
 new career at a time when other men, endowed with less 
 vigour of mind, might have been deemed entitled to well-earned 
 repose. If, however, his promotion had been so long postponed, 
 the delay was due to the disadvantage under wdiich the man 
 who depends solely upon the weight of his own character and 
 abilities labours in comparison with the one who receives at 
 birth the fairy gifts of fortune. If Grosseteste had been of an 
 envious disposition, he might, in after days, have contrasted the 
 slowness of his own advancement with the rapidity with which, 
 only a few years later, Boniface of Savoy was raised to the office 
 of Archbishop of Canterbury merely because he was the Queen's 
 uncle ; and among the prelates of his own acquaintance more 
 than one owed their position not to their own merits, but to 
 favour of the powerful or to the power of the purse. No such 
 thoughts, however, seem to have entered Grosseteste's mind. 
 Behind him lay a long period of activity, in the course of which 
 he had achieved more than any man of his generation. He had
 
 112 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 mastered and systematised the learning of his time, grasped 
 the idea of the unity of knowledge, enriched literature with 
 works of permanent value, and pointed the way to new avenues 
 of thought. He had welcomed, encouraged, and guided the two 
 orders of Friars which were seeking to bring about a revival of 
 religion in this country, and had himself been in a special sense 
 the teacher of the Franciscans, and had, moreover, endeavoured 
 to unite the movement which aimed at the revival of religion 
 with the movement which aimed at the revival of learn- 
 ing. As the first Chancellor of Oxford, he had taken a leading 
 part in the organisation of the University. As Archdeacon of 
 four successive archdeaconries, he had obtained an intimate 
 acquaintance with the practical aspects of ecclesiastical work 
 which were most likely to be of use to him in his new position. 
 Before him, on the other hand, lay a new period of his life, 
 during which he would, indeed, have ample opportunities for 
 turning to good account the experience gained in his previous 
 career, whilst his knowledge, his eloquence, his high character, 
 his strength of will, and his power of organisation would all 
 help to ensure the efficiency of his administration ; but his 
 course was, as will be shown, beset, owing to the circumstances 
 of the times, with difficulties and even witli dangers, and im- 
 posed upon him in an eminent degree the necessity for the 
 active exercise of those qualities of judgment, presence of mind, 
 foresight, and energy which are sometimes attributed to states- 
 men. He entered upon the discharge of his new duties witli a 
 high sense of the importance of the episcopal office, and with an 
 unflinching determination to shirk no responsibilities, but to 
 right the wrong wherever it lay in his power in the vast diocese 
 committed to his charge. 
 
 Hugh de Wells, Grosseteste's predecessor, to whom he 
 probably owed the advice to the Dean and Chapter which 
 ensured his selection, and to whom he had unquestionably been 
 indebted for six out of his eight previous preferments, one of 
 which would seem to have been the very first which it was in
 
 V ELECTION TO THE SEE OF LINCOLN 113 
 
 that prelate's power to confer, died on tlie 7th or 8th of February 
 1235.^ Owing to the intimate relations which subsisted between 
 the Bishop of Lincoln on the one hand and Oxford and its 
 University on the other, he had been brought into frequent 
 contact, in that connection as well as in other capacities, with 
 Grosseteste, who speaks of him in terms of great affection and 
 respect,'^ and who must have appreciated in him the qualities 
 which caused him to be described by Koger de Wendover and 
 Matthew Paris as " omnium virorum religiosorum inimicis- 
 simus," ^ a phrase signifying that he attempted to make the 
 monks amenable to discipline, and which may be illustrated by 
 the " Articles of Inquiry " he had issued in his diocese.'* The 
 words do not represent any real hostility on his part to the 
 monastic orders, as is shown by the provisions contained in his 
 will '° in favour of numerous religious houses, including, among 
 others, those of Caldwell, Missenden, St. Neot's, Torksey, and 
 Bourne, together with sundry additional bequests to those of 
 them that were the poorest. Among them, as well as among 
 poor lepers, the masters and scholars of Oxford, converts from 
 Judaism in the diocese, and the poor residing on his manors, 
 was the residue of his estate to be divided.^ No mention is 
 made of Grosseteste in the will among the Archdeacons, for the 
 simple reason that it was made in June 1233, when he held no 
 preferment of any kind with the exception of his Lincoln 
 prebend ; but Hugh de Wells leaves to his successor, for 
 purposes connected with the cultivation of his manors, 208 
 oxen,''' and it is also interesting to note that vineyards are 
 mentioned among the episcopal possessions in the diocese. 
 
 ^ Pegge, p. 35. Giraldus Cambrensis, vol. vii. pp. 223- 
 
 2 Letters 44, 68. 231. 
 
 ^ ffist. Maj. iii. 306. Matthew ^ Giraldus Cambrensis, App., vol. 
 
 Paris adopts the phrase from Roger de vii. pp. 227 sqq. 
 
 "Wendover. See Luard's Introd. to the '' Such is Mr. Dimock's interpreta- 
 
 Letters, p. 37. tion of the phrase " 26 carucatas boum," 
 
 * Printed in the first vol. of AVilkins's vol. vii. Glossaiy, p. 252. According 
 Concilia. to him one " carucata boum" means 
 
 * Printed in the Appendix to eight oxen.
 
 114 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 They are more likely to have been situated near Henley on 
 Thames than near Barton on Humber.^ 
 
 The confj^ d'dire was issued on February 19,^ and the 
 provisions of the Great Charter which were intended to ensure 
 freedom of election appear to have been carefully respected on 
 that occasion. In accordance with what had probably been 
 their late Bishop's wish, the Dean and Chapter proceeded, on 
 March 27, to elect Grosseteste, who had long been a member of 
 their body, and whose unquestioned pre-eminence marked him 
 out for the position. The story that Giraldus Cambrensis was 
 mentioned as an alternative candidate^ arises clearly from a 
 confusion between the vacancy which occurred on the death of 
 Hugh de Wells and that which had taken place in 1200 on the 
 death of St. Hugh of Avalon. The choice was unanimous.* On 
 April 5 the King's approval was given, and was conveyed by 
 letter to the Archbishop, who confirmed the election. On the 
 16th of that month the temporalities were restored, and on May 
 14 he received from Henry the Third what was probably 
 the customary present of ten bucks.^ Some difficulty arose, 
 however, with regard to the place of his consecration. The 
 monks of Christ Church, Canterbury, claimed as an ancient 
 right that he and all other Bishops of the province should be 
 consecrated in their cathedral. St. Ednmnd of Abingdon, the 
 new Archbishop, had reasons of his own for taking a different 
 view. He w^as involved at that time in a dispute with his 
 Chapter, and was not inclined to pay undue deference to their 
 wishes, and was also probably of opinion, on general grounds 
 and in the public interest, that it was not desirable that one 
 
 ^ See preface to vol. vii. p. 93. •* In the Historia Anglorum, ed. 
 
 - Pegge, p. 35 ; Luaid's Introd. to Madden, ii. 376, Matthew Paris says 
 
 the Letters, p. 37. that although the choice was iniani- 
 
 •' Cited in Brewer's jireface to vol. i. moiis, it was only so "post multas 
 
 of Giraldus Cambrensis. If Giraldus inter canonicos contentiones," and 
 
 was alive in 1235 — and it is more "contra omnium opinionem, licet, nt 
 
 likely that he died about 1220 — he dicebatur, Ordini Minori obligaretur." 
 
 would have reached at that time the ^ Le Neve's Fasti, ed. Hardy, ii. 
 
 jige of nearly ninety. 10. 
 
 I
 
 V QUESTION AS TO PLACE OF CONSECRATION 115 
 
 Cathedral Chapter should enjoy a monopoly of consecration 
 fees. Grosseteste paid a visit to Canterbury, together with 
 some members of the Lincoln Chapter, in connection with the 
 matter, and afterwards wrote a letter^ to the Archbishop in 
 which he expresses the hope that, for the sake of peace, he 
 will not adhere to his resolution, but give way to the desire of 
 the monks. " In regard to nothing that is in itself indifferent," 
 he writes, " ought we to place a rock of offence or an occasion 
 for stumbling in the way of one of our brethren. In view of 
 the fact that, as I truly believe, the monks of Canterbury cannot 
 be induced on any consideration to agree of their own good 
 will that I shall be consecrated elsewhere than in their church ; 
 and as it is probable that, if I am consecrated elsewhere against 
 their will, they, being offended at this matter, in itself indifferent, 
 will fall into the pit of anger, rancour, and hatred, and, by 
 appealing against your action, will give rise to difficult and 
 expensive litigation ; and as, moreover, * the servants of God 
 ought not to strive,' and ' it is utterly a fault if ye go to law 
 one with another ' ' lest we offend them,' ' destroying,' as I 
 trust may not be the case, ' some weak one for whom Christ 
 died, and not w^alking charitably' ; inasmuch as consecration 
 can be given to me without sin or offence or scandal at Canter- 
 bury, I most humbly and earnestly entreat you to agree to 
 consecrate me in the Church of Canterbury ; for it is better to 
 be consecrated there, however great an expenditure of this 
 world's goods may be thereby incurred, than that the ceremony 
 should take place elsewhere, at less cost, but in such a way as to 
 cause offence to the weaker brethren. I trust that this argument 
 may be deemed sufficient, unless it be that for some reason of 
 which I am not cognisant, my consecration cannot take place 
 at Canterbury without sin. With respect," he adds, "to the 
 report you heard to the effect that one of those who accompanied 
 me to Canterbury spoke harshly to the monks, and threatened 
 them, that, whether they agreed or not, I should be consecrated 
 
 1 Letter 12.
 
 ii6 ROBERT CxROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 elsewhere, I ain sure that the story is without the slightest 
 foundation ; for my companions were men of an eminently peace- 
 ful and discreet disposition, and the requests which they addressed 
 to the monks were couched in humble and respectful terms." 
 
 The Archbishop, however, thought it necessary to be firm, in 
 order not to admit what might be a troublesome claim, and the 
 monks, on the understanding that no precedent was to be 
 created, agreed that the consecration should take place else- 
 where. In June — according to one account on the 3rd, accord- 
 ing to another on the l7th of that month ^ — he was consecrated 
 in the Abbey Church of Eeading, at the same time as Hugh, 
 Bishop of St. Asaph, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was 
 assisted by the Bishops of Bath, of Salisbury, of London, of 
 Ely, and of Hereford. It is not known on what special grounds 
 Eeading was selected for the purpose. Probably the con- 
 venience of its situation, the fact that it was often chosen for 
 Council and other meetings,^ and the magnificence of its Abbey 
 afforded reasons sufficient to justify the choice. On subsequent 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. iii. 306, gives the and Bishops in 1213 to arrange about 
 
 former, while the JVinchester Annals the restoration of the confiscated pro- 
 
 and Wykes give the latter date. St. perty {Hist. Maj. ii. 570), and it was 
 
 Michael's Day (Sept. 29) mentioned there that, in 1240, another Legate, 
 
 by the Lanercost Chronicle is out of Cardinal Otho, conveyed to the 
 
 the question. Of the days named in assembled dignitaries of the Church 
 
 1235 only the 3rd and 17th of June are tlie papal message [Hist. Maj. iv. 10). 
 
 possiljle, as the others do not fall on In the Calendar of Papal Registers 
 
 Sundays. Bishop Stubbs {Episcopal (Bliss, vol. i. p. 149) is mentioned an 
 
 Succession) prefers the l7th, while Indult to the prior and convent of 
 
 Luard (Introd. to the Letters, p. 37) Canterbury, that their right to have 
 
 and Dimock (note on John de Schalby, all the bishops of the province con- 
 
 App. to vol. vii. of Giraldus Cam- secrated in tlieir Church shall not be 
 
 brensis, p. 204) prefer the 3rd. For prejudiced by their having permitted 
 
 the other dates mentioned by various the Archbishop to consecrate the 
 
 writers see Pegge, p. 35, note. That Bishop of Lincoln at Reading. Dated 
 
 Bishops could only be consecrated on Viterbo, 12 Kal. Dec. 1235. In 1238 
 
 Sundays is shown by the Rubric in tlie (page 167) the Pope sent a confirmation 
 
 English Pontifical, cited in Haskell's to the prior and convent of Canterbury 
 
 Monumenla Jiilualia, iii. 242. See of the ancient concession that the 
 
 Dimock's pref. to the Magna Vita S. sulFragans of the see should not be 
 
 Uugonis Lincolniensis, p. 28. consecrated elsewhere without the 
 
 ^ It was at Reading that King John, consent of the chapter, 
 with tlie Legate, met the Archbishop
 
 V REFUSAL OF IMPROPER PRESENTATIONS 117 
 
 occasions the same Archbishop consecrated various bishops 
 elsewhere than at Canterbury, but that was in consequence of 
 the suspension he had inflicted upon his Chapter. For example, 
 he consecrated William de Raleigli, Bishop of Norwich, at St. 
 Paul's, London ; ^ Hugh de Pateshull, Bisliop of Coventry and 
 Lichfield, at the priory of New^ark, near Guildford ; " Peter 
 d'Aigueblanche, Bishop of Hereford, at St. Paul's, London,'^ 
 and Howel, Bishop of St. Asaph, at Boxgrave.^ In the last- 
 named instance, however, the monks of Canterbury addressed 
 a protest in writing to the Legate and to the Archbishop 
 of York, as well as to the other prelates and nobles who 
 were present. The precise motives which guided St. Edmund's 
 action with respect to the place of Grosseteste's consecration 
 are by no means clear, but it is possible that, acting under 
 the influence of Simon Langton, Archdeacon of Canterbury, 
 he was desirous of bringing the dispute with his Chapter to a 
 head, in order to settle it once and for all. In February of the 
 following year Grosseteste was solemnly enthroned in Lincoln 
 Cathedral. 
 
 During the months which elapsed between the date of his 
 election and the fulfilment of the requisite ceremonies, Grosse- 
 teste had not been inactive. He had devoted his energies to 
 the task of mastering the affairs of his diocese, and in preparing 
 the measures which he proposed to take, with a view to their 
 reorganisation and reform. One incident which occurred during 
 that interval throws light on the intense earnestness with which 
 he approached his new duties. A certain monk had brought to 
 him, for institution to a benefice, one who was not even in 
 priest's orders, being only a deacon, and Mdiom Grosseteste 
 describes as wearing clothes of scarlet and rings on his fingers, 
 more like a dandy layman or a knight in appearance, and 
 practically of no education, as could be gathered from his 
 replies to questions.'^ The Bishop-elect addressed the monk in 
 
 ^ Hisl. Maj. in. 617. SeePegge, p.36. ^ Haddanai]dStubl)s,CoMnci7.<,i. 465. 
 
 2 Ibui. iv. 31. 2 /f,ia^ iy_ 75_ 5 Letter 11.
 
 ii8 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 language of fierce rebuke : " How can you," he exclaimed, " who 
 call yourself a monk, and who by your habit and your vow make 
 profession of saintliness, and are thereby bound to mortify your 
 carnal life for the salvation of souls, — how dare you present to a 
 cure of souls one who by his bearing and his garb shows him- 
 self more fitted to slay those souls than to heal them ? Our 
 Lord Jesus Christ gave His precious blood, yea. His very life, 
 to a most bitter and shameful death, to save and give life to 
 each individual soul ; and you are trying to hand over so large 
 a number of souls to one who by his bad example will betray 
 and destroy them. You, who would not give up to the wolf 
 one single sheep which you had bought for twelve pence, do 
 not hesitate to hand over to the destroyer the soul which Christ 
 has purchased with His blood, which is a price incomparably 
 greater than the whole of Creation. Is it not clear that you, by 
 dishonouring that great sacrifice, are on your way to perdition ? " 
 The monk and the deacon left his presence, and complained 
 afterwards of the strength and, as they deemed it, the injustice 
 of his language. He received what appears to have been an 
 anonymous letter couched in terms of abuse, and a friend of 
 his, Michael Beleth, who occupied a prominent position at the 
 Court,^ conveyed to him in writing the expression of his opinion 
 that he had been unduly severe. To the latter Grosseteste 
 replies'-^ at some length, giving an accurate account of the 
 incident and of the words he had used, and explaining their 
 justice and their necessity. He feels that if he did not speak 
 strongly with regard to such matters, he would himself be a 
 participator in the offence. Without objecting to criticism, 
 he wishes that his critics, instead of blaming him, would think 
 of the wrong done to the parishioners by the institution of an 
 incumbent of that description, and would join with him in 
 trying to rescue the sheep from the wolves. "If they would do 
 
 ^ He was cliief butler at the mar- See also Hall's Red Book of the 
 
 riage of Henry III. Hid. Mnj. iii. Exchcqicer (Rolls Series), i. p. 758, 
 
 338. He was the founder of Wroxtou where he is spoken of as " Magister." 
 
 Priory. Luard's note, Letters, p. 449. - Letter 11, p. 52.
 
 V ASSISTANCE SOUGHT FROM FRIARS 119 
 
 so," he concludes, " I have no doubt that they would succeed 
 where my isolated efforts fail. If, on the other hand, instead of 
 helping, they place impediments in the way of the little I am 
 able to effect, they are in danger of being adjudged guilty of the 
 destruction of those sheep. I leave it to your discretion to 
 decide whether, in the sight of God and of those who are zealous 
 for the welfare of souls, my severity is as reprehensible as is 
 thought." 
 
 That Grosseteste's action in the case of that particular deacon 
 was not an isolated specimen of the firmness he displayed in 
 that respect may be gathered from the numerous instances in 
 which he refuses improper presentations.^ Within the next 
 few months, indeed, at least two of the letters which he wrote 
 bear upon the subject. In one of them he explains to William 
 de Ealeigh, Treasurer of Exeter,- that he is obliged to refuse 
 to institute his nominee, a certain William de Grana, on the 
 ground that he is a minor, imperfectly educated, still in his Ovid, 
 and one whose institution would be contrary to the interests 
 of the cure of souls, to the injunctions of Scripture, and to the 
 canons of the Church. Grosseteste knew, however, how to 
 temper severity with generosity ; and, in view of the special 
 circumstances of the case, he expresses his willingness to pay 
 William de Grana ten marks a year out of his private purse, 
 until he is fit to be appointed to a living, and adds that he has 
 mentioned the matter to Friars Eobert Bacon ^ and Adam Marsh, 
 as well as to Masters Eobert Marsh, Thomas Wallensis, and 
 John de Basingstoke, Archdeacon of Leicester. The other 
 letter * is addressed to John Blundus, Chancellor of York, one 
 of whose relatives Grosseteste refuses to admit to a living on 
 
 * See, for instance, Letters 17, 19, Luard, in the Index, assumes that 
 
 26, 30, 49, 52, 72, 74, 87, 124, 126, "Roger "is a mistake for "Robert," 
 
 and 128. as is probably the ease. 
 
 - Letter 17. William de Raleigh ^ Letter 19. It was John Blundus 
 was afterwards Bishop, first of Lich- who in 12.32 had been elected Arch- 
 field and Coventry, then of Norwich, bishop of Canterbury, but had been 
 and then of Winchester. rejected by the Pope. Hist. Maj. iii. 
 
 3 The MS. says "Roger." Dr. 223, 243, and v. 41.
 
 I20 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 account of his ignorance. In later years, as will be seen, the 
 Bishop of Lincoln had to deal with similar requests put forward 
 by personages far more powerful than the Treasurer of Exeter or 
 the Chancellor of York. It is also in the same spirit of devo- 
 tion to the advancement of religion that he entreats Hugh de 
 Pateshull, King's clerk and treasurer, and afterwards Bishop of 
 Coventry and Lichfield,^ not to take a larger benefice, on the 
 ground that, owing to his secular engagements, he neglects the 
 one already committed to his care. 
 
 Almost immediately after his consecration, Grosseteste 
 appears to have taken the steps already mentioned ^ to secure 
 the presence and assistance in his diocese of John de St. Giles 
 and Geoffrey de Clive, as well as of a third Dominican skilled 
 in canon and civil law. John de St. Giles, however, was at that 
 time in Germany, where he had accompanied the Princess 
 Isabella, now the wife of the Emperor Frederick II,, and he was 
 only able to accept Grosseteste's invitation at a later date. At 
 the end of 1235 or the beginning of 1236 the Bishop writes to 
 Adam Marsh ^ to the effect that, since the recall of a certain 
 Garinus, he has had none of Friars Preachers or of tlie Friars 
 Minors with him, and requests that some of the latter may be 
 sent to him. He expresses, however, special anxiety for the 
 help of Adam Marsh himself, particularly with regard to com- 
 munications with the Roman Court : ■* " for several new things 
 have come to light, about which it would take me too long to 
 write, and also other things which I cannot safely make known 
 to more than a few persons. There are, moreover, several other 
 matters with regard to which I stand in need of your assistance." 
 "I have found in you," he adds, "and in you alone, a truthful 
 
 ' Letter 2.0. The letter clearly be- Calendar of Papal Registers, i, p. 
 
 longs, as Luard su2^i)oses, to 1236, as 154. 
 is shown by the papal mandate to the " Letters 14-16, 20. 
 
 Bishoi) of Lincoln, dated May of that ^ Letter 20. 
 
 year, to allow Hugli de rateshuU to let ■* " In petitionibus et consultationi- 
 
 his benefices in the Lincoln diocese, bns ad curiam transniittendis." The 
 
 provided that arrangements are made context shows that " curia" here means 
 
 for them to be propei'ly served. I'liss, the Roman and not the English Court.
 
 V MEN OF LEARNING SUMMONED 121 
 
 friend, a faithful counsellor, one who looks to the reality and 
 not to the outward appearance, and who rests on a firm and 
 solid foundation, not on a hollow and fragile reed." He also 
 invited William de Cerda, who was at that time engaged in 
 lecturing at the University of Paris, to undertake certain duties 
 in the diocese of Lincoln.^ William de Cerda excused himself, 
 for the time being, on the twofold ground that he must finish 
 his course of theological lectures, and that he did not feel 
 capable of undertaking the particular office suggested to him. 
 Grosseteste, in reply, writes in terms of praise and commenda- 
 tion of his zeal as a teacher, and trusts that it may be of value 
 to many. At the same time he reminds him that " Our Lord 
 said to the chief of the Apostles, ' If thou lovest 'Me, feed My 
 sheep,' not, ' If thou lovest Me, lecture from the professor's chair 
 to the shepherds of My sheep.' The pastoral office is of more 
 importance than the professorial " — an utterance which appears 
 somewhat strange on the part of one who had probably eftected 
 more ex cathedra than any of his contemporaries, though it is 
 in complete harmony with the views which he expresses else- 
 where. He concludes with the promise that he will keej) the 
 post vacant for another six months or a year, in order to enable 
 William de Cerda to complete his course of lectures in the 
 meantime, and that he will arrange, during the interval, for the 
 duties connected with it to be performed by a Friar Preacher, as 
 far as preaching is concerned. Whether William de Cerda 
 ultimately agreed is not known. Two years later, however, 
 Grosseteste w^as able to enlist out of the professorial into the 
 pastoral office a still more important recruit in the person of 
 Thomas Wallensis, who had succeeded Eo2;er de W^eseham as 
 reader to the Franciscan school at Oxford, and to whom he gave 
 the archdeaconry of Lincoln in 1238.^ 
 
 In the letters which he addressed in 1237 to the respective 
 heads of the Franciscans and of the Dominicans, asking for 
 their assistance, as well as in a more elaborate memorandum 
 
 1 Letter 13. - Letter 51 ; Mon. Francisc. pp. 38, 549.
 
 122 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 which he forwarded through his proctor to the Pope, after sub- 
 mitting it to the celebrated Dominican canonist Eaymond de 
 Penaforte, in order to obtain the advantage of his criticisms, 
 Grosseteste dwells upon the size and population of his diocese.^ 
 The diocese of Lincoln was, in fact, at that time by far the 
 largest and the most populous in the country. It included 
 the archdeaconries of Lincoln, Leicester, Stow, Buckingham, 
 Huntingdon, Northampton, Oxford, and Bedford, and extended 
 from the Thames to the Humber. It had been formed by the 
 union of the bishopric of Lindisse, or Sidnacester, originally 
 connected with Northumbria, with that of Leicester, originally 
 Mercian, of which the see had been removed to Dorchester.^ 
 Eemi, or Remigius, the first Bishop of the united diocese ap- 
 pointed by William the Conqueror in 1067, resolved to transfer 
 his principal seat to Lincolnshire, as that county was no longer 
 suffering from the troubles to which it had been exposed at the 
 time of the Danish invasions ; and, in accordance with the 
 policy which found favour with the Council of London in 1072, 
 which decided that episcopal sees should be transferred, when 
 necessary, from smaller places to the more populous walled 
 cities, he appears to have anticipated the decrees of that 
 Council by choosing the important and fortified city of Lincoln 
 instead of the time-honoured but insignificant site of Lindisse. 
 A few years later, in 1081, Remigius dropped the title of Bishop 
 of Dorchester and used the appellation of Bishop of Lindisse, 
 which had been that of his earliest predecessors. He refrained, 
 however, from calling himself Bishop of Lincoln, as there was 
 still in existence a Bishop suffragan known by that name ^ who 
 lived until about 1088, when any difficulty which might have 
 
 ^ Letters 40, 41, 37. A map show- coin, pp. 419 sqq. Sec John de 
 
 ing the extent of the diocese of Lincoln Schalby's Lives of the Bishops of 
 
 as it then was and as it now is, is Lincoln, App. to Giraldua Cambrensis, 
 
 prefixed to the Diocesan History of vol. vii. pp. 193 sqq., with Mr. Dim- 
 
 Lincoln, by Canon Venables and Arcli- ock's notes, as well as the Life of St. 
 
 deacon Perry. Remigius by Giraldus Cambrensis him- 
 
 '■^ Ann. Moiiast. (Dunstable), ill. 11 ; self, also contained in vol. vii. 
 
 Stark's Hislory of the Diocese of Lin- ^ Stark, pp. 475, 476.
 
 V EXTENT OF THE DIOCESE OF LINCOLN 123 
 
 been felt with regard to the assumption of that designation by 
 the Bishop of the entire diocese came to an end. The building 
 of the principal part of the great Minster, begun under the 
 auspices of St. liemigius, is said, according to one account, to 
 have occupied only four years ; but although its founder and 
 inspirer lived to witness the completion of the most necessary 
 portions, he died a few days before the date appointed for its 
 consecration in 1092. Two years later a dispute between the 
 Archbishops of York and of Canterbury, the former of whom 
 claimed supremacy over the northern portion of the diocese, 
 while the latter claimed supremacy over the southern, was 
 brought to a friendly solution by means of an agreement 
 arrived at with the sanction of William Eufus, and signed 
 by himself, St. Anselm- of Canterbury, Thomas, Archbishop 
 of York, and the Bishops of Durham, Winchester, and 
 Eochester, with the result that the cathedral was consecrated 
 in that year, during Eobert Bloet's tenure of the episcopal 
 office. 
 
 When Grosseteste became Bishop nearly a century and a 
 half later, in 1235, nothing, in all likelihood, remained of the 
 massive Norman structure of St. Eemigius, with the exception 
 of the magnificent central portion of the west front, the 
 grandeur of which still excites the admiration of the spectator. 
 Fire had destroyed the roof in 1141, and in 1185 a great 
 earthquake had, in the words which Eoger de Hoveden quotes 
 from Benedict, Abbot of Peterborough, split the church in 
 two from top to bottom.^ In the following year St. 
 Hugh of Avalon, better known as St. Hugh of Lincoln, the 
 Carthusian monk who had come to England from the Grande 
 Chartreuse at the invitation of Henry the Second, was raised to 
 the see. He determined to rebuild the cathedral, and em- 
 ployed for the purpose a certain Geoffrey de ISToyers, whose 
 designs, executed partly during the lifetime of the Bishop, and 
 partly during that of his successors, brought into existence the 
 
 ^ Roger de Hoveden, ed. Stubbs, ii. 303 ; Ami. Monast. (Dunstable), iii. 23.
 
 124 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 first and, in the opinion of many, tlie noblest product of Early 
 English architecture. It departs, according to M. Viollet-le- 
 Duc,^ in every essential respect, as well as in the details of its 
 ornamentation, from the French school of the twelfth century, 
 as exemplified in the cathedrals of Paris, Noyon, Senlis, 
 Chartres, Sens, and even Rouen. " The construction," he says, 
 " is English, the profiles of the mouldings are English, the 
 ornaments are English, and the execution of the work belongs 
 to the English school of workmen of the beginning of the 
 thirteenth century." By the time Hugh de Wells, Grosseteste's 
 immediate predecessor, had completed his life's work, it is 
 probable, notwithstanding the damage done by the victorious 
 troops after the battle and capture of Lincoln in 1217,^ that, in 
 addition to St. Hugh's choir and eastern transept, the nave and 
 the great transept had been nearly completed, as well as the 
 wings of the west front, the Galilee porch, and the chapter house. 
 Such, then, was the diocese and such the cathedral entrusted 
 to Grosseteste's care. Concerning his administration of the 
 first the following pages will speak. Of the work he carried out 
 in connection with the second there is comparatively little to 
 relate. He completed those portions of the nave and of the 
 great transept which had been left unfinished by his predecessor, 
 and raised the rood tower as higli as the lower level of the upper 
 windows, it being afterwards raised to its final elevation by 
 Bishop Dalderby.^ He also built the great hall in connection 
 with the episcopal palace."* Matthew Paris repeats a story to 
 the effect that, during the early stages of the dispute with the 
 Dean and Chapter, one of the canons was preaching to the 
 people in the body of the church, and, in denunciation of the 
 Bishop's action, used the words, " If I should not speak, the 
 very stones would cry out," whereupon the stone work of the 
 new tower fell down and caused much damage, and the co- 
 
 ^ See tlie Gentleman's Marjazinc for " Hist. Maj. iii. 23. 
 
 May 1861, partly reprinted in 3 gee Pe<^ee ,> 217 
 Murray's Handbook to the Cathedrals °° ' ' 
 
 of England , s.r. Lincoln. •• Lanercost Chronicle, p. 43.
 
 THE CATHEDRAL 
 
 125 
 
 incidence was regarded as a prodigy in the Chapter's favour.^ 
 As the Peterborough chronicle, however, points out, the accident 
 was really due to a flaw in the workmanship,- and the Dun- 
 stable Annals indicate that the part which fell was not a 
 portion of the tower, but of the wall near the choir behind the 
 Dean's stall.^ Three persons were killed by the accident. 
 Grosseteste caused the defects to be promptly repaired, and 
 continued the task of completing the edifice in the spirit and 
 after the designs adopted by St. Hugh and his intervening 
 predecessors. His true greatness, however, is to be found in the 
 fact that he erected monuments more enduring than any built of 
 stone. 
 
 ^ ffist. Maj. iii. 529, 638. It was See also Ann. Monast. (Tewkesbury), 
 
 in 1239. i. 113. After the accident the choir 
 
 - Chron. of " John, Abbot of Peter- " celebravit ante niajus altare officium 
 
 borough," p. 107. diurnum et nocturnum, donee circum- 
 
 ^ Ann. Monast. (Dunstable), iii. 149. quaque columnae et arcus firmarentur."
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Grosseteste's reforming energy — His letter to tlie Archdeacons — Thorough 
 visitation of his diocese — His own account of the method of procedure — 
 His Constitutions — Endeavour to secure the unity, harmony, and efficiency 
 of the whole of the religious work within the diocese — Effort to improve the 
 status of the parish clergy — Hostility to appropriations — Encouragement of 
 vicarages. 
 
 Grosseteste's jfirst thought was to make au earnest and fearless 
 attempt to remedy the abuses which prevailed in his vast 
 diocese. Some five years before the death of Hugh de Wells, 
 that prelate had issued certain questions or articles of inquiry, 
 probably the earliest framed in this country, asking whether 
 any rectors or vicars were scandalously illiterate, and seeking 
 for information with regard to certain evils which injuriously 
 affected the ecclesiastical administration and the moral con- 
 dition of the clergy.-^ Grosseteste, who, as Archdeacon of 
 Leicester, had doubtless helped to ascertain the particulars, and 
 who, as prebendary of Lincoln and an intimate friend of the 
 Bishop, may have been the one who actually suggested the 
 plan, was now enabled, owing to his succession to the see, to 
 adopt further measures of greater stringency and efficacy, first, 
 by addressing a letter to all the Archdeacons, containing specific 
 injunctions against the various abuses, and pointing out how 
 they were to be rectified, and, secondly, by embarking upon 
 what was then the unprecedented task of a personal and 
 thorough visitation of his diocese. 
 
 The letter to the Archdeacons, written -in 1236 shortly after 
 
 ^ Printed in Wilkins's Concilia, i. 627 sqq. ; Sir Hy. Spelman's Couticils, ii. p. 192.
 
 CHAP. VI LETTER TO THE ARCHDEACONS 127 
 
 Lis enthronement, relates principally to the clergy, though also 
 in part to the laity.^ The first duty to which he calls their 
 attention is that of combating drunkenness amongst those with 
 whom they come in contact, on the ground that strong drink 
 "deprives man made in the image of God of the use of liis 
 reason, brings on the worst diseases, shortens his life, is a 
 stepping-stone to apostasy, and engenders other innumerable 
 evils " ; and with that object in view he instructs them to put 
 an end to the " scotales," or drinking bouts, which appear, from 
 the description given of them in the Constitutions of St. 
 Edmund,^ to have resembled in some respects the drinking 
 competitions still practised by certain students' corps in the 
 German Universities. He next turns to the subject of games, 
 and objects altogether to those in which two contending parties 
 placed wooden rams on wheels, and charged at each other, 
 sometimes with fatal results, and generally to the destruction 
 of the peace of their parish.^ Against games, however, which 
 are not dangerous and which do not promote discord he has 
 nothing to urge, though he considers that they should be dis- 
 couraged on Holy Days, and agrees with St. Augustine that it 
 M'ould be better if on such occasions men were to plough and 
 women to spin, inasmuch as necessary and useful labour is less 
 out of harmony with the sanctity of the day than frivolous 
 occupations."^ Vigils and funeral feasts, he regrets to learn, 
 have often been converted into scandalous orgies, which ought 
 to be stopped. Games of any description in churches or 
 churchyards should be strictly prohibited, and "the house of 
 prayer " must not be turned into " a den of thieves." The clergy 
 should take frequent opportunities of warning mothers and 
 
 ^ Letter 22. Grosseteste rebukes Robert de Lexiiig- 
 
 - Wilkins i 635. ^^^ ^"'^ other justices itinerant at 
 
 Lincoln for punisliing the " dean of 
 Kennett, in his Parochial Anti- Christianity" at Lincoln, because he 
 quities, i. p. 29, identifies the arietum ^^^^ denounced them for trying causes, 
 
 levatio mth the "quintan." ^^^^ especially capital causes, on Sun- 
 
 ^ In Letter 84, -written in 1240, day.
 
 128 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 nurses against the danger of overlaying infants. Private 
 marriages should be absolutely forbidden. Parish processions 
 on the occasion of the Archdeacon's annual visitation should 
 not be allowed, partly because they are unnecessary, and partly 
 because it sometimes happens that rival processions from 
 different parishes, with their banners, come into conflict with 
 one another, and give rise to disturbances which are a discredit 
 to the Church. He then protests against the practice which 
 has grown up, whereby the parishioners present their customary 
 Easter offering to the parish priest at the time of the celebration 
 of the Mass, and says that the priest should be prohibited from 
 receiving it at that time, and punished if he continues to do so ; 
 on the ground that anything of the nature of a monetary 
 transaction is out of keeping with the solemnity of the service, 
 and that an erroneous impression may be created to the effect 
 that those who fail to bring an offering are not entitled to 
 partake of the Sacrament, whereas exactly the reverse is asserted 
 by the general as well as by the provincial Councils,^ both of 
 which have declared that in no case should the payment of a 
 fee be a condition precedent. 
 
 In a similar spirit, and about the same time, Grosseteste 
 also wrote to the Archdeacons^ to the effect that no goods 
 should, vmder any pretext, be exposed for sale in sacred places, 
 and mentioned that the King had consented to sanction, in the 
 case of the fair at Northampton, regulations forbidding any 
 buying or selling in the church or cemetery of All Saints. In 
 another letter,^ addressed to the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, 
 he demands the immediate abolition of a species of festivity 
 which used to be celebrated in Lincoln Cathedral and in some 
 other churches on the 1st of January under the name of the 
 Peast of Fools, and which, however innocent its origin may 
 have been, had long since degenerated into a grotesque, 
 
 1 That is, by the Lateran Council of ^ Letter 21. 
 
 1179 and the Council of Oxford of * Letter 32. 
 
 1222, ch. 26. Wilkins, i. p. 589.
 
 VI LETTER TO THE ARCHDEACONS 129 
 
 irreverent, aud licentious carnival, which he denounces as worthy 
 of execration. It must not be confused with the so-called 
 Feast of Asses, which appears to have been celebrated at 
 Beauvais on the 14th of January 1223, as well as in some 
 other French cathedrals. The Feast of Fools was of extreme 
 antiquity, though more honoured in the breach tlian the 
 observance, whilst the Feast of Asses was a comparatively late 
 innovation. The latter was not finally abolished, at any rate in 
 Sens Cathedral, until the sixteenth century, though its most 
 obnoxious features had previously been eliminated. The Feast 
 of Fools, on the other hand, survived to a later, as it had 
 originated at an earlier date, in spite of all efforts of Popes and 
 Councils to bring it to an end.^ 
 
 The circular letter to the Archdeacons was accompanied, in 
 all probability, by the issue of Articles of Inquiry similar to 
 those issued by Grosseteste's predecessor,- and was followed by 
 the altogether novel experiment of a personal visitation. That 
 the latter created, and did not follow a precedent may be inferred 
 partly from his own w^ords, and partly from the fact that when 
 lioger de Weseham, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, and 
 sometime Dean of Lincoln, issued in 1252 Articles of Inquiry 
 for the use of his diocese, and also effected a personal visitation, 
 the chronicler ^ states that he acted in accordance with the 
 example set by Eobert Grosseteste. The Bishops of Lincoln 
 had, indeed, been in the habit of paying from time to time 
 visits to the religious houses in their diocese, and of receiving 
 from them procurations on those occasions ; ^ but even those 
 
 ^ Innocent III. refers to the Feast Maitland considers untrustworthy 
 
 of Fools, Decretals, book iii. tit. i. sources, is to be found in Collet's ii'eZu'5 
 
 See Pegge's note, p. 320. The Rev. o/'it7e?-aiMre, pp. 136-139, Lond. 1823. 
 
 S. R. Maitlaud, in The Dark Ages, See Ducange (Benedictine edition), s.v. 
 
 pp. 149-157, refutes some of the state- Festum Asinorum. 
 
 ments on the subject, and shows clearly - Ann. Monast. (Burton). See 
 
 the difference between the Feast of Pegge, p. 31 "2, and the same author's 
 
 Fools and the Feast of Asses. The Life of Roger de Weseham, p. 34. 
 
 account of the latter given by the ^ Ann. Monast. (Burton), i. 296. 
 
 editors of Ducange, from what Mr. "^ Ibid.
 
 I30 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 visits had never been conducted systematically or with a view 
 to the requirements of the diocese as a whole, and the parochial 
 clergy had been left entirely to the Archdeacons, most of whom 
 left the performance of their duties in the hands of the rural 
 deans, while the latter, in their turn, made use of the hedelli, 
 or " sompnours," for the purpose of preserving discipline. On 
 what principle the last named carried on their work may be 
 seen in the satirical poems, attributed to Walter de Mapes, 
 written towards the close of the twelfth or the beginning of the 
 thirteenth century, and, at the end of the fourteenth, in 
 Chaucer's account of the sompnour in the Prologue to the 
 Canterhury Tales. Grosseteste's object was to include within 
 the scope of his visitation both the monastic houses and the 
 parochial clergy, to reform their defects and raise their tone, and 
 to secure the unity and harmony, as well as the efficiency, of 
 the whole of the religious work performed within the diocese. 
 In his " Propositio de visitatione diocesis suae " ^ Grosseteste, 
 describing his " new and unaccustomed proceedings," says : " As 
 soon as I was made Bishop I considered myself to be the overseer 
 and pastor of souls, and therefore I held it necessary, lest the 
 blood of the sheep should be required at my hands at the last 
 judgment, to visit the sheep committed to me with diligence, as 
 the Scripture orders and commands. Wherefore, at the commence- 
 ment of my episcopate, I began to go round through the several 
 archdeaconries, and in them through the several rural deaneries, 
 causing the clergy of each deanery to be called together on a 
 certain day and in a certain place, and the people to be warned 
 that, at the same time, they should be present with the children 
 to be confirmed and in order to hear the word of God and to 
 confess. When clergy and people were assembled, I myself 
 was accustomed to preach the word of God to the clergy, and 
 some friar, either Preacher or Minor, to the people. Four friars 
 
 ^ Wharton's Anglia Sacra, ii. pp. The " Propositio " reall}- forms part of 
 347 ff'/q. Some of the passages are the serwo whicli lie causetl to be read 
 translated by Archdeacon Perry, p. 86. before Innocent IV. in 1250.
 
 VI NEW METHOD OF VISITATION 131 
 
 were employed at the same time in hearing confessions and 
 enjoining penances ; ^ and when the children had been con- 
 firmed, on that and the following day, I and my clerks gave our 
 attention to inquiries, corrections, and reformations, such as 
 belong to the office of inquiry. In my first circuit of this kind, 
 some came to me to find fault with these proceedings, saying, 
 ' My Lord, you are doing a new and unaccustomed thing.' To 
 whom I answered, ' Every new thing which instructs and 
 advances a man is a new thing fraught with blessing ' ; nor 
 could I suppose at that time that on account of this my visita- 
 tion any mischief would afterwards befall those placed under 
 me." The visitations were repeated at frequent intervals during 
 his tenure of the episcopal office, and are often recorded by 
 Matthew Paris as well as by the Burton and Dunstable 
 chroniclers. 
 
 The severity and the thoroughness of Grosseteste's first 
 visitation may be illustrated by the fact that in 1236 he 
 removed from their offices the abbots of Leicester, Owston, 
 Torrington, Nutley, Bourne, Dorchester, and Missenden, and the 
 priors of St. Frideswyde, Cold Norton, Bradwell, and De la 
 Land, and replaced them by others.-^ In cases in which the 
 priors were removed on the ground of age or infirmity and for 
 no fault of their own, they ^vere allowed a retiring pension of 
 thirty-five marks a year, and similar arrangements were doubt- 
 less made with respect to the abbots.^ The prior of St. 
 Frideswyde, however, was removed for an actual offence, and 
 considerable difficulties were placed in the way of the Bishop's 
 firm action, as is shown in a papal mandate of the following 
 year, addressed to the legate Otho, ordering him to annul the 
 sentence passed by the prior of Bolton and his fellow judges 
 against Grosseteste in connection with the removal of that 
 
 ^ In Addit. MSS. (British Museum), former is identical with the " De niodu 
 
 6716, fol. 63, is the -'Modus sive forma confitendi." Harl. MSS. 211, fol. 
 
 confitendi secundum Dominum Ro- 102. 
 
 bertum Lincolniensem." Bound up - Aim. Monast. {'Dansta.hle),ui. US. 
 
 with it is his " De Poenitentia." The ^ See Pegge's note, p. 48.
 
 132 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 prior.^ The judges, who had coudemued the Bishop in costs 
 amounting to 140 marks, were cited to appear before the Pope. 
 It was probably on the occasion of his visit to St. Frideswyde's 
 that he took the opportunity, at the King's request, of allay- 
 ing a quarrel which had broken out at Oxford between the 
 members of the University and the townsmen,^ The strict- 
 ness with which Grosseteste carried out what he deemed 
 to be his duty with respect to the monastic houses gave rise 
 to grave perturbation within their walls, and laid the foundation 
 of the obstacles which he subsequently encountered when he 
 proceeded to apply the same principles to his own Chapter. 
 
 One of the practical results of the great Council of the 
 English Church held in St. Paul's, London, under the presi- 
 dency of the Cardinal legate Otho in November of 1237, an 
 event to which it will be necessary to refer at a later stage,^ 
 was the issue, by the Archbishop of Canterbury and by some of 
 the Bishops, of " Constitutions " embodying certain of its de- 
 cisions, which were themselves partly based upon the canons of 
 the Lateran Councils of 1179 and 1215, as well as other matters 
 affecting the order and discipline of the various dioceses. The 
 Constitutions of St. Edmund differ in several respects from 
 those of Grosseteste and from those of Alexander de Staveusby, 
 but agree in the inclusion of many of the injunctions contained 
 in the Bishop of Lincoln's letter to his Archdeacons in the pre- 
 vious year."* The inference may therefore be drawn that, even 
 if Grosseteste did not take a prominent part in the deliberations 
 of the Council of London, he must at any rate have been in 
 communication with tlie leading prelates on the subject of the 
 necessary reforms, and have suggested to them the points which 
 were of most practical importance. It may also be assumed 
 
 ^ Bliss, Calendar of the Papal ■' See jip. 177 sqq. 
 
 Registers, i. p. 163. The mandate is ■* P. 126, Letter 22. The Constitu- 
 
 dated 10 Kal. Jul. 1237. tions of St. Ediimnd were intended 
 
 - Wood's IUhL and Antiq. of the for liis diocese, and not for his province, 
 
 University of Oxford, \. -^.'I'lO ■,\jVLa.\'iX's tliough they are published by Lynd- 
 
 Introd. to the Letters, \\. 38, wood as provincial Constitutions.
 
 VI ANALYSIS OF THE CONSTITUTIONS 133 
 
 that the communications which he had addressed to the Pope 
 with regard to the condition of affairs in his own diocese must 
 have had some influence upon the selection of topics enumerated 
 in what would now be called the agenda paper of the Council, 
 and afterwards embodied in its canons. 
 
 It is hardly needful to give more than a brief summary of 
 the Constitutions he addressed to " the rectors, vicars, and parish 
 priests" of his diocese,^ partly because several of the injunctions 
 which they contain have already been mentioned in connection 
 with his earlier letter to his Archdeacons,^ and partly on account 
 of the resemblance they bear to the Constitutions issued by 
 certain contemporary prelates, notably by St. Edmund of Canter- 
 bury, though they also include much that is peculiar to them- 
 selves, and though the arguments by which they are maintained, 
 and the illustrations used in their support, are distinctly Grosse- 
 teste's. They throw light, however, upon the condition of the 
 clergy at the time, and upon the imperative need for the reforms 
 which Grosseteste was seeking to introduce. They are also of 
 special interest in their bearing upon the history of religious 
 observances. 
 
 1. In the first of the forty-five articles into which the Con- 
 stitutions are divided, he begins by reminding the clergy that 
 they must have sufficient knowledge to be able to instruct their 
 parishioners in the ten Commandments, to inculcate the duty of 
 avoiding the seven deadly sins, to explain in simple language 
 the nature and meaning of the seven Sacraments, and to set 
 forth the general principles of the Christian faith, as contained 
 in the three Creeds. In teaching laymen they should use the 
 vernacular — that is, the English tongue. The above are the 
 only doctrines to which he refers. He then admonishes them 
 2. that they should themselves observe, and urge upon others 
 the necessity for the observance of, a reverent demeanour 
 during the celebration of the Eucharist, and also when the 
 
 1 Letter 52, pp. 154-166. The table of contents is on pp. 164-166. 
 - P. 126, Letter 22.
 
 134 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 3. reserved Sacrament is conveyed to the sick. Priests should 
 always be ready to attend members of their flocks, in case of 
 illness, by night as well as by day, for the purpose of hearing 
 their dying confession and administering the last communion 
 
 4. and the extreme unction. The super-altars — that is to say, 
 the pieces of wood or stone fixed in the wood of the altars — 
 should not be taken out and used for grinding colours or similar 
 
 5. irrelevant and irreverent purposes. Chrism- cloths used 
 at baptisms should not be turned to common uses. In per- 
 
 6. forming the divine service the priests should utter their 
 words distinctly and think of what they are saying ; this 
 applies to lessons, hymns, psalms, and, in fact, to every part of 
 
 7. the service. They are to be diligent in prayer and in 
 reading of the Scriptures, in order that they may thereby be 
 enabled to give to inquirers rational answers on matters 
 affecting their hopes and their faith. Children should learn 
 
 8. the Lord's Prayer, the Creed,^ the Salutation of the Virgin ,- 
 and the sign of the Cross ;^ and the same should be the case 
 with persons of riper years, who have not previously been taught. 
 
 Next follow a series of injunctions relating to morality. 
 
 9. The lives of the clergy are to be pure. They are not to 
 
 10. be married — a stipulation which shows that the celibacy of 
 the clergy imposed by the laws of the Western Church was not 
 
 2G. universally practised at that time, as is also indicated by 
 the further provision that sons who have succeeded to their 
 fathers' livings must forthwitli resign them. Evidence is 
 afforded from several sources that a determined and concerted 
 effort was in progress in the first half of the thirteenth century 
 to put an end, once and for all, to the continued existence of a 
 
 ' AVlien "syiiibolus" is u-stnl without - St. Luke i. 28. 
 
 any detiiiing adjective, it means tlie '' In the table of contents (p. 164) 
 
 Apostles' Creed. Of the three Creeds the passage runs, "quod instruant 
 
 mentioned in article 1, the "major" subditos in oratione Dominica et sym- 
 
 is the Nicene, the "minor" the bolo," the following words being left 
 
 Apostles', and the " Quicuiujuc vuU " out. 
 the Athanasian.
 
 VI ECCLESIASTICAL AND MORAL REFORMS 135 
 
 practice which Giraldus Cambrensis had bitterly denounced, 
 and whicli the stringent decrees issued in the previous century 
 
 11. had not completely succeeded in extirpating.^ They are 
 
 12. not to visit nunneries without valid reason, or to allow 
 in their houses even a kinswoman whose presence may give rise 
 
 13. to injurious reports. They are not to frequent taverns 
 or give way to drunkenness, but to be sober and abstemious, 
 ever remembering the sacred character of their calling. No 
 
 14. clerk in holy orders should engage in trade or usury. 
 
 15. Grosseteste then passes to the existence of certain evils 
 connected mainly with defects of organisation. Churches and 
 matters appertaining to churches must neither be put out or taken 
 to farm, except in the special cases in which exceptions are 
 
 16. allowed by the Councils. Neither should the clergy 
 occupy in the civil administration of the country offices for the 
 discharge of which they would have to be responsible to the 
 
 17. secular authorities. No arrangement can be sanctioned 
 by virtue of which the rector assigns to the one who performs 
 
 18. the duty on his behalf, an insufficient stipend ; for a 
 priest is entitled to receive such salary as will provide him with 
 
 19. an adequate and an honourable livelihood. The farming 
 of Church property" to laymen is forbidden except in special 
 
 20. cases ; and ecclesiastical funds shall not be applied to 
 the purpose of erecting buildings on land not belonging to the 
 
 21. Church, nor shall the infeudation of tithes to laymen be 
 permitted.^ Contributions from laymen ear-marked for definite 
 
 ^ See, for instance, Giraldus Cam- 81, John Tyrrel reports that the vicar 
 
 brensis, Gemma Ecclesiastica, vol. ii. of Mendlesham, Suffolk, has brought 
 
 chapters xxii. and xxiii. He refers, no home his wife and children, which was 
 
 doubt, principally to the state of things most abominable to the lay people in 
 
 in Wales, but the practice existed in the neighbourhood. June 12, 1246. 
 
 England also, though to a less extent. St. Edmund, in canon iv. of his Con- 
 
 Cp. Stephen Langton"s decree, Hist. stitutions, requires that the " con- 
 
 Maj. iii. 95, and numerous instances cubines" of the clergy shall either 
 
 can be adduced from the Cal. of entries marry laymen or go into cloisters, 
 in the Papal Registers, Bliss, vol. i. - " Liberae terrae de dominiis eccle- 
 
 The laity seem to have been sti-ongly siarum." 
 
 in favour of the celibacy of the clergy. '^ This last provision must have been 
 
 In the Cotton MSS. Cleopatra E, iv. adopted 2^'''o forma from the canons of
 
 136 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 services or pious functions should not be diverted to other 
 
 23. objects. The clergy should not spend their time in wit- 
 nessing the performances of mimes, jesters, and actors, or in 
 
 24. playing at dice. They must not bear arms, and must 
 have the tonsure to distinguish them from those who are not in 
 
 25. holy orders. Pluralities are forbidden, except where a dis- 
 
 27. pensation is granted by the Apostolic See. No money 
 must ever be received for the administration of the Sacraments, 
 
 28. and priests must not impose penances for the sake of any 
 
 29. gains which may accrue to themselves. Priests alone, 
 and not deacons, have the right of hearing confessions ^ and of 
 administering the Sacraments, and consequently incumbents 
 
 30. must not delegate those duties to deacons ; and it follows 
 that all who are instituted to a benefice must take the requisite 
 
 31. orders, if they have not done so already. They must 
 
 32. reside in their parishes, unless they have obtained special 
 dispensation. In all churches in which sufficient funds are 
 available for the purpose, there should be a deacon and, if 
 necessary, a sub-deacon in addition to the priest ; whilst in 
 others the services of one priest are adequate, provided that 
 he possesses the requisite qualifications. They must see that 
 
 34. churchyards are properly fenced, that the churches are 
 kept in proper repair, that the ornaments and sacred vessels are 
 kept in safe keeping, and not handed over to laymen for custody, 
 
 36. except in cases of reasonable and evident necessity. The 
 wine used for the Eucharist must not be sour wine (" acetum "). 
 
 37. The beneficed clergy must not devote themselves to 
 the study or the teaching of the secular — that is, the civil 
 and the common — law in schools, not because there is anything 
 to condemn in that pursuit, but because their primary duty is 
 the fit discharge of their pastoral functions, for which reason 
 
 the Lateral! Council, reproduced by Franciscans could obtain episcopal 
 
 the Council of London. It can hardly license to hear confessions see Eccleston, 
 
 have had any practical application in Mon. Francisc. p. 41 ; Little's Grey 
 
 England at that time. Friars at Oxford, pp. 63, 74. 
 1 For the conditions under whicii
 
 VI 
 
 OBJECTION TO APPROPRIATIONS 
 
 137 
 
 38. they should refrain from occupations likely to absorb and 
 divert their energies.^ The canon of the Mass shall be duly 
 corrected ; a reference, probably, to the carelessness of the 
 
 44. scribes who copied out the service books for each churcli.- 
 Laymen ought not to remain in the chancel during the perform- 
 ance of divine service, but an exception to the rule may be 
 made in favour of the patron of the church. The remain- 
 
 33, 35, 39-43. ing injunctions contained in the Constitutions 
 are the same as those which he had communicated to his Arch- 
 
 45. deacons in 1236.^ He concludes with a direction that 
 the excommunications pronounced by the Council of Oxford in 
 1222 should be read once a year in every church, in order to 
 strike terror into the hearts of evil-doers. 
 
 1 See Mr. Rashdall's remarks, i. p. 
 323, ou the bull issued by Honorius 
 III. in 1219 with reference to the study 
 of civil law. 
 
 - Luard's Introd. to the Letters, p. 
 39. It is possible, however, that the 
 reference may be to the " consuetu- 
 dines et officia," which appear to 
 have been drawn up about 1236 or 
 1237, and which form part of what 
 is described in the preface to the Book 
 of Common Pntyer as the "Lincoln 
 use." Twelfth Report of the His- 
 torical MSS. Commissioii, Appendix 
 9, p. 561. What was the precise re- 
 lation of those ' ' consuetudines et 
 officia," which must have been drawn 
 up under Grosseteste's supervision, to 
 earlier and existing " uses " is a ques- 
 tion of interest in its bearing on litur- 
 gical history. See the Lincoln Cathe- 
 dral Statutes, ed. by Bradshaw and 
 Wordsworth, i. pp. 50 sqq., 57, 58 ; 
 ii. pp. 45 sqq., 824 sqq. The " Con- 
 suetudinariimi de Di\nnis OfSciis " of 
 1265 was compiled by the seniors of the 
 Lincoln Chapter in the time of Richard 
 de Gravesend, and it may, perhaps, 
 be assumed that the documents of 
 1236-37 were prepared in a similar 
 manner. Richard Poore, in his Salis- 
 bury Constitutions, had said: " Et 
 
 praecipimus quod omnes sacerdotes 
 habeant canonem missae secundum 
 consuetudinem Sarum correctum, et 
 quod verba canonis in missa rotunde 
 dicantur et distincte," etc., Sarum 
 Charters, pp. 128 sqq. ; Lincoln Cathe- 
 dral Statutes, p. 833. Richard Poore, 
 after he became Bishop of Durham in 
 1228, also issued for that see Consti- 
 tutions of a similar character. It is 
 probable, especially in view of Grosse- 
 teste's earlier connection with Richard 
 Poore, that he may have had the same 
 object in view. Although the Lincoln 
 use comprised variations, introduced 
 by St. Hugh, in the order of reading 
 the Psalms, and numeroiis special 
 customs and ordinances, some of which 
 were communicated to Moray Cathe- 
 dral in Scotland in 1212, in the time 
 of Hugh de Wells, there appears to be 
 no sufficient I'eason for thinking that 
 the canon of the Mass was different 
 from that in use at Salisbury. York, 
 Lincoln, and Salisbury are the three 
 cathedrals which iilay the most im- 
 portant part in the development of 
 the liturgy in England. See also the 
 Tracts of Clement Maydeston, ed. by 
 Wordsworth for the Henry Bradshaw 
 Society, p. 208 (London, 1894). 
 3 Letter 22.
 
 138 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 It will be perceived from the fifteenth article of the foregoing 
 Constitutions that, amonfr the evils to which Grosseteste's 
 attention was directed, were the abuses connected with the 
 system of farming churches, by which was meant that an 
 absentee rector made a compact, generally with a religious 
 house, whereby the latter undertook, on the one hand, to pay 
 him a fixed annual sum, and, on the other, to make its own 
 arrangements with some one else who was to do the actual 
 work. In earlier days the usual practice had been for a 
 monastery, in a case of that kind, to utilise the services of one 
 of its own members for the purpose ; but it had not been found 
 desirable to make a rule of keeping a monk away from his 
 monastic hoine for any length of time in order to carry out 
 what were really the functions of the parish clergy, and con- 
 sequently it was thought best to obtain the assistance of secular 
 priests who were willing to undertake the duty on behalf of the 
 religious house. A similar principle applied to " appropriations," 
 that is, to cases in which benefices were assigned in perpetuity 
 either to monasteries or to other ecclesiastical corporations, 
 which thereby became responsible for the discharge of the 
 duties — a term which must not, of course, be confused with the 
 " impropriations " which denoted then in France and Italy, as 
 they afterwards did in this country, assignments of ecclesiastical 
 titles to laymen. How numerous those appropriations had 
 become may be inferred from the fact that, early in the twelfth 
 century, more than two-thirds of the parish churches in England 
 were already in the hands of monasteries. And, just as it 
 was found desirable to obtain the help of the secular clergy 
 rather than to divert the monks from their proper sphere of 
 occupation, so also it became expedient that permanent, instead 
 of temporary arrangements should be made for the due perform- 
 ance of the parochial work, and the remedy was sought in the 
 devotion of some portion of the revenues of the living to the 
 endowment of a resident ])arisli priest. Hence the origin of 
 vicarases.
 
 VI ENCOURAGEMENT OF VICARAGES 139 
 
 In Grosseteste's time all these metliods of dealing with 
 benefices were in operation. Apart, that is to say, from parishes 
 in which dwelt resident rectors, wdio received the whole of the 
 proceeds and carried ont the duties themselves, and apart also 
 from those in which a rector, compelled for special reasons to 
 be absent, made his own arrangements for the presence of a 
 deputy for the time being, there were, roughly speaking, three 
 kinds of parishes which did not fall within either category : first, 
 those in which the rector put the living out to be farmed either, 
 as was generally the case, by a monastery or, as sometimes 
 happened, by an individual ; secondly, those in which the church 
 was appropriated to a monastery, or to a chapter, or to some other 
 religious foundation, and in which the services were performed by 
 persons temporarily appointed for the purpose by those bodies ; 
 and thirdly, the appropriated churches in which vicarages had been 
 established. "With all three systems Grosseteste was brought in 
 contact. To the farming of churches to monasteries he was 
 altogether opposed, as is show^n not only in his Constitutions, 
 but also in his letter ^ to John Eomanus, Sub-Dean of York, in 
 which he says that he has received a communication from 
 Boetius, the Pope's nuncio, requesting him to give to the said 
 John Eomanus free disposition of his church at Chalgrave ; but 
 " to put a church to farm," declares Grosseteste, " is not freely 
 to dispose of it, but rather to reduce the free faith of Christ to 
 a servile condition ; and the necessity," he adds, " of residing 
 elsewhere does not prevent you from having a faithful deputy. 
 When the Oxford Council laid down (in 1222) the rule that a 
 church may only be farmed by ' an individual who must be 
 honourable and in holy orders,' it evidently intended by that 
 definition to exclude religious corporations." Grosseteste con- 
 cludes by saying that, although the nuncio has threatened him, 
 he fears not the threats of man. The accounts of his visitations 
 also indicate clearly the line which he pursued in that respect. 
 On one occasion the Abbot of Tewkesbury consulted Grosseteste 
 
 1 Letter 18. Written probably in 1236.
 
 I40 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 as to the best way of converting the church of Great Marlow 
 to the use of the abbey.^ The Bishop replied by a severe 
 rebuke, and refused to sanction an appropriation. The Abbot 
 then suggested that he should appoint a certain Gilbert de 
 Clare,^ who would have been ready to let the church on farm 
 to the abbey. Grosseteste also declined to accede to that 
 request, but agreed to a compromise, by virtue of which the 
 abbey should appoint a qualified priest, and should reserve out 
 of the revenues of the benefice an annual pension to be paid to 
 Gilbert de Clare until he was provided witli another benefice. 
 The custom of farming churches was, in fact, so widely preva- 
 lent that it could not be abolished all of a sudden, and it was 
 often necessary to effect compromises. The Dunstable Annals 
 relate that the monks had great difficulty in obtaining from 
 Grosseteste the churches which they held at farm for three 
 years.^ 
 
 As between the second and the third of the systems 
 previously enumerated, both of which existed in the case of 
 the appropriated churches, Grosseteste strongly favoured the 
 establishment of vicarages, placed on a definite and stable basis, 
 as contrasted with temporary arrangements, which he considered 
 unfair to the parishioners, upon whom were thus foisted men 
 who were badly paid, of little or no education, and in other 
 respects unfit for the cure of souls, whilst the system promoted 
 the growth of a grasping disposition on the part of the monastic 
 bodies. In the course which he pursued in that respect the 
 Bishop was in full accord with the Canon of the Lateran 
 Council of 1179, which required religious houses to establish 
 vicars in their churches, as well as with similar enactments of 
 the Council of Westminster in 1200'* and of the Council of 
 Oxford in 1222.^ In the latter year Stephen Langton had 
 
 ' Ann. Monast. (Tewkesbury), i. 122. 207) in 1244 as a prot6g6 of Richard 
 
 "^ Presumably this is the same as the Earl of Cornwall. 
 Gilbert de Clare, a clerk in the diocese ■' Ann. Monast. (Dunstable), iii. 147. 
 
 of Worcester, who is mentioned in the ^ Wilkins, i. pp. 509, 510. 
 
 Papal Registers (Bliss, Caleiular. i. p. * Ibid. i. p. 59(5.
 
 VI FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR VICARAGES 141 
 
 devoted several articles of his Constitutions to the subject of 
 vicarages, and had required, among other tilings, that " churches 
 not worth above five marks a year should be given to none but 
 such as would reside in person and minister in such churches," 
 and that " those who failed to do so should be deprived by the 
 diocesan, after due admonition."^ The term "vicar " had, no doubt, 
 been in frequent use in previous centuries ; butendowed vicarages, 
 in the strict sense of the word, date from the end of the twelfth 
 or the beginning of the thirteenth. Hugh de Wells, Grosse- 
 teste's predecessor, had already created several hundred vicarages 
 in the diocese of Lincoln, and the same policy was continued and 
 extended by Grosseteste himself.- What he endeavoured to 
 secure was that the vicar should be resident in the parish, and 
 in an independent position, so that he should not merely be the 
 servant of the monastery, but stand, as nearly as possible, in the 
 place of the rector in all respects, except as far as the salary 
 was concerned ; though, as is well known, the vicar's insecurity 
 of tenure continued for more than a century and a half longer, 
 in spite of various attempts to improve his status.^ It was in 
 view of the fact that the vicar was liable to dismissal — a liability 
 which placed in the hands of those who employed him a lever 
 for keeping his salary low — that Grosseteste and other prelates 
 who desired to increase the efiSciency of the parochial clergy 
 and to promote the welfare of the parishioners laid so much 
 
 ^ Archbishop Langtou's Canons, o/"ii«co^/(, London, 1898, pp. 319-325, 
 
 1222, art. 15 ; see also articles 12, gives reasons for assigning a somewhat 
 
 13, 14, 16. earlier date to the introduction of per- 
 
 - See Pegge, p. 327, and the whole petual vicarages into England. He 
 
 of Appendix vii. pp. 322-333, on the quotes four established by St. Hugh — 
 
 Origin of Vicarages. On the establish- at Chesterton, Swinford, Shillingdou, 
 
 ment of about 300 vicarages by Hugh and Hemingford. The name of the 
 
 de Wells see A. Gibbons, Liber vicar in the last instance was Master 
 
 Antiquus de Ordinationibus Vicaria- XnsXotle {FMrascy Cartulary, n.\}. 11 Q). 
 
 rum tempore Hxigonis Wells Lincol- Other instances might also be given, 
 
 niensis Episcopi, 1209-1235 (Lincoln, but the system did not become preva- 
 
 1888),withprefacebyArchdeaconPerry. lent until the time of Hugh de Wells. 
 
 As the Archdeaconry of Leicester is St. Hugh favoured appropriations to 
 
 not included, the number of vicarages religious houses. 
 
 must have been even larger. Mr. Her- ^ See the Act of 1402 (4 Henry IV., 
 
 bert Thurston, in his Life of St. Hugh ch. 12).
 
 142 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 stress upon the need for fixed financial arrangements for their 
 proper maintenance. 
 
 The question of the amount of the quota generally assigned 
 to vicars is one of considerable difficulty, as it appears to have 
 depended rather upon the special circumstances of each case 
 than upon a fixed principle. It would seem, however, from 
 various entries relating to the vicarages established by Hugh de 
 Wells that the sum of five marks was usually, and on an 
 average, considered a fair payment for a vicar.^ A comparison 
 of some of these entries with a certain number of those which 
 are to be found in his successor's rolls, seems to show that the 
 latter assigned, wherever he could, a somewhat higher stipend. 
 It is, however, difficult to form even a rough estimate of the 
 amount actually received by the vicar, as in some cases the value 
 of the parsonage-house has to be deducted. For instance, the 
 vicarage of Totternhoe established by Hugh de Wells is stated 
 in the Dunstable Annals " to have been worth five marks, while 
 the whole church was worth twelve ; but the sum of five marks 
 was arrived at by adding together " the altar dues of the said 
 church, the rent of tenpence from the land of a certain Eichard 
 Godwer, the parsonage-house, and the half of the tithe of hay 
 from the whole parish." The tendency, however, as far as 
 tithes were concerned, was to assign to the vicar one-third, and 
 to leave to the monastery the remaining two-thirds, in accord- 
 ance w^ith the old canonical principle that one-third of the 
 tithes should go for the support of the Church, one-third for the 
 poor, and one-third for the priest. That principle had been 
 embodied in England in the sixth article of the so-called Church 
 Grith law of 1014, passed by Ethelred II. with the consent of 
 his Witan,^ but it is doubtful how far that ordinance was carried 
 into effect even at the time when it was promulgated, and there is 
 certainly no evidence that it was in legislative operation after 
 
 ^ Ann. Monast. (Dunstable), iii. 59. •' Thorpe, Anglo-Saxon Laios, i. ]i. 
 
 See Archdeacon Peny, p. 97. 342. 
 
 - Loco citato.
 
 VI EFFORT TO IMPROVE THE STATUS OF CLERGY 143 
 
 the Norman Conquest. The principle, however, was repeatedly 
 stated and upheld, as being what Professor Freeman calls a 
 " counsel of perfection." ^ In the words, for instance, addressed 
 by the rectors of Berkshire in 1240 to the papal legate, as 
 recorded by Matthew Paris," " by the authority of the holy 
 fathers the revenues of the churches are devoted to certain 
 uses, to wit, the use of the church, that of the ministers, and 
 that of the poor." Eectors, therefore, including all appro- 
 priators, whether corporations aggregate or corporations sole, 
 were under a canonical and moral obligation to act as trustees 
 of the funds they thus received for the benefit of those three 
 objects. The well-administered monasteries were not only alive 
 to those responsibilities, but endeavoured faithfully to carry them 
 out by making the requisite provision for the relief of the poor 
 and the repair of the fabric, which they had in many instances 
 built at their own cost. Other monasteries, however, dis- 
 regarded their duty in the matter, or were remiss in its 
 performance. 
 
 The uncertainty, too, of the revenue from tithes had to be 
 taken into account. The rectors of Berkshire, in the address 
 previously quoted, state, among the reasons which they give for 
 their inability to contribute to the funds which the Pope was 
 trying to raise in order to assist him against the Emperor, that 
 their churches are hardly sufficient to provide daily food for the 
 clerks, by reason of their small amount, that famine sometimes 
 assails the country when the crops fail, and also that so large a 
 number of poor people and travellers come to them, some of 
 whom they have seen die for want of nourishment. It may well 
 be imagined that, in cases in which the bulk of the revenues of 
 a living went to absentee rectors in other parts of England, or 
 found its way out of the country into alien hands, the im- 
 
 Mn a letter addressed to the Rev. and Fictions Concerning Churches and 
 
 Morris Fuller, quoted in the Nat. Tithes, p. 180, and, on the other, 
 
 Review for November 1886. Clarke's Historij of Tithes, s.v. Church 
 
 2 Hist. Maj. iv. 40. Cp., on the one Grith Law. 
 hand. Lord Selborne's Ancient Facts
 
 144 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 poverishment of the parish clergy, and the consequent injury 
 to the parishioners, must have been even more conspicuous and 
 even more lamentable. In the case of vicars a stipend of five 
 marks a year, with the value of the parsonage-house deducted, 
 can hardly have been sufficient, even when all due allowance is 
 made for the difference in the value of money, to attract men 
 of education and character from the ranks of the secular clergy, 
 who had to live by their profession ; though doubtless to a monk 
 who had his home in his monastery, and enjoyed means of sup- 
 port in connection with it, and who was called upon to take the 
 duty in a particular parish, an even smaller sum would have 
 appeared adequate, whilst to a friar who had taken the vow of 
 poverty it may have appeared excessive.-^ 
 
 During the greater part of his episcopal career Grosseteste 
 was repeatedly brought in contact with the question, and as the 
 method pursued was generally the same in most instances, it is 
 unnecessary to deal with them in detail.^ His strenuous opposi- 
 tion to new appropriations, and his insistence that, in the case 
 of existing appropriations, adequate financial arrangements 
 should be made by the establishment of vicarages, earned him 
 the hostility of the monastic bodies, even more than any other 
 action he took in the course of his lifetime. It may, perhaps, 
 be permissible to anticipate here what occurred in 1249. In 
 that year Grosseteste, having previously obtained authority 
 from the Pope to prohibit the religious houses from appro- 
 priating tithes without the consent of himself and his chapter, 
 " caused all the monks who held benefices in the diocese of 
 Lincoln to be summoned, first at Stamford, secondly at Leicester, 
 and thirdly at Oxford, to appear before him for the purpose of 
 
 ' It must be borne in mind that the in the Dunstable Annals {Ann. Monast. 
 
 vicars had their burdens. Matthew iii. .59) is typical of that adopted in 
 
 Paris, in his Vila Ahhatum, p. 131, other cases. The inquiry was made in 
 
 describes the " onera " of the vicars the chajiters of the rural deans, who 
 
 as " parochialia, synodalia, iuchidia- sent in their reports to the Dishop. 
 
 conalia, ordinaria et consueta." Cp. He then made any modifications he 
 
 Pegge, p. 332. chose, and his decision was entered in 
 
 '^ The method of procedure describi'd the registers.
 
 VI ATTEMPT TO INCREASE THEIR EFFICIENCY 145 
 
 exhibiting the cliarters of their founders, the confirmations of 
 bishops, and the papal privileges. And these being exhibited, 
 he retained a copy of them all for his own use, and said that 
 he would consult the Pope about them." ^ It was in the follow- 
 ing year that he obtained from Pope Innocent IV. a bull 
 enabling him to make better provision for the endowment of 
 vicarages," in spite of the fact that the Dunstable Annals say 
 that he did not, after all, speak to the Pope at Lyons about that 
 particular matter.^ 
 
 St. Bernard had once exclaimed, in the previous century, 
 " It is no longer true that the priests are as bad as the people, 
 for the priests are worse than the people." The condition of 
 things had no doubt improved since those days. As far as 
 England was concerned there had been a distinct improvement 
 since the time when John of Salisbury wrote, and even since 
 the days when Giraldus Cambrensis penned his Gemma Ecclcsi- 
 astica. Grosseteste, however, refers repeatedly in his letters to 
 the low standard of conduct which prevailed among the secular 
 clergy, and especially to " the multiplicity of evils from which 
 the people are suffering, and the errors and sins into which they 
 are led, owing to the negligence of their rectors, the carelessness 
 of their pastors, and often (a subject for tears rather than for a 
 letter) the bad example and open wickedness of those who 
 ought to be their spiritual guides." * In order to mitigate and, 
 if possible, to destroy those evils, Grosseteste applied himself to 
 the task of removing their causes. Eebukes, admonitions, ex- 
 hortations, and penances were only partial palliatives and tem- 
 porary expedients. The real remedy, he clearly perceived, was 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. V. 96; Ann. Monast. copus Lincolniensis R. portiones vicari- 
 
 (Dunstable), iii. 180. orum, in dampnum rectorum, adauget, 
 
 - Hist. Maj. vi. 152. considerans quoniam ipsi fervores diei 
 
 ^ " De praedictis nihil fecit," I.e. sustinent et labores. " 
 The bull is dated 25th September 1251, ■* Letter 130, p. 440 ; Luard's Introd. 
 
 Hist. Maj. vi. 152. See also Hist. p. 24. Cp. Hist. Anglorum, ed. 
 
 Anglorum, iii. 68, 69. In the Hist. Madden, iii. 113, on the way in which 
 
 Anglorum, iii. 120, Matthew Paris Grosseteste endeavoured to enforce 
 
 begins to see the rationale of Grosse- strict morality in his clergy, 
 teste's support of the vicars: "Epis-
 
 146 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap, vi 
 
 to impart to the clergy a higher sense of the nobility of their 
 calling, to improve their education, to direct their attention to 
 the duty of teaching and of preaching, to attract into their 
 ranks a better class of men, and, by placing their means of liveli- 
 hood upon a more stable basis, to make them independent of 
 the necessity for pursuing other and less worthy avocations. 
 He took every opportunity of promoting the increase of their 
 knowledge, with the object of augmenting their efficiency, and 
 was not averse to an incumbent being allowed, on fitting occa- 
 sions and within due limits, to leave the care of his parish for 
 a certain time to a deputy, whilst he pursued a course of theo- 
 logical studies with the object of improving the value of his 
 teaching. In one case, for example, he obtained from the Pope 
 permission to pay to Eobert de Melkeley, rector of Clahaule, the 
 proceeds of that church during the time he attended the schools 
 of the theological faculty, provided that he was teachable and 
 apt to study ; ^ and in another he procured a similar privilege 
 for a more important personage, the Archdeacon of Buckingham.^ 
 Neither was his encouragement of the Franciscans and of the 
 Dominicans unconnected with his desire to reform the parochial 
 clergy, and to induce them to emulate the zeal of the Friars, and 
 to be taught by their example. 
 
 ' Bliss, Calendar of the Papal Registers, i. p. 238 (1247). 
 - Ihid. i. p. 241 (1247).
 
 CHAPTEE VII 
 
 Grosseteste's attitude towards the monks and canons regular — The golden age 
 of English mouachism — Condition of the religious houses in the diocese of 
 Lincoln — Severity of Grosseteste's visitations — His dispute with the Abbot 
 of Bardney, the monks of Christ Church, Canterbury, and the King — The 
 nunneries — Grosseteste's ideal of the monastic state. 
 
 It has already been pointed out that it was Grosseteste's en- 
 deavour to secure the harmony and efficiency of the whole of the 
 religious work within his diocese, that with that object in view 
 he included both the religious houses and the parish priests in 
 his visitations, and that in 1236 he removed from office no fewer 
 than seven abbots and four priors.^ In dealing with the monks 
 he was brought in contact with a very different class of men 
 from that which formed the bulk of the secular clergy. If the 
 latter were steeped to a great extent in ignorance, and dis- 
 played a low standard of moral conduct, the failing of the former 
 was relatively indolence. Grosseteste frequently inveighs against 
 the character of the parish priests, but never against that of the 
 monks, with the exception of those who belonged to the convent 
 of Minting, a foreign cell connected with the abbey of Fleury ; - 
 and the only instance in which he is known to have deposed the 
 head of a monastic establishment for a breach of the moral law is 
 in the case of the prior of St. Frideswyde's.^ When he finds fault 
 with the monks, it is not so much on account of what they do, 
 as of what they leave undone. His complaint is that they do 
 not adhere to the strictness of their rule, and that, owing to 
 their dislike of the parochial clergy and their jealousy of the 
 
 ' P. 131. 3 p_ 131 . j^iiss^ Calendar of the 
 
 " Letters 54 and 108. Papal Registers, i. p. 163.
 
 148 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 friars, they fail to give the active assistance in the diocesan 
 work which it would be in their power to render, and he insists 
 more particularly upon their neglect of the duty of preaching. 
 
 The early part of the thirteenth century was, indeed, as it 
 has been called by more than one writer, the golden age of 
 English monachism. It has also been called the golden age of 
 English churchmanship ; ^ but while the latter phrase is true of 
 the brilliant array of distinguished prelates and other dignitaries 
 of the Church who rendered that age memorable, it does not 
 hold good with regard to the bulk of the parish clergy ; the 
 former may be said to apply, with few reservations, to the 
 general body of those to whom it refers. The growth of the 
 reforming spirit, which coincided with the introduction of the 
 Cluniac monks into England shortly after the Conquest, and 
 which found a more complete expression in the twelfth century in 
 the establishment of the Cistercian order, had also exercised its 
 influence upon the older foundations which adhered to the 
 Benedictine rule, and had led to important improvements in 
 their methods of administration as well as in their general tone. 
 At the same time the Benedictines, while striving to approach 
 more nearly to the spirit of the founder of their rule, had 
 avoided the narrowness of view which was inseparable from 
 their stricter and straiter offshoots. The extent of popularity 
 of the monks at that time may be judged not only by the 
 number of monasteries founded since the Conquest, but also from 
 the many symptoms of good-will shown towards them, as in- 
 dicated in contemporary records. If the friars brought with 
 them increased attention to medicine, natural science, and 
 philosophy, the monks, especially the Benedictines, were the 
 pioneers of literary culture and historic study. In their 
 " scriptoria " were written the chronicles of the times. Through 
 their transcribers the writings of previous ages were preserved. 
 They founded schools, distributed relief to the poor, and dis- 
 pensed hospitality to all sorts and conditions of men, from the 
 
 1 .Stubl)s, ConstiliUional llidory, ii. p. 299.
 
 VII RELIGIOUS HOUSES IN LINCOLN DIOCESE 149 
 
 King with his retinue to the neediest wayfarer. As landowners 
 they set an example, rarely followed under the feudal system, 
 of respect for the duties as well as the rights of property, and, 
 as agriculturists, they introduced and applied improved methods 
 to the cultivation of the soil. 
 
 It has been estimated that, towards the commencement of 
 the reign of Henry IIL, there were in existence in England 
 about 560 religious houses, of which 130, including the largest 
 and the wealthiest, had been founded before the Conquest, and 
 the remaining 430 during the period of only one century and 
 a half which had elapsed since that event.^ In view of the vast 
 extent of the Lincoln diocese it may well be imagined how large 
 a proportion of those houses was to be found within its borders. 
 The Cistercians, indeed, were specially exempted by the Pope 
 from episcopal visitations, and Grosseteste was unable, therefore, 
 to control the numerous houses belonging to that order which 
 were situated in his diocese, such as Woburn, Wardon, Bittles- 
 den, Saltrey, Kirkstead, Louth, Eevesby, Swineshead, Yaudey, 
 Pipewell, and Thame, and the same exemption applied to the 
 Cistercian nunnery of Stykeswold. Of the older Benedictine 
 abbeys, however, St. Albans was the only one within his purview 
 which enjoyed a similar immunity in common with four others 
 in different parts of England, namely, Canterbury, Evesham, 
 Bury St. Edmunds, and St. Augustine's, Westminster.- Over 
 the remaining Benedictine abbeys and priories he possessed and 
 exercised visitatorial rights ; and the importance of the great 
 monasteries with which he was thus brought in contact may be 
 judged by the historical associations connected with such names 
 as Croyland, Bardney, Eamsey, Spalding, Peterborough, Eyns- 
 ham, and Hertford, not to mention several other smaller houses, 
 as well as a few Benedictine nunneries, prominent among which 
 
 ^ Tanner's figures, in his Notitia - On the exemption of St. Albans 
 
 Monastica, bring the total up to 610, from visitation see Hisl. Maj. v. p. 
 but they include about 50 houses which 381. 
 were founded before 106G, and sub- 
 sequently re-founded.
 
 ISO ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 was that of Godstow. The Carthusians do not appear to have 
 made much headway either there or elsewhere in England, in 
 spite of the fact that they had given a bishop to the See of 
 Lincoln in the person of St. Hugh of Avalon ; Eppworth had 
 not been founded in Grosseteste's time. The Austin Canons, 
 in proportion to their importance, gave him more trouble 
 than the Benedictines. The houses at Caldwell, Dunstable, 
 Newenham, Missenden, Huntingdon, Kirkby, Leicester, Bourne, 
 Markby, Thornton, Osney, Thornholm, Northampton, Canons 
 Ashby, Dorchester, Wroxton, and several others belonged to 
 that order, and their names occur repeatedly in Grosseteste's 
 letters, in his rolls, and in the register of papal letters addressed 
 to him. With the exception of the alien priories at North- 
 ampton, Daventry, and Tykeford, the Cluniacs had hardly any 
 footing in the diocese. The Gilbertines, on the other hand, had 
 their original home at Sempringham, where St. Gilbert had 
 instituted the order in the previous century, and Grosseteste 
 was frequently called upon to intervene in their affairs ; and on 
 one occasion he was obliged to obtain from the Pope a special 
 mandate to the legate Otho to compel the master and brethren 
 of Sempringham to pay due obedience to their diocesan.^ They 
 also had houses at Lincoln, Alvingham, and Bullington. It 
 was in the Lincoln diocese, too, that the Premonstratensian 
 Canons had first taken up their abode when they came over 
 from Normandy. Their settlement at Newhouse had been 
 followed by others at Barlings, Croxton, Salby, and else- 
 where. The diocese also contained numerous establishments of 
 Templars and Hospitallers, as well as colleges of secular canons.^ 
 
 ^ Bliss, Cal. of the Papal Registers, ^ A fuller sketch of the religious 
 
 i. p. 189 (1240). In March 1253 houses in the diocese of Lincoln will be 
 
 Innocent IV. sent a mandate to Grosse- found in the Diocesan History of Lin- 
 
 teste not to molest the master, prior, coin, by Canon Venables and Arch- 
 
 and convent of Semprin^'liam toucli- deacon Perry (London, 1897), pp. 
 
 itig the taxation by the late Bishop 226-241. It is based, like the present 
 
 Hugh de Wells of tlic perpetual vicar- account, upon Tanner, but includes 
 
 ages of cliurclies appropriated to them. houses founded after Grosseteste's 
 
 Bliss, Calendar, i. p. 284. time.
 
 VII GROSSETESTE'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS MONKS 151 
 
 In spite of the priceless services which the Benedictines 
 had rendered in the past, increase of wealth had brought with 
 it a laxer interpretation of their rule, for example in regard to 
 the use of meat, and an increasing tendency to a life of ease. 
 They were what Dr. Johnson would have called " very clubbable 
 men," and the advantages which the monastery presented as a 
 social home often obscured the higher objects for which it had 
 been instituted. The renewed growth of monasticism in Eng- 
 land after the Conquest favoured the newer foundations, such 
 as those of the Cluniacs, the revived Austin Canons, the Pre- 
 monstratensians, and the Gilbertines, rather than the older 
 establishments which followed the rule of St. Benedict. The 
 latter, however, still held a dominant position by reason of their 
 antiquity, their wealth, their culture, and their refinement, and 
 were consequently the protagonists in the defence of all mon- 
 astic institutions against what were deemed to be episcopal 
 invasions of their rights. When Matthew Paris complains that 
 Grosseteste " came down upon the monks like a hammer, and 
 was a great persecutor of them," and again that " the same 
 Eobert was wont to thunder terribly against the monks, and 
 even more terribly against the nuns, with plenty of well-meant 
 zeal, but not, perhaps, according to knowledge," it is evident 
 that the historian of the great and wealthy abbey of St. Albans 
 is writing under the influence of the esprit dc coiys which 
 resented all outside interference with monastic management, 
 rather than by reason of any objections which could justly be 
 urged against the Bishop's action in particular cases, and that 
 he also has in his mind the numerous instances in which 
 Grosseteste tried to secure good terms for the vicars. About 
 the strictness and severity of his visitations there is, however, 
 no doubt ; and although the accounts given by Matthew Paris 
 cannot be regarded as absolutely trustworthy in all their details, 
 as he was necessarily biassed by his surroundings, and had 
 often to depend for his information upon the narratives given 
 by the very men who thought themselves aggrieved, there is no
 
 152 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 need to dispute the fact that Grosseteste showed want of tact 
 and impatience of opposition on several of those occasions. 
 Matthew Paris, however, qualifies his statement by paying a 
 tribute to the excellence of Grosseteste's intentions, and by 
 comparing his impulsiveness to that of David and of St. 
 Peter.i 
 
 It would be impossible to enter here with any degree of 
 fulness into the details of Grosseteste's relations with the 
 monasteries, or even to attempt a complete list of those which 
 he is recorded to have visited, as an account of what he did in 
 one case would, for the most part, be merely a repetition of 
 what he did in other cases, though it might be of interest to the 
 local historian. It will be desirable, however, to group together 
 in this place some of the salient features and incidents con- 
 nected with this part of the subject, even though it be necessary, 
 in so doing, to anticipate in some measure the subsequent course 
 of events. 
 
 A letter of admonition addressed by Grosseteste to the prior 
 of the convent of Newenham, a house of Austin Canons in 
 Bedfordshire, probably belongs to the earliest portion of his 
 episcopal career, as it was coupled, in the Cotton manuscript in 
 which it used to be found, with an account of the archidiaconal 
 visitation of the convent in 1232.^ In a similar letter, written 
 in 1240 to the Austin Canons of Missenden,^ he urges them to 
 exercise special care in the selection of their abbot. " When 
 you have," he says, "to choose some one to look after your 
 swine, you make diligent search for a person possessing the 
 proper qualifications : you inquire whether he is physically 
 capable, whether he has requisite knowledge, and whether he is 
 willing to take them into fitting pastures in the morning, to see 
 that they get their food during the day, to preserve them from 
 
 ^ Hist. Anglorum, cd. Waddcii, iii. is no longer among the Cotton MSS. 
 p. 149. * Letter 85. The letter is written 
 
 - Cotton MSS. Otho, c. xv. 1, 2. apparently in 1240. A former abbot 
 
 Pegge refers to it (p. 140), but it is not of Missendeii had been deposed by 
 
 included in Dr. Lnard's collection. It Grosseteste in 1236.
 
 VII SEVERITY OF HIS VISITATIONS 153 
 
 thieves and wild beasts, to bring them safely home in the 
 evening, and to watch over them even by night. And are not 
 your souls of more value than many swine ? " 
 
 Simony was as odious to Grosseteste in the regulars as in 
 the seculars. In 1239 he obtained from the Pope a mandate 
 to transfer those who had been simoniacally received into 
 monasteries situated in his diocese, to others of the same or of a 
 stricter order, and to enjoin on them an adequate penance. If 
 their entry into other monasteries was difficult, he was enabled 
 to compel them to be received anew by way of dispensation, and 
 the lowest places in the choir and the refectory were to be 
 assigned to them, provided that the money simoniacally paid for 
 their first entrance was given to the poor, or used for their 
 sustentation, if it had already been transferred to other religious 
 houses.^ Another abuse was sternly and promptly repressed. 
 It appeared that some married men, wearied of matrimony, 
 had left their wives and betaken themselves to monasteries. 
 Orosseteste thereupon obtained a faculty which enabled him to 
 take proceedings, at the request of the wives themselves, against 
 a,ny husbands who without reasonable cause put away their 
 wives and entered upon a monastic life." The two incidents 
 illustrate, on the one hand, the attractiveness of monasteries 
 which induced men to compete with one another for the 
 privilege of entering their walls, as well as to sacrifice, in some 
 cases, domestic considerations, and, on the other hand, the 
 Bishop's high sense of duty and inflexible tenacity of purpose. 
 
 One instance of Grosseteste's impulsiveness in his dealings 
 with monasteries occurred in the case of the visit he joaid to 
 Hertford either in 1239 or in 1240. Before proceeding to that 
 town for the purpose of carrying out his visitation, he had sent 
 
 ^ Bliss, Calendar of the Papal the monks of his diocese, and resorted 
 
 Registers, i. p. 178. Walter de Can- to a similar plan for banishing dis- 
 
 tslupe, Bishop of W^orcester, \vho was obedient monks to other abbeys. Ann. 
 
 intimate with Grosseteste and followed Monast. (Tewkesbur}'), i. 146, 147, 150. 
 his methods of dealing with the ^ Bliss, Calendar of the Papal 
 
 monasteries, enforced constitutions on Registers, i. p. 209 (1244).
 
 154 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 in advance directions to the prior and convent asking for . 
 
 hospitality, not as a favour but as a right. The monks, in their 
 
 desire to maintain intact their privileges, declined to admit him, 
 
 whereupon, according to Matthew Paris,^ he " suspended the 
 
 churches of the secular clergy in the town, but, being reproved 
 
 for so doing by the legate, at once withdrew the sentence so 
 
 rashly pronounced by him, for he acted on evil counsel." The 
 
 refusal of the monks in this case did not signify that they 
 
 disputed the Bishop's right of visitation, which was unquestioned, 
 
 but that they asserted the principle that their hospitality should 
 
 be voluntary, and not compulsory. It was for precisely the 
 
 same reason that, in 1253, the priory of Belvoir, connected with 
 
 St. Albans, refused to entertain the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 Otho, the Papal legate, was in the habit of meeting the views of 
 
 the monks in that respect by previously writing to the Abbot or 
 
 Prior of the monastery in which he proposed to stay, intimating 
 
 that he asked for hospitality as an act of charity.- 
 
 The bad management of the priory of Dunstable, which was 
 
 a house of Austin Canons, excited on more than one occasion 
 
 Grosseteste's indignation. In 1240 he insisted that each of the 
 
 canons should take an oath to purge himself from complicity in 
 
 any abuses, whereupon one of them, Walter de Gledley, 
 
 preferred to leave the priory and to become a Cistercian monk 
 
 at Woburn abbey .^ A somewhat similar incident happened in 
 
 1249, when Grosseteste paid another visit to Dunstable, and 
 
 when Henry de Bilenda, the cellarer, who had committed 
 
 various abuses in connection with his office, left the priory in 
 
 order to escape from the Bishop's jurisdiction, and took refuge 
 
 in the Cistercian house of Merivale, where he henceforward 
 
 enjoyed, in common with Walter de Gledley at Woburn, the 
 
 Cistercian immunity from episcopal visitation.'' In that same 
 
 year the prior of Caldwell, against whom the monks brought 
 
 charges of maladministration, took the advice of the Priors of 
 
 ^ Hist. Mfij. V. 414. Cp. Luard's ■' Ann. Monast. (Dunstable), iii. 
 
 Introduction to the Ltltnrs, p. 48. 152. 
 
 ^ Ibid. V. 414. ■» Ibid. iii. 178.
 
 VII DISPUTE RELATING TO BARDNEY 'ABBEY 155 
 
 Dunstable, Newenham, Huntingdon, and Buslimead, and followed 
 the example of Henry de Bilenda by ^betaking himself to 
 Merivale.^ 
 
 A dispute with the great Benedictine abbey of Bardney, 
 situated at a distance of ten miles from his cathedral city, 
 occupied a good deal of the Bishop's attention in 1243, involved 
 him indirectly in a dispute with the monks of Canterbury, and 
 resulted in other complications which throw an interesting light 
 on the condition of the times. The abbey of Bardney was not, 
 as has been inadvertently stated by one writer, exempt from 
 episcopal visitation, although it enjoyed, by virtue of a grant of 
 Henry the First, in whose reign it was re-endowed, the same 
 privileges as were accorded by that sovereign to abbeys founded 
 by himself.- It possessed, moreover, certain pontifical privileges 
 which Thomas Wallensis, Archdeacon of Lincoln, a firm friend 
 and staunch supporter of Grosseteste, was desirous of diminishing, 
 as their continued existence had the effect of impairing the 
 Bishop's control over the affairs of that part of his diocese.^ 
 An occasion for interference arose when a certain clerk, finding 
 that he had difficulty in recovering from Walter de Bening- 
 Avorth, the Abbot, a debt due to him from his predecessor, 
 brought the matter before the Archdeacon, who resolved, 
 according to Matthew Paris, upon the adoption of strong 
 measures " for the purpose of humiliating the monks," though it 
 is more probable that he took that course from a sense of duty 
 in order to protect the rights of the secular clergy. He 
 accordingly summoned the Abbot to appear before him to 
 answer to the law in respect of the clerk's complaint. The 
 Abbot declined to appear, and pleaded privilege. Again he was 
 summoned, and again he refused, "knowing," writes the 
 historian, " that the Archdeacon was cunningly striving to bring 
 the plaint before the Bishop, in which case it was inevitable 
 that he would be in favour of the monks' subversion, as he was 
 
 ^ A7171. Monast. iii. 179. ^ jfi^i^ ji/„j_ jy. 245 sqq., 257, 258. 
 
 - See Tanner's Xotitia Monastica, Cp. the Floi-es Historiarum, ed. Luard, 
 s.v. Dugdale's Moncosticon, i. p. 624. ii. 264, 265.
 
 I 56 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 regarded as the general persecutor of religious recluses, especially 
 of those who enjoyed privileges which he could oppose." The 
 matter, however, was referred to Grosseteste, who cited the 
 Abbot to answer for repeated acts of disobedience, and, on his 
 refusal to obey the summons, excommunicated him for contumacy 
 and rebellion, and, a few days later, sent to Bardney some 
 inspectors, "secular priests, more ready to insult the monks 
 than to correct abuses, if any could be found." The monks 
 refused to admit them, caused the gate to be shut against them 
 by the porters, and warned them that they had better depart 
 quickly, as otherwise the exasperated villagers would make a 
 rush upon them, and added : " Although it would be against our 
 will, we could not check their violence." 
 
 The inspectors returned to the Bishop, gave what Matthew 
 Paris describes as an exaggerated version of what had taken 
 place, and alleged that they had been subjected to personal violence. 
 The dispute now reached its height. The Abbot, having been 
 informed that the convent of Christ Church, Canterbury, had the 
 power of hearing appeals sede vacante — as the archiepiscopal see 
 was then vacant, owing to the death of St. Edmund, and to the 
 fact that Boniface of Savoy had not yet been consecrated — made 
 his appeal to that Ijody. Grosseteste, on the other hand, called 
 together at Hertford three Benedictine abbots, one of whom, the 
 Abbot of Warden, had recently been appointed Bishop of Connor, 
 while the other two presided over the abbeys of Eamsey and of 
 Peterborough, and with their concurrence deposed the Abbot of 
 Bardney in his absence, and sent a notice to the monks that they 
 need no longer obey his commands, as he had been both excom- 
 municated and deposed. The Canterbury monks, in their turn, 
 only too glad to have an opportunity of asserting their claim to the 
 exercise of archiepiscopal powers scdc vacante, convened fifty 
 priests from the diocese of Lincoln, and, in full convocation, 
 numbering fifty monks or more in priest's orders, proceeded to 
 excommunicate Grosseteste with bell, book, and candle, much in 
 the same way as tlicy had previously passed a similar sentence
 
 VII ACTION TAKEN BY THE CANTERBURY MONKS 157 
 
 ou certain other prelates in the province of Canterbury, includ- 
 ing the Bishop of Kochester,^ who had declined to acknowledge 
 their jurisdiction. 
 
 Grosseteste's indignation was unbounded. Only a few 
 mouths before he had refused to admit the right of the Christ 
 Church convent to interfere in the matter of the dispute with 
 his own chapter, an account of which will be found in a 
 subsequent part of this volume.^ On receipt of the letter 
 notifying to him the sentence of excommunication, he threw it 
 on the ground and trod on it, to the astonishment of those who 
 saw him, as the image of St. Thomas Becket was impressed upon 
 the wax of its seal, and he was also heard to say, according to 
 Matthew Paris, that " he did not desire the monks should other- 
 wise pray for his soul as long as the world endured." The 
 messenger who brought the letter was ignominiously sent away. 
 To the sentence itself neither he nor any one connected with 
 him appeared to pay any heed. He continued to officiate, to 
 dedicate churches, and to exercise all episcopal functions as before. 
 
 The question, however, had attained to such dimensions that 
 it had to be brought before the Pope. Special messengers and 
 letters were sent by the Bishop, on the one hand, and by the 
 Christ Church monks, on the other, to Anagni, where Innocent 
 IV. had just been raised to the pontifical office, with the result 
 that the new Pope despatched to the prior and convent of Christ 
 Church, Canterbury, a letter, dated the 8th of August 1243, in 
 which he ordered them to withdraw, within eight days after its 
 receipt, the sentence of excommunication which they had pro- 
 nounced against his venerable brother the Bishop of Lincoln, 
 without prejudice to either side. If they failed to do so, the 
 Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Durham were to relax 
 the sentence and to restrain by ecclesiastical censure, without 
 appeal, all gainsayers.^ The Abbot of Bardney's deposition, 
 therefore, remained uncancelled. 
 
 1 ^7iH. JI/o?ia5^ (Dunstable), iii. 161. ^ Hist. Maj. iv. 258. Letter 111 
 
 - Pages 186 sqq. relates probably both to the Barduey
 
 158 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 Neither the Canterbury monks, however, nor Grosseteste 
 were satisfied with the Pope's decision, the former because it 
 annulled their action, and the latter because it avoided dealing 
 with the question of the right of the monks to exercise archi- 
 episcopal jurisdiction at a time when there was no archbishop. 
 He accordingly wrote a letter ^ to Cardinal Otho, formerly Papal 
 legate in England, protesting with great logical force against the 
 claim put forward by the Canterbury chapter. In his judgment 
 it was impossible that the archiepiscopal jurisdiction and power 
 should devolve, in the absence of an archbishop, upon any below 
 the rank of the bishops who were his suffragans. As for monks, 
 who, according to St. Jerome and other early Church authorities, 
 w^ere not equal in rank even to sub-deacons, it was monstrous 
 that they should seek to usurp a position of superiority to the 
 episcopal dignity, and, if their claim were not withstood, the 
 consequence would be detrimental to the repute and the effi- 
 ciency of the bishops all over England. It did not follow that, 
 because the Archbishop of Canterbury was, as it were, an archon 
 among Anglican prelates, any similar priority could be accorded 
 to the Christ Church monks, who were separated from him by 
 several intervening degrees. Even the Archdeacon of Canterbury, 
 for instance, would have a prior claim to theirs. " Some of 
 the monks," he continues, "are not even in priest's orders. 
 How can they, then, be greater than the clergy so ordained, or 
 a fortiori than the bishops? How can they even claim equality? 
 To bishops and clergy have been handed the duty and the right 
 of dispensing to the people the holy ministrations. To monks, 
 according to the oldest traditions of the Christian Church, no 
 such functions have been assigned, unless it be that some one 
 of them, by a special gift of Providence, by the illumination of 
 the wisdom arising out of the contemplation of truth, by the 
 knowledge which proceeds out of charity, and by virtue of the 
 honourable reputation he has earned tlirough the saintliness of 
 
 dispute and to tlie dispute with the also Letter 110, pp. 324, 325. 
 Dean and chapter of Lincoln. See ^ Letter 110.
 
 VII COMPLICATIONS ARISING OUT OF DISPUTE 159 
 
 his conversation, is canonically raised from the penitential sub- 
 jection of the cloister's simple life to the highest position of 
 honour in the government of the Church." He concludes by 
 asking Otho to induce the Pope to examine the question not 
 only from the point of view of Grosseteste's own urgent neces- 
 sities, but in the interest of the whole Anglican Church, and to 
 put an end to the humiliations and tribulations to which the 
 whole of the English episcopate is exposed, lest the collapse of 
 their authority should mean the destruction of the principal 
 column which supports a fabric already menaced by attack 
 from without and by sedition from within. 
 
 Grosseteste also states in his letter that his only reason for 
 appealing to the Pope is that otherwise the malignity of certain 
 persons might quote the sentence of excommunication against 
 him. It is not certain what further steps were taken by Inno- 
 cent IV. in the matter, but it is probable that the indult which 
 he sent to the Bishop of Lincoln at the end of April 1244,^ to 
 the effect that no one should issue against him any sentence of 
 suspension or excommunication, or any sentence of interdict 
 against his chapel, without special license from the Pope, has 
 reference to the action of the Canterbury chapter in connection 
 with the Bardney dispute. That some agreement was effected 
 after long discussions, and was publicly signed, is evident from 
 a letter addressed by Adam Marsh to Nicholas Sandwich, Prior 
 of Canterbury," in which he expresses his regret that, after the 
 accommodation agreed upon between the chapter and the 
 Bishop of Lincoln, the prior still delays bringing the matter to 
 a termination, and relies upon legal objections. Adam Marsh 
 urges the need for peace within the Church, emphasises Grosse- 
 teste's anxiety for a speedy and satisfactory settlement, and 
 suggests that there are persons desirous of prolonging the strife 
 between them.^ The arrival of Boniface of Savoy in Eng- 
 land finally put an end to the struggle, by removing any 
 
 ^ Bliss, CaUiidar of the Papal Regis- ^ Mon. Francis, p. 211. 
 
 ters, i. p. 209. 3 m^^ p_ 219.
 
 i6o ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 pretext for further interference on the part of the Canterbury 
 chapter. 
 
 In addition to the embroilment with the Christ Church 
 monks, the Bardney incident also involved Grosseteste in a 
 correspondence with the King. On the deposition of the Abbot 
 Henry III. had seized the temporalities, and was understood to 
 have given to his official, William de Compton, who was sent 
 to guard them, certain instructions which were likely to be con- 
 strued as an encouragement to the deposed Abbot and his party. 
 Grosseteste requests that the royal letter, if sent, may be re- 
 called.^ Even if the Abbot has justly rebelled, this must not 
 be presumed until the question has been decided by the ecclesi- 
 astical jurisdiction upon which the civil power should not 
 encroach. The King must beware lest he fall into the sin of 
 Uzzah, who touched the ark, and reminds him of the etymo- 
 logical connection between the words rex and rectum, which 
 ought to correspond with an inseparable relation between the 
 two. If " a King can do no wrong," why does he encourage 
 rebellion against duly constituted authority ? Such were some 
 of the developments which arose out of Grosseteste's endeavour 
 to render Bardney abbey amenable to discipline, and it will be 
 observed that he succeeded in spite of all opposition. His 
 tenacity and strength of will had a way of overcoming the most 
 formidable obstacles. Matthew Paris, in one place, speaks of 
 " the Bishop of Lincoln, to whom quiet is an unknown thing ; 
 whose hand is against every man, as every man's hand is against 
 him ; another Ishmael, ready to labour with any amount of toil, 
 and to spend money in reckless profusion, that he may carry 
 his point." There are, however, passages in Grosseteste's letters 
 which indicate that he was not as harsh in his dealings with the 
 monasteries as would appear from the foregoing statement of 
 jNIatthew Paris, who, though broader in his views and deeper in 
 his historical insight than the chroniclers of earlier generations, 
 was naturally and necessarily prejudiced by his environment in 
 
 1 Letter 102.
 
 VII INSISTENCE UPON RIGID ADHERENCE TO VOWS i6i 
 
 regard to all that concerned the rights and privileges of the 
 monks. In one letter/ for instance, written to the Abbot of 
 Leicester, he mentions that he intends to come in person in 
 order to examine the case of a certain aged penitent, a canon of 
 Dorchester, w^ho wished to die amongst his brethren, and ex- 
 presses the opinion that, if the Abbot's account be correct, he 
 had better remain, as he will find more consolations for his 
 infirmity and old age at Leicester than at Dorchester. In the 
 same letter, with reference, apparently, to another matter, he 
 adds : " You suggest to me that I have a heart of iron and that 
 I am lacking in kindness. Would that, indeed, I had a heart 
 as hard as iron, incapable of being softened by the blandish- 
 ments of seducers, so strong that it could not be broken by the 
 terrors of evil-doers, and so sharp that it could cut in pieces all 
 vices and dislodge all opposing evils. In Ezekiel " all the 
 house of Israel is said to have been of a hard heart, in the sense 
 that it was full of the hardness of cruelty and malice, which 
 may God avert! To the prophet, on the other hand, was 
 accorded a countenance more powerful than their countenances, 
 and a forehead harder than their foreheads, like unto adamant 
 and flint. Of the latter hardness would that even a small share 
 might be granted to me by Him who is the true Eock, concern- 
 ing which the Apostle says, ' That rock was Christ.' If, indeed, 
 I am hard as iron in cruelty and obstinate malice, pray ye the 
 Lord for me, that He may be pleased to take away this hard- 
 ness and grant me His gentleness ; but, if I am hard as iron 
 after the manner of the prophet, pray ye the Lord that this 
 hardness may ever, as long as I live, receive an increase." It 
 may also be noted that Adam Marsh, one of the gentlest of 
 men, on more than one occasion expresses the view that 
 Grosseteste has shown more leniency than the circumstances 
 require.^ 
 
 The foregoing remarks must be borne in mind when we read 
 
 ^ Letter 55. ^ E.g. Mon. F/rmcisc. pp. 107, 148, 
 
 - Ezekiel iii. 7-9. 403. 
 
 M
 
 1 62 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 the account given by Matthew Paris of Grosseteste's visitation 
 of the abbey of Eamsey in 1251/ illustrating the severity with 
 which he insisted upon a strict observance of the regulations 
 that monks should not possess private property, or any property 
 apart from that which belonged to them in their corporate 
 capacity, and that they should not indulge in luxuries. It is 
 there stated that, when he came to Eamsey, accompanied by 
 a body of secular clergy, he " personally examined the beds of 
 the monks in the dormitory, going round all, and turning every 
 thing upside down, and, if he chanced to find anything locked 
 up, he destroyed it, and dashed the casket to pieces, and any 
 cups which he found bound with rings or furnished with feet, 
 he trod under foot and broke to fragments, which, if he had 
 acted in a more temperate manner, he might at any rate have 
 given whole to the poor." It is necessary to make allowance 
 for the bias and the exaggerations of Matthew Paris's informants ; 
 and, having regard to the abuses existing in the monasteries in 
 respect of private property, as set forth, for example, by Jocelyn 
 of Brakelond at the close of the twelfth century, it cannot be 
 denied that Grosseteste had good grounds for insisting that the 
 monks should adhere to the vows which they had taken of 
 their own free will, and with full knowledge of what they 
 signified. 
 
 It is worthy of note, as has already been pointed out, that 
 in the whole of the great diocese over which he presided, and 
 with the large number of religious houses contained within its 
 borders, the oidy two instances in which he is known to have 
 had occasion to punish anything in the nature of flagrant 
 immorality on the part of monks were, first, in the case of the Prior 
 of St. Frideswyde's, and, secondly, in that of the small alien 
 priory of Minting, a cell of the al)bey of Pleury.- The fact 
 speaks well for the moral tone which prevailed in the monas- 
 teries. Minting, however, was not the only alien priory which, 
 in other respects, was a cause of trouble to him. In the Papal 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. V. 226. - See p. 147.
 
 VII THE NUNNERIES 163 
 
 registers is to be found a confirmatioii, addressed to Grosseteste, 
 of a decision pronounced in his favour by William, Cardinal of 
 St. Eustache, against the Abbot and convent of Marmoutier-les- 
 Tours, who complained of his having excommunicated the 
 monks of Tykeford/ and claimed that the priors instituted by 
 the said Abbot had the right of administering without contradic- 
 tion from the Bishop of the diocese. The incident formed part, 
 apparently, of a scheme devised by the Cluniac monks for the 
 purpose of securing immunities similar to those which the 
 Cistercians enjoyed. Grosseteste's opposition to monks may, in 
 fact, be summed up as having been occasioned by their lax inter- 
 pretation and observance of the monastic rule, their attempts to 
 avoid episcopal supervision, their reluctance to make proper 
 provision for vicarages, and their disinclination to co-operate 
 with the secular clergy and with the friars in the active work of 
 the diocese. The monks were, in a certain measure, an aris- 
 tocracy of intellect, and as such looked down upon the ignorance 
 and low standard of the parish priests. They were also, to a 
 considerable extent, an aristocracy of birth, and as such deemed 
 the Franciscans and the Dominicans to be novi homines, intruders 
 into a sphere which they regarded as already occupied. It was 
 the existence of feelings and prejudices of that kind which 
 angered Grosseteste. When, on the other hand, monks adhered 
 strictly to their vows, and led lives of real usefulness, he was to be 
 numbered among their champions and not among their opponents. 
 The condition of the nunneries, if it is permissible to draw 
 an inference from the nature of the measures which Grosseteste 
 is reported by ]\Iatthew Paris to have taken on the occasion of 
 one of his visitations,- was not as satisfactory, from a moral 
 point of view, as that of the monasteries. It is doubtful, too, 
 whether the nunneries made, as a general rule, good use of their 
 
 ^ Bliss, Calendar of the Papal Tickford, near Newport Pagnell. It 
 
 Eegisters, i. p. 257 (124S). The con- was a Cluniac cell subordinate to 
 
 firmation speaks of the monks of New- Marmoutier-les- Tours. See Allen's 
 
 port Pagnell, but this must be an ^?iV?iP/7'orjes, ii. p. 132, London, 1779. 
 
 error for the monks of Tykeford, or - Hist. Maj. v. 227.
 
 1 64 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 rights of patronage, or of the rectorial rights which they happened 
 to possess.^ They cannot have had the opportunities for in- 
 vestigation and supervision which were within the power of 
 the monasteries. Adam Marsh writes to Grosseteste to w^arn 
 him against a priest of bad character who had been presented 
 by the Abbess of Godstow to the vicarage of Blokkesham, 
 and who had been ordained in Ireland in order to escape 
 undue inquiry into his antecedents.- On one occasion, in 
 1248, the Bishop found it necessary to depose the Abbess of 
 Godstow, riandrina de Brewes, and Adam Marsh writes to 
 congratulate him on the beneficial results which are likely to 
 follow from his visitation of that abbey. And yet Godstow 
 must, on the whole, have been a well-managed nunnery, as is 
 shown by Adam Marsh's anxiety to obtain permission from 
 Grosseteste for Lady Eva de Tracy to remain there,^ and for the 
 niece of Eeginald de Bath to be admitted as a nun.^ There is 
 also a probability that Grosseteste's own sister, Juetta, had 
 taken the veil there and had died within its walls, as it is 
 apparently from Oxford that Adam Marsh writes to inform him 
 first of her recovery from illness and, later on, of her death.^ 
 It is possible that some of the difficulties wdiich nunneries 
 encountered w^ere due to the fact that they held lands and 
 churches just as if they were monasteries, and were expected to 
 discharge duties which were beyond their power. In 1251, for 
 instance, the Abbess of Shrewsbury was summoned to Chester 
 to take part in the military proceedings against Llewellyn, 
 
 1 Richard Wyche, in the Fasciculi Peccham's measures with respect to 
 
 Zizaniorum, ed. Shirley, p. 382, attri- Godstow see his Eegistcr, ed. Martin, 
 
 butes to Grosseteste the saying : Rolls Series, iii. 845 sqq. (1284). 
 
 Appropriatio ecclesiarum, potissime Peccham was brought up under the in- 
 
 ferainis (that is, as the context fluence of Adam Marsh, and therefore 
 
 shows, to nuns), est contra Dei indirectly of Grosseteste. 
 
 ordinationem. ■'' Ibid. pp. 95, 164. In the latter 
 
 - Monuvicnta Franciscana, pp. 108, passage, however, Adam Marsh en- 
 
 117. quires whether masses for her are to 
 
 ■' Ihid. p. 99. be celebrated ' ' in oratorio suo de 
 
 * Ibid. p. 122. On Archbishop Cofle."
 
 VII IDEAL OF THE MONASTIC STATE 165 
 
 exactly as if she were an abbot.^ In one respect, however, apart 
 from the quiet and unostentatious work which they did in the 
 neighbourhood of their nunneries, the nuns of Grosseteste's day 
 are entitled to special commendation ; for, in addition to the 
 time they devoted to study and to religious exercises, they 
 brought the art of embroidery to a pitch of excellence to which 
 it had not previously attained. Matthew Paris ^ relates that 
 when Innocent IV. saw the vestments worn in 1246 by the 
 English prelates who were at Lyons, he inquired where they 
 were made ; and on hearing that they came from England, he is 
 reported to have exclaimed, " Truly England is our storehouse 
 of delights, an inexhaustible well, and where so much abounds, 
 much can be obtained from many " ; and he forthwith wrote to 
 the Cistercian abbots in that country, ordering them to forward 
 to him gold embroidery for the use of his chapel, " as though 
 they could get it for nothmg," but, adds the historian, " the 
 order did not displease the mercenary Londoners, because they 
 had them on sale, and sold them at their own prices." It was 
 in the nunneries that they were, for the most part, made. It is 
 not generally known, or always admitted, that some of the most 
 famous embroidered vestments still preserved in Italy are the 
 work of the English nuns of that period, such as the Lateran 
 cope in Eome, the Piccolomini cope at Pienza, near Siena, and 
 some at Anagni, Florence, and Bologna.^ 
 
 It would be impossible to bring to a close a general survey 
 of Grosseteste's relations with the religious houses without a 
 reference to his own view of the ideal at which they ought to 
 aim, as expressed in a letter which he addressed to the Abbot 
 and convent of Peterborough,^ in which he states that, having met, 
 
 1 Taunton, The Black Monks of St. thinks it was Peterborough, but Dr. 
 
 Benedict, i. p. 107. Pauli (p. 52), -vrith Luard's text before 
 
 ■^ Hist. Maj. iv. 547. him, thinks it was Bury St. Edmunds. 
 
 ' iliddleton's Illuminated MSS. in The former is the more probable sup- 
 
 Classical and Mediaeval Times, 'p. \\2 ; position, as Peterborough was in 
 
 Taunton, i. p. 113. Grosseteste's diocese, and he was fre- 
 
 •* Letter 57. It is addressed " Abbati quently in communication with its 
 
 et Conventui de Burgo." Dr. Luard Abbot, whose name happened to be
 
 1 66 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 during a quiet week which he was able to snatch from his busy 
 and tumultuous life, with a Greek work on the monastic 
 state, he had spent a day in translating it for their benefit, and 
 now enclosed the condensed version he had made. The little 
 work, from which it is needless to quote at any length, contains 
 some etymological reiiections on the origin of the word " monk," 
 defines the adherents of a monastic rule as " viri philosophantes 
 circa regulas vitae in excellentia sanctitatis agendae," and 
 declares that " despite the frailty of their bodies, their conversa- 
 tion resembles that of the angel, they have deprived themselves 
 of worldly goods, they are crucified to the world, using the 
 necessaries of life solely for necessity and never for pleasure, 
 and preferring even in respect to them to mortify the flesh ; and, 
 as they have no possessions of their own, they labour with their 
 hands for the relief of the indigent." In communicating his 
 translation, Grosseteste adds : " These sentences I have extracted 
 from the treatise I have mentioned, and have placed them before 
 you, in order that you may see in them, as in a small mirror, a 
 miniature reflection of the form of monastic life. Just as young 
 maidens delight in a variety of mirrors, so do your virgin minds 
 find enjoyment in the contemplation of intellectual presentments 
 of their own state. In the Rule of St. Benedict you have been 
 able frequently to contemplate, as in the plane surface of a large 
 mirror, the beauty of the life you lead. You have also been 
 able to do so in the yet brighter mirror supplied by the rules of 
 St. Basil, and by the example and teaching of the lives of the 
 Fathers ; and if, therefore, you turn for a little while to look at 
 this small mirror brought from a foreign region of the earth, the 
 task ought not to be thought tedious by you. And if the 
 excellence of the monastic life be so great, who is there who 
 does not perceive how incongruous it is if the monastery itself, 
 the secure home of the monks, be not sanctified ? Who is there 
 who, if he were about to entertain an earthly king, would not 
 
 Walter of St Edmundsbury, about the Hist. Maj. iv. 247. Bury St. Edmunds, 
 time when the letter was written. E.cj. however, is not impossible.
 
 VII IDEAL OF THE MONASTIC STATE 167 
 
 cleanse and purify in every way his abode, sparing neither 
 labour nor expense, until the house was duly prepared with all 
 adornment ? But in your monastery the King of Heaven con- 
 tinually dwells, by virtue of His divine attributes, and also in 
 the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The greatest beauty of this 
 corporeal tabernacle is the glory and the holiness which it 
 receives in its dedication to Him," 
 
 Words like these show that Grosseteste did not entertain 
 the antipathy to monasticism which has sometimes been 
 ascribed to him, and that he was hostile only to its laxity and 
 to its failings. They also indicate how high was the ideal to 
 which he was striving to attain, and help to explain what 
 appeared at the time to be the undue severity of his visitations 
 and the stringency of his reforms. His attitude towards the 
 religious houses may also be illustrated by the fact that, 
 although he was not himself the founder of any one of them,^ 
 the monastic writers, including even Matthew Paris, who so 
 often criticises and condemns his policy, speak of him in terms 
 of the utmost respect and reverence. 
 
 ^ The story that Grosseteste himself in Buckinghamshire, is disproved by- 
 founded a small nunnery at Grimsby, Pegge, pp. 142, 143. 
 and a priory for canons at Chetwoode,
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 1236-1239 — Grosseteste's increasing activity in connection with public affairs — 
 Defence of the rights and privileges of the Church — Attitude towards the 
 question of legitimation by subsequent marriage — Council of Merton — Opposi- 
 tion to the King's encroachments — Grosseteste's manifesto, addressed to the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury — The Canon Law— Sustained interest in the main- 
 tenance of the Great Charter — Legatine Council of 1237 — Its results — Com- 
 mencement of the dispute with the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln — Its sub- 
 sequent vicissitudes — Questions at issue — Grosseteste's conception of the 
 episcopal office. 
 
 It has been necessary, in some of the previous chapters, to 
 anticipate in some measure the subsequent developments of 
 Grosseteste's career, in order to be able to group together the 
 salient features which characterised his dealings with the friars, 
 the secular clergy, and the monks. It will now be possible to 
 revert to the early period of his episcopate, and to adhere hence- 
 forward more strictly than has hitherto been desirable, to the 
 chronological sequence of events. 
 
 The earnestness with which Grosseteste entered upon the 
 first visitation of his diocese did not prevent him from com- 
 mencing to take an increasing interest in the course of public 
 affairs. It was, indeed, natural that such should be the case ; 
 for a bishop occupying as important a see as that of Lincoln 
 was expected to be a statesman as well as a churchman. His 
 sympathies in previous years had been, as has been shown, with 
 the antagonists of Peter des Roches.^ The death of Richard 
 Marshall on the one hand, and the dismissal of Peter des 
 Roches on the other, had modified and to some extent helped 
 to clear the situation. A new set of questions, however, affecting 
 
 1 See pp. 6G, 93, 97, 110.
 
 CHAP. VIII COUNCIL OF MERTON 169 
 
 the relations of the ecclesiastical and of the civil powers, was 
 coming into prominence, and on two of these questions 
 Grosseteste took a leading part in 1236, The first of those 
 controversies had regard to the legitimation of bastards by the 
 subsequent marriage of their parents, and the second to the 
 action taken by the King in appointing certain abbots to be 
 justices itinerant. 
 
 The first of those questions is treated at some length by 
 Grosseteste in a long letter which he addressed, evidently some 
 weeks before the Council of Merton, to William de Ealeigh, at 
 that time treasurer of Exeter, and afterwards Bishop, first of 
 Norwich and then of Winchester, with the object of convincing 
 him of the necessity for bringing the common law into harmony, 
 in that respect, with the provisions both of the canon law and 
 of the civil law.^ In so doing he was acting in harmony with 
 the declaration of the Lateran Council of 1179, that "such is the 
 efl&cacy of marriage that children previously born are to be held 
 legitimate after the marriage contract." Grosseteste endeavours 
 to approach the question from every point of view, and brings 
 together a series of arguments, both forcible and ingenious, 
 derived from natural and divine law, as well as from the 
 analogies of Scripture, the analogies of nature, man's sense of 
 justice, the canon law and the civil law, and the ancient custom 
 of England, which he declares to be anterior even to the common 
 law. William de Ealeigh, who appears to have been somewhat 
 indifferent about the matter, replies in a light vein, which affords 
 a curious contrast to the Bishop's intense earnestness. He 
 observes that Grosseteste's "brief" is wrongly so called, as it 
 is devoid of brevity, expresses surprise at the universality of 
 his legal acquirements, and suggests that he ought to be made 
 a judge. Grosseteste retorts that, in view of the mass of avail- 
 able material and the importance of the subject, his letter did 
 not exceed reasonable limits, and adds that if William de Ealeigh 
 
 ^ Letter 23. Dr. Luard, Introd. to refers by a slip to the "civil law," 
 the Letters, p. 29, lines 26 and 28, when he means the "commou law."
 
 170 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 had as much acquaintance with the epistles of the early Fathers 
 as he had with his legal briefs, he would not bring those accusa- 
 tions of prolixity against his correspondent. He is, however, 
 quite willing to overlook the charge of undue length brought 
 against him, provided that his arguments are properly under- 
 stood. As for " the universality of his legal knowledge," the 
 phrase must be ironical, as he had no practical legal experience ; ^ 
 and as for the suggestion that he should be made a judge, the 
 wish is hardly a filial one, for the pastoral office is as far 
 removed from the judicial as the east is from the west. " You 
 have," he continues, "a large pastoral care which has a claim 
 upon you for more labour than you could give to it, even if you 
 were free altogether from secular business." ^ 
 
 Grosseteste was summoned, together with other prelates, to 
 attend the Council, or Parliament, held at Merton shortly after- 
 wards, and, although there is no record of the part he took on 
 that occasion, it is clear from the foregoing letters, as well as 
 from other indications, that he was one of the foremost in the 
 advocacy of the proposal to which that correspondence refers. 
 That Council, however, influenced in all likelihood by the 
 recollection of the misgovernment of Peter des Eoches, and with 
 the apprehension of a similar condition of affairs arising out of 
 the influx of foreign favourites whom the marriage of the King 
 with Eleanor of Provence appeared likely to bring with it in its 
 train, resolved upon a manifestation of insular patriotism which 
 would have been more in place in connection with another 
 subject, took its stand upon the declaration : " Nolumus leges 
 Angliae mutari," and embodied the principle of the common 
 law in what is known as the statute 20 Henry III., chapter 9.^ 
 The sustained interest wliich Grosseteste continued to take in 
 the question is shown by a letter which he addressed in the 
 
 ' But see p. 13, and the letter of land (1887), pp. 104 sqq. The Council 
 
 Giraldus Cambrensis recomraendinf; of Merton met on the 23rd of January 
 
 Grosseteste in 1199 to William de Vere, 1236. Grosseteste had been present, 
 
 Bp. of Hereford. earlier in the month, at the coronation 
 
 '^ Letter 24. of Queen Eleanor. Hall's Red Book of 
 
 ^ See Bracton's Note Booh, ed. JIait- the Exchequer (Rolls Series), i. p. 755.
 
 VIII QUESTION OF ITINERANT JUSTICES 171 
 
 same year to Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury/ in which 
 he mentions that he has been summoned before the King's 
 court for omitting to state, in the case of illegitimate children, 
 whether they have been born before or after the matrimonial 
 contract between the parents, and asks for his advice, as he 
 wishes to offend neither God nor man. It would, indeed, have 
 been better if the independence exhibited by the majority who 
 opposed the prelates at ^Merton had been reserved for another 
 occasion ; for it cannot be denied that the perpetuation of a law 
 contrary to that which prevails on the subject in almost every 
 European country, and which still differentiates Scotland from 
 England by a broad, though unintelligible line of demarcation, 
 has been open to grave objection on grounds of public conven- 
 ience, apart from any inherent merits or demerits it may possess. 
 The immediate occasion for the second of the controversies 
 in which Grosseteste was engaged in 1236, was the issue of a 
 royal mandate to the Abbot of Eamsey, calling upon him to act 
 as itinerant justice, together with certain others in Bedfordshire 
 and Buckinghamshire. The explanation of the King's policy is 
 to be found, probably, in his desire to obtain fresh funds, and 
 may be taken in conjunction with his demand in 1237, for a tax 
 of one-thirtieth on all movable property in the kingdom,- as 
 well as with his appointment in 1240 of additional justiciaries, 
 who were placed under the direction of Eobert de Lexington for 
 the northern counties, and of William of York for the southern, 
 and who, according to Matthew Paris,^ " under the pretext of 
 administering justice, collected an immense sum of money for 
 the use of the King, who squandered everything." What excited 
 Grosseteste's indignation, however, was not so much the 
 financial policy of the proposal, as the interference with the 
 rights of the Church involved in the selection of ecclesiastical 
 persons to perform certain duties as servants of the State. The 
 royal letter to the Abbot of Eamsey was dated May 1236. 
 Almost immediately afterwards Grosseteste wrote to the 
 
 1 Letter 26, p. 104. - Hist. Maj. iii. 3S1-383. ^ Ihid, iv. 34.
 
 172 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 Archbishop/ pointing out the objections, based on scriptural and 
 canonical grounds, which mio-ht be urged against the course 
 proposed, and asking him to induce Henry to recall the mandate, 
 adding that otherwise, if the Abbot persisted in acting, it would 
 be his duty to forbid him, even at some risk to himself. " If I 
 do so," he writes, " the King's ministers will perhaps invade and 
 confiscate my possessions, and, as opposition of the kind I have 
 suggested has not previously been attempted in these parts, it 
 will excite the scorn and derision of the worldly-wise. But, 
 after all, what is called a temporal peril, as distinguished from 
 one that is eternal, is of no account. There is compensation, 
 more than sufficient, to one who is not forgetful of the past and 
 who looks forward into the future." He ends by requesting the 
 Archbishop's support. St. Edmund, who sympathised to some 
 extent,^ but who hesitated to take action, sent two replies to the 
 effect that it would be best to wait until a Council had assembled 
 and had reported upon the question. Grosseteste answers^ 
 that, if the King's mandate is wrong, and if it is contrary to 
 Scripture and to the Canons to obey it, there is no need to wait 
 for a council. It is a question of conscience. If it is a sin for 
 men who have taken monastic vows to act as judges, and also 
 for the clergy to submit themselves to secular tribunals in 
 personal actions, surely it follows that it is a sin for the bishops, 
 who exercise the pastoral care over them, to allow them to 
 commit that sin even once. He concludes by calling on the 
 Archbishop to come forward as " a leader in Israel," and to fight 
 the fight of the Lord like Judas Maccabaeus. 
 
 Shortly afterwards, as may be gathered from internal evi- 
 dence, he wrote what is called a letter " directed to " the Arch- 
 bishop, but what might be more fittingly described as a mani- 
 
 ^ Letter 27. that point that Grosseteste emphasises 
 
 ^ In his Constitutions, publislied in as an argument the possibility that 
 
 1238, vSt. Edmund unites in the same justiciaries may be called upon, in the 
 
 condemnation priests who are " homi- discharge of their functions, to inflict 
 
 cidae, advocati in causa sanguinis, capital sentences. 
 
 sinioniaci." It is probably owing to his ^ Letter 28. 
 
 knowledge of the Archbishop's views on
 
 VIII OPPOSITION TO THE KING'S ENCROACHMENTS 173 
 
 festo on the grievances of the Church, dedicated to him, and 
 sent to him for his approval previous to publication.^ It is of 
 considerable length, as well as of considerable importance in its 
 bearing upon the history of the time, with special reference to the 
 conflict which had arisen between the regal and the ecclesiastical 
 authorities. Grosseteste's standpoint is not unlike that adopted 
 by St. Thomas Becket in the previous century, though the par- 
 ticular questions at issue are no longer the same. The pamphlet 
 begins, just as his earlier letter to the Archbishop had begun, by 
 quoting the actual words of the King's mandate to the Abbot of 
 Ramsey. It then enumerates six distinct forms of attack to 
 which the Church has been subjected, deals with each of them 
 in turn in an elaborate series of arguments, and, after a summary 
 of the whole, concludes by citing the text of other rescripts 
 issued by Henry the Third, the form and substance of which 
 constitute also an infringement of ecclesiastical laws and 
 liberties. 
 
 The six propositions are summed up thus : First, that abbots 
 especially, and consequently other ecclesiastical persons, cannot, 
 without grave fault, fill the ofl&ce of justiciary or other posts 
 which involve their rendering an account to the secular authori- 
 ties. Secondly, that the clergy, whether regular or secular, err 
 grievously in consenting to be tried by lay tribunals, and that 
 the blame must attach not only to the King and the secular 
 judges who compel them to do so, but also to the bishops who 
 fail to oppose that encroachment on the liberties of the Church. 
 Thirdly, that lay judges sin when they presume to determine in 
 their courts whether a case is ecclesiastical or non-ecclesiastical, 
 when there is doubt as to the tribunal to which it should be 
 sent. In the fourth place, that the same judges have been 
 known to decide in their own courts cases which are purely and 
 unquestionably ecclesiastical. Fifthly, that the freedom of the 
 Church is injuriously affected when the King prohibits or 
 hinders the ecclesiastical judges from deciding ecclesiastical 
 
 ^ Letter 72, pp. 205 sqq.
 
 174 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 causes. Lastly, that the King and the lay judges sin griev- 
 ously when they compel bishops to render an account to them 
 of the reasons why they refuse to institute certain persons 
 presented to benefices. 
 
 The arguments by which those propositions are supported 
 are illustrated by a serried array of quotations from the Scrip- 
 tures, from the early Fathers, and from the decisions of General 
 Councils. Grosseteste's previous study of the Canon Law is 
 shown by his close acquaintance with the Decretum of Gratian. 
 It is also evident that some of his references are to the Decrctah 
 of Gregory IX., published in 1234, two years previously, and 
 sent by that Pope to Bologna and to Paris, with the command 
 that they should be taught in the schools.^ As the compiler of 
 that work, the Dominican Eaymund de Penaforte, who became 
 general of the Order in 1238, and who was also the Pope's 
 penitentiary, was an esteemed correspondent of Grosseteste," 
 it may be conjectured that a copy of Gregory's Decretals was 
 sent to the Bishop either by the Pope himself or by Eaymund, 
 either out of courtesy or on account of his intimate connection 
 with the University of Oxford, with a view to its introduction 
 into the curriculum.^ It is also, perhaps, worthy of note that 
 the passages in the New Testament of which Grosseteste makes 
 most use are, " If ye have judgments of things appertaining to 
 this life (' secularia negotia ' in the Vulgate), set them to judge 
 who are least esteemed in the church,"^ and "No man that 
 warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life (' secu- 
 laria negotia ' quibus prohibet Apostolus ' militantes Deo impli- 
 cari'),"^ and that in both passages the force of the inference he 
 draws depends largely upon the particular words to be found in 
 
 1 Rashdall, i. p. 139. 1235. Little's Grey Friars at Oxford, 
 - Letter 37. p. 177. Although Gregory IX. ap- 
 •' Bartholomew of Pisa, in his Liher proved the publication of Raymund 
 Conformitatmn (Milan, 1510), p. 79 /;, de Penaforte's compilation in 1230, it 
 quoted in the Mon. Francisc. p. 634, was not actually published until 1234, 
 says that Agnellus sent ten pounds and certainly cannot have been pur- 
 sterling to the Curia for a copy of the chasable before that date. 
 Decretals. Agnellus probably died in ■* 1 Cor. vi. 4. * 2 Tim. ii. 4.
 
 VIII VALUE OF THE CANON LAW 175 
 
 the Latin version. The same does not apply, however, to the 
 words, "He that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is 
 judged of no man." ^ 
 
 Towards the close of the pamphlet the King is warned not 
 to be guilty of the offence which led to the punishment of 
 Uzziah, just as, in connection with the Bardney incident, he is 
 warned to avoid the sin of Uzzah.- He is also reminded that in 
 1222 the Council of Oxford had excommunicated those who 
 presumed to deprive the Chiu-ch of her rights, and that by the 
 Great Charter of 1215 the Church was to be free.^ Grosseteste 
 adds that " Stephen Langton, of cherished memory, and his suf- 
 fragans had, with the consent of the King and the barons, 
 excommunicated all who disobeyed the tenour of that Charter ; 
 from which excommunication the King and the barons had only 
 recently been absolved at their own request, as they thought 
 they had incurred it, by our venerable father Edmund, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, in the chapel of St. Catherine, West- 
 minster ; but the absolution had been given on condition that 
 no further violations of the Charter should take place." 
 
 That Gregory the Xinth was in sympathy with Grosseteste's 
 action is shown by the authorisation which he addressed to him 
 in July 1236, to proceed against those clerks in his diocese who 
 discharged the offices of justice or of sheriff.* The Archbishop, 
 however, does not appear to have been moved, either by the 
 merits of the case or by Grosseteste's earnest appeal to him to 
 stand forth as leader,'^ to abandon his cautious and somewhat 
 timid attitude. St. Edmund's saintliness of life and gentleness 
 of disposition did not supply the place of the vigour and the 
 energy which were chiefly needed at that juncture. The 
 strength of Grosseteste's feelings on the subject may be infeiTed 
 from the fact that in 1239, three years later, finding that the 
 Archbishop would give him no assistance, he asked Cardinal 
 
 ^ 1 Cor. ii. 15. ■• Bliss, Calendar of the Papal 
 
 2 Letter 102. See p. 160. Registers, i. j). 155. 
 
 3 Page 230 of the Letter. ^ p^cre 172.
 
 176 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 Otho, the Papal legate, for his interference, in order to prevent 
 Richard Bardney, Abbot of Croyland, from acting as itinerary 
 justice ;^ and that in 1245 he declined to institute Eobert 
 Passelew, who had been presented by Henry the Third to the 
 living of St. Peter's, Xorthampton, and based his refusal on the 
 ground that the presentee was a forest judge. In writing to the 
 King he pointed out that his object was to secure that spiritual 
 questions should be dealt with by ecclesiastics, and lay questions 
 by laymen, just as military matters were managed by military 
 men.^ And when, on that occasion, Eobert Passelew, after 
 appealing against Grosseteste's decision, obtained a mandate for 
 his institution from Boniface, Archbishop of Canterbury, the 
 Bishop of Lincoln addressed to the latter words of indignant 
 remonstrance.^ 
 
 The indifference exhibited in 1236 by the Archbishop, and 
 apparently by most of the English prelates, to Grosseteste's 
 protests, accompanied by the fact that appointments of the 
 kind he opposed had long been in vogue, seem to indicate that 
 on that matter he was confronted with a powerful opposition, 
 arising not only from the King's ministers, but from certain 
 ecclesiastical vested interests which were anxious not to be 
 disturbed. His own attitude with respect to the holding of 
 civil appointments by the clergy, as well as to the cognate 
 question of the competence of lay tribunals to try ecclesiastical 
 causes, was doubtless influenced in no small measure by his pro- 
 found regard for the Canon I^aw as well as by his conscientious 
 feelings. In endeavouring to enter into the motives which 
 guided him, it is necessary to bear in mind how great was the 
 superiority of the canonical jurisprudence in that day to that 
 which was administered by the civil courts. As Mr. Eashdall 
 observes,* " We have to take ourselves back to a state of society 
 in which a judicial trial was a tournament, and the ordeal an 
 approved substitute for evidence, to realise wliat civilisation 
 
 ' Letter 82. =* Letter 126. 
 
 - Letter 124. •* Rashdall, i. pp. 140-143.
 
 VIII LEGATINE COUNCIL OF LONDON 177 
 
 owes to the Canon Law and the canonists, with their elaborate 
 system of written law, their judicial evidence, and their written 
 procedure." It was in the main, in spite of its defects, one of 
 the greatest among the civilising and humanising influences of 
 the Middle Ages. It would be obviously impossible to discuss 
 here the question how far the Decretals of 1234, and similar 
 compilations, were regarded as having a binding force in 
 England. It is manifest, however, apart from such facts as that 
 the canons of the Provincial Council held at Oxford in 1222, and 
 of the General Council of the English Church held in London in 
 1237, were largely based upon the canons of the Lateran Councils 
 of 1179 and 1215, that the innumerable appeals made to the 
 Eoman Curia must have involved the recognition as well as the 
 gradual adoption of the principles of jurisprudence accepted by 
 that appellate tribunal, and also that the Eoman jurisdiction 
 must have extended far beyond the mere cognisance of appeals.^ 
 In January 1237 Grosseteste's name appears in the list of 
 witnesses to the confirmation of the Great Charter signed by the 
 King on the occasion of the Council or Parliament held at 
 Westminster, and attended by the archbishops, bishops, abbots, 
 priors, earls, barons, citizens, and burgesses.^ It was at that 
 Council that a tax of one-thirtieth on all movable property, 
 with the exception of houses and beasts of burden, was granted 
 to the King. The Council of the Church, however, which was 
 held in St. Paul's church, London, in November of that year, 
 under the presidency of the Cardinal Legate Otho, was of even 
 greater importance in connection with the march of events. 
 The Legate had reached England towards the end of June at the 
 King's request. As the promise made by Honorius III. in 
 1221, not to send another legate to England, only applied to the 
 
 ^ Bracton says that, just as the Pope ita meram sicut papa vel rex." Brac- 
 
 " in spiritualibus super omnibus habeat ton, fol. 412, quoted by Maitland, Eng. 
 
 ordinariam jurisdictionera," so also Historical Eevieiv, Octohev \^^1, ]). Q2^, 
 
 "habet rex in regno suo ordinariam See also Pollock and Maitland's Uis- 
 
 in temporalibus, et pares nou habet, tory of English Lau; pp. 94, 105 sqq. 
 neque superiores ; et sunt qui sub eis - Ann. Monast. (Tewkesbury), i. p. 
 
 ordinariam habent in multis, sed uon 103.
 
 178 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 lifetime of Stephen Langton, and that great Archbishop had 
 died seven years later, there was no irregularity, as far as 
 Gregory the Ninth was concerned, in Otho's mission ; but it is 
 not surprising that, as Matthew Paris relates, serious misgivings 
 should have been aroused by the action of the King in sum- 
 moning him, in opposition to the desire alleged to have been 
 expressed in a contrary sense by the Arclibishop of Canterbury, 
 as well as to the declared wishes of the nobles.-^ The invitation 
 to the Legate, coming as it did a few months after Henry the 
 Third's marriage with Eleanor of Provence, was thought to open 
 the door to yet further encroachments of foreign influence in the 
 .internal affairs of England. It is difficult, however, to agree 
 with the view implied in Hook's Lives of the Archbishops of 
 Canterbury, and emphasised by Archdeacon Perry, that it would 
 have been possible at that time for Grosseteste to unite with St. 
 Edmund in opposing the Legate's arrival.^ As a matter of fact, 
 even if St. Edmund actually protested — and Matthew Paris 
 speaks with some doubt on the subject^ — that protest was not 
 followed up by any definite action. The bishops received Otho 
 with great pomp and costly presents, the King met him at the 
 seaside and paid to him every token of respect, and, when the 
 Council met at St. Paul's, St. Edmund himself, together with the 
 Archbishop of York, headed the procession ; and the only 
 question at issue, as far as he was concerned, was not whether 
 he should or should not enter a formal protest against the 
 Legate's presence, but merely Avhether he or the Archbishop 
 of York should occupy the seat of honour on his right.^ On the 
 second day, it is true, a deputation arrived from Henry the 
 Third with a formal message, on behalf of the King and his 
 kingdom, prohibiting Otho or the Council from arriving at any 
 determination contjrary to the interests of the royal crown and 
 dignity ; ^ but no objection was taken at the Council, either 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. iii. 395. ^ Hist. Maj. iii. 395. 
 
 - Hook, vol. iii. ch. iii. ; Perry, pp. ■* Ibid. iii. 417. 
 
 107 sqq. '^ Ibid. iii. 418.
 
 VIII GROSSETESTE'S ATTITUDE 179 
 
 in words or in writing, to the Legate's presence. Indeed, as 
 Matthew Paris, who was strongly averse to the Legate's 
 mission, observes, he had conducted himself with such prudence 
 and moderation, that he had succeeded in calming, to a consider- 
 able extent, the angry feelings conceived against him, both by the 
 clergy and by the nobles.-' It is also evident from the account 
 given by the same historian, that the principal opposition with 
 which Otho was threatened when he went to St. Paul's 
 proceeded from " those who held several benefices, and especially 
 the illegitimates."^ Even the dignified speech of Walter de 
 Cantelupe, Bishop of Worcester, which has often been praised for 
 its independence, was delivered in the interest of the maintenance 
 of pluralities, one of the abuses which it was sought to rectify. 
 How could Grosseteste have been expected to identify himself with 
 opposition of that sort to proposals which he himself favoured? 
 Grosseteste's attitude towards the Papacy at that period of 
 his life was doubtless identical with that which he expressed 
 in 1236, in letters addressed to Pope Gregory the Ninth and to 
 Cardinal Egidius,^ in the former of which he conveys the 
 assurance of his profound devotedness to the Holy See, not only 
 on account of the position assigned to it in the Christian 
 hierarchy, but also by reason of the eminent qualifications of the 
 existing pontiff, whilst in the latter he accentuates his respect 
 for the College of Cardinals. At the same time, he had sufficient 
 strength of character to consider questions on their own merits, 
 and to exercise the right of private judgment, whatever might be 
 his theory as to the nature of the obedience due to the earthly 
 head of the Church. He did not hesitate, for instance, to resist, 
 probably in that same year, the demand of Boetius, the Papal 
 nuncio, accompanied though it was by threats, that he should 
 give to one of his nominees free disposition of the church of 
 Chalgrave, and replied that he feared not the threats of man.'* 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. iii. 403 sqq. •• Letter 18, addressed to John 
 
 - Ibid. iii. 415 sqq. Romanus. See p. 139. 
 
 3 Letters 35, 36.
 
 i8o ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 In 1237, however, the main danger to which, in Grosseteste's 
 opinion, the English Church was exposed, a danger to which he 
 recurs again and again in his correspondence, was that which 
 arose from the encroachments of the civil power, and from the 
 confiscatory tendencies which had come to light in the reign of 
 King John, and of which a recrudescence might again be dis- 
 cerned. Its power of resistance was impaired by the existence 
 of internal causes of weakness which required the application of 
 vigorous and stringent reforms. The ostensible, and to a great 
 extent the real object of Otho's visit, was to promote, in harmony 
 with the canons of the Lateran Council, the very reforms of 
 which Grosseteste was the champion. Even if the latter enter- 
 tained doubts as to the Legate's sincerity as an opponent of 
 abuses, it must have been evident to him that to attack his 
 mission at that juncture would have been to fight on ill-chosen 
 ground and at an unseasonable opportunity. His efforts were 
 concentrated against the enemies of reform within the Church 
 and against its assailants from without. It is not surprising, 
 therefore, that he should have been willing to avail himself 
 of the Legate's assistance for the purpose of overcoming the 
 widespread resistance to the introduction of certain definite and 
 practical remedies which he deemed to be absolutely necessary.^ 
 It has been suggested that he was short-sighted in failing to 
 perceive that Otho's aims were different from those which were 
 avowedly put forward. It is more probable that he believed 
 that those aims were capable of being rendered subservient to 
 the great work of moral reconstruction which he had inaugurated 
 in his own diocese, and of which he desired to witness the 
 extension throughout the English Church. The main factor in 
 Grosseteste's ecclesiastical career was his steadfast determina- 
 tion to uproot abuses. To secure that end he was willing, 
 on the one hand, to welcome the co-operation of any allies, and 
 on the other, to incur the hostility of any opponents, however 
 
 ^ On the relation of Grosseteste's Constitutions to the canons of the Council 
 of London see p. 132.
 
 VIII CHURCH AND STATE i8i 
 
 powerful. He never swerved, moreover, from his reverence for 
 the Pope's authority, however vigorous in later years was his 
 opposition to particular instances of its exercise, as in the case 
 of the Papal provisions, and however vigorous were his denun- 
 ciations of the abuses connected with the Curia. Just as lie 
 resisted particular measures taken by the King, without dis- 
 puting the royal supremacy in matters of State, so he was able, 
 with an inconsistency which was apparent only, and not real, to 
 oppose specific measures taken by the Pope without denying 
 his supremacy in the ecclesiastical domain. In both cases, 
 however, he introduces an important limitation. Obedience, he 
 declares, is due to the King as long as he acts rightly,^ and to 
 the Pope as long as his commands are in harmony with the 
 Scriptures.^ If royal edicts are wrong they cease to be royal, 
 otherwise there would be a contradiction in terms. If apostolic 
 precepts are contrary to the teaching of the Apostles and of 
 Christ, who was Lord over the Apostles, they cease ipso facto to 
 be apostolic. It has been assumed by some that, during the 
 last few years of Grosseteste's career, a sudden change took 
 place in his attitude towards the Papacy. The traditional view 
 thus expressed will be discussed in the proper place.^ Here it 
 will be sufficient to say that a careful perusal of his letters indi- 
 cates that his theory of the Papal authority appears to have 
 remained absolutely unchanged, and that, as far as his opposition 
 to particular abuses of that authority was concerned, the ideas 
 which he expressed with so much vigour in and after 1250 with 
 respect to the Papal provisions had germinated in his mind 
 long before that date.'* Times and seasons, however, required to 
 be taken into account ; and, in the words which he quotes from 
 St. Augustine in connection with another matter,^ as a vindica- 
 tion of the wisdom of opportunism when no question of prin- 
 ciple is at stake, " Cum mane surgit qui nocte quiescebat, vitae 
 
 ^ Letter 102. See also Letter 124. ^ See chap. xiv. 
 
 - Letter 128. See also Letters 119, ■* See, for instance, Letters 18, 49, 52, 
 
 35, and 127, p. 364. 106. ^ Letter 3.
 
 1 82 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 consilium non mutavit," "A man who rises up in the morning after 
 resting during the night, cannot be said to have been inconsistent." 
 
 The belief in the unity of the Church, and in the consequent 
 need for an earthly as well as a divine head, was, indeed, too 
 widely spread and too profound to admit of any essential diversity 
 of view in regard to the theory of the Papal supremacy in 
 spiritual affairs, though it is probable that few defined it or 
 explained it as Grosseteste did ; and, at a time when the civil 
 power was identified, in the case of the Holy Eoman Empire, 
 with the cruelties, the eccentricities, and the reputed heterodoxy 
 of Frederick II., and in that of England with the gross mis- 
 government of King John and the combined weakness and 
 rapacity of Henry III., the best minds were naturally impressed 
 with the thought that the remedy for the ills from which the 
 world was suffering was to be found in the exaltation and, at 
 the same time, in the purification of the ecclesiastical system. 
 The great merit of Grosseteste's point of view, as it gradually 
 developed itself in the course of years, was that he clearly 
 perceived that the exaltation of that system could only be 
 justified by its intrinsic superiority, that its purification could 
 only be effected by a determined destruction of abuses, and that 
 neither the one nor the other could be brought about except by 
 broadening the basis of its support, and identifying it with the 
 forces within the nation which made for intellectual enlighten- 
 ment and social progress. 
 
 It was not long after the date of the Council of London that 
 an attempt was made upon Grosseteste's life, probably by some 
 miscreant who had been, or expected to be, a victim of the 
 severity of his visitations. Matthew Paris relates ^ that poison 
 was the weapon employed in that, as in several other cases,^ 
 and that the cure was effected with great difficulty by John de 
 St. Giles. In another passage he says that Eoger de Campdeu 
 was the physician to whose skill he owed his recovery.^ Prob- 
 
 '■ Hist. Maj. iii. 394 ; v. 705. vii. of the Hist. Maj. p. 34. 
 
 '•^ See LuarJ'a Introduction to vol. ^ Hist. Anglorum, ii. p. 398.
 
 VIII ILLNESS— OSNEY DISTURBANCES 183 
 
 ably, in view of the gravity of his condition, the advice of both 
 was called into requisition. Grosseteste's constitution, according 
 to his own account, was by no means strong, and he had never 
 completely recovered from the effects of the severe illness from 
 which he had suffered in 1232.^ It is permissible to imagine 
 with what solicitude John de St. Giles must have watched over 
 the Bishop's convalescence, and doubtless eased his hours of 
 pain by talking over the numerous subjects of interest they had 
 in common. Perhaps he related anecdotes of the visit he had 
 paid to Germany, when he accompanied the Princess Isabella 
 to meet the Emperor Frederick at Cologne, and witnessed the 
 Oriental magnificence of the marriage ceremonies at Mainz.^ 
 Perhaps, too, he had news to communicate to him concerning 
 Priar Jordan of Saxony, with wliom Grosseteste had enjoyed 
 pleasant intercourse at Oxford, and with whom he renewed his 
 acquaintance by letter in that very year ; ^ and possibly, also, 
 respecting a rising Dominican writer, known in later days as 
 Albertus Magnus, whom John de St. Giles, as a leading member of 
 that Order, and as one who had been connected with the three 
 Universities of Montpellier, Paris, and Oxford, had doubtless 
 visited on the occasion of his stay at Cologne, and to whom he 
 had communicated, in all likelihood, some information as to 
 progress achieved by Grosseteste in the principles of knowledge. 
 In 1238, however, the Bishop of Lincoln had sufficiently 
 recovered to be able to publish his Constitutions, resume his 
 visitations,'* investigate the wretched condition of Minting 
 priory,^ and take part in the proceedings which followed the 
 Oxford disturbances of that year, when a quarrel which had 
 arisen between some of Cardinal Otho's Eoman retainers and a 
 couple of Irish and Welsh clerks, forming part of a deputation 
 of students who had come to pay him a complimentary visit, 
 ended in a general attack being made by the latter upon the 
 
 ^ See pp. 105, 319. ■* Ann. Monast. (Dimstable), iii. 
 
 2 Hist. Maj. iii. 319-327. 147. 
 
 3 Letter 40. * " Letter 54. See also Letter 108.
 
 1 84 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 Papal legate in Osiiey abbey. Matthew Paris ^ gives a spirited 
 description of the incidents which led up to the attack, and tells 
 how the Legate, in his panic, " betook himself to the tower of the 
 church, clad in his canonical hood, and secured the door behind 
 him," and how he was ultimately conveyed by dead of night to 
 a place of safety, under the King's protection, by crossing the 
 river on his best horse at a ford not far from the abbey. Otho, 
 in his resentment, put the University as a whole under an inter- 
 dict, and excommunicated even the Chancellor, Simon de Boville, 
 Prior of the Dominicans, with the result that the students 
 threatened to leave Oxford in a body. Several of the ringleaders 
 were imprisoned in Wallingford Castle. The Archbishop of 
 York and several of the bishops were summoned to London 
 with reference to the matter ; but Grosseteste, as Bishop of the 
 diocese in which Oxford was situated, and by virtue not only of 
 his past connection with the University, but also of his existing 
 official relations with that organisation, gave himself most 
 trouble with the object of bringing about a settlement, and 
 adopted an attitude distinctly favourable to the students, and 
 which earned him a plentiful harvest of popularity in after years. 
 He offered mainprise for the imprisoned ringleaders, and used 
 every effort to bring about a reconciliation with the Legate. 
 The latter, according to the DunstaUe Annals^ towards the end 
 of the year forgave the scholars the wrongs they had committed, 
 gave them satisfaction for those they had suffered, and restored 
 them, as though nothing had happened, to the benefices of 
 which they had been deprived, and to the reputation tliey had 
 forfeited. To shoM' his determination that the guilty parties on 
 both sides should be punished, Grosseteste excommunicated, in 
 the presence of the King and of the Legate, all, including the 
 Legate's own servants, who had laid violent hands on the clerks.^ 
 That the offending clerks had been given up to him, and that 
 
 ' Hist. M(ij. iii. 481 srjq. Sec also - Ann. Hlonast. (Dunstable), iii. 147. 
 
 the Annalcs Monaslici, almost all of "' Ibid. (Tewkesbury, Burton) i. 
 
 ■which refer to the incident. 107, 254.
 
 VIII EPISCOPAL ACTIVITY 1S5 
 
 he afterwards set them free, is clear from several of the monastic 
 Annals.^ It is strange, however, as Dr. Luard observes,- to find 
 among those who owed their release to him the name of Odo 
 de Kilkenny, who subsequently held a brief at the Eoman 
 Court for the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln in opposition to the 
 Bishop to whom his liberty was due. 
 
 The Dunstable Annals give some particulars with respect to 
 the visitation carried out by Grosseteste in 1238 :^ — " He visited 
 the monasteries, archdeaconries, and deaneries. In each of them 
 he held a general chapter, preached a sermon, and promulgated 
 his Constitutions. He suspended many rectors of churches, 
 some of whom he allowed to clear themselves, whilst he bound 
 others to enter into their own recognisances ^ to observe con- 
 tinency in future, on pain of losing their rank and their benefice. 
 At that time we had great difficulty," continues the chronicler, 
 " in obtaining from the Bishop the churches which we held at 
 farm for a triennial period. And in the same year he dedicated 
 many churches and monasteries." The abbey churches which 
 he consecrated in September were those of Eamsey and of Sawtry, 
 and the magnificent pile now known as Peterborough Cathedral.'' 
 The conscientiousness which he brought to the discharge of 
 
 ^ Aniu Monast. (Burton), i. 254, and ' " Cbartas obligatorias recepit." 
 
 (Osney, Wykes) iv. 91. =* Hist. Maj. iii. 517 ; Letter 63. 
 
 - Introd. to the Letters, p. 40 ; The editors of the Cartularium Mo- 
 
 Wood, i. p. 90. One of Grosseteste's nastcrii de Jlamcseia, vol. iii. 180 (Rolls 
 
 letters to Otho (Letter 76), on the Series, 1893), say that the marginal note 
 
 subject of a certain clerk whom the to the MS. of Letter 63 makes it apply 
 
 Bishop had released from a sentence to Ramsey abbey church, but that it 
 
 pronounced by the Cardinal, may, mustreally relate to St. Ives on account 
 
 perhaps, refer to the Osney incident. of the coincidence in date, and because 
 
 Odo de Kilkenny was not the only dis- no mention of the consecration is con- 
 
 tinguished Irish canonist in Grosse- taiued in the records of the abbey, 
 
 teste's diocese. William of Drogheda, The former reason, however, is not 
 
 who died in 1245 {Hist. Maj. iv. 423), conclusive ; and the Ramsey records 
 
 was rector of Stratton Audley ; Bliss, are silent about a good many things 
 
 Calendar, 1. 214 ; Prof. Maitland's art. relating to the abbey, for instance, 
 
 on "William of Drogheda and the about Grosseteste's^severe visitation' in 
 
 Universal Ordinary," Eag. Hist. Be- 1251. — Hist. Maj. v. 226. It would 
 
 view, October 1897, p. 631. be strange if both Matthew Paris and 
 
 * Ann. Monast. (Dunstable), iii. 147. the marginal note were mistaken.
 
 i86 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 those duties is shown in the letter which lie addressed to the 
 Abbot and convent of lianisey, to the effect that, before their 
 church was consecrated, all furniture, other than fixtures, and 
 all bodies were to be reverently removed, and to be replaced 
 after consecration, as had been done when Archbishop Langton 
 consecrated the conventual church of Holy Trinity in London.^ 
 Nor was his activity limited to his own diocese. On November 
 21 he assisted at the consecration of Eichard de Wendover, 
 Bishop of Eochester, at St. Gregory's, Canterbury," and doubt- 
 less took the opportunity of holding personal intercourse with 
 St. 'Edmund on the subjects on which he had previously 
 addressed him in writing. It may also be supposed that he 
 made inquiries into the progress of the dispute between the 
 Archbishop and the monks of Christ Church, Canterbury, who 
 formed his capitular body, with the object of gaining experience 
 which might throw light upon the proper course to be pursued 
 in regard to his own Dean and Chapter, with whom he had at 
 that time, on the subject of the right of visitation, a serious 
 misunderstanding which developed, in the following year, into 
 a quarrel of long duration. 
 
 The Tewkesbury annalist ^ writes as if Grosseteste's quarrel 
 with the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln dated back to a period 
 almost immediately following his consecration in 1235. 
 Matthew Paris, however,'* and the chronicler of Dunstable,^ both 
 of whom were more likely to have correct information on that 
 subject, state that it commenced in 1239. Some of the Bishop's 
 letters, which seem to refer to the early stages of the dispute, 
 appear to be addressed to his correspondents at Eome towards 
 the end of 1238.'^ The dispute, which lasted six years and 
 
 1 Letter 63. Ninth's license to Grosseteste to exer- 
 
 ^ Flores Historiaru,m, ed. Luard, ii. cise his ofKce in regard to the visita- 
 
 pp. 226, 230 ; Wharton's Anglia Sacra, tion of the Chapter of Lincoln, which 
 
 i. p. 349. has not hitherto been visited by him- 
 
 3 Ann. Mmiast. (Tewkesbury), i. 97. self or by liis predecessors, is dated the 
 
 •• Hist. Maj. iii. ,^j28. 23rd of January 1239. — 'Q\i&s, Calendar 
 
 ■"' Ann. Mon/tst. (Dunstable), iii. 149. of the Papal Registers, i. 178. 
 " Letters 64 to 74. Gregory the
 
 VIII DISPUTE WITH THE DEAN AND CHAPTER 187 
 
 underwent many vicissitudes, until it was finally settled by the 
 Pope at Lyons in 1245, excited an extraordinary amount of 
 interest throughout the country, as it was felt that an important 
 principle was at issue, and that the decision, whatever it might 
 be, would create a precedent in other dioceses. The consequence 
 is that it occupies, in the pages of the chroniclers and of 
 Grosseteste's own correspondence, more space, perhaps, than is 
 strictly commensurate with its importance in relation to his 
 career as a whole. It involved, however, a considerable 
 expenditure of time, money, and trouble, and interfered with 
 much of the work in which he was engaged. He found it 
 necessary, on that account, to keep his proctor, S. de Arden, 
 who had gone to Eome probably in 1237,^ in continuous 
 residence at the Papal court for several years, and to incur other 
 outlays in connection with the question. 
 
 In a letter written in 1239,- Grosseteste appeals to the Dean 
 and Chapter of Lincoln to explain wherein he has been wrong, 
 instead of appealing to the Pope and indulging in vague 
 denunciations. He speaks of his weak health, of his paternal 
 affection for them, and trusts that they reciprocate that feeling 
 in filial fashion towards him. If he can be shown to have 
 committed any wrong against them, he is willing and anxious 
 that it shall be redressed. The letter breathes a thoroughly 
 conciliatory spirit, which does not appear to have been shared 
 by those to whom it was addressed, if it be true, as Matthew 
 Paris asserts, that some of the canons were in the habit of 
 reproaching their Bishop with the lowliness of his origin, and 
 that, as Grosseteste was informed,^ they had secretly despatched, 
 as early as Whitsuntide of that year, an agent to Eome for the 
 purpose of obtaining letters against him from certain judges 
 whom he suspected. Grosseteste's despatch of his own proctor 
 to Eome in 1237 had been originally for the purpose of 
 explaining to the Pope the nature of the reforms required in his 
 
 1 Letters 42, 43. » Letter 79. 
 
 2 Letter 71. See Hisi. Maj. iii. 528.
 
 i88 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 vast diocese/ and that proctor had remained there with the 
 object of transacting any other business which might be 
 necessary. The series of letters- written in 1238 to various 
 correspondents at Rome, including Pope Gregory the Xinth 
 himself, Cardinals Eaymund, Egidius, Thomas, and Eaynald, 
 John de Ferentino, the Pope's chamberlain, and Ernulf his 
 penitentiary, would also seem to refer to the general mission on 
 which S. de Arden was sent in the first instance, that is, to the 
 question of reforms, rather than to any specific question on 
 which he was at variance with his Chapter. It is probable, 
 however, that he anticipated, even in that correspondence, the 
 resistance which was likely to be offered to his proposed visita- 
 tion ; though it is not clear that the reference in one of those 
 letters ^ to his detractors, relates to the Dean and Chapter, as it 
 may apply either to the abbots and monks who resented his 
 severity, as well as the support he accorded to the friars, or else 
 to the agents of Henry the Third, who were trying to undermine 
 the Bishop's position and influence. 
 
 The fullest statement of Grosseteste's contention is contained 
 ill an important letter'* which he addressed shortly afterwards 
 to the Dean and Chapter on the right of a Bishop to visit the 
 Chapter of his cathedral, and, as a necessary consequence, the 
 prebends or churches attached to prebendal stalls, exactly in 
 the same way as other churches. The letter, as is always the 
 case with his longer writings, is full of scriptural quotations and 
 analogies, sometimes far-fetched, but always woven with great 
 skill into the texture of the argument. It is also of interest as 
 an indication of his views on the government and organisation 
 of the Churcli as a whole. He begins by recalling that Moses, 
 whom he regards, in his administrative capacity, as the type of 
 Christian prelates, in appointing assistants to help in his work, 
 did not give up or diminish his power, but merely delegated it, 
 and even then reserved to himself the most important cases. 
 
 ' Letters 37, 64. * Letter 127. See the analysis given 
 
 '^ Letters 64 to 70. by Luard on p. 114 of the Introduc- 
 
 =* Letter 66. tion.
 
 VIII QUESTION OF THE RIGHT OF VISITATION 189 
 
 The superior power naturally covers and includes the inferior, 
 but the converse proposition does not hold good. Only individual 
 cases are committed to the care of inferior judges, and, if a 
 whole diocese or a whole chapter goes wrong, the duty of 
 correcting what is amiss rests with the presiding prelate, and 
 with him alone. To tlie prelates, therefore, is reserved the 
 judgment of all cases, both universal and individual, within 
 their cognisance ; but they may delegate to their coadjutors, 
 who share their burden, any portion of their power, without 
 thereby parting with it or impairing it. In the case of a mirror 
 which reflects the sun's rays, the illumination produced is the 
 work of those rays rather than of the mirror — nay, it is wholly 
 their work. The Pope and the Bishops have power which 
 corresponds to that possessed by Moses and his assistant judges. 
 As the Pope is to the whole Church so is each Bishop to his own 
 diocese. They may all take to themselves helpers in their task, 
 who in their turn may delegate their duties to other helpers, 
 and so on through all the various stages and gradations down to 
 the lowest. Even the apparent exceptions serve to prove the 
 rule. The rural deans, for instance, would seem at first sight to 
 depend solely upon the archdeacons, but in reality the latter 
 exercise an authority which they derive from the Bishop. The 
 Cistercian houses, again, are exempt from episcopal visitation, 
 but that is by virtue of a special dispensation granted to them 
 by the Pope, and no such privilege has ever been conferred upon 
 a dean and chapter. If the Pope, as Christ's vicar on earth, 
 cannot diminish, and can only delegate his own powers, precisely 
 the same principle applies to the Bishops, w^ho themselves hold 
 a delegated authority. 
 
 A Bishop's authority, moreover, is analogous to that of a 
 father over his children. The father may delegate his power, 
 but cannot part with it ; the law^ confers upon him a right 
 which he cannot altogether waive, and upon him is imposed 
 a moral obligation from which he cannot be released. Con- 
 versely, his children owe to him the filial obedience inculcated in
 
 ipo ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 the fifth Commandment, and the same kind of obedience is due 
 to spiritual parents also. A Bishop is also bound to visit all in 
 his diocese by reason of the pastoral character of his office, just 
 as a shepherd has to tend the whole of his flock, and not a part 
 only, and to observe the precept " Feed my sheep." There is, 
 however, a difference between the pastoral methods employed 
 by the clergy and those employed by the Bishop : the former 
 may be described as visores gregis, because they have their 
 flocks always before their eyes, whilst the Bishop, who can 
 only view his sheep at intervals, on account of their multitude 
 and the extent of the earth's surface which they cover, is their 
 visitator, and has to take care that none of them are omitted 
 from his visitation. The Dean, who always resides where the 
 cathedral is, belongs to the former rather than to the latter 
 category ; but even if he could be its visiiator, instead of its 
 visor, that would be no reason why the Bishop should be ex- 
 cluded. The Benedictines and Augustinians are visited by 
 superiors belonging to their respective orders, but the Bishops 
 are not on that account deprived of their right of visitation over 
 them. Even in the Cistercian Order, which is exempt from 
 episcopal jurisdiction, the head of the whole Order is not pre- 
 vented from visiting monasteries which are already subject to 
 the visitation of the Abbot of their parent house. In the case 
 of the Franciscans, the right of visiting the friars in each 
 wardenship resides not only in the warden, but also in the 
 provincial minister, the visitors appointed in the general chap- 
 ters, and the minister general himself. In the Dominican 
 Order similar arrangements prevail. It is largely due, he 
 points out, to the fact that the superior visitor is able to supple- 
 ment and to correct the defects, the want of power, the omission 
 and the negligence of the inferior visitor, that the aforesaid 
 Orders are kept in the continuous fulness of religious 
 observance; and, far from diminishing the sense of responsi- 
 bility felt by the inferior visitor, the knowledge that his 
 work will 1)6 supervised by another has the practical effect
 
 vin CONCEPTION OF THE EPISCOPAL OFFICE 191 
 
 of rendering him more zealous and more vigilant in his 
 visitation. 
 
 Several other arguments are derived with considerable 
 ingenuity from scriptural injunctions and analogies. Of 
 Moses, for instance, it is written ^ that he " chose able men out 
 of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers 
 of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers 
 of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons : the hard 
 causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they 
 judged themselves." David, again, defended his father's flock 
 with his own hand against the lion and the bear,^ and would 
 not have been hindered in so doing by the shepherds under 
 him. Of Samuel's circuit as a judge, it was said ^ that " he 
 went from year to year in circuit to Beth-el, and Gilgal, and 
 Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places. And his return 
 was to Ramah ; for there was his house, and there he judged 
 Israel." Why, then, should a Bishop, after visiting the rest of 
 his diocese, be debarred from visiting his own cathedral ? 
 
 Orosseteste then proceeds to compare the Bishop, whose 
 pastoral rule is the " art of arts," to an artificer in gold or brass, 
 who ought to be able to know their difference and detect their 
 impurities ; to the head watchman of a vineyard, having under 
 him watchmen whose work he supervises, and whose help he 
 welcomes, and to a physician with assistants for whose efficiency 
 he is responsible. In view of what he deems the overwhelming 
 force of the arguments from Scripture, he considers that neither 
 civil law nor custom should interfere.^ The fact that previous 
 Bishops have not visited their chapters does not constitute a 
 custom ; for a custom is not created by mere negation, but is a 
 habit (in the Aristotelian sense) produced by a frequent repeti- 
 tion of positive acts, of a character agreeable to or not pro- 
 hibited by law. Nor can it be said that absence of correction 
 and reformation is liberty. True liberty consists in obedience 
 
 ^ Exodus xviii. 25. ' 1 Samuel vii. 15-17. 
 
 - 1 Samuel xvii. 36. ■* Page 420.
 
 192 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 to justice and to truth, aud in serving Him of whom it was said, 
 " If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." To 
 be subject to God, to the divine laws, and to the superior 
 authorities constituted and ordained by God, is not, he main- 
 tains, servitude, but freedom. The absence of visitation, more- 
 over, is in itself a positive evil. 
 
 In reply to the possible objection that the chapter consisted 
 of persons too great to require visitation, Grosseteste says that 
 the greatest men are always the humblest, and that it is their 
 humility which constitutes their greatness. " Nescit praeesse 
 qui non novit subesse." Even of Christ it was written that He 
 was subject unto His parents. Surely the chapter cannot think 
 themselves free from all need for a physician. " If they say 
 that they have no sin, they deceive themselves, and the truth is 
 not in them." " If we look through the whole of the Scripture," 
 he adds, " we shall find that none have sinned more than priests, 
 and especially chief priests." Even on the supposition that 
 every member of the chapter is most honourable, and has not 
 hitherto stood in the need of visitation, the necessity for preven- 
 tion as well as for cure has to be considered. It is desirable, 
 also, in the interest of the people themselves, that a Bishop should 
 take a personal share in the work in connection with his 
 cathedral, and that bells should be rung to give notice of his 
 arrival, in order that the people may flock in, some to receive 
 his blessing, others to have their children confirmed, the poor 
 to receive alms, those wdio have been injured to make their com- 
 plaint, the attlicted and the oppressed to obtain consolation, and 
 the penitents — especially those who have most need for repent- 
 ance — to make confession and to receive absolution. The 
 more frequently he returns the better ; no day passes on 
 which some useful work cannot be found for him to perform, 
 and he may sometimes succeed where others fail. Finally, 
 Grosseteste reverts to the analogy of a father's rights, duties, 
 and affection, and claims that a Bishop's paternal authority 
 should be viewed in the same light. He is far more to the
 
 VIII INCIDENTS OF THE DISPUTE 193 
 
 Dean and Chapter than the Dean is to the canons. Let them 
 beware of yielding to pride and of incurring its punishment ! 
 
 Such is a brief summary of the letter in which Grosseteste 
 states his case. Its interest is mainly due to the indication it 
 affords of his views on the government of the Church as a whole, 
 and especially his conception of the episcopal office. It will 
 also be observed that his arguments are grounded throughout on 
 the teaching and precepts of the Scriptures, however forced his 
 illustrations may sometimes appear^ and that he regards the 
 Bible as the ultimate appeal in all controversies, just as, in 
 earlier years, he wrote of the auctoritcifi irrcfragahilis Scripturae. 
 Some portions of the letter will also recall to the reader of 
 the present day the purport and even the phraseology of modern 
 discussions concerning the nature and inalienability of sover- 
 eignty. Other portions will suggest the thought that the dispute 
 was an episode in the struggle between the jus commune, or law 
 common to the Church as a whole, and the local consuetudines, 
 or special customary observances of particular churches.^ 
 
 The Dean and Chapter, on their part, appear to have taken 
 their stand principally upon the ground that there w^as no 
 precedent for any actual visitation, and that, moreover, no claim 
 to visit them had been made from the earliest times. They 
 had, it is stated, a court and a judge of their own, called the 
 Dean of Christianity,- who decided matters of discipline affecting 
 the parishes dependent upon them ; but that can hardly have 
 been considered a valid objection to episcopal visitation. They 
 
 1 On the jus commune see Prof. Grosseteste's Letter 84. The term 
 
 Maitland's note on p. 76, part ii. of denotes a decanus foraneus, a rural or 
 
 the Lincoln Cathedral Statutes, ed. by urban dean as the case may be. See 
 
 Bradshaw and Wordsworth. Also Ducange, s. v., and the glossary at the 
 
 Pollock and Maitland's fi'/s<. of English end of Luard's edition of the Letters. ■ 
 
 Laiv, p. 94. The statement that the Dean of Chris- 
 tianity at Lincoln was appointed, unlike 
 
 - The Dean of Christianity must not, other rural or urban deans, by the Dean 
 
 of course, be confused with the cathe- and Chapter, is made by Archdeacon 
 
 dral Dean. See Kennett's Parochial Perry presumably on the authority of 
 
 Antiquities, ii. pp. 341-345. The local records, which I have been un- 
 
 Dean of Christianity is mentioned in able, however, to verify.
 
 194 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 also expressed the opiuiou that the Bishop had no power to 
 judge causes or correct offences committed by canons or other 
 persons connected with the cathedral, except by appeal or 
 neglect of the Dean.^ In reply to the latter view Grosseteste 
 pointed out the absurdity of the consequences which would 
 follow from its adoption. He also wrote to the Pope, expressing 
 a hope that he would grant no letters to the Dean and Chapter 
 against him to judges in England, until a special messenger 
 whom he was sending with a statement of his position had 
 arrived at Rome and explained how matters stood." 
 
 The Dean and Chapter issued a mandate to the vicars and 
 chaplains ministering in the prebends, and chaplains belong- 
 ing to the chapter, ordering them to disobey the Bishop if 
 he attempted to visit them.^ As they refused to revoke it, 
 Grosseteste suspended the Dean, Precentor, and Sub-dean from 
 entering the cathedral. The account of what followed is given 
 in a letter ■* which he addressed to his proctor, S. de Arden, for 
 the purpose of giving him full information. " On the eve of the 
 Nativity of the Blessed Virgin," he writes, that is, on the 7th of 
 September 1239, " I informed the said Dean and Chapter that I 
 intended to visit the Chapter, armed not only with the ordinary 
 authority, but also with that of the Apostolic See,^ on the 
 Thursday following St. Luke's day (the 18th of October). I 
 then began almost immediately to visit certain prebends ; but 
 all the canons having been summoned by the Dean and Chapter 
 to meet on the day after St. Faith's (7th October) in the chapter- 
 house at Lincoln, and having discussed the proceedings from 
 the cathedral pulpit on the following Sunday,^ they received 
 publicly from the people permission to appeal to the Pope ; and 
 having entered an appeal against the injuries which, according 
 to their own account, I was doing them, the Dean, Precentor, 
 
 ' Letter 73. authority from the Poi)e is also nien- 
 
 - Letter 77. tioiied in Letter 82. Cl^. Bliss, Calendar 
 
 ■' Letters 79, 80. of the Papal llcglsters, i. p. 178. 
 
 ■* Letter 80. *■ Tliat may possibly be the date of 
 
 '•' The fact that he had received the the occunence mentioned on p. 124.
 
 VIII REFERENCE TO THE POPE 195 
 
 Chancellor, Treasurer, and several canons at once started for 
 Eome. They also despatched letters and messengers to all the 
 cathedral chapters in England, and endeavoured to effect com- 
 binations against me, and to excite the multitude against me as 
 if I were a malefactor. In spite of that, I came to Lincoln 
 church on the day fixed for holding the visitation of the 
 Chapter, but found there neither canon nor vicar, nor any of the 
 ministers of the cathedral, as they all purposely withdrew in 
 order to avoid meeting me. I thereupon at once proceeded to 
 London, as I had been summoned by the Archbishop for the 
 3rd of November (the day after All Souls' day) ^ with reference 
 to difficult questions affecting his see. When the Dean and 
 those with him heard that I was to be in London on that day, 
 they waited for me there, in order, as they said, to treat with 
 me concerning terms of peace, and many of the canons of 
 Lincoln came together to the meeting held for the purpose." 
 Grosseteste goes on to say that he was in doubt as to the right 
 course to pursue. He might have taken the extreme step of 
 suspending and excommunicating them at once ; but that would 
 have aroused a general outcry, and have been unfair to the 
 older canons, who would thereby have been compelled to 
 undergo in person the fatigues, difficulties, and even dangers 
 of the journey to Eome. On the other hand an important 
 principle was at stake. On consideration he determined to 
 adopt a middle course, and to offer to submit the matter to 
 arbitration. But at that stage a serious difficulty arose. Where 
 was an impartial arbitrator to be found ? Who was there who 
 would run the risk of offending all the capitular bodies in 
 England ? " No one occupying a position inferior to that of a 
 Bishop would decide in favour of visitation, as everybody was 
 anxious not to be visited. Few even among tlie bishops were 
 likely to pronounce in its favour, as they would probably think 
 
 ^ The 3rd of November 1239 happens excommunication he had passed on his 
 
 to have been the date on which tlie primatial Chapter ; but that may be a 
 
 Ai'chbishop published throughout the mere coincidence, 
 province of Canterbury the sentence of
 
 196 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 that, iu that case, they would be bound, on the same principle, 
 to submit to archiepiscopal visitation ; and they hated the idea, 
 as was shown by the dispute then pending between the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London. Grosseteste, 
 accordingly, put forward three consecutive proposals. The first 
 was that the question should be referred to the Legate, the 
 second that it should be referred to the Pope. These two 
 proposals having been rejected, he substituted a third, which 
 was accepted, to the effect that the Pope should be asked to 
 appoint three commissioners, namely, Walter de Cantelupe, 
 Bishop of Worcester ; William Scot, Archdeacon of Worcester ; 
 and Alan de Beccles, Archdeacon of Sudbury, who should act as 
 arbitrators ; and that, failing agreement on their part, the Pope 
 should give the final decision, all action being suspended in the 
 meantime. Two clerks were at once despatched to Rome to 
 arrange for the appointment of the three arbitrators, and 
 Grosseteste wrote to his proctor to inform him of the arrange- 
 ment, and to tell him that he need not trouble himself about the 
 matter, but might devote his attention to other business of a 
 more edifying character affecting the Lincoln diocese.^ He also 
 wrote to Gregory IX., expressing the hope that he would assent 
 to the proposal, and informed the Legate that, although he had 
 previously been assured of the Pope's support, he had taken the 
 course he had adopted in order to remove all occasion of 
 scandal, and by the advice of many prudent persons.^ From the 
 Papal Registers it appears that the first important step taken by 
 the Pope in regard to the dispute was to send a mandate to the 
 Bishop of Worcester and the Abbot of Evesham, bidding them 
 admonish the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln to obey their 
 Bishop. Failing this they were to hear the case, if the parties 
 were willing, and if not, to remit it to the Pope.^ A few weeks 
 later a similar mandate empowered the Bishop of Worcester 
 and the Archdeacons of Worcester and Sudbury to decide the 
 
 ' Letter 81. ^ Bliss, Calendar of the Papal 
 
 - Letter 82. Registers, i. 185.
 
 VIII SUCCESSIVE ARBITRATIONS 197 
 
 case between Grosseteste and the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln. 
 Failing consent or agreement the case was to be remitted to 
 the Pope by proctors within two years. ^ The former mandate 
 is dated on the 1 7th of January, and the latter on the 24th of 
 April 1240 ; but, if allowance be made for the length of time 
 occupied by the journey to Eome, and other inevitable delays, 
 they will be found to bear out the statements contained in 
 Grosseteste's letters written in or soon after November of the 
 previous year. 
 
 Hardly, however, had the Dean and Chapter agreed to 
 arbitration when they began to regret what they had done. 
 Matthew Paris, who entirely endorses their point of view, echoes 
 their dissatisfaction with the stipulation that no action should 
 be taken by either side pending a final decision ; " for as the 
 Bishop," he writes,- " never did visit, he cannot cease who has 
 never commenced, any more than Diogenes can lose the horns 
 he never had ; whereas the Dean, by ceasing from his power to 
 visit, if only for an hour, would be deprived of an actual posses- 
 sion; whence murmurs were multiplied and a great scandal 
 arose. The canons did not allow the Bishop to enter the 
 chapter-house, and they regretted extremely that they had put 
 over themselves a Bishop of so lowly an origin, and this they 
 publicly expressed in his presence. After much trouble and 
 heavy expense on both sides an appeal was made to the Pope, 
 the Chapter appointing as their proctor Odo de Kilkenny," the 
 Oxford lawyer whose release had been procured by Grosseteste 
 after the Osney disturbance.^ It is clear, both from Matthew 
 Paris's account and from that contained in the Dunstable Annals, 
 that the arbitration came to nothing, and that, under the terms 
 of the agreement, the question was referred to the Curia.* From 
 a letter written by Innocent IV. in December 1243, it appears 
 that, at some time before that date, the three arbitrators had 
 
 ^ Bliss, Calendar of the Papal ^ See p. 185. 
 
 Registers, i. 189. ^ Ann. Motmst. (Dunstable), iii. 149, 
 
 '■^ Hist. Maj. iii. 528, 529. 160.
 
 198 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 decided in Grosseteste's favour, and that the Dean and Chapter 
 had appealed from them to the Pope.^ The Priors of Ely and 
 of Wartre, in the diocese of York, and the Archdeacon of 
 Kochester, are there instructed to relax the sentences against 
 the Chapter, and to fix a term of three months for appearance 
 at Eome in the event of the Bishop renouncing the process 
 since the appeal ; whilst, if he declines to renounce it, they are 
 to proceed in accordance with the form sent to them. 
 
 It is evident, however, that recourse was had at one time — 
 though the date is not clear — to a second arbitration, the 
 arbitrators being Hugh de Northwold, Bishop of Ely, his official, 
 Eichard de Kirkham, and others whose names are not mentioned. - 
 At one moment Grosseteste complains of the underhand intrigues 
 which are being carried on against Eichard de Kirkham by 
 persons who are acting in the interest of the canons, and holds 
 them responsible, " facitis enim illud fieri permittendo." ^ At 
 one time the Chapter took what must have appeared the extra- 
 ordinary step of obtaining from the King a prohibition forbid- 
 ding the Bishop's judges from proceeding in any matter between 
 himself and his capitular body.'* Grosseteste thereupon wrote 
 to remind them of the excommunications pronounced by the 
 Council of Oxford in 1222 against "those who maliciously seek 
 to break through or disturb the liberties of the Church," and 
 points out that the question is one which can only be settled 
 by an ecclesiastical, and not by a secular tribunal.^ Before that 
 incident — whatever the precise date may have been — the sus- 
 pension of the Dean, William de Tournay, had become a 
 deprivation, and he had been succeeded by one of Grosseteste's 
 most intimate friends, Eoger de Weseham, Archdeacon of Oxford, 
 an East Anglian like himself, and one who had been his suc- 
 cessor, with one interval, as lecturer to the Eranciscans.^ In 
 
 ^ Bliss, Calendar of the Papal (British Museum), 21, 132, fol. 15. 
 Registers, i. p. 203. ■"■' Letters 91, 92. 
 
 ■■* Letters 90, 96, 97. " Luard (Introd. to the Letters, p. 
 
 •' Letter 90. 46, note) says that he has been nnable 
 
 •* Probably in 12-11-42. Addit. I\ISS. to ascertain the date of Roger de Wese-
 
 VIII DURATION OF THE STRUGGLE 199 
 
 view of the fact that the election of the Dean was supposed to 
 rest with the Chapter, it is not clear how Eoger de Weseham 
 was selected, in view of his close connection M'itli the Bishop. 
 Possibly Pegge's hypothesis may be correct, that the Chapter re- 
 fused to take part in the election, as they did not wish to acquiesce 
 in Dean Tournay's deprivation, and consequently that their 
 abstention "would produce a devolution to the Bishop, who 
 collated his friend and had him immediately installed." ^ If 
 that supposition be correct, it is difficult to understand on what 
 grounds Archdeacon Perry denounces Grosseteste's action as " an 
 arbitrary stretch of his authority." - It is doubtful also whether 
 the Chapter went so far as to excommunicate the newly-appointed 
 Dean,^ though it is clear from a letter of Innocent IV., dated 
 November 1243, that the relations between Eoger de Weseham 
 and the Chapter had at one time been strained, and that he had 
 endeavoured to effect an adjustment of the dispute without 
 previously obtaining from them procuratorial letters authorising 
 him to act on their behalf, with the result that they repudiated 
 his mediation. The Precentor, Chancellor, and Treasurer had 
 concurred in his effort, and had consequently shared the blame 
 imputed to him by the Chapter. Innocent lY. recalls 
 the fact that the dispute had been committed by his pre- 
 decessor, Gregory IX., to the decision of the Bishop of 
 
 ham's appointment to the Deanery of ^ Letter 94. " Injuste deeanum no- 
 Lincoln. The date 1237 given in the strum in nullo vobis subjectum excom- 
 list quoted in Dugdale's Monasticon, municare non erubuistis." As the letter 
 vol. vi. part iii. p. 1278, is obviously is addressed to the Dean and Chapter, 
 a mistake; 1240 may be regarded as the words "deeanum nostrum" can 
 the probable date, though there is no hardly refer to Roger de Weseham. 
 certainty about the matter. From There is no reference to any excom- 
 Addit. Charter 10, 639, which I have munication of the Dean in contem- 
 consulted at the British LIuseum, it porary writers. If it does not relate to 
 is evident that Roger de Weseham a rural or an urban dean, it is possible 
 was still Archdeacon of Oxford in that the word "deeanum" may have 
 1239. been substituted by a transcriber for 
 
 ^ Pegge's Grossdeste, pp. 85, 86; " archidiaconum. " It is by no means 
 Pegge's Weseham, pp. 8, 9. Leland unlikely that Thomas Wallensis, Arch- 
 says, " Capitonis beneficio fit Decanus deacon of Lincoln, and Grosseteste's 
 Lindianae ecclesiae." right-hand man, incurred the indigna- 
 
 - P. 127. tion of the Chapter.
 
 200 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 Worcester and others, and implies that there shoukl be no 
 interference with the course of procedure ah-eady arranged, but 
 recognises that the Dean and those who acted with him did 
 so not in malice, but in simplicity, and therefore rehabilitates 
 them.^ 
 
 In spite of the obscurity of the dates it is manifest that, for 
 six years, from 1239 to 1245, the dispute dragged its weary 
 length, until it was finally settled at Lyons in Grosseteste's 
 favour. It will be necessary, at a later stage, to explain how 
 that settlement was effected in the last resort. Here it will be 
 sufficient to refer to two intervening incidents. In 1241 the 
 canons " were compelled " in Matthew Paris's quaint phrase,^ 
 " to defend themselves " by exhibiting a document, purporting 
 to be authentic, which related how, in the reign of William 
 Eufus, a settlement had been made, under the authority of two 
 cardinal legates, eight archbishops, and sixteen bishops, by 
 virtue of which the Dean of Lincoln was to have disciplinary 
 powers over the canons, whilst, if he failed in his task, he might 
 call in the Bishop and after him the King. The document is a 
 tissue of palpable absurdities, and is a manifest forgery, which 
 does not throw a favourable light either on the conscientious- 
 ness of the Lincoln canons, or on their historic sense and 
 knowledge.^ How, for instance, would it have been possible 
 for William Eufus to summon two legates and eight arch- 
 bishops ? Although the substance of the document, however, 
 does not require serious attention, it served its purpose for the 
 time being in complicating the issue, and in furnishing the 
 King with a pretext for being a party to the suit.'* In 1242, 
 again, we are informed by the Dunstable annalist that Grosse- 
 teste was prevented by the Chij,pter from personally visiting the 
 prebends. It is not surprising to iind that, on more than one 
 
 ^ Bliss, Calendar of the Fapcd Jicfjis- 51): "It gives a melancholy view of 
 
 lers, i. 202. the virulence of Matthew Paris's party 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. iv. 154-1.'56. spirit that he could even pretend to 
 
 ■' Pegge refutes it. Appendix 13. treat this document as genuine." 
 Luard says (Introd. to the Letters, p. ■* See before, p. 198.
 
 VIII DURATION OF THE STRUGGLE 201 
 
 occasion, friends interposed with the object of bringing the 
 quarrel to a close. The Dean and Chapter of Salisbury, with 
 whom Grosseteste had formerly had relations as Eector of 
 Calne and Archdeacon of Wilts, wrote to him in that sense. 
 His reply was that he ardently desired peace, but that it must 
 be a real, and not a sham peace.^ Adam Marsh, too, conveys 
 to him the deep regret with which many view the prolongation 
 of the struggle.- It is pleasant to reflect that, after the settle- 
 ment of 1245, to be described in a later page, complete peace 
 and harmony prevailed between Grosseteste and his Dean and 
 Chapter during the remainder of his life. 
 
 ^ Letter 93. personae se plus patres pauperum quam 
 
 '^ 3Ion. Francisc. p. 146, " Aegre principes populorum. " The argument 
 
 ferunt nonnulli, nee immerito, tarn was one calculated to appeal to Grosse- 
 
 horrendam inter vos et subditos vestros teste, who had apparently rejected a 
 
 dissensionem. Scitis quia distinguit compromise previously suggested by 
 
 divina praeceptio dominos ut multo Adam Marsh. It must be noted, how- 
 
 amplius studeant a suis amari quam ever, that Grosseteste's letters to his 
 
 timeri ; et intelligant ecclesiasticae Chapter are distinctly conciliatory.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 1239-1244 — Constitutional struggles — Grosseteste leads the opposition to the 
 King's demands in the Parliament of 1244 — His interest in the conilict 
 between the Pope and the Emperor^The Papal demands — Grosseteste's re- 
 lations with the King and the Queen — His share in the settlement of the 
 questions connected with the bishoprics of Hereford, Durham, Winchester, 
 and Chichester — Grosseteste the virtual head of the Church in England — The 
 Committee of Twelve. 
 
 Grosseteste's episcopal career was, indeed, one of " Sturm und 
 Drang," During the six years which elapsed between the 
 time when the dispute with the Dean and Chapter reached its 
 height in 1239, until its settlement in 1245, Grosseteste found 
 ample scope for his many-sided activity within his diocese. 
 His visitations were carried on with strenuous vigour, and 
 organised on a systematic footing. He was indefatigable in his 
 attempts to raise the moral tone and to improve the efficiency of 
 the clergy, in the encouragement he gave to the friars, and in 
 the pertinacity with which he endeavoured to induce the monks 
 to adhere more strictly to their rules, and at the same time to 
 increase their usefulness, and to make satisfactory financial 
 arrangements in respect of vicarages. The sphere of his interests, 
 luAvever, was by no means confined to his own diocese. Day 
 by day it became broader and wider, and extended to the affairs 
 of the Church and the nation as a whole, and even to the great 
 struggle then in progress between the Pope and the Emperor. 
 
 The position occupied by Grosseteste, even in the early years 
 of his episcopate, may be inferred from the fact that it was to 
 him, as well as to the Archbishops of Canterbury and of York, 
 that the Pope addressed in April 1238 letters requesting them
 
 en. IX VIRTUAL HEAD OF CHURCH IN ENGLAND 203 
 
 and him to urge Eichard, Earl of Cornwall, the King's brother, 
 not to leave England at that juncture for the Holy Land, but 
 also to ensure that, if he resolved upon that course, he should 
 have full protection.^ It was to the same three prelates that 
 Gregory IX. wrote in November of the following year, asking 
 them to secure that the Earl of Cornwall and his son Henry 
 should not be molested, and also that the provisions of the 
 former's will should be duly observed in the event of his death." 
 In September 1238 Grosseteste acted, in conjunction with the 
 Archdeacon of Northampton and the Chancellor of St. Paul's, 
 London, as arbitrator in regard to the disputed election to the 
 See of Durham. He was empowered to annul the election of 
 the Prior of Durham to that bishopric, if within two months 
 Henry III. could prove the charges of simony and of hostility 
 to the King which he had brought against the Prior, or if on 
 examination he found the election to have been uncanonical. If, 
 however, it was canonical, he and his coadjutors were to order the 
 Archbishop of York to consecrate the Bishop-elect.^ When St. 
 Edmund desired to establish colleges of secular canons in certain 
 of the churches of his diocese, which of right belonged to him, 
 it was to the Bishops of Lincoln and of Norwich that a Papal 
 mandate was sent requiring them to protect the Archbishop 
 against molestation on account of the faculty which had been 
 granted to him.^ And in January 1239 the names of the Arch- 
 bishop and of Grosseteste are coupled together in connection 
 with certain proceedings which they were asked to take in con- 
 nection with the diocese of Winchester.^ With two Archbishops 
 like St. Edmund and John de Gray, the former of whom, though 
 of saintly life, M-as lacking in tenacity of purpose, while the 
 latter was of feeble health and of undecided personality, 
 Grosseteste was rapidly attaining, by reason of his great abilities 
 and strength of character, to the position of virtual, though not 
 nominal, head of the English Church, which he held during the 
 
 ^ Bliss, Calendar of the Papal Regis- •* Ihid. i. p. 176. 
 
 ters, i. 170. Cp. Hist. Maj. iii. 617. ^ Ibid. i. p. 189 (May 1240). 
 
 ^ Bliss, Calendar, i. pp. 184, 185. •'' Ihid. i. 179.
 
 204 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 vacancy in the See of Canterbury created by St. Edmund's 
 retirement in 1240, and retained in public estimation even after 
 the consecration of Boniface in 1245. 
 
 It was owing to the exigencies of the great struggle with the 
 Emperor that Gregory the Ninth adopted, in 1240, a measure which 
 produced a strong feeling of irritation in England, and greatly 
 increased his unpopularity. Frederick the Second was apj)roach- 
 ing Eome, and the Eoman citizens were disposed to take his side. 
 In order to retain their allegiance the Eope resorted, according 
 to Matthew Paris,^ to the plan of conferring upon as many of 
 their friends and relatives as possible the emoluments derived 
 from benefices situated in England, and despatched letters to 
 St. Edmund, to Grosseteste, and to Robert de Bingham, Bishop 
 of Salisbury, calling upon them to provide three hundred Eomans 
 with the first benefices which should become vacant, and pro- 
 hibiting them from giving away any benefices until his require- 
 ments in that respect were satisfied. St. Edmund, who was 
 wearied out by the protracted struggle with the Canterbury 
 Chapter, and who had neither the perseverance nor the determi- 
 nation which enabled Grosseteste to carry his dispute with the 
 Lincoln Chapter to a successful issue, was filled with despair at 
 the sight of the troubles which afflicted the English Church, 
 sailed from these shores, retired to the monastery of Pontigny, 
 where St. Thomas Becket had dwelt in his exile, and died 
 shortly afterwards at Soissy, receiving, after a remarkably brief 
 interval, the meed of canonisation.- It is worthy of note that 
 the two prelates who were ordered, not quite four years later, 
 at the request of the monks of Pontigny, to inquire concerning 
 St. Edmund's virtues and miracles, and to send the depositions 
 of witnesses under seal to the Pope, were the Bishops of London 
 and of Lincoln, Fulk Basset and Grosseteste, both of whom had 
 been brought in contact with Edmund Rich in his Wiltshire 
 days,^ while tlie latter was also intimate with him at Oxford. 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. iv. 31. of November 1240. 
 
 ■■' January 24, 1244. Bliss, Cal- ^ Charters and Docwnunts relating 
 
 endar, i. 208. He died on the 16th to Salisbury, ed. by Jones and Mac- 
 
 I
 
 IX THE POPE AND THE EMPEROR 205 
 
 It is not known what course was taken by Grosseteste himself 
 on the receipt of the Papal letters in 1240. He had, however, 
 previously obtained from the Pope a privilege by which he was 
 exempted from providing for any one at his command, unless 
 special mention was made of that privilege ; ^ and he therefore 
 enjoyed a protection which stood him in good stead on at least 
 one occasion,- and which probably enabled him to look with 
 comparative equanimity on the message he had received. From 
 a purely financial point of view it was clearly to the Pope's 
 advantage that an increased number of alien holders of English 
 benefices should be appointed, as it was easier to obtain subsidies 
 from them ; six years later, for example, when Innocent IV. 
 asked for one-third only from the resident clergy, he demanded 
 one-half from those who did not belong to that category, and 
 most of whom were Italians, whilst at the same time the 
 exaction might be plausibly represented as a fine for non- 
 residence.^ 
 
 With regard, however, to the contribution of one-fifth which 
 was demanded in 1240 by the Legate from the bishops, abbots, 
 and rectors of churches, in order to assist the Pope in his 
 struggle with the Emperor,^ Grosseteste's attitude may, perhaps, 
 be inferred from the resolutions passed by a meeting of bishops 
 held at Northampton, in his diocese, in the presence of Cardinal 
 Otho. "There," says Matthew Paris, "the bishops, being un- 
 willing in a stiff-necked manner impudently to refuse their 
 consent to the aforesaid exactions, preferred to oppose them in 
 a moderate and cautious manner," and gave as reasons why they 
 ought not to contribute, that the object was to " shed Christian 
 
 ray (Rolls Series, 1891), pp. 111-113. see p. 20S, Hist. 3Iaj. iv. 152. 
 
 St. Edmund was rector of Calne after ^ Hist. Maj. iv. 550. From Bliss, 
 
 Grosseteste, who was also Archdeacon Calendar, i. 235, it appears, however, 
 
 of Wilts. Fulk Basset was rector of that Italian clerks in England were 
 
 Wiuterburn Basset, and had a dispute to give only one - fourth of their 
 
 with Grosseteste respecting the tithes income if the value of their benefices 
 
 of Berwick Basset. amounted to 100 marks or less, and half 
 
 ^ Bliss, Caleiular, 1. 178 (Jan. 26, their income if the value was greater 
 
 1239). (1247). 
 
 - In the case of the Thame prebend, * Hist. Maj. iv. 10, 11, 38-43.
 
 2o6 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 blood," and to conduct a crusade against one who was the King's 
 brother-in-law and ally ; that when the clergy had granted a 
 tenth to the Pope in 1229, they had expressly protested against 
 similar demands being made thereafter ; that the country was 
 impoverished by the King's requirements, and by the departure 
 of many of the nobles for the Holy Land ; and that it would 
 be desirable to wait until a General Council had the opportunity 
 of considering the matter.^ Similar arguments, but couched in 
 stronger language and developed at greater length, were addressed 
 to the Legate by the rectors of Berkshire.- The King, in spite 
 of his connection with Frederick the Second, appears to have 
 supported the Legate, as is shown by his threat to imprison 
 the Abbots of Bury St. Edmunds and Beaulieu, who objected 
 to the exaction.^ Matthew Paris adds that several of the 
 bishops, whose names he does not mention, and also Alan de 
 Beccles, were subsequently persuaded by the Legate of the 
 desirability of the contribution.'* As he states, however, else- 
 where '" that Alan de Beccles died in that year before the 
 demand was actually put forward, the statement is obviously 
 open to doubt. The fact that the Peterborough monks, upon 
 whom a demand for a revenue of a hundred marks was made 
 in 1241 on behalf of Gregory the Ninth, appealed through their 
 Abbot to Henry IIL and not to Grosseteste, their diocesan, was 
 due probably to the consideration that the King was their 
 founder and patron.^ The Abbot, however, Walter of Edmunds- 
 bury, suffered a few years later for the independence of his 
 attitude, as he was treated with great contumely at the Council 
 of Lyons in 1245, and died of a broken heart.' 
 
 Whatever may have been Grosseteste's position with regard 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. iv. 37. and convent of Peterborough to pro- 
 
 2 Ibid. iv. 39 sqq. vide for a certain clerk H., but that 
 
 ^ Ibid. iv. 36. can hardly have affected their attitude 
 
 ■* Ihid. iv. 43. in 1241. Bliss, Calendar, i. 168. It 
 
 '•" Hid. Anglorum, ii. 432. will be remembered that Letter 57, 
 
 •* Hist. Maj. iv. 102. In 1238 mentioned on }). 165, was, according 
 
 Grosseteste had been obliged to take to Luard, addressed to them, 
 strong measures to induce the Abbot " Hist. Maj. iv. 414.
 
 IX JOHN MANSEL AND THE PREBEND OF THAME 207 
 
 to the demand for the fifth, the fearlessness by which his con- 
 duct was marked may be iUustrated by some correspondence 
 which passed, probably about the same time, between him and 
 the Legate with reference to the collation, by the latter, of a 
 certain Atto, or Acton, one of his clerks, to a Lincoln prebend, 
 and also to a request that the Bishop should admit Thomas, son 
 of Earl Ferrers, to the church of Eandes in Lincolnshire, though 
 he was under age and not yet in orders. In the former case, 
 whilst admitting the Legate's right, Grosseteste urges strong 
 reasons against the course proposed, and requests that the colla- 
 tion may be revoked ; in the other, he declares that his con- 
 science will not allow him to do what he is asked, and shows 
 the impropriety of the act, adding that, if the Legate persists, 
 the responsibility must rest on his shoulders, and even then a 
 vicarage must be established with sufficient funds to secure the 
 maintenance of a resident vicar.^ Archdeacon Perry blames 
 Grosseteste for not having given a decidedly negative reply in 
 those two instances," but it is manifest that the letters represent 
 a polite way of saying Xo. In both instances the Bishop seems 
 to have gained his point. As Pegge observes/ the name of 
 Acton does not appear among the prebendaries of Lincoln, and 
 Eand remains a rectory to this day, whereas, if the son of Earl 
 Ferrers had been appointed, it would have been necessary, in 
 accordance with Grosseteste's stipulation, to create a vicarage. 
 Neither did he hesitate to summon before him "William, Earl of 
 AVarren, for causing his chaplain to celebrate mass in his hall 
 at Grantham, an unconsecrated place and in other respects 
 unfit.^ 
 
 It was also in 1240 that, according to the brief statement of 
 
 ^ Letters 49, .74, 52. The date of other hand, probably dates back to 
 
 those letters is not quite clear. Luard 1238, soon after his arrival, 
 
 thinks that the last two may have - Page 110. 
 
 been ^vl■itten in 1239. The only cer- •• Pp. 76, 77. 
 
 tainty -with regard to the period to ■* Letter 56. It must have been 
 
 which they belong is that they must written before the 27th of May 1240, 
 
 have been written before Otho's de- the date of the Earl's death. — Hist. 
 
 parture in 1241. Letter 49, on the Mnj. iv. 12.
 
 2o8 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 the Dimstahlc Amials,^ Grosseteste "honourably recovered the 
 prebend of Thame, which John Mansel had occupied with the 
 King's connivance." From the fuller account given by Matthew 
 Paris, it appears that John Mansel, one of the King's clerks, 
 was put in possession of the church at Thame, attached to a 
 Lincoln prebend called by that designation, through the King's 
 favour and by virtue of a Papal provision, in spite of the fact 
 that Grosseteste had already appointed Simon of London, 
 penitentiary to the Bishop of Durham.^ When Grosseteste 
 heard what had happened he was much annoyed, and at once 
 sent word to Henry the Third, who was then in Wales, by 
 William, Archdeacon of Huntingdon, and by John de Basing- 
 stoke, Archdeacon of Leicester, " to admonish him, out of 
 gratitude for the unexpected victory granted to him over the 
 Welsh, forthwith to make amends for his transgression, lest 
 perchance God, in His anger, should convert his smiles into 
 tears." The King replied that the matter was suh judice, as an 
 appeal had been lodged, and that, moreover, he had acted in 
 accordance with the Pope's authority. Thereupon one of the 
 archdeacons, presumably John de Basingstoke, answered : " My 
 Lord King, our master the Bishop of Lincoln holds a privilege 
 granted to him by the Pope,^ by which he is exempted from 
 providing for any one at the command of the Apostolic See, 
 unless special mention is made of that privilege ; but in this 
 Papal mandate, which the said John Mansel has obtained, and 
 by dint of which he has forcibly thrust himself into this 
 church, relying on your assistance, no mention is made of that 
 privilege ; wherefore the Bishop of Lincoln is not bound to 
 reply to him in this case, particularly with respect to the giving 
 away of the church at Thame, which he had previously, and 
 with justice, given to another. And, even if he had no such 
 privilege, it is absurd for any one to push himself into the 
 possession of any church without consultation with, not to say 
 
 ^ Ann. Monast. (Dunstable), iii. 158. ^ See above, p. 205. Bliss, Calendar, 
 
 2 Hist. Maj. iv. 152, 153. i. 178.
 
 IX GROSSETESTE'S RELATIONS WITH THE KING 209 
 
 against the will of the diocesan Bishop, even if he rely upon the 
 Papal authority, inasmuch as the Pope wishes all things to be 
 done in order." The Archdeacons then proceed to suggest, on 
 Grosseteste's behalf, that he would be prepared, in view of John 
 Hansel's circumspection and the sufficiency of his learning, to 
 bestow upon him a better living, but that, if he persisted in 
 remaining at Thame, he would be excommunicated. Henry the 
 Third, leaving a German named Waleran in charge of the 
 military defences in "Wales, went shortly afterwards to London, 
 and there was met by Grosseteste, " who had come fully 
 prepared to pronounce anathemas on the disturbers of the 
 Church in general, and on John Mansel in particular." The 
 latter, however, justified his reputation for circumspection by 
 resigning the prebend,^ and was rewarded by the King with the 
 living of Maidstone, to which Howden was afterwards added. 
 In later years John Mansel played a prominent part on Henry's 
 side during the civil war. Grosseteste, on the other hand, being 
 thus pacified, complied with the King's request that he should 
 preach a sermon in public, " as one in whose breast were stored 
 the keys of knowledge, and commended the humility of both 
 parties, amongst other things making a comparison between the 
 r^ys of the sun, which are straight, and the King's justice, which 
 ought to be straight." " jMatthew Paris adds that Henry, 
 seeing that Grosseteste was in a conciliatory frame of mind, 
 took the opportunity of helping to settle a dispute of long 
 standing between him and the abbey of Westminster re- 
 specting the church at Ash well, or Heswell, with the result 
 that the church in question fell into the possession of the Abbot 
 of Westminster, whilst the right of presentation to the newly 
 established vicarage was reserved to the Bishop of Lincoln.^ 
 
 ^ Cp. Adam Marsh's letter to R. de early stages of the dispute see Bliss, 
 
 Gravesend, Dean of Lincoln, written Calendar of the Papal Registers, i. 181 
 
 some months after Grosseteste's death. (April 1239). Grosseteste had, it 
 
 — Hon. Franciscana, pp. 185, 186. appears, excommunicated at that time 
 
 - Hist. Maj. iv. 154. the Abbot of Westminster, and laid 
 
 ^ Ibid. iv. 151, 154. For the Ashwell church under an interdict.
 
 2IO ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 The Thame incident is of importance in Grosseteste's life, 
 partly because on that occasion he was obliged to take a decided 
 line against the action both of the King and of the Pope, and 
 partly because he was thereby brought, contrary to expectation, 
 into personal and, to some extent, friendly intercourse with 
 Henry the Third. His previous communications with that 
 sovereign had been of a formal, and sometimes of a strained 
 character. In 1236, for instance, a few months after his receipt 
 of the customary present of bucks from the King,^ he had, in 
 what was apparently the first letter he wrote to him after his 
 consecration as Bishop, made application for the release from 
 prison of Kichard Syward, the friend and ally of Hubert de 
 Burgh and of Eichard Marshall, on the ground that, having taken 
 the Crusaders' vows, he was entitled to be released,^ and that, 
 even if that privilege were not recognised, there was a case for 
 the royal clemency. He had also witnessed the confirmation of 
 the chapters in 1237, and had repeatedly resisted, as lias been 
 seen, the King's attempted encroachments and his infringements 
 of the rights of the Church. Nor can Grosseteste's intimacy 
 with Richard Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, previous to his death 
 in 1234, and with Simon de Montfort, who, although he had 
 married Henry's sister, was now in disgrace, and had left 
 England in 1240 for two years in order to take part in the 
 Crusade, have been calculated to increase the Bishop's popularity 
 with the King. Yet the latter appears to have accepted rebukes 
 in no unbecoming spirit. Although rapacious for subsidies, 
 which he spent as soon as they were within his grasp, and 
 incapable of good government, he was of a mild disposition in 
 private life, and his somewhat ostentatious piety saved him, on 
 more than one occasion, from pushing matters to extremities in 
 his struggle with the ecclesiastical powers. 
 
 The Priors of Rochester and of St. - The question of the exemptions to 
 
 Augustine's, Canterbury, and the be accorded to Crusaders was frequently 
 
 Archdeacon of Rochester, to wliom the discussed. Sec the Decretal of Innocent 
 
 matter was referred, decided against IV., dated August 3, 1245, given in 
 
 Grosseteste. ^ See p. 114. the Hist, Maj. iv. 521.
 
 IX FRIENDSHIP WITH THE QUEEN 211 
 
 Vedete il re della semplice vita 
 Seder la solo, Arrigo d' Ingliilterra : 
 Questi lia ne' rami suoi migliore u.scita.^ 
 
 Grosseteste might warn liiin in 1236 to beware of the example 
 of Uzziah, and in 1243 to beware of that of Uzzah ; he might 
 offer strenuous resistance to his attempts to use bribery and 
 intimidation in ecclesiastical elections, especially in that to the 
 bishopric of Hereford in 1240 ; - lie might denounce at every turn 
 his action in connection with the Winchester election, to which 
 reference will be made later on ; ^ — in spite of all those denun- 
 ciations, and notwithstanding his attitude of almost constant 
 opposition, Grosseteste was able, during the remainder of his 
 life, to preserve amicable relations, as far as private intercourse 
 w'as concerned, with the King. At the same time he did not 
 respond with much alacrity to Henry's advances when they 
 appeared to be intended to diminish in any degree his inde- 
 pendence. In one letter,^ for example, written probably in 
 1242, he begins by thanking the King for the news he has 
 given of himself, as well as of his Queen and family, and also 
 for his inquiries after the writer's health. In reply, however, 
 to Henry's complaint that Grosseteste rather neglected him and 
 did not visit him in person, the Bishop refers to their relative 
 positions, the King's prosperity, his own weak health, and the 
 urgent character of his ecclesiastical work. About the same 
 time Walter de Cantelupe, Bishop of Worcester, consulted 
 Grosseteste as to the advisability of his accepting an invita- 
 tion from Henry III. to accompany him abroad at the royal 
 expense. Grosseteste replies ^ that his correspondent must 
 necessarily be guided by the consideration of what is best for 
 his flock in his own diocese, but promises to discuss the matter 
 with Adam Marsh, if Walter de Cantelupe will give him his 
 views on both sides of the question. The letter thus throws 
 light on Grosseteste's own motives for not frequenting the court, 
 
 ^ Dante, Purgatorio, vii. 130. * Letter 83. 
 
 3 See p. 214. ■» Letter 101. ^ Letter 99.
 
 212 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 and also shows incidentally how his advice was sought and 
 valued. 
 
 It is probable that the tact and judgment exhibited by 
 Queen Eleanor, and also Grosseteste's friendship with the King's 
 sister, the wife of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, helped 
 to smooth over some of the difficulties which the Bishop 
 encountered in his intercourse with the King. The character of 
 the Queen appears in a highly favourable light in the corre- 
 spondence both of Grosseteste and of Adam Marsh. When the 
 appointment of her uncle, Boniface of Savoy, as Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, was confirmed in 1243, Grosseteste wrote to him, 
 asking him to induce the Queen, his niece, to intercede with the 
 King for the purpose of preventing his entry into England from 
 being disturbed by the discords he was fomenting in connection 
 with the election to the bishopric of Winchester.^ " Happy is 
 the man," writes Grosseteste, " who has a good wife, as Wisdom 
 testifies. He is often saved by her circumspection, and his 
 heart is turned to a better purpose by her gentle and wholesome 
 persuasiveness." He also wrote to the Queen herself the 
 following letter full of good advice : " — 
 
 " It is written in the book of Wisdom, that * as is the rising 
 sun to the world, so is a good woman to her household.' The 
 rising sun, that is to say, frees the world from the horror of 
 darkness, brings in the pleasant and joyous light of the day, 
 substitutes for the dangers and terrors of the night security and 
 peace, and imparts, by the operation of natural forces, comfort, 
 sustenance, life, light, and warmth to every plant, and to every 
 creature on this earth. Even so should your kindness, goodness, 
 and virtue introduce into your household, which consists in a 
 special sense of the Church and kingdom of England, the 
 brightness and the charm which the morning rays of the sun 
 bestow upon tlie world. You may dispel the horrors of error 
 
 ^ Letter 86. placed, for certain jiurposes, under the 
 
 - Letter 103. From Bliss, Calendar special protection of the Archbishop of 
 
 of the. Papal Ecgidcrs, i. p. 209, it Canterbury and of Grosseteste. 
 
 appears that in 1241 the Queen was
 
 IX HEREFORD AND WINCHESTER ELECTIONS 213 
 
 by suggesting what is true, by favouring the cause of that peace 
 and that tranquillity of which all stand in need in Church and 
 State, and by affording to both of them, with all prudence, com- 
 fort, sustenance, life, light, and warmth. For reasons wliich 
 would be too long for me to explain, but which the bearer of 
 this letter, a dear friend and clerk of mine, will lay before you 
 if you are minded to hear him, the whole of the clergy and 
 people of England have been plunged during these years in the 
 darkness and terrors of a long and troubled night. Now is the 
 time, and here the place, for your bright presence to exhibit its 
 usefulness, by persuading the King, if he is open to persuasion, 
 to remove the new causes of disturbance which has arisen, a 
 fitting task for his regal Majesty, and not to allow the recrudes- 
 cence of other such causes ; but rather let him sit in the seat of 
 judgment, as is written concerning the good King, and dissipate 
 all that is evil by his glance ; and if he succeeds in so doing 
 through your inspiration, yours will be the credit and yours, in 
 truth, the act. Following, therefore, the example of Esther, that 
 excellent, holy, and prudent Queen, who freed her people from 
 the sentence of death passed upon them by the King's decree, 
 may you strive by instant influence with the King to set the 
 people and the priesthood of this realm of England free from the 
 unprecedented difficulties and dangers with which they are con- 
 fronted. I pray that your Majesty may ever fare well in the Lord." 
 In a letter written a few years later, Adam ]\Iarsh expresses 
 bis gratification that the Queen's good will to Grosseteste has 
 opened the way to greater activity in the interests of the Church ;^ 
 and on another occasion he conveys to the Bishop of Lincoln 
 an assurance that his confidence in the Queen's wisdom, diligence, 
 and constancy has not been misplaced, and that she shows her 
 sense of responsibility in scrutinising zealously the qualifications 
 of those whom the King desires to present to benefices within 
 his gift.^ It is evident, therefore, from that correspondence, as 
 well as from various incidents which occurred in later years, 
 
 1 Mon. Francisc. p. 102. '■' Ibid. p. 116.
 
 2 14 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 such as that in connection with the presentation to the church 
 of riamstead/ that Grosseteste's influence was not exerted in 
 vain. Her want of popularity, to which Matthew Paris some- 
 times gives expression,- w^as doubtless due, in the main, to the 
 action of her relatives rather than to her own. 
 
 The establishment of more friendly personal relations with 
 the King was all the more desirable owing to the fact that, 
 during the period now under review, Grosseteste was obliged 
 to take a line of action opposed to his in connection with the 
 elections to no fewer than three bishoprics — those of Hereford, 
 Winchester, and Chichester, as well as, to some slight extent, 
 that of Durham. In the case of Hereford, he had written to 
 St. Edmund in 1240,^ protesting against the possibility of 
 bribery and intimidation on the part of royal agents, and insist- 
 ing upon the urgent necessity for preserving the liberties granted 
 to the Church by the Great Charter. In the case of the See of 
 Winchester, which had become vacant as early as 1238, through 
 the death of Peter des Eoches, Grosseteste had addressed in 
 that year two letters,^ one of which was rather sharply worded, 
 to Cardinal Otho, emphasising the importance of securing that 
 a fit person should be chosen, and that the Chapter should enjoy 
 perfect freedom of choice, and pointing to the fact that the 
 King had been staying near that city, and had endeavoured by 
 promises and threats to force the convent to elect his nominee, 
 who was William of Provence, another uncle of the Queen, 
 already elect of Valence. The Chapter began by electing Ealph 
 Neville, Bishop of Chichester, but the election was, at the 
 King's instance, disapproved by the Pope, and Grosseteste, when 
 asked by Ralph Neville to use his influence on his behalf, 
 replied^ that the matter had Ijetter be left in the hands of 
 Providence. After an interval the Chapter elected William de 
 Raleigh, who, as Treasurer of Exeter and afterwards Bishop of 
 
 ' Witli reference to that subject see * Letter 83. 
 
 post, p. 302. Hist. Maj. v. 299. ■* Letters 60, 6L 
 
 = Hist. Maj. iv. 510. ^ Letter 62.
 
 IX SEES OF DURHAM AND CHICHESTER 215 
 
 Norwich, had always been on friendly terms with Grosseteste. 
 In spite of the King's persistent opposition, the monks who 
 formed the Chapter adhered to their choice, and in September 
 1243 William de lialeigh obtained the Papal confirmation.^ 
 Henry the Third, in his indignation, ordered the gates of 
 Winchester to be closed, and the Bishop- elect to be denied 
 admittance, and used other means of persecution, even cutting 
 off the supply of provisions sent to him from Norwich by sea 
 and land, after his arrival at Southwark, and prohibiting any 
 one in the city of London from selling him even the neces- 
 saries of life." Grosseteste thereupon, accompanied by Walter 
 de Cantelupe, Bishop of Worcester, and Peter d'Aiguesblanche, 
 Bishop of Hereford, hastened to Pleading in order to rebuke the 
 King. The latter, informed of their coming, "took to flight, 
 declining their salutary admonitions." When at last they found 
 him he broke into words of excuse and of hatred, and despatched 
 to the Eoman court messengers bearing a large sum of money, 
 one of whom, however, instead of going to Eonie, went to his 
 home at Susa with the treasure, and, says Matthew Paris, " after 
 the example of the raven which did not return to the ark, 
 did not reappear in England."^ Grosseteste and the Bishops 
 of Worcester and Hereford followed Henry to Westminster, 
 rebuked him for his tyranny, and even threatened to lay his 
 private chapel under an interdict. The King, however, asked 
 them to wait until he received news from Eome. The three 
 Bishops consented to the delay, and William de Ealeigh, in 
 despair, sailed secretly from the port of London, landed at St. 
 Valery, and took refuge at Abbeville, where Louis IX. offered 
 him protection.'* The French compared his sufferings with the 
 treatment accorded, in different reigns, to St. Anselm, St. Thomas 
 Becket, and St. Edmund. The new Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 Boniface, who was about to come over to England, and to whom 
 Grosseteste wrote shortly afterwards on the subject,^ perceived 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. iv. 259. - Ihid. iv. 285, 286. 
 
 3 Ihid. iv. 286. •* Ihid. iv. 295. * Letter 86.
 
 2i6 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 the unpopularity Henry the Thh'd was incurring through his 
 obstinacy, and brought pressure to bear upon him. The Pope 
 wrote in a similar sense, and at last the King gave way, 
 and allowed William de Raleigh to enjoy his bishopric. The 
 final reconciliation between them was effected a few years 
 later, when Henry kept his court at Winchester in 1247, and 
 accepted the Bishop's invitation to dine with him on Christmas 
 Day.^ 
 
 A more peaceful part was performed by Grosseteste in con- 
 nection with the vacancy which arose in the See of Durham, 
 and which the monks who formed the cathedral Chapter filled 
 in 1241 by unanimously electing Nicholas of Farnham, a man 
 of high character and wide knowledge, who had been a regent 
 in arts at Paris for several years, had afterwards studied and 
 practised medicine at Bologna, and, after attaining to great skill 
 in physical science, had turned his attention to theology, and 
 qualified himself to occupy the master's chair." He seems to 
 have been of an amiable disposition, in favour with the King 
 and Queen and with all parties. He had shortly before refused 
 the proffered See of Coventry and Lichfield, and was unwilHng 
 to accept that of Durham, on the ground tliat men might accuse 
 him of declining a poor bishopric in order to obtain a rich one. 
 Grosseteste, however, succeeded in overcoming his honourable 
 scruples by pointing out that his presence was absolutely 
 required, and that, if he did not consent, " the King, in his 
 machinations, w^ould place some foreign and untrustworthy, as 
 well as ignorant, man in the office, to the subversion of the 
 dignity of the Church and to the danger of the whole realm ; 
 for the bishopric of Durham is on the confines of the kingdoms 
 of England and Scotland, and the castles within its borders, to 
 wit, Durham and Norham, are in that part of the country the 
 bulwarks against the assaults of all our enemies."^ Nicholas 
 of Farnham is stated by Matthew I'aris to have replied, with a 
 sigh : " I love the virtue of obedience : in your diocese I hold 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. iv. 590. "^ Ibid. iv. 86. ^ ji^i^i [y_ 36.
 
 IX ATTEMPTS TO MEDIATE 217 
 
 my benefices, which I have obtained through your favour, and I 
 therefore obey your paternal commands." 
 
 In the case of the vacancy in the See of Chichester in 1244 
 the King, by intriguing with the canons, managed to secure 
 the election of Eobert Passelew, one of his clerks, a forest 
 judge who, with the object of replenishing the royal coffers, was 
 deemed to have " impoverished all, monks and seculars, noble 
 and ignoble, to such an extent that many were ruined or im- 
 prisoned." ^ Boniface on that occasion sympathised with the 
 indignation of the Bishops, who, with a certain sense of humour, 
 arranged for the forest judge being examined in difficult questions 
 of theology by Grosseteste, the most learned man of his day, 
 and, as Eobert Passelew was unable to satisfy his examiner as 
 to his qualifications, the election was quashed." The King was 
 very angry at the outcome of the proceedings, but his anger 
 was directed mainly against the newly elected Bishop of 
 Chichester, Eichard de la Wyche, who had been Chancellor of 
 the University of Oxford, and was an intimate friend of Grosse- 
 teste. The Bishop of Lincoln was again brought in contact, 
 probably in the following year, with Eobert Passelew, whom he 
 refused to institute when the King presented him to the living 
 of St. Peter's, Northampton, partly because he was a forest judge, 
 and partly on other grounds.^ 
 
 The keen interest taken by Grosseteste in the European 
 situation, during the period now under review, is reflected in an 
 incident which took place in 1241. Several earnest though 
 unsuccessful efforts were made in that year to bring about peace 
 between the Pope and the Emperor, notably by Eichard, Earl of 
 Cornwall, on his way back from the Holy Land.^ On the death 
 of Gregory the Ninth, a few months later, followed by that of 
 his successor, Celestine the Fourth, within seventeen days after 
 his election, a meeting was held, under the presidency of the 
 Archbishop of York, at which Grosseteste was present, together 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. iv. 401. ^ See above, p. 176. Letters 124, 126. 
 
 - Ibid. iv. 509, 510. •* Hist. Maj. iv. 145 sqq.
 
 2i8 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 with his Mead William de Ealeigh, still Bishop of Norwich, 
 and Walter Mauclerc, Bishop of Carlisle, whose sympathies with 
 his views may be inferred from the fact that he had, in earlier 
 years, been an active opponent of Peter des Eoches and of the 
 King's policy,^ that he had helped to advance Nicholas of Faru- 
 ham,^ and that, towards the end of his career, he became a 
 Dominican at Oxford.^ The three Bishops, with the assistance 
 of many other influential ecclesiastics, met together to delib- 
 erate on the manifold desolations of the Church, and resolved 
 unanimously to send messengers to the Emperor for the 
 purpose of urging him " to lay aside all feelings of rancour and 
 indignation, to abandon all forms of tyranny, to allow the 
 Church to breathe freely, and, in spite of the provocations to 
 which he had previously been subjected, to promote its ad- 
 vancement." •* Some difficulty arose, however, with regard to 
 the choice of a messenger. In the unsettled state of Europe 
 the roads were unsafe ; numerous prelates, sailing in Genoese 
 galleys, had been captured by the Pisan fleet ; and Otho himself, 
 the Cardinal Legate, had been made a prisoner by the Emperor. 
 On the principle, therefore, that 
 
 " Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator," 
 
 they decided to send some of the mendicant friars on the 
 errand, partly because they offered no inducement to robbers, 
 and partly because they were wanderers and well acquainted 
 with all countries. Grosseteste's hand may be discerned in the 
 selection. The mission, however, was fruitless. Frederick II. 
 was as unswerving in his determination to admit of no interfer- 
 ence, as Gregory IX. had been in his answer to Eichard of 
 Cornwall. The Emperor, headstrong, restless, and versatile — 
 " stupor mundi Fredericus," as Matthew Paris and other writers 
 call him — was too intent upon his plans for recovering and 
 consolidating his power in Italy to pay much heed to those 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. iii. 148. ? Ibid. iv. 5C4. 
 
 ■■' Ibid. iv. 87. •• Ibid. iv. 173.
 
 IX PARLIAMENT OF 1244 219 
 
 who tried to restrain his course. In spite, or possibly in part 
 because of his marriage with Henry the Third's sister, he does 
 not appear to have been popular in England. The dominant 
 feeling in this country, as far as can be gathered from 
 contemporary records, was distinctly against him during his 
 struggle with the Pope. Even his entry into Jerusalem had 
 aroused no enthusiasm, in view of the fact that his recovery of 
 the holy city was effected by connivance with the Saracens, not 
 in open warfare, and was accompanied by what was deemed 
 undue deference to jMussulman susceptibilities. Matthew Paris 
 describes him as more of a Mohammedan than a Christian,^ and 
 his intimacy with the Sultan of Cairo and his reputed scepticism 
 doubtless told against him in England. He made several 
 attempts, however, especially in 1244, to conciliate English 
 opinion ; - and there can be no doubt that, although his 
 marriage with Henry's sister may not have affected public 
 opinion in any considerable degree, it helped to prevent the 
 influence of the English Government from being thrown com- 
 pletely into the scale against him, just as the fact that Henry 
 and St. Louis had married two sisters tended to mitigate 
 the strain to which the relations between England and France 
 were at that time subjected.^ Grosseteste's antipathy to the 
 Emperor was profound, and explains in a large measure the 
 support he accorded, shortly after the Council of Lyons, to the 
 collection of subsidies iii aid of the Papal requirements 
 necessitated by the continuance of the struggle.* 
 
 In the political and constitutional developments of those 
 years Grosseteste played no inconspicuous part. In January 
 1242 he was present at the meeting of Parliament held in 
 London, which refused the King's demands for funds to enable 
 him to provoke war with France, and issued the first written 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. iii. 521, iv. 435. the Queen's sisters, helped to detach 
 
 2 Ibid. iv. 371, 372. him from the baronage with which his 
 
 2 Much in the same way the first marriage had closely connected 
 
 marriage of Richard, Earl of Cornwall, him. — Stubbs, ii. p. 60. 
 
 •with Sanchia of Provence, another of * Letter 119.
 
 2 20 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 protest known in parliamentary history,^ Of greater import- 
 ance was his action during the Parliament which met in 
 Westminster Hall in 1244, when Henry, in order to meet the 
 expenditure he had incurred in his indecisive expedition to 
 Gascony, and with a view to a secretly contemplated attack 
 on Scotland, asked for pecuniary assistance. The clergy and 
 the nobility, after deliberating separately, met together, and 
 appointed a Committee of twelve, of whom four represented the 
 clergy, four the laity, two the barons, and two the abbots. The 
 nominees of the clergy were the Archbishop-elect of Canterbury, 
 Grosseteste, William de Ealeigh, and Walter de Cantelupe ; 
 those of the laity were Eichard, Earl of Cornwall, Earl Bigod, 
 Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and Walter Marshall, Earl 
 of Pembroke ; those of the barons were Eichard de Montfichet 
 and John Baliol ; and the abbots were represented by those of 
 Bury St. Edmunds and Eamsey.^ The twelve were chosen 
 unanimously, and it was provided that they should draw up 
 articles to be agreed to by the whole assembly, regulating the 
 King's conduct and the nomination of his principal and respon- 
 sible ministers. When the scheme of reform, framed by the 
 Committee and approved by all, was presented to the King, he 
 declined in the first instance to accede to it, but promised to 
 amend spontaneously the matters of which they complained, 
 and is said to have caused the proceedings of Parliament to be 
 adjourned for three weeks until Candlemas, the 2nd of February.^ 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. iv, 185. Omnes ^ Hist. Maj. iv. 362 sqq. 
 episcopi, etc. The word "Parliament" 
 
 came into vogue about this time, as ^ Such is the statement of Matthew 
 
 aj)plied to the Great Council of the Paris. It is evident, however, that, as 
 
 nation. It is used in the Dunslahle is shown by Stubbs, vol. ii. p. 61, he 
 
 Annals [Ann. Monast. iii. 164) with has confused incidents which took 
 
 reference to the Parliament which met place in ditferent Parliaments or Ses- 
 
 at Windsor in Sept. 1244. Henry III. sions held in 1244, and that the princi- 
 
 speaks in that year of the great as- pal ])roceedings which he records must 
 
 sembly of 1215 as the rarliatncntmn have occurred in the course of a Parlia- 
 
 Jiunemede {Close Rolls, 28 Henry nient held some time between the end 
 
 III.) Matthew Paris first applies of August and the middle of November 
 
 the term to the Parliament of 1246. of that year.
 
 IX THE COMMITTEE OF TWELVE 221 
 
 They next declared that they would be content to provide 
 the king with the required funds on condition that he would 
 agree to their demands as to the appointment of responsible 
 ministers and the due observance of the laws of the land, 
 and also provided that the money was expended by the 
 aforesaid Committee of twelve as trustees for the King. 
 Henry did all he could to influence the individual nobles 
 and prelates, and exhibited a letter he had procured from 
 Innocent IV., addressed to the clergy of England, urging them 
 to give to the King the aid he required, and induced the 
 Pope to write private letters in a similar sense to each of the 
 bishops. 
 
 Matthew Paris, after referring to the vicissitudes of the six 
 days' debate which ensued, describes how, on the last of those 
 days, the King spent the whole of his time until the evening in 
 trying to convince the prelates one by one. On the morrow 
 they assembled in the infirmary of the chapel of St. John the 
 Evangelist, and Henry sent to them by certain nobles, one of 
 whom was Simon de Montfort, a message urging obedience, 
 mainly on account of the Pope's request, but also with a view 
 to the King's urgent necessities. Almost immediately after- 
 wards, while the prelates were considering the Papal letter, the 
 King suddenly appeared among them, protested with his usual 
 oath that their honour was as dear to him as his own, and that 
 the converse ought to hold true, and heaped entreaty on 
 entreaty ; but as they persisted in their reply that they would 
 take the question into consideration, he went away greatly 
 perturbed. And, as some were anxious that they should give a 
 milder answer to the King, Grosseteste rose and made a speech 
 which persuaded the assembly, and in which he used the 
 words : " Let us not separate ourselves from the general resolve ; 
 for it is written, Divided we perish." Again the King en- 
 deavoured to influence them individually during the adjourn- 
 ment which took place ; again he failed ; and the decision of 
 Parliament, to which he ultimately agreed, as recorded by the
 
 222 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap, ix 
 
 contemporary historian/ not only constitutes an important 
 landmark in constitutional history, but may be regarded as a 
 tribute, in a special sense, to the attitude adopted by Grosseteste. 
 Whatever may have been, however, the importance of the 
 principles of constitutional liberty and ministerial responsibility 
 enunciated in that document, they were persistently disregarded 
 by the King in the years w^hich followed. The great merit of 
 Grosseteste's policy in this respect — and it became even more 
 conspicuous at a later stage — was that he attempted to iden- 
 tify the best interests of the ecclesiastical organism with the 
 development of political freedom, and to pursue at one and the 
 same time the reform of the Church and the reform of the State. 
 The Committee of twelve of 1244 anticipates, in some measure, 
 the Committee of twenty-four of 1258 ; and the emphasis laid in 
 the former year upon the communis sensus, the communitas regni, 
 and the universitas, is a forecast of the principles embodied in 
 the song : 
 
 Igitur communitas regni consulatur, 
 Et quid universitas sentiat, sciatur, 
 Cui leges propriae maxirae sunt notae.^ 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. iv. 366 sqq. 
 ~ Wright, Political Songs (Camden Society), pp. 71 sqq.
 
 CHAPTEE X 
 
 1239-1244 — Grosseteste's renewed interest in the revival of learning — His 
 translations and suj^ervision of translations from Greek into Latin — Tlie 
 Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs and other ^\Titings — John de Basingstoke 
 and Nicholas the Greek — Methods of translation — Works on rural and 
 domestic economy— Sustained interest in the affairs of the University of 
 Oxford — Subsequent share in its organisation. 
 
 It might have been thought that Grosseteste's time, during the 
 period which elapsed between 1239 and 1244, would have been 
 so fully occupied with the reorganisation of religious work 
 within his diocese, with the numerous disputes in which he was 
 engaged, and with the active part he took in public affairs, that 
 he would have found no opportunity either for literary occupa- 
 tions or for sustained interest in the fortunes of the University 
 with which his career had been so closely interwoven. Such, 
 however, was not the case. To the period in question must be 
 assigned (1) his renewed effort to promote the revival of Greek 
 studies ; (2) his translation from Greek into Latin of the work 
 known as the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, as well as of 
 a treatise ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite, and other 
 writings ; ^ (3) his contributions to the literature of rural and 
 domestic economy; and (4) the action he took to obtain for 
 the Chancellor and University of Oxford a royal privilege 
 defining the extent of their jurisdiction. 
 
 1 On the Testament of the Twelve the Opera Dionysii Areopagitae, 
 
 Patriarchs see p. 227. Grosseteste's Argent., 1503, pp. 2646-271 &. He 
 
 translation of the Mystical Theology, translated other works of that writer, 
 
 with a commentary, is the only one of and commented on them. — Tanner's 
 
 his works relating to the author knowm Bibliotheca ; Wharton's Anglia Sacra, 
 
 as Dionysius the Areopagite which has ii. p. 347 ; Felten, p. 75. 
 been printed. The commentary is in
 
 2 24 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 Eoger Bacon's assertion ^ that G-rosseteste was not sufficiently 
 acquainted with Greek to be able to translate out of that 
 language until the latter portion of his life, taken in conjunc- 
 tion with other passages, merely means that he did not carry 
 out actual and continuous translations until that period of his 
 career, and that even then he required a certain amount of 
 assistance. He had commenced the study of that language, as 
 has been seen, whilst he was at the University, and had doubt- 
 less used, or at any rate consulted, the original text, in his 
 lectures and commentaries on the Posterior Analytics and other 
 writings of Aristotle. The importance, however, of his work 
 as a pioneer of the study of Greek, lies rather in the impulse he 
 gave to the efforts of others, than in the results he achieved 
 himself. It was with that object that he summoned Greeks to 
 England, and arranged for Greek manuscripts to be brought 
 from Athens, Constantinople, and elsewhere.^ Some of the 
 Greek teachers thus invited by Grosseteste still remained in 
 this country at the time when Eoger Bacon wrote his Com- 
 pendimji Studii Philosophiac in 1271.^ In the same work 
 Bacon maintains that for seventy years no one but Grosseteste 
 had enriched the Church by translations, as he had done in the 
 case of Dionysius the Areopagite, St. John of Damascus, and 
 some other sacred teachers.*^ Trivet mentions in terms of 
 special commendation, in addition to his Testament of the Tivclve 
 Patriarchs, his Commentary on the Books of Dionysius, which he 
 had "caused to be translated." It is to Grosseteste and his 
 assistants that must also be attributed the Latin version of the 
 letters of St. Ignatius, brought to light by Bishop Ussher in 
 1646, and of which the late Bishop Lightfoot has given a 
 luminous account.' It is possible, too, that the renderings 
 
 ^ Opus Tertium, ed. Brewer, p. 91. ii. vol. i. pp. 76 sqq. It is what is 
 
 See p. 23. known as tlie Latin version of the 
 
 '^ R. Bacon, ihiil. Middle liecension of St. Ignatius' 
 
 * Ihid. p. 434. Epistles. Lightfoot thinks that the 
 
 ■• Ihid. p. 474. Trivet, ji. 243, circulation of Grosseteste's translation 
 
 etc. was probably confined to the Franciscan 
 
 '' Liglitfoot's Apostolic Fathers, part convent at Oxford, to which he be-
 
 X TRANSLATIONS— NICHOLAS THE GREEK 225 
 
 from the Lexicon of Suidas ascribed to Grosseteste by Boston 
 of Bury also belong to this period of bis life.^ 
 
 The difference between the translations which he effected, 
 when unaided, and those which lie carried out with the assist- 
 ance of others, may, perhaps, be inferred from a comparison of 
 the description he gives of his method of translating the Greek 
 work on the monastic state which he sent to the Abbot and 
 convent of Peterborough,- with the account given by various 
 writers of the later versions connected with his name. In the 
 former instance he says that he extracted as best he could the 
 meaning of the words, and added what was necessary to eluci- 
 date their meaning. His later translations, such as those which 
 belong to the greater part of the period now under review, 
 which he effected with the aid of others working under him, 
 are, on the other hand, extremely literal. Matthew Paris notes 
 that the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs was rendered 
 " verbo ad verbum," ^ and Bishop Lightfoot has given several 
 instances of Grosseteste's close adherence to the original 
 wording and even to the construction of the sentences.'* 
 For the efforts thus made he is deserving of the highest praise, 
 and the difficulties and the defects inseparable from the initial 
 stages of the study of a language are in themselves a tribute to 
 the novelty as well as to the importance of the undertaking. 
 
 It was in 1242, according to Matthew Paris and most chroni- 
 clers, that Grosseteste, assisted by Nicholas the Greek, trans- 
 
 »|ueathed his books. John Tyssiugton shows acquaintance Avith Suidas. 
 
 and William Woodford, both of whom Lightfoot, ibid. p. So. 
 
 quote the Latin version of those '^ See p. 165 ; Letter 57, p. 173. 
 
 Epistles, belonged to that convent in '• Extractum pro modulo meo verborum 
 
 the thirteenth century. A JIS. in sensum, adjectis aliculii paucis ad 
 
 the library at Tours, mentioned in dilucidationem in hanc pagiuam redi- 
 
 Dorange's Catalogue des Manuscrits dc gens, vobis destiuare curavi." 
 
 la Bibliothique de Tours, and examined •* Hist. Maj. iv. 232. 
 
 by Canon Armitage Robinson on behalf ■* Apostolic Fathers, I.e. Cp. Felten, 
 
 of Bishop Lightfoot, distinctly ascribes p. 86. 
 
 the translation to Grosseteste, pp. 77, ^ Hist. Maj. iv. 232 ; I!. Bacon, 
 
 274. p. 474 ; Trivet, p. 243 ; Salimbene, 
 
 ^ The author of the above-named Chronicle of Parma (Parma, 1856), p. 
 
 version of the Epistles of St. Ignatius 99 ; Joh. de Oxenedes, ed. Ellis, p.
 
 2 26 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 lated the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs into Latin. Nicholas, 
 after being clerk to the Abbot of St. Albans, had become an 
 inmate of the Bishop of Lincoln's household. It is probable, 
 for reasons previously stated/ that Grosseteste had been 
 acquainted "with him during his university career at Oxford, 
 and possibly at Paris. He appears to have resided at Oxford in 
 1238, as his name is to be found in the list of those who were 
 bailed out by the Bishop after the attack on the Legate at Osney, 
 and in the following year he had been presented to the living of 
 Datchet by the Abbot and convent of St. Albans.^ In view of the 
 large number of Italians who held livings in England, though un- 
 acquainted with the English language, it is not remarkable that a 
 Greek who had studied at Oxford, and spent apparently most of 
 his life in this country, should have been made a rector ; and it 
 must be borne in mind that the Latin Empire existing at that 
 time at Constantinople formed an additional link between East 
 and West, and rendered intercourse more easy.^ Even Armenians 
 came to England during that period : an Armenian archbishop, 
 for example, visited St. Albans, one of their bishops died at 
 St. Ives, others of that race travelled all the way to this country 
 in 1250 to pay their respects at his tomb, and some found their 
 way to St. Albans two years later, and related many things con- 
 cerning Mount Ararat and the ark, as well as respecting the 
 persecutions inflicted upon them by the Tartars.^ 
 
 171, etc. Matthew Paris with his own Catalogue, iii. p. 57, and plate 9 of the 
 
 hand transcribed a copy of the work facsimiles at the commencement of the 
 
 for the use of the Benedictine monks at volume. 
 
 St. Albans. It is in the Royal MS. 4 D. i See p. 21. 
 
 vii. British Museum, together with a '^ For the evidence see Pegge, pp. 
 
 " tractatus quem episcopus Lincol- 163, 164. 
 
 niensis Robertus transtulit de Oraeco * It lasted from 1203 to 1261. 
 in Latinum, de probatione virginitatis * Nisi. Maj. iii. 163, 164 ; v. 116, 
 Beatae Mariae et sacerdotio Jesu." 340, 341. Dean Stanley [Eastern 
 The colophon says : " Hoc quoque Church, p. 8) .states that the Testa- 
 scriptum adquisivit frater Matthaeus vunt of the Twelve Patriarchs forms 
 Parisiensis ab episcopo memorato et ad part of the canon of the Armenian 
 usus claustralium manu sua scripsit ; Church. If so, Grosseteste's belief in 
 cujusanimain pacerequiescat. Amen." its authenticity may have been con- 
 See Sir T. Dutfus Hardy's Descriptive firmed by one of the Armenian visitors
 
 X JOHN DE BASINGSTOKE 227 
 
 Grosseteste's principal English collaborator was his own 
 Archdeacon of Leicester, John de Basingstoke, who is described 
 as " a man of great experience in the ' trivium ' and the ' quad- 
 riviuni,' and fully educated in Greek and Latin literature." ' 
 He had studied at Athens, and it was through him that Grosse- 
 teste obtained a copy of the Greek original of the Testament of 
 the Ticclvc Patriarchs for the purpose of translation. John de 
 Basingstoke also introduced, according to Matthew Paris, Greek 
 numerals into England, and instructed his intimate friends in 
 their use and significance," and composed a grammar called 
 the Greeh Donatus, based on a work written in that lancjuage. 
 He was instrumental in bringing to England many valuable 
 manuscripts. 
 
 Matthew Paris relates the following curious story which 
 John de Basingstoke told to a friend of his with reference to 
 his sojourn at Athens : " There was a certain damsel, daughter 
 of the Archbishop of Athens,'' Constantina by name, hardly 
 twenty years of age, endowed with every virtue and well 
 acquainted with the difficulties of the ' trivium ' and ' quad- 
 rivium ' ; for which reason, on account of her eminence in know- 
 ledge, the said Master John used in jest to call her another 
 Catherine. She it was who was the teacher of Master John, 
 and all the good he acquired in the way of science, as he often 
 asserted, he had obtained from her, although he had studied 
 and read for a long time in Paris. This damsel was able to 
 foretell, with unfailing foresight, pestilence, thunderstorms, 
 eclipses, and, what was more remarkable, earthquakes." 
 
 Grosseteste's translation of the Testament of the Ticelve 
 Patriarchs, the sons of Jacob, produced a great sensation at the 
 time, as is shown by the references in almost all the chronicles, 
 
 to this country. Malan, however, in symbols are drawn bj' ilatthew Pari.«, 
 
 his Philosophy of Truth, pp. 176 sqq.. Hist. Maj. v. 285. 
 
 disputes the statement. See note on ^ Michael Acominatus. — Finlay's 
 
 p. 240 of the present work. History of G-rcece, ed. Tozer, iv. 134. 
 
 ^•Hist. Maj. V. 28i sqq. Luard also refers to the Oriens Cliris- 
 
 ^ See Pegge's Appendix 11. The tianv.s, ii. 174.
 
 2 28 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 and was frequently printed iu later ages.^ Of the English 
 versions of his work, which subsequently appeared, nearly thirty 
 editions are enumerated in Hazlitt's bibliographical collections. 
 It is, perhaps, a matter for regret that he should have devoted 
 so much care to what was unquestionably a spurious, though 
 an early and highly interesting, work.^ The Greek original 
 purported to be a version of one of the books of the Hebrew 
 Scriptures, which had been suppressed or secreted by the 
 Jews on account of its prophetic references to Christianity, 
 and that is why Matthew Paris says that Grosseteste's desire 
 was to confute the Jews, thus bringing his purpose into harmony 
 with that of his De Cessatione Lcgalium.^ Grosseteste was 
 certainly misled, in common with many others, into a belief in 
 the authenticity of the work he was translating ; and in a letter 
 to Henry the Third,* who had addressed to him the inquiry, What 
 does anointing add to the royal dignity ? he quotes as authori- 
 tative, in the course of his reply, a passage from the Testament 
 of the Twelve Patriarchs on the superiority of the priesthood to 
 
 ^ E.g. at Hagueaau in 1532 and his request by John de Basingstoke 
 Paris in 1539, and in Galland's from Athens, is probably the one in 
 Bibliotheca Fatrum, i. 193 sqq. An the Library of the University of Cam- 
 edition without printer's name, place, bridge, to which it Mas left by Arch- 
 er date, black letter, was probably bishop Parker, numbered Ff. i. 24. 
 printed about 1520. Fabricius (ed. ^ jn^i^ j/-„j_ iy_ 232, 233 ; v. 285. 
 Mansi, Padua) mentions an edition •* Letter 124. See Selden's Titles of 
 printed at Vienna in 1483. Honour, parti, ch. 8. Arthur Taylor's 
 
 - On the Testament of the Twelve Treatise of the Anointing ami Crowning 
 
 Patriarchs, see the works of the Rev. of the Kings and Queens of Englaiid. 
 
 R. Sinker, D. D. , wlio published the text Besides the Holy Roman Emperor, only 
 
 in 1869, with notes, etc., an English four Kings received unction in addi- 
 
 translatiou in 1872, and a valuable tion to coronation : the Kings of 
 
 appendix in 1879. He regards it as Jerusalem, France, England, and Sicily, 
 
 one of tlie earliest monuments of Chris- Dean Stanley suggests {Memorials of 
 
 tian literature, written not later than JFcstminster) that Henry the Third's 
 
 the middle of the second century, and recollection of his twofold coronation 
 
 j)erhaps before the end of the first, and may have prompted tlie question he 
 
 holds that it can hardly have liad a addressed by the "young king" to 
 
 Hebrew original, though intended Grosseteste. Letter 124 must, how- 
 
 ])rimarily for Hebrew readers. The ever, have been written after 1245, 
 
 Greek MS. which Grosseteste actually when at least twenty-nine years had 
 
 used, and wliich was sent to him at elapsed since the King's accession.
 
 X WORKS ON HUSBANDRY 229 
 
 the kingly office. However, as Dr. rauli well remarks,^ the 
 revival of learning in the thirteenth century connnenced, like 
 that of the fifteenth, with what was least valuable and least 
 profitable. It was, in fact, the impetus given to intellectual 
 progress by the opening up of an access to new modes of thought 
 and sources of information, which constituted the great step in 
 advance, apart from the particular materials which were in the 
 first instance brought into requisition. 
 
 Of a lighter but not less useful character were the attempts 
 made by the Bishop during that period to spread sound notions 
 respecting the management of landed estates and of domestic hou se- 
 holds. His interest in agriculture had doubtless been acquired in 
 his early days at Stradbroke, and had never completely died out. 
 Walter of Henley's Treatise on Husbandry, written at some time 
 during the first half of the thirteenth century, w^as translated from 
 French into English either by him or under his auspices." The 
 need for a translation shows that some of those for whose use 
 the work was intended, whether lords or bailiffs, were un- 
 acquainted with, or at any rate imperfectly versed in the former 
 language ; though, perhaps, the object was to familiarise a wider 
 circle with the contents. Nothing is known definitely with 
 regard to the personality of AValter of Henley beyond the fact, 
 which he mentions, that he had served the office of bailiff ; but the 
 title of one of the manuscripts of his treatise states that he became 
 a friar preacher.^ If it were not for that reference, it might be 
 permissible to conjecture that he was identical with the W. de 
 Heminfrburfrh, or Hemingber^a, who was one of Grosseteste's 
 clerks, and a correspondent of Adam Marsh, in view of his 
 connection with the Bishop of Lincoln, and also seeing that 
 Henley in Oxfordshire was sometimes called Henneburgh, or 
 
 1 Page 41. English translation of that work attri- 
 
 ^ " Walter of Henley, etc.," ed. for bated to Grosseteste, an anonymous 
 
 the Royal Historical Society by Miss Husbandry, a Scneschaude, and Grosse- 
 
 Laniond, with introduction by Prof. teste's FmUs {Les Reules Seynt Boherd). 
 
 Cunningham (London, 1890), contains ^ Prof. Cunningham's Introduction, 
 
 Walter of Henley's Husbandry, the p. 21.
 
 230 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 some other name of similar sound. Adam Marsh's letter to 
 him,^ recommending the messenger of the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury to his good offices, implies, however, that he was a Fran- 
 ciscan and not a Dominican ; and the hypothesis must therefore 
 be abandoned, unless it be assumed that on the above-mentioned 
 title-page the words " Friar Preacher " Avere inserted by mistake 
 for " Friar Minor." In any case, Walter of Henley's work, 
 whoever the author may have been, was one of real importance, 
 and was regarded for several centuries as being of considerable 
 utility. Numerous manuscripts of it are still extant ; it was 
 translated into "Welsh and Latin, and the English version was 
 printed by Wynkyn de Worde. The authority for the state- 
 ment that the latter was due to the Bishop of Lincoln, is not 
 the mere ipse dixit of Bale, in his Scriptores Britanniae : the 
 title of a fifteenth-century manuscript - distinctly states that the 
 work was written in French, and translated into English by 
 Kobert Grosseteste, and other manuscripts contain the same 
 account of its origin.^ 
 
 With greater certainty, however, can the Eules, written in 
 French, which bear the name of Lcs Rcules Seynt Rdberd be 
 ascribed to him. They are described in the title as "The Rules 
 that the good Bishop of Lincoln, Saint Piobert Grosseteste, made 
 for the Countess of Lincoln to eruard and govern her Lands and 
 Hostel : whoever will keep these Piules well, will be able to live 
 on his means, and keep himself and those belonging to him." 
 The Countess of Lincoln in question was Margaret, widow of 
 John de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, who died on the 22nd of June 
 1240.* Various manors were assigned by the King for her 
 maintenance until her dowry out of her husband's lands should 
 be set forth.^ She afterwards married, in 1242, Walter 
 Marshall, seventh Earl of Pembroke, the same who two years 
 
 ^ Mon. Francisc. p. 255. Worde's extremely rare edition is in 
 
 2 Sloane MSS. 686, f. 1 ; Cunning- the Cambridge Library. 
 
 ham, Introd. p. 31. "• Hist. Maj. iv. 34. 
 
 ' Cunningham, Introduction, pp. * Dugdale's Baronage, quoted by 
 
 37, 39, 41. A copy of Wynkyn de Pegge, p. 95.
 
 X ESTATE MANAGEMENT 231 
 
 later served with Grosseteste on the famous Committee of 
 twelve. If, therefore, the Bishop's rules were written for her 
 guidance during her widowhood, as is most in accordance with 
 probability, they must have been composed between 1240 and 
 1242. Pegge points out^ that Grosseteste's acquaintance with 
 the de Lacys may have commenced at the time when he was 
 Archdeacon, and John de Lacy, Constable of Chester. The 
 Countess' mother was also connected with Chester, as she was 
 the sister of Eanulf, seventh earl of that name, with whom 
 Grosseteste may possibly, too, have come in contact during his 
 tenure of the archdeaconry of Leicester, as Eanulf held for 
 several years the Moutfort property in that district through a 
 grant made by King John,- and is recorded to have kept 
 Christmas of 1223 in the town of Leicester.^ 
 
 Walter of Henley's Treatise and Grosseteste's Eules cover 
 different ground. The former deals with the two-field and the 
 three-field system, and the practical details connected with the 
 general management of an estate, on the supposition, as 
 Professor Cunningham points out, that the lord or the bailiff 
 ^YOuld look into everything himself The Eules, on the other 
 hand, were intended for the personal use of the Countess of 
 Lincoln, who could not look into everything with her own eyes ; 
 and they deal not only with production, but with the consump- 
 tion of products in the household, and explain the methods by 
 which a large number of retainers can be directed to the best 
 purpose. Both treatises, however, have this in common, that 
 they are concerned with a condition of things in which com- 
 paratively little was bought or sold, as the difficulties of com- 
 munication rendered the interchange of heavy commodities 
 expensive and often impossible, so that the object was to work 
 the estate, as far as was feasible, on self-supporting principles. 
 At the same time a change was gradually coming over the 
 management of estates. The great Benedictine monasteries 
 
 ^ Page 95. and the authorities there quoted. 
 
 - Bemont, Simon de Montfort, p. 3, ^ Hist. Maj. iii. 83.
 
 232 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 were setting the example of improvements in tillage, the 
 Cistercians were producing wool in large quantities for purposes 
 of export, and the commercial activity encouraged by the 
 Crusades was gradually affecting the methods of rural economy. 
 Under the old state of things the villain worked, say, three 
 days a week on the domain land, besides extra days at harvest- 
 time, and performed sundry incidental duties, in return for 
 which he had the benefit of his holding of about thirty acres, 
 stocked with a yoke of oxen and half-a-dozen sheep.^ Under 
 the new order of things, the custom, on the part of the villains, 
 of discharging their obligations in money, in lie\i of labour or pro- 
 duce, was gradually spreading. The twofold effect of the change 
 was to allow them more time to look after their own holdings, 
 and to introduce the necessity for the use of hired labour on the 
 home farm or domain land, not, indeed, to such an extent as to 
 supersede altogether the services of the villains, but in such a 
 way as to diminish their importance, to concentrate the atten- 
 tion of the lord upon the requirements of the home farm, and to 
 necessitate the keeping of accounts. Walter of Henley and 
 Grosseteste wrote during the transitional period, and their 
 works must accordingly have been of the utmost practical value. 
 The obligations of the villains were generally stated in terms of 
 money : they might, however, be discharged wholly in service 
 or in kind, or else be commuted in their entirety for a cash pay- 
 ment ; or, again, a middle course might be adopted, according 
 as the special needs of the district or the will of the lord might 
 direct. 
 
 Grosseteste's Eules show how a lord or lady shall know in 
 each manor the rents, customs, usages, services, franchises, fees, 
 and tenements, and tell the live and dead stock ; they indicate 
 the best way of dealing with seneschals and bailiffs ; the method 
 of making the various estates self-sufficing, leaving a certain 
 surplus for sale ; when the granges should be shut and opened, 
 and how the accounts should be examined. Grosseteste then 
 
 ^ Cunuiiighaiii, Introduction, p. 10.
 
 X OXFORD QUESTIONS 233 
 
 deals, in a number of brief maxims, with the subject of household 
 economy and the management of servants, hospitality, alms- 
 giving, dress, and the service at table. In one rule he refers to 
 the practice prevailing in his own palace, where "each quarter 
 of wheat makes nine score loaves of white and brown bread, 
 together of the weight of five marks each, and the hostel at meat 
 is served with two meats, large and full, to increase the alms, 
 and with tw^o lighter dishes also full for all the freemen, and at 
 supper with one dish not so substantial, and also light dishes 
 followed by cheese ; and if strangers come to supper they shall 
 be served with more according as they have need." After some 
 further injunctions of that kind he reverts to the subject of 
 agriculture, and touches upon the mode of threshing and selling 
 corn, and the importance of keeping plenty of cows and sheep : 
 the wool of a thousand sheep in good pasture ought, he says, to 
 yield at least fifty marks a year, in scant pasture forty, and in 
 coarse and poor pasture thirty ; and he observes that the return 
 from cows and sheep in the way of cheese is in itself worth a 
 considerable sum, without counting calves and lambs, and apart 
 from tbe manure, all of which help the growth of corn and fruit. 
 The minuteness with which he enters into questions likely to be of 
 assistance to the Countess may be inferred from the fact that he 
 even advises her when and where to make her purchases. " I 
 recommend," he says, "that at two seasons of the year you 
 make your principal purchases, that is to say, your wines and 
 your wax and your wardrobe at the fair of St. Botolph, what you 
 shall use in Lindsey and in Norfolk, in the vale of Belvoir, 
 in the country of Caversham, in that of Southampton for 
 Winchester, and in that of Somerset at Bristol; your robes 
 purchase at St. Ive's." Grosseteste's Eules, being intended for 
 private use, did not attain to the wide circulation enjoyed by 
 the translation of Walter of Henley's Treatise with which he is 
 credited. They were also translated at a later date into English, 
 and a portion of them is printed in the Monumenta Franciscana} 
 
 ^ Mon. Francisc. p. 582.
 
 234 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 The translator was, however, under the impression that they 
 were intended by the Bishop for the management of his own 
 household and estates, whereas they were really addressed to the 
 Countess of Lincoln, or Nicole, as the city was called in Norman 
 French ; though it is possible, as Professor Cunningham points 
 out,^ that he composed separate sets of Eules, similar in 
 character, for his own household and for her guidance. Apart 
 from the light they throw on the condition of agriculture and 
 of estate management at that time, and on Grosseteste's sustained 
 interest in those questions, they reflect credit on the pains- 
 taking good nature with which he placed his experience at the 
 disposal of those who had most need of it. 
 
 It has been seen how Grosseteste's thoughtfulness for the 
 welfare of the University of Oxford continued unabated after his 
 promotion to the See of Lincoln.- In 1238 he defended its 
 liberties, and allayed the differences which had arisen in con- 
 sequence of the attack upon Cardinal Otho at Osney.^ In 
 1240, owing to a " town and gown " disturbance, a good many 
 scholars migrated to Cambridge.^ In 1244 he was called upon 
 to take a step which may not, perhaps, have appeared of much 
 importance at the time, but which produced a lasting effect on 
 the constitution and the jurisdiction of the LTniversity. In that 
 year a serious riot occurred, probably in connection with some 
 question of usury. The clerks invaded the Jewry, broke into 
 the houses, and sacked the contents, with the consequence that 
 forty-five of them were sent to prison. They were, however, 
 released by the king at the instance of Grosseteste, as no direct 
 evidence could be brought against them showing that they had 
 been guilty of felony.'' A few weeks later a royal charter was 
 
 ' Introduction, p. 43. fracta vel alio crimine." T. Wykes' 
 
 - Pages 132, 174, 184. Chronicle, on the same page, says : 
 
 •'* Page 184. •* Hist, Maj. iv. 7. "Per doniiniim Robertum Lincol- 
 
 * The Chronicle of Osncy (Ann. niensem cpiscopnm libera ti sunt oranes, 
 
 Monast. i. 91) says: " Ad instantiam quia nullus apparuit qui eos directe 
 
 Saneti Roberti Lincolniensis episcopi posset impetere de crimine feloniae." 
 
 jussu regis fuerunt liberati, eo quod See also the Chron. of Abinydon, ed. 
 
 nullus impeteret eos de pace regis Halliwell (Reading, 1844), p. 5.
 
 X THE BISHOP AND THE CHANCELLOR 235 
 
 procured, doubtless through Grosseteste's efforts, by which the 
 Jews of Oxford were forbidden to take more thau twopence in 
 the pound per week as interest from the scholars, and a defi- 
 nite jurisdiction was granted to the Chancellor in all actions 
 concerning debts, rents, and prices, transactions relating to 
 horses, clothing, and provisions, and all other "contracts of 
 movables " in which one party was a clerk.^ The charter 
 involved the local recognition of a principle for which Grosseteste 
 had often contended on wide and general grounds. Although 
 it did not include — as was the case with the charter of 1255, 
 issued two years after Grosseteste's death — criminal jurisdiction 
 over laymen for breach of the peace, its immediate effect was to 
 confer upon the Chancellor a civil jurisdiction in addition to the 
 spiritual jurisdiction which he already possessed by virtue of 
 the ordinary ecclesiastical law as the Bishop's representative.- 
 Its indirect effect was that, in course of time, the Chancellor 
 became less and less of a Bishop's officer, and more and more a 
 president of the University. His authority was strengthened, 
 and the self-governing power of the educational organisation 
 correspondingly increased. In Grosseteste's time matters 
 constantly came before the Bishop of Lincoln, which in later 
 years were left to the University authorities on the spot ; and, 
 although the explanation is to be found partly in his com- 
 manding eminence as a man, and partly in the special character 
 of his previous connection with Oxford, it must also be ascribed 
 in some measure to the fact that the Chancellor's powers were 
 merely delegated to him by the Bishop. 
 
 Thus it was that, on the occasion of some disputes which 
 occurred seven years later in 1251, when Henry the Third and 
 his Queen were on a visit to Oxford, two clerks happened to 
 
 ' Patent Rolls, 28 Henry III. m. 6, Minister of the Friars Minors, the 
 
 a. 7 ; Rashdall, vol. ii. pp. 393, 394. Chancellor of the University, the 
 
 The deed of acknowledgment was Archdeacons of Lincoln and Cornwall, 
 
 executed at Reading, and signed and and Friar Robert Bacon. — Little's 
 
 sealed on behalf of the University by Gi-ey Friars in Oxford, p. 8. 
 
 the Prior of the Friars Preachers, the ^ Rashdall, I.e.
 
 236 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 have been imprisoned for certain offences, whereupon the 
 " whole body of scholars " ^ requested that all clerks, whatever 
 might be the offence of which they were accused, should be 
 surrendered out of the royal prison into the hands of the 
 Chancellor; "for," writes Adam Marsh to Grosseteste, "the 
 King has granted to them that it should be done in the case of 
 offences which the Chancellor, as the Bishop's delegate, is able 
 to visit with condign punishment ; but in the case of serious 
 crimes, requiring either deposition or degradation, the King has 
 only consented that incarcerated clerks should be handed over 
 to the Bishop, or his official, or a vicar specially appointed for 
 the purpose. . . . The King has in this instance released the two 
 clerks aforesaid unconditionally at the request of the scholars. 
 The masters, however, had ceased their lectures for several days, 
 and they have not yet resumed them." Mr. Eashdall notes 
 that " so long as the See of Lincoln was filled by Eobert Grosse- 
 teste, the most distinguished son that the University has yet 
 produced, almost unbroken harmony prevailed between the 
 University and the Diocesan," and that it was not until the 
 accession of his successor, Henry de Lexington, that the first 
 disagreements of any consequence broke out. Doubtless, 
 as he also points out, the distance of Lincoln from Oxford 
 tended to render the University gradually and at last wholly 
 independent of episcopal control, and differentiated it in that 
 respect from many of the mediceval universities of continental 
 Europe. 
 
 Grosseteste's correspondence with Adam Marsh shows the 
 continuous interest he felt in the organisation of the Oxford 
 curriculum, and the management of the affairs of the Univer- 
 sity. He was frequently asked to help individual scholars by 
 letters of recommendation or by pecuniary assistance, and 
 appeals to his generosity were never made in vain. Memorials 
 forwarded by the masters and scholars were often transmitted 
 to the Bishop through Adam Marsh, and it was through hiiu 
 
 ^ "Universitas seliolariuin," Man. Francii^c. p. 115.
 
 X UNIVERSITY LOAN CHEST 237 
 
 that Grosseteste communicated to them his wishes witli respect 
 to certain articles which they were to draw up for the govern- 
 ment of the University.^ It was on that occasion, in all 
 lilvehhood, that a committee of seven was appointed to frame 
 what is known as the first statute of the University, enacted in 
 1252 or 1253, which provided that no one should be admitted to 
 inception or theology who had not previously been a regent in 
 arts, and read one book of the Canon or the Sentences, and 
 preached publicly in the University.^ Questions relating to the 
 use of a University seal were also transmitted to Grosseteste : 
 Ealph de Sempingham, for instance, the Chancellor, " to whom 
 he had committed the duty of governing the congregation of the 
 scholars of Oxford," is rebuked by him for making use of that 
 symbol.^ In 1248 Grosseteste writes to Eobert Marsh, his 
 official,'* with reference to the murder of a scholar who was 
 passing by St. Martin's Church, Oxford, and orders the murderers 
 to be excommunicated, and to be punished in accordance with 
 the agreement which had been made between the University 
 and the town, under the auspices of Xicholas of Tusculum, the 
 Papal legate, in 1214.^ 
 
 Of greater interest is the fact that Grosseteste was the first 
 who instituted the loan chests, which were the nearest approach 
 presented at that time to the scholarships and exhibitions of a 
 later date. It was by an ordinance of his that the annual fine 
 imposed upon the town of Oxford by the Legate Xicholas in 
 1214,'' and which in 1219 had been transferred by arrange- 
 ment to the Abbot and convent of Eynsham," was applied 
 in 1240 to the establishment of a University chest at St. 
 
 ^ Mon. Francisc. pp. 99, 346. " Man. Francisc. p. 100. 
 
 - Ibid. p. 346 ; Anstey's Muni- -i Letter 129. 
 
 menta Academiea, p. 25. Most writers 5 gee p. 28. Munimenta Academica, 
 
 have assigned the discussions to 1251, ■, 
 and the statute to 1252 ; but Mr. 
 
 Little (arey Friars at Oxford, p. 38, ' Munimenta Academica, p. 1. 
 
 note) gives strong reasons for pre- " Ibid. p. 4. Cp. Lincoln Cathc- 
 
 ferring 1252 as the date of the former, dral Statutes, ed. Bradshawand "Words- 
 
 and 1253 as the date of the latter. worth, part ii. introduction p. 67.
 
 238 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 Frideswyde's, where Christ Church now stands.^ The immediate 
 object w^as to enable poor scholars to borrow without interest 
 for a reasonable period of time, and to keep them from falling 
 into the hands of the Jewish and other usurers. The plan was 
 that would-be borrowers should deposit some pledge, such as 
 an article of clothing, or a cup, or a book, exceeding in value 
 the amount of the loan, and liable to be sold by auction if the 
 pledge was not redeemed within the year. The strictness of 
 the rule appears to have been relaxed in specially deserving 
 cases. The idea gained ground rapidly, and not only was the 
 St. Frideswyde's chest increased by private donations and 
 bequests, but numerous other chests were founded at Oxford 
 in subsequent years. It is to the University chest thus estab- 
 lished that Adam Marsh refers in the letter- in which he 
 asks R de St. Agatha, who was Chancellor in 1256, to allow 
 a certain Symon de Valentinis to borrow forty pounds 
 from the funds of the University of Oxford, deposited through 
 the benefaction of Master AVilliam of Durham. As that 
 scholar and patron of learning had died in 1249, the reference 
 shows that, within nine years of Grosseteste's institution of 
 the University chest, it had already begun to be augmented by 
 bequests, which may, perhaps, in certain cases have been ear- 
 marked for special purposes. 
 
 It was Grosseteste, again, who obtained from Innocent IV., 
 in May 1246, a bull to prevent any of the scholars at Oxford 
 from teaching in any Faculty unless they had been examined as 
 at Paris, and approved by the Bishop or his deputies.^ In the 
 same year, in all likelihood,"* he wrote his celebrated letter ^ to 
 the Kegents of Theology at Oxford, exhibiting at one and the 
 same time the deep interest he took in the course of studies, 
 and the predominant importance he attached to a thorough 
 
 ^ Munhnenta Academica, p. 8 ; was under tlie impression that the bull 
 
 Rashdall, ii. p. 350. only applied to degrees in arts. 
 
 ^ Mon. Francisc. p. 257. ■* Luard, Introd. to the Letters, p. 
 
 ^ Bliss, Calendar of the Papal 129. Wood attributes the letter to 
 
 Registers, i. p. 225 ; Wood (i. p. 236) 1240. ^ Letter 123.
 
 X LETTER TO THE REGENTS OF THEOLOGY 239 
 
 knowledge of the Scriptures. In that letter he holds up to 
 them as an example worthy of imitation the system of teaching 
 adopted at Paris, and insists upon the need for ensuring that 
 the foundation-stones of learning should be truly such, and not 
 merely called by that name, and that non-fundamentals should 
 not be mistaken for fundamentals. Hence he argues that, as 
 the Scriptures must be the basis of all their teaching, and as 
 they can best be inculcated at the morning hour, presumably 
 because the mind is then freshest and most receptive, the 
 subjects of all their lectures at that time should be taken from 
 the New Testament or from the Old, in order,. he says, that, 
 " like the scribe who is instructed into the kingdom of heaven, 
 you may be like unto a man that is an householder, which 
 bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." Tor 
 other matters, such as aids to Biblical study, and the study 
 of the Fathers, other opportunities should be selected. Grosse- 
 teste here emphasises the importance of Biblical study above 
 other departments of theology, and takes his stand, as on other 
 occasions, on the ' auctoritas irrefragabilis Scripturte.' Al- 
 though the letter, however, relates mainly to the order and 
 relative importance of the studies, and must be interpreted, not 
 as an attempt to eliminate any branches of knowledge, but 
 merely as an effect to subordinate them to what he deemed the 
 primary object to be pursued, it appears at the same time 
 to differentiate Grosseteste's attitude from that of the new 
 scholasticism which endeavoured to combine theology with 
 philosophy. AMien Eoger Bacon wrote in 1267, that new 
 scholasticism had completely captured the Paris theological 
 schools, the methods of which Grosseteste had approved some 
 twenty-one, or it may be some twenty-seven years earlier. In 
 Grosseteste's estimation, as in that of the Fathers of the Western 
 Church, and of the pre-scholastic writers, the two streams of 
 theology and of philosophy flowed in separate channels, and 
 were not to be intermingled. It is true that, in his teaching, 
 he finds himself unable to adhere rigidly to that doctrine, and
 
 ;4o 
 
 ROBERT GROSSETESTE 
 
 CHAP. X 
 
 his influence is to be discerned in the writings of the school- 
 men, as well as in those of the men whose methods are most 
 akin to his own ; and it must be borne in mind that both 
 Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas eliminate the essential 
 mysteries of Christian dogma from the domain of metaphysical 
 discussion, assigning to them the pro\dnce of faith. In the 
 main, Grosseteste may be said to represent a conservative force 
 in theology, whilst in other departments of thought and learn- 
 ing, as well as in the political sphere, he represents a pro- 
 gressive force. In the former case he acknowledges the reason 
 of authority, in the latter he bows to the authority of reason.^ 
 
 ^ Since thepresentchapter has beenin 
 the press, the Rev. Dr. Sukius Baronian, 
 whom I have consulted with regard to 
 the hypothesis suggested in note 4, 
 page 226, has informed me that Mr. 
 Malan's view that the Testament of the 
 Twelve Patriarchs never formed part 
 of the canon of the Armenian Church, 
 is correct. This is shown (1) by the 
 statement of Moses of Khorene in the 
 iifth century {Hist, of Armenia, iii. 
 53) that the number of books of the 
 Old Testament then translated into 
 Armenian amounted to twenty -two, 
 the same as now, a figure which does 
 
 not admit of the inclusion of the work 
 in question, and (2) by the fact that it 
 has never been authorised to be read 
 at the services of the Church, and has 
 not been made the subject of a com- 
 mentary. At the same time Dean 
 Stanley's view was undoubtedly based 
 upon the occurrence of the Testament of 
 the Twelve Patriarchs in some Armenian 
 copies of the Scriptures of comparatively 
 late date, and it is quite possible that 
 some of the Armenian visitors to 
 England in the thirteenth century 
 may have been guided by those 
 copies.
 
 CHAPTEE XI 
 
 1244-1246 — Mission of the nuncio Martin to England — Departure of Grosseteste 
 for Lyons — Letter to his archdeacons — Settlement of the dispute with the 
 Dean and Chapter of Lincoln — Proceedings of the Great Council of Lyons — 
 Grosseteste's attitude with regard to the questions at issue — Account of his 
 homeward journey — Interview with the King. 
 
 It was in 1244, the very year in which Grosseteste played so 
 conspicuous a part in the Parliament of Westminster, and was 
 appointed a member of the Committee of twelve, that Martin, 
 one of the Pope's chamberlains, was sent as a nuncio to England 
 with more than legatine powers,^ for the purpose of obtaining 
 fresh supplies to assist him in his struggle with the Emperor. 
 His clumsy proceedings and exorbitant demands excited wide- 
 spread indignation. According to Matthew Paris, Martin 
 asked for no less than thirty thousand marks, seized benefices 
 with more than thirty marks a year, and conferred them 
 upon Italians without regard to rights of patronage, and 
 resorted freely to the weapons of excommunication and inter- 
 dict when his proposals were resisted. Shortly after his arrival, 
 before the opposition to him had taken the definite shape which 
 it afterwards assumed, it happened that at Pinchbeck, in 
 Lincolnshire, the Prior of Spalding, with whom rested the 
 right of presentation to the benefice in that parish, opposed the 
 nuncio's claim, and some of the agents sent by the latter were 
 attacked and ill-treated by people belonging to the locality. 
 To Grosseteste, as Diocesan, Martin at once appealed, requesting 
 him to call upon the Prior to answer to the nuncio for his 
 refusal, and asking for advice. The Bishop, in courteous 
 
 1 Hist. MaJ. iv. 368. 
 K
 
 242 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 terms/ declined to accede to the request relating to the Prior 
 of Spalding, stating that the parish of Pinchbeck was a large 
 one and required the presence of a resident vicar, but per- 
 mitting the nuncio to reserve a living without cure of souls in 
 the gift of the Prior, to which the Pope might collate by virtue 
 of his existing powers, and also allowing him to excommunicate 
 those who had laid violent hands on his agents. The letter 
 also contains a threefold warning to him : first, always to give 
 his authority for his actions ; secondly, to use tact and discre- 
 tion in the exercise of his authority, and not to act up to it 
 where it is unreasonable ; and, thirdly, if he finds that his 
 commands are opposed when they are within the bounds of 
 reason, to argue with the opponents in the first instance instead 
 of taking strong measures. It is evident that Grosseteste was 
 much annoyed by what occurred, and afterwards expressed his 
 opinion on the subject to the Pope.^ 
 
 It is not a matter of surprise that the abbots complained 
 that " with the exactions of King and Pope, they were between 
 the hammer and the anvil, and between the upper and the 
 nether millstone," ^ and that the prelates, of whom Grosseteste 
 was one, refused to agree to the demands in view of the fact that 
 the Archbishop-elect of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York 
 were absent, and that the Sees of Coventry and of Chichester 
 were vacant.'* A second time the question was brought before 
 the prelates in February 1245, but at that thne Grosseteste was 
 not in England ; and the reason which they then gave for their 
 refusal was that they were not present in full numbers, that 
 the Archbisliop-elect of Canterbury and the Bishops of Lincoln 
 and of Durham had left the country for the purpose of 
 
 ^ Letter 106. repetition of the one of January 1239. 
 
 - Cp. Hist. Maj. iv. 519. The — Bliss, Calendar, i. 178. It declares 
 
 indult granted to Grosseteste in K\)v\\ that Grosseteste shall not be compelled 
 
 124.5, though not bearing upon the to bestow jiensions, prebends, or other 
 
 Pinchbeck case, has probably some benefices on any one without special 
 
 reference to Martin's proceedings in Papal mandate, 
 
 the previous year. — Bliss, Calendar, i. ■' Hid. Maj. iv. 371. 
 
 216. Otherwise it would be a mere * Ihid. iv. 374-376.
 
 XI GROSSETESTE'S DEPARTURE FOR l.YONS 243 
 
 attending the great Council at Lyons, and that, in the absence 
 of those three, they could not l)e expected to arrive at a 
 decision. The questions arising out of the nuncio's presence 
 were, however, solved in a rough-and-ready way, described with 
 gusto by Matthew Paris,^ by a inimber of leading men in the 
 country, who met in the neighbourhood of Luton and Dunstable, 
 ostensibly for the purpose of attending a tournament, which 
 was, however, prohibited by the King, as he suspected a hidden 
 danger. They despatched Fulk Fitz Warren, one of their 
 number, to Martin, who was staying in London at the New 
 Temple. Fulk, on entering into the nuncio's presence, said to 
 him with a stern look, " Leave England without delay " ; and 
 when asked in whose name he spoke, " In the name of the 
 whole body of men entitled to bear arms, who have met at 
 Luton and Dunstable ; and unless you take sound advice, and 
 ■depart within three days, you will be cut to pieces." Breathless 
 and trembling, Martin made his way to the King, who had 
 previously supported him, and asked whether it was his doing. 
 *' No," replied the King, " but my barons can hardly restrain 
 themselves from rising against me, on the ground that I have 
 tolerated the depredations and injuries you have committed, 
 and I have great difiiculty in preventing them from putting 
 you to death." Martin asked for a safe-conduct to enable him 
 to leave England, whereupon the mild King, losing his patience, 
 exclaimed, " To hell with you ! " " and was with difficulty quieted 
 by those who sat around him. He gave orders, however, that 
 Martin should be escorted as far as the seaside, and the nuncio 
 sailed from Dover, not without fear of his life whilst on the 
 journey. It is clear, both from Grosseteste's letter and from 
 Matthew Paris's account, that Martin was understood to have 
 exceeded his instructions, and that the responsibility for his 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. iv. 420. It is strange - " Diabolus te ad inferos inducat et 
 
 that the Z'«'ftstoWc^?i?iaZs should make perducat." — Hist. Maj. iv. 421. This 
 
 no reference to an incident which is can hardly have been Henry's "usual 
 
 stated to have taken place near oath " mentioned in Hist. 3laJ. 
 
 Dunstable. iv. 365.
 
 244 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 extortions was attributed rather to the rapacity of the Eoman 
 Court than to the Pope himself, as is shown by the fact that it 
 was to Innocent IV. that the Enghsh nobles sent a deputation, 
 headed by Eoger Bigod, to complain in the name of the 
 " universitas regni " of the exactions.^ 
 
 The occasion of the great Council of Lyons, which now 
 engrossed universal attention, was as follows: — Gregory the 
 Ninth had intended to summon a General Council, and had 
 issued invitations addressed, in these islands, to the Archbishops 
 of Canterbury, York, and Dublin, the Bishops of Exeter, 
 Carlisle, Chichester, Worcester, Norwich, Lincoln, Ely, Glasgow, 
 and St. Andrews, as well as to the Kings of England and 
 Scotland, the Earl Marshal, five earls, and certain others."'' A 
 delay arose, however, first owing to the capture of the Genoese 
 galleys which conveyed many of the prelates, including the 
 Cardinal legate Otho, on their way to Eome ; and, secondly, in 
 consequence of Gregory's own death, the fortnight's reign of his 
 successor, and the subsequent interregnum.^ It has been seen 
 how the Archbishop of York and three of the English bishops, 
 including Grosseteste, endeavoured in 1241 to induce the 
 Emperor to give breathing-time to the Church in order to allow 
 of an election to the pontifical office,'^ and how one of the first 
 acts of Innocent IV., after his election in 1243, was to order 
 the Canterbury monks to relax the sentence of excommunication 
 which they had pronounced against the Bishop of Lincoln in con- 
 nection with the Bardney dispute,^ an act which he followed up 
 in the following year, possibly in connection witli the quarrel 
 with the Dean and Chapter, l)y an indult that no one should issue 
 against Grosseteste any sentence of suspension or excommunica- 
 tion, or against his chapel sentence of interdict, without special 
 license from the Pope.^ In 1243 Grosseteste had written to 
 Innocent, expressing the gratification he felt that the Church, 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. iv. 419, 420, 431. •» Pago 218. 
 
 ^ Bliss, Caleiular, i. 195. b p „ Tifi 
 '^ W\\ma.\\'s Latin Christianity, hook '° 
 
 ix. ch. 15, p. 423 ; Dr. Felten, p. 44. '' Bliss, Calendar, i. 209.
 
 XI PRELIMINARIES OF THE COUNCIL 245 
 
 sorely oppressed and in deep tribulation, had at last found a 
 head,^ and the Emperor himself had sent warm congratulations 
 and overtures of peace.- The negotiations, however, led to no 
 practical results beyond a paper treaty,^ and on the 28th of 
 June 1244, the Pope, in order to procure his independence, fled 
 on a swift horse to Civita Vecchia,'* avoiding a force of cavalry 
 which the Emperor had sent to intercept him, and took refuge 
 on board a Genoese fleet which conveyed him to Genoa, where 
 he remained for a few months, afterwards reaching Lyons in 
 December. 
 
 There he was in safety ; for although Lyons, as a portion of 
 the old kingdom of Burgundy, nominally formed part of the 
 Empire, it was in reality a free city, with an Archbishop, 
 Primate of all the Gauls, who enjoyed the protection of the 
 King of France. It must be noted, however, that it was not 
 French territory,^ and Matthew Paris relates that both St. 
 Louis of France and James I. of Arragon preferred not to 
 receive Innocent within their borders, whilst Henry the Third's 
 Council, when a suggestion was made by one of the cardinals 
 that he should invite the Pope to England, put forward, as a 
 pretext for refusing, the indignation which had been aroused by 
 the proceedings of the nuncio Martin and by previous exactions, 
 although the King hmiself was favourable to the proposal.*^ St. 
 Louis, who had promised his aid to Innocent, and was a devoted 
 son of the Church, may have been influenced by motives similar 
 to those which guided Henry the Third's Council in their 
 refusal ; for he also had grievances of a like nature, and com- 
 plained that Innocent had given away more benefices in France 
 than all his predecessors.'^ 
 
 A few weeks after his arrival at Lyons Innocent IV. resumed 
 the plans of Gregory IX. at the point at wliich they had been 
 
 ' Letter 111. '' It was not annexed to France until 
 
 - Milman, book ix. chap. 15 (iv. 1310. 
 
 419 sqq.) « Hist. Maj. iv. 392, 409, 410, 
 
 3 Hist. Maj. iv. 332. 422. 
 
 ■* Ibid. iv. 355 sqq. ^ Ihid. Additamenta, vi. 99, 105.
 
 246 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 iiiternipted, but with the difference that the questions now at 
 issue were of a more definite and more urgent nature, and 
 summoned a General Council to meet at Lyons in June 1245. 
 His action was criticised by some on the ground that a previous 
 General Council had been held in 1215, and that thirty years did 
 not constitute a sufficiently long interval. The conflict with 
 the Emperor was, of course, the principal object for which the 
 Council was called together, but other matters, such as the 
 irruption of the Tartars or Mongols, who had overrun Friesland, 
 Gothland, Hungary, and Poland, and now threatened the rest of 
 Europe, the Greek schism, the deplorable condition of the Holy 
 Land, and the internal wounds of the Church, also claimed 
 attention. 
 
 Grosseteste's visit to Lyons has been attributed mainly to 
 his desire to obtain from the Pope a definite settlement of his 
 dispute with the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, which had 
 now lasted nearly six years.^ It is evident, however, that the 
 dispute was only one out of many questions affecting Church 
 government which took him there. He would probably in any 
 case have been present at the Council, in spite of the fact that 
 he had declined the invitation in 1241 on the ground of ill- 
 health ; ^ and, moreover, most of the English prelates attended, 
 except those who were prevented by illness or old age, even the 
 excuses of the Archbishop of York, conveyed through Henry 
 III., not being accepted.^ At the same time, it was doubtless 
 on account of the Lincoln dispute that Grosseteste left England 
 earlier than would otherwise have been necessary. Although 
 the Council was only to meet on the 26th of June 1245, he 
 started on the 18th of November of the previous year,'^ and was 
 followed soon after by lloger de Weseham, the Dean, and some 
 of the canons of Lincoln. Before his departure he addressed a 
 
 ^ As late as the 31st of August 1244, Cathedral Statutes, ed. Bradshaw and 
 
 as indicated in a document belonging to Wordsworth, parti, p. 61. 
 
 Wells Cathedral, the Lincoln Chaj^ter - Letter 105. 
 
 had been making infjuiry as to pre- ' Hist. Maj. iv. 390, 391. 
 
 cedents from other sources. Lincoln •* Ibid. iv. 390, 391.
 
 XI SETTLEMENT OF THE DISPUTE 247 
 
 long and earnest letter ^ to his archdeacons, instructing them as 
 to their duties during his absence, urging upon them increase of 
 zeal in the discharge of their pastoral office, and bidding them 
 " occupy till I come." After his arrival at Lyons he wrote " to 
 his intimate friends, Walter de Cantelupe, Bishop of Worcester, 
 and William de Raleigh, Bishop of Winchester, who had been 
 the last to bid him farewell as lie left England, to announce to 
 them the completion of his journey, and the courteous reception 
 accorded to him by the Pope and Cardinals. He was accom- 
 panied on his journey by Adam Marsh, who writes^ to the 
 Minister of the Franciscans in England to the effect that 
 Grosseteste has reached Lyons in better health than usual, and 
 has been welcomed with special honours, that the Pope will 
 shortly give his decision about the dispute, but that the issues 
 of war are proverbially doubtful, and that intrigues are rife. 
 Grosseteste intends to remain at Lyons for the meeting of the 
 Council, but will take up his abode in some suitable place out- 
 side the Papal court as soon as he is able to move. Adam 
 Marsh mentions that some of the leading Franciscans will be 
 asked to attend, and that missions have been first proposed, and 
 then abandoned, to the Holy Land, to the Tartars, and to the 
 Saracens ; he apprehends, however, that the bishops will show 
 antao-onism to the friars at the Council. How Grosseteste and 
 he proposed to occupy themselves until the meeting of the 
 Council, when not engaged with other business, may be inferred 
 from the request that the Morals of St. Gregory, Rabanus on 
 the Nature of Things, and the chapters of the First Projihecy,"^ 
 belonging to the late Thomas of York, may be forwarded from 
 Reading, packed with great care. It is possible, too, that 
 Grosseteste was engaged about that time in his Commentary 
 on the JVicomachean Ethics of Aristotle.'' 
 
 ' Letter 112. ^ The grounds for the supposition 
 
 ^ Letter 113. are : (1) In the letter to Martin, written 
 
 ^ Mon. Francisc. p. 376. shortly before his departure in 1244 
 
 ^ Possibly one of Abbot Joachim's (Letter 106), he quotes from the Nico- 
 
 works. See pp. 80, 300. machean Ethics, whereas in previou-s
 
 248 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 The settlement of the dispute with the Dean and Chapter 
 was preceded by an incident which smoothed the way for a 
 reconciliation. On the 19th of February Eoger de Weseham, 
 the Dean of Lincoln, was consecrated Bishop of Coventry and 
 Lichfield at the instance of Grosseteste, who took the oppor- 
 tunity of alienating the church of Aylesbury from the deanery 
 of Lincoln, for the purpose, according to Matthew Paris, of im- 
 pairing the power of subsequent deans.^ Dr. Luard, remarking 
 on the fact that almost immediately after Roger de Weseham's 
 consecration the suit between Grosseteste and the Chapter of 
 Lincoln was determined almost wholly in the Bishop's favour, 
 says : ^ " However much one might wish to think differently, it 
 is difficult not to suspect unfair dealings between the Bishop 
 and the Dean. In the first place, the Dean is Grosseteste's 
 intimate friend ; he is sent by the Chapter to represent them 
 and plead their cause. He has not been at Lyons more than 
 a few weeks, when, by Grosseteste's influence, he is elected 
 Bishop of Lichfield, and immediately afterwards Grosseteste 
 gains from the Pope a bull giving him all he asks for against 
 the Chapter. It is difficult not to suspect that a bargain was 
 struck between these two." It may be observed that Matthew 
 Paris, who would have been the first to call attention to such a 
 bargain if it had really existed, as he was distinctly against the 
 Bishop of Lincoln in the dispute, goes out of his way to point 
 to Roger de Weseham's eminent qualifications for the post.^ 
 There is more to be said for Dr. Felten's hypothesis,^ that 
 Grosseteste helped to bring about Roger de "Weseham's election 
 
 letters he quotes from the Eudcmiun ^ Hist. Maj. iv. 424, 426 ; Ann. 
 
 Ethics (Letters 94, 101) ; (2) lie must Monast. (Dunstable), iii. 168. Matthew 
 
 liave had a copy transcribed before Paris states that Grosseteste conferred 
 
 1251 {Mon. Francisc. j). 114) ; and the living of Aylesbury immediately 
 
 (3) St. Gregory's Morals would help to on Robert JIarsh, though according to 
 
 elucidate the subject. A translation of, Le Neve's Fasti, ii. 95, it was lirstcon- 
 
 and commentary on, the Nicomachcan ferred upon William of Shirewood, the 
 
 Ethics, ascribed to Grosseteste, used to writer on logic, 
 
 be in the Bibliothequc des Jacobins, " Introd. to the Letters, p. 62. 
 
 Rue St. Honore, Paris. Haur^au, ii. •' Hist. Maj. iv. 425. 
 
 \>. 175. •* Felten, p. 46.
 
 XI PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNCIL 249 
 
 in order thereby to make a slight concession to the Chapter 
 itself, and thus to facilitate a settlement; for it must be 
 remembered that de Weseham had not been appointed dean by 
 the Chapter, but had been collated by the Bishop after the de- 
 privation of William de Tournay, presumably owing to the 
 refusal of the Chapter, in those circumstances, to recognise that 
 deprivation by any act of their own.^ Through the elevation 
 of Eoger de Weseham to the See of Coventry and Lichfield, the 
 Chapter were enabled to fill the vacancy with a nominee of their 
 own choice, who would necessarily be more of a 'persona grata 
 to them than one who had been placed over them by another. 
 Grosseteste, therefore, by the action he took, secured the appoint- 
 ment of a really able man to a post for which he was in every 
 way fitted, and at the same time took a step calculated to bring 
 about more friendly relations with his Chapter without pre- 
 judice to the question at issue. It may also be noted that 
 Eoger de Weseham's consecration took place in February, and 
 the final settlement with the Chapter was not effected until the 
 25th of August of that year." 
 
 The Papal bull relating to the dispute provided that the 
 Bishop was to have power, as ordinary, to visit the Dean and 
 Chapter, the canons, clerks choral and ministers, the vicars of 
 the churches of the chaplains, and their parishioners, and to 
 correct abuses. The right of \dsitation extended to the pre- 
 bendal churches, the churches of the dignitaries, and those 
 belonging to the corporate body, the power of the Dean in any 
 of those respects being taken away. Secondly, the power of 
 correcting irregularities in the cathedral was allowed to the 
 Chapter, and, if they failed in their duty, to the Bishop. In the 
 third place, the canons were to pay canonical obedience to the 
 Bishop, but need not take an oath to that effect, which would 
 be unprecedented and unnecessary. Fourthly, the privileges of 
 the Chapter, except in so far as they were over-ridden by the 
 
 1 See pp. 198, 199. 
 - Hist. Maj. iv. 497 sqq. ; Bliss, Calendar, i. 219.
 
 250 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 previous decisions, were to remain unimpaired. The general 
 purport, therefore, of the decision was strongly in Grosseteste's 
 favour, without unnecessarily wounding the susceptibilities of 
 the Chapter.^ 
 
 The proceedings at the Council of Lyons must have been of 
 the deepest interest to Grosseteste, but it is unnecessary to deal 
 with them here. A long account of them is to be found in the 
 Historia Major of Matthew- Paris." The impassioned address of 
 Innocent on the one hand, and the eloquent pleas of Thaddeus 
 of Suessa on the other, excited the attention of all Europe, and 
 must have produced a profound impression on all who were 
 present. The sentence of deprivation pronounced by the Pope 
 against the Emperor was signed by all the prelates who were 
 there, and consequently, it may be assumed, by Grosseteste.^ 
 The regulations relating to the Crusaders must have come home 
 to him, in view of the fact that he had once offered to preach to 
 the Saracens,'* that he had taken a keen interest in the main- 
 tenance of the privileges granted to Crusaders,^ that in after 
 years he organised, as will be seen,® the collection of funds in 
 England in aid of the Crusade, and that, later on, he was kept 
 specially informed of the progress and disasters of the ex- 
 pedition to Egypt, and of the unfortunate capture of St. Louis 
 near Damietta.' The English grievances, too, relating to the 
 exactions of Martin and the intrusion of Italians into English 
 livings, were stated by the proctors who represented the " uni- 
 versitas Angliae," and a letter was also presented by them 
 explaining in detail the specific grounds of complaint.^ They 
 estimated that more than sixty thousand marks, a sum exceeding 
 
 1 7/isi;. J/fy. iv. 497-500 ; Pegge, pp. - Hist. Maj. iv. 430 sqq., 456-473, 
 
 136-138 ; Perry, p. 170 ; V,\\?,s.,Calc')idar, 479, 519-522, 527 sqq. 
 
 i. 219. A copy of the bull is among ^ Ibid. iv. 479. 
 
 the documents belonging to Lincoln ■* Letter 49. 
 
 Cathedral. — rti-gZ/C/i. Report of the Hist. ^ Letter 29. 
 
 MSS. Commission (1891), appendix 9, "^ See p. 261. 
 
 p. 567. Lincoln Cathedral Statutes, "^ Mon. Francisc. \\. \Q^. See p. 299, 
 
 parti, p. 315, part ii. p. 232. « fUgt^ ji/^j. iv. 431, 441-444, 527- 
 
 529, 557.
 
 XI THE EUROPEAN SITUATION 251 
 
 the amount of the King's annual revenue, passed out of the 
 country into the hands of Italian beneficiaries. The Pope took 
 some time to consider the questions thus submitted to him, 
 and which were doubtless discussed with him by the leading 
 English bishops. The outcome of his consideration was the 
 issue by him, on the ord of August 1245, of a series of " privi- 
 leges," by virtue of which certain suspensions inflicted by 
 Martin were removed, the Pope agreed to give away only 
 twelve more benefices, promotion was promised to English 
 clerks proficient in their studies and of good conduct, and the 
 existmg rights of presentation appertaining to bishops and 
 other patrons of benefices were fully confirmed.^ Matthew 
 Paris complains that the concessions were vitiated by the pre- 
 sence of a non obstante clause, which allowed of exceptions. 
 It was probably felt, however, by the English prelates that the 
 advantages which they and the other representatives of Eng- 
 land, acting from various standpoints, had gained, were sufficient 
 for the purpose, and that it would be unchivalrous to bring too 
 much pressure to bear upon a Pope in exile. That explains 
 why they, or some of them, agreed to renew, or confirm by their 
 signatures the annual tribute to the Pope promised by King 
 John, — a tribute which, though humiliating in its inception and 
 recalling some of the darkest days in the history of the country, 
 had gradually lost its original character and significance, and 
 had become practically a voluntary contribution, inasmuch as 
 it was given not of necessity, but as a free-will ottering.- The 
 laity, however, including the King, are said to have taken a 
 difterent view of the matter, and to have been strongly opposed 
 to a renewal of the pledge. It may be gathered from the pages 
 of Matthew Paris that many of the clergy must have sym- 
 pathised with them, without, however, exhibiting the same 
 determination. He also states that the proctors left the 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. iv. 519-522 ; Rymer's date of Innocent's bull ou the subject 
 Foedera, i. 262. is 5tli or 6th October of that year, after 
 
 Grosseteste and most of the prelates 
 - Hist. Maj. iv. 478, 479. But the had left Lyons.
 
 252 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 Council " swearing terribly " that they would not pay the 
 tribute. Henry III., however, was of so weak and yielding a 
 disposition that the opponents of the contribution must have 
 been aware that it would be useless to rely upon his consistent 
 support of their views, or of any action they might take, as he 
 was easily persuaded to pass from one opinion to another. As 
 Matthew Paris says, " Many of the prelates, fearing the King's 
 instability in his determination and the pusillanimity of the 
 royal counsellors, favoured the Pope's cause, although they 
 must have seen that by such expenses the Church could not 
 gain, but must incur heavy loss." 
 
 Grosseteste's attitude, as well as that of the other English 
 prelates who shared his views, must be judged with reference to 
 the European situation as a whole. In the struggle between 
 Innocent and Frederick he sided, on general grounds, with the 
 former, and, in view of the exiled Pope's necessities, he exercised 
 his own judgment as to the pecuniary subventions which might 
 properly be sent to assist him. Consequently he occupied an 
 intermediate position between such prelates as Boniface (who 
 had been consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury at Lyons in 
 January) and Peter d'Aigueblanche, Bishop of Hereford, on 
 the one hand, who were favourable to the Pope's demands in 
 their entirety, and, on the other hand, the representatives of the 
 laity and monks of the type of Matthew Paris, whose opinions, 
 however, were stronger on the subject than those of other con- 
 temporary writers. In common with most men of independent 
 opinions and action, Grosseteste incurred the hostility, as he has 
 since been subjected to the criticism of extremists on both 
 sides of the controversy. His position was that he considered 
 most of the Pope's requests for funds to be necessitated and 
 justified by the circumstances of the case, and did his best, 
 whilst he was at Lyons and also on his return to England, to 
 secure the removal of the abuses incident to their collection. 
 To the Papal Provisions, on the other hand, he continued to ojffer 
 an opposition which increased in force as time advanced, and,
 
 XI ENGLISH DEMANDS AND PAPAL CONCESSIONS 253 
 
 in the course of a few years, when the Pope's nnmineut peril 
 had disappeared, he did not hesitate to meet with unflinching 
 resistance the whole system of encroachments and exactions 
 which impaired, instead of strengthening the spiritual authority 
 of the head of the Church, and to denounce in the strongest 
 terms the corruptions of the Eoman Court. 
 
 The foregoing considerations explain, to some extent, the 
 apparent inconsistency between Grosseteste's attitude, when at 
 Lyons, in regard to the new Archbishop of Canterbury's 
 endeavour to obtain from the whole of his province, with 
 Innocent's sanction, a grant of a subsidy to the See of Canter- 
 bury, and his subsequent acquiescence in that proposal on the 
 27th of August of the same year. At first he informed 
 Boniface^ that if he affixed his seal to the suggested letters 
 enforcing the Pope's grant of a subsidy to the See of Canterbury, 
 he would "render himself odious to the whole clergy of the 
 province, who might publicly proclaim that he had to the 
 utmost of his power concurred in imposing upon them an 
 intolerable burden, especially as the Pope, and the King with 
 the Pope's authority, were asking from the same clergy at the 
 same time subventions to no moderate amount." On the 27tli 
 of August, however, Grosseteste forwarded,^ together with a 
 statement that he had inspected it, a letter from Innocent IV. 
 granting to the See of Canterbury the first year's revenue of 
 vacant benefices in the province for seven years, until the sum 
 reached ten thousand marks. The ostensible object of the 
 demand was to clear off the accumulated debts of the See, but 
 ]\Iatthew Paris hints that Boniface wished partly to support the 
 cause of his own relatives in Provence,^ and partly to promote 
 the Pope's interests.^ Grosseteste's reluctance was probably due 
 to some such apprehension, and may have been removed, 
 perhaps, by the Pope's willingness to consent to the reforms 
 
 1 Letter 89. Luard's Introd. p. 127. - Hist. Maj. iv. 506-508. 
 
 It was written between the loth of ^ Ibid. iv. 405. 
 
 January and the 5th of March 1245. ■• Ihid. iv. 403, v. 5, 36, 37.
 
 254 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 previously mentioned, and by assurances given by Boniface 
 himself. His letter, however, is dated two days after the Pope's 
 definite decision in his favour in tlie dispute with the Chapter 
 of Lincoln, and it is in accordance with human nature that his 
 intense gratification at the result may have rendered him more 
 willing to agree to requests made in that moment of his 
 triumph. A litigant who had just won a case which has lasted 
 six years is not in a mood for saying No. At the same time 
 Grosseteste was fully aware of Boniface's shortcomings as an 
 archbishop, and it was on that account that he wrote at the 
 same time to Cardinal Hugo,^ pointing out the importance of 
 the place occupied by the See of Canterbury in the English 
 Church, and the necessity that Boniface " should have the 
 ' lateral ' assistance of friars belonging to both Orders, acquainted 
 not only with the laws of England and with the canon and 
 civil law, but also with the laws of God, that is to say, the 
 sacred Scriptures, and keeping the wisdom which they derive 
 from that source inscribed in their hearts and expressed in their 
 works." 
 
 The mode in which the Pope's concessions were carried into 
 effect does not appear to have given satisfaction even to the 
 bishops. Early in the following year — to anticipate by a few 
 months the course of events — it was found, when Parliament 
 met on the 18th of March,^ that more than twelve benefices had 
 been conferred by Innocent since the 3rd of August, that the 
 exactions continued, that one Italian had succeeded another, 
 and that patrons had consequently been unable to present. 
 Strong letters of protest were thereupon addressed to the Pope 
 by the bishops in the province of Canterbury, of whom 
 Grosseteste must have been one, by the abbots and priors, by 
 the nobles, clergy, and people, and also by the King himself. 
 The protest led to some modifications of an unimportant 
 character.^ A confirmation of the explanation given in the 
 
 ^ Letter 115. - Ilist. Maj. iv. 526 sqq. 
 
 •■' Ibid. iv. 550.
 
 XI EPISODES OF THE HOMEWARD JOURNEY 255 
 
 previous paragraphs with regard to Grosseteste's attitude at the 
 time of the Council of Lyons and during the ensuing months, is 
 afforded by his reply to the King,^ who expressed his astonish- 
 ment that after his return to England he sliould propose 
 personally to assess and collect the tallage in aid of the Pope 
 from monks and seculars. Grosseteste, after referring to the 
 fact that all the other bishops shared his views on that point, 
 and had adopted precisely the same course in obedience to the 
 Pope's authority, goes on to say : " There is no reason for 
 surprise at the action of my fellow-bishops and myself in this 
 matter, but there would be good grounds for surprise, and also 
 for indignation, if we should not be ready, even without being 
 asked or commanded, to do a thing of tliis sort or even a greater 
 thing. We behold our spiritual father and mother, to whom we 
 owe honour, reverence, obedience, and help — we behold them 
 suffering affliction, exile, persecutions, and tribulations without 
 number, — we see them robbed of their patrimony and without 
 the wherewithal to sustain their existence. If we were to fail 
 in our duty of rendering help to them in this sad hour of their 
 fortunes it would be a violation of the spirit of the fifth 
 commandment. Your sense of generosity and of kindness will 
 not, I trust, stand in the way of the filial services we are 
 seeking to perform, but will rather commend and encourage our 
 efforts." It was, indeed, a feeling of deep compassion and 
 chivalrous consideration for the weakness and sorrows of the 
 head of the Church which influenced Grosseteste's action during 
 that period ; he preferred to support the moral and spiritual 
 forces represented, however imperfectly, by Innocent, than to 
 increase the power of the man of " blood and iron," the reputed 
 heretic Frederick II., the author of many acts of wholesale 
 cruelty, by withdrawing from his antagonist the means of 
 support which would enable him to restore his fallen fortunes 
 and to resume his place in the eternal city. At the same time, 
 the close contact in which he was brought with the Curia 
 
 1 Letter 119.
 
 2 56 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 removed some illusions he may have entertained, and nerved 
 him for the fight in which he was prepared to engage, in a more 
 convenient season, against the Papal Provisions and other abuses 
 of a similar character. 
 
 Such, then, was Grosseteste's first visit to Lyons, when he 
 was privileged to witness one of the most stirring scenes in 
 European history, and brought back with him vivid impressions 
 of the strength and weakness of the Papacy, of its grandeur in 
 misfortune, and of the vivality it displayed in spite of its 
 corruptions. His homeward journey is described in a letter ^ 
 which he wrote to William de Nottingham, Minister of the 
 Franciscans in England, and which is of special interest, among 
 other reasons, on account of its reference to the death of the 
 great Franciscan teacher, Alexander de Hales. " It has come to 
 pass," he writes, " in God's providence that Friar John,^ the 
 companion of Friar Adam Marsh, is suffering from a quartan 
 fever which he caught at Beaune on our way back. We brought 
 him, with frequent rests, as far as Nogent, and then sent him 
 by the Seine in advance of us to Paris ; and as it did not appear 
 safe either to Friar Adam or to myself that he should follow us 
 from there to the sea-coast, or that he should remain at Paris 
 in view of the unhealthy condition of that city, we decided that 
 he should proceed by water to Eouen, and Adam accompanied 
 him, as he was unwilling to leave him until he had left him in 
 the keeping of some friars whom he knew, and who lived in a 
 healthy spot. We also agreed that he should go on from there 
 and meet me at the seaside. However, when they reached a 
 town called Mantes, Friar John became much weaker, and Friar 
 Adam found it impossible either to take him farther or to leave 
 him alone. Both of them have accordingly remained at 
 Mantes, and I earnestly entreat you to send to that town Peter 
 
 ^ Letter 114. Friars at Oxford, p. 128, and the 
 
 - This was Friar John of Stamford, authorities tliere quoted. He was 
 
 afterwards custodian of Oxford, and the "socius" of Adam Marsh in the 
 
 Peter of Tewkesbury's successor as technical Franciscan sense of the 
 
 provincial Minister. — Little's Grey term.
 
 XI INTERVIEW WITH THE KING 257 
 
 of Tewkesbury/ with some brethren who can stop witli Friar 
 John, while Peter himself returns with Adam Marsh. They are 
 both anxious that you should do this. Besides, it is not safe 
 that Friar Adam should linger in these parts, for there are 
 many who wish to secure him for Paris, now that Alexander de 
 Hales and John de Eupellis are dead ; but if that were to 
 happen, both you and I would be robbed of our greatest com- 
 fort. Let it be so arranged that the said Peter may see me 
 before he sails. I hope, God willing, to reach the Isle of Wight 
 by the 14th of October, the Saturday after the feast of St. 
 Dionysius. With regard to the cause of the visitation, thanks 
 be to God, there has been a clear decision in my favour and 
 consequently in that of all the bishops." 
 
 Shortly after his return to England Grosseteste happened to 
 meet the King who was on his way back from Wales, and had 
 with him a private interview, in the course of which he appears 
 to have placed before Henry his impressions respecting the 
 special consideration which the Pope required in view of the 
 difficulties and the dangers by which he was surrounded, and 
 recalled the services rendered to the English crown in the 
 early part of the reign by the Papal influence. It was, indeed, 
 the moral weight of the assistance given to Henry in his youth, 
 immediately after the death of King John, by Honorius III. 
 through the Legate Gualo, which had been mainly instrumental 
 in recovering to him the allegiance of the kingdom, and in 
 arousing public opinion against Louis and thereby preventing 
 the success of the French arms. Nor was the King unmindful 
 of his obligations in that respect. " My Lord Bishop," he 
 replied to Grosseteste,- " what relates to our crown and regal 
 ofiice we intend to preserve unimpaired in accordance with our 
 
 1 He afterwards became the 5th Friars at Oxford, \\ 127. In 1245 
 
 Minister of the Franciscans in England. he was probably custodian of the 
 
 He was intimate with Grosseteste, and Franciscan convent at Oxford, 
 probably skilled as a physician. — - Letter 117, in which Grosseteste 
 
 Mon. Francisc. 10, 65, etc. For relates the interview to Innocent 
 
 his biogi'aphy see Mr. Little's Grey IV.
 
 258 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap, xi 
 
 duty, and our hope is that the Pope and the Church will help 
 us in this ; and you may be assured that always and in all 
 respects we shall show obedience, fidelity, and devotion to the 
 Pope as our spiritual father, and to the holy Eoman Church as 
 our spiritual mother, and will adhere to them stedfastly, in 
 adversity as well as in prosperity. On the day on which I 
 cease to do this, may I lose an eye, or rather let my head be cut 
 off! God forbid that anything should separate me from the 
 devotion I owe to my spiritual father and mother. For, besides 
 all the reasons which affect me in common with other Christian 
 princes, I am bound to the Church on special grounds, inasmuch 
 as, just after my father's death, when I was still a minor, and 
 the kingdom was not only alienated from me but actually in 
 arms against me, our mother the Eoman Church through 
 Cardinal Gualo, then Legate in England, recalled this realm to 
 peace and submission, anointed and crowned me King, and raised 
 me to the throne."
 
 CHAPTEE XII 
 
 1246-1250 — Grosseteste's attitxide with respect to Papal demands — His interest in 
 the Crusades — His opinion as to the Sacred Blood — Further difficulties with 
 the King — Grosseteste's relations with Simon de Montfort — The freedom of 
 the State and the freedom of the Church. 
 
 Eeference has already been made, by anticipation, to the 
 proceedings of the Parliament which met early in 1246.^ In 
 the case of the Parliament which assembled at Oxford in April 
 of the following year, we are told by Matthew Paris that some 
 of the prelates had intended to oppose the Papal request for 
 additional contributions, but that, when the time came, they all 
 agreed to vote eleven thousand marks, to be collected through 
 the Bishops of Winchester and Norwich.- What part Grosse- 
 teste took in the preliminary conferences on that occasion 
 is unknown. The following anecdote, however, which relates 
 apparently to the period which preceded the meeting of that 
 Parliament, seems to indicate that he was one of those who felt 
 some hesitation on the subject. Innocent had commenced the 
 practice of employing Franciscans and Dominicans for the 
 purpose of collecting subscriptions towards the Crusades, the 
 Latin Empire at Constantinople, and a variety of other objects, 
 including his own requirements, and also in order to secure the 
 property of clerks who died intestate.^ Two of these Franciscans, 
 named John and Alexander, Englishmen by birth, were sent by 
 the Pope with that intention, received a special license from the 
 King, and rode about the country, spurred, booted, and wearing 
 fine apparel, and without adhering to their simple rule.'* They 
 
 1 Page 255. s jjj^, j^, 550, 565. 
 
 - Hist. Maj. iv. 022, 623. ■* Ihid. iv. 599.
 
 2 6o ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 are said to have asked for procurations exactly as if they were 
 legates, and not to have hesitated to use threats. " When they 
 came," writes Matthew Paris, " to the Bishop of Lincoln, who 
 was conspicuous for the love he felt for their Order, and who at 
 one time of his life had thought of joining them, he was greatly 
 startled at the sight of so monstrous a transformation in the 
 garb, bearing, and office of the Friars Minors ; for it was not 
 easy to understand to what Order they belonged, or what was 
 their calling. Exhibiting the Papal mandate, they demanded a 
 contribution of six thousand marks from his See. In language 
 of pained surprise the Bishop replied : ' Friars, this exaction, 
 saving the authority of the Pope, is unprecedented, dishonest, 
 and impracticable. It does not affect me alone as an individual, 
 but it concerns the whole body of the clergy and people, aye, 
 all the estates of the realm. It would be absurd on my part to 
 give you a hasty answer on this matter without consulting the 
 commonalty of the realm.' The two friars thereupon left 
 Grosseteste's presence. Matthew Paris goes on to relate how 
 they proceeded afterwards to St. Albans, and, instead of being 
 satisfied with the accommodation with which Friars Preachers 
 and Friars Minors were content, in a building specially erected 
 for their use, they insisted that they should be entertained in 
 the principal guest-rooms, ' where, forsooth, bishops and noble- 
 men are lodged.' " 
 
 The foregoing anecdote appears to indicate opposition to the 
 methods of collection and to the amount asked for, as well as to 
 the general procedure adopted, rather than to the character of 
 the requirement itself; and there is no reason for thinking that, 
 either then or at any other time, Grosseteste opposed a well- 
 considered and hona-fidc demand by the Pope for his own 
 necessities, however vigorously he may have resisted both tlie 
 abuse of the system of Provisions, and the demands put forward 
 by the Pope on behalf of others, as, for instance, in the interest 
 of the King in 1252.^ On the subject of the Crusades he felt, as 
 
 ' Prof. Protlicro sees this dually. — Simon ih: Montfort, \). 142.
 
 XII GROSSETESTE'S INTEREST IN THE CRUSADES 261 
 
 has been seen,^ so strongly, that it is not a matter of surprise that, 
 between 1247 and 1250, he took a leading part in this country 
 in obtaining funds towards that object. A generation which has 
 failed to be aroused by the Armenian massacres of 1895 can 
 hardly be expected to enter into the feelings which prompted 
 men in " the dark ages " to attempt the rescue of the Christian 
 East from its Moslem conquerors. Badly organised as those 
 expeditions were, as well as based upon a miscalculation of 
 forces, and intermingled with lower motives, they represent, 
 nevertheless, in their inception and in the inspiration of religious 
 duty and self-sacrificing altruism to which they owe their origin, 
 one of the redeeming features in the history of mankind. Little 
 light is thrown by the narrative of Matthew Paris upon the part 
 taken by G-rosseteste in that respect, though he includes in his 
 Additamcnta - the text of Innocent's letter respecting the collec- 
 tion for the Crusade, which was forwarded by the Bishop of Lincohi. 
 From the Papal Registers, however, it is clear that Grosseteste's 
 exertions in that cause were continuous for several years. 
 
 As early as June 1247, he and "Walter de Cantelupe, Bishop 
 of Worcester, had begun their task. Grosseteste had by that 
 time collected directly a thousand pounds in his diocese towards 
 the Crusade, and another thousand, also in his diocese, from 
 the redemption of vows of those who found themselves unable 
 to take ship to the Holy Land, after expressing their willing- 
 ness to do so.^ Both sums were handed over, later on, to 
 William Longespee, called by courtesy Earl of Salisbury, who 
 afterwards became the English leader in the Crusade, was 
 killed at Mansourah after exhibiting great prowess, earned the 
 admiration even of the Soldan, and was buried at Acre."* 
 
 ^ Page 250. cording to ilatthew Paris, AVilliam 
 
 - Hist. Maj. vi. 134. Longespee himself had been deprived 
 
 ^ Bliss, Calendar, i. 224 ; see also of the title of Earl. — Hist. Maj. iv. 
 
 i. 242. 630. In Grosseteste's Rolls he is 
 
 * He was the son of the third Earl called Earl of Salisbury out of com- 
 
 of Salisbury, who is said to have been pliment. — Kennett, I.e.; Hist. Maj. 
 
 deprived of his earldom. — Kennett's 152 sg'g'., 342. But see Mr. Hunt's art. 
 
 Parochial Antiquities, i. 315. Ac- in the JJid. of Nat. Biography.
 
 2 62 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 Grosseteste and Walter de Cantelupe were empowered in the 
 same month to collect legacies, sums promised, and redemptions 
 of vows for the Holy Land, and to distribute them among the 
 Crusaders, notwithstanding the inhibition of the Bishop of 
 Tusculum, Papal legate, or any other.^ In August '^ Innocent 
 wi'ote to Henry the Third to the effect that, as the moneys for 
 the Crusade had been granted, at the instance of his ambas- 
 sadors and of the prelates, to the Bishops of Lincoln and 
 Worcester, to be distributed to needy Crusaders and inhabitants 
 of the realm at the time of the general passage, they could not 
 be handed over to the King. The Pope was willing, however, 
 that they should transmit to the King such sums as they could 
 spare for objects connected with the Crusade, but not to the 
 injury of the people of the realm. In January of the following 
 year^ the Bishops of Lincoln and Worcester were instructed to 
 deposit in certain places, in the name of the Eoman Church, all 
 sums collected for the Holy Land, with the exception of those 
 assigned to Eichard, Earl of Cornwall. In April 1248 two 
 thousand marks were paid over to William Longespee.'* In 
 1250, shortly before Grosseteste's second journey to Lyons, he 
 appears to have found it necessary to be relieved of his duties 
 as trustee of the fund, and to have left its management in the 
 hands of Walter de Cantelupe, in conjunction with John 
 Anglicus, a Franciscan, probably the same to whom the anec- 
 dote narrated by Matthew Paris refers.^ The Bishop of 
 Worcester also retired soon after from the management, and his 
 place was taken by Pilchard de la Wyche, Bishop of Chichester, 
 who, with the Archdeacon of Essex and the said John Anglicus, 
 was responsiljle thenceforward for the sums in question.^ 
 Walter de Cantelupe's reason for retiring was probably identical 
 
 ^ Bliss, Caleiidar, 234 ; Nicholas "marks" are clearly in addition 
 
 of Tusculum had been Legato in the to the two thousand "pounds" 
 
 time of King John. previously mentioned. 
 
 '^ Bliss, Caleiidar, i. 248, 249. , c^ nr o^/^ 
 
 3 7j^/. i. .249. ■' See pp. 85, 260. 
 
 •* Ibitl. i. 2f>5. These two thousand " Bliss, Calendar, i. 263, 264.
 
 XII OPINION ON THE SACRED BLOOD 263 
 
 with Grosseteste's, as it is known that he also was at Lyons in 
 the year 1250.^ 
 
 A remarkable incident occurred in 1247, illustrating the 
 religious feeling of the age, the keen international competition 
 for sacred rehcs, and also the manner in which people naturally 
 turned to Grosseteste for the solution of difficult problems in 
 theology. St. Louis, King of France, had become possessed of 
 what were deemed to be the fragments of the true cross. On 
 the day preceding the feast of the translation of St. Edward 
 the Confessor, October 13, 1247,^ Henry III. in\ited all the 
 magnates of the kingdom to meet him at Westminster, in order 
 that they might hear tidings of joyous import, as well as 
 celebrate the feast of that king, and be present at the knighting 
 of William of Valence, Henry's uterine brother.^ On their 
 arrival they were informed that a well-known Templar had 
 brought from Palestine a crystal vase, of exquisite workman- 
 ship, containing some of the drops of blood that flowed from 
 Christ's wounds, certified by the seals of the Masters of the 
 Templars and of the Hospitallers, by the Patriarch of Jeru- 
 salem, and by many archbishops, bishops, and abbots. Henry, 
 as a "most Christian King," received it with the deepest 
 veneration, following the example set on similar occasions by 
 the Emperor Heraclius and by St. Louis, and carried it himself 
 in the procession from St. Paul's to the new church which he 
 had built in connection with Westminster Abbey. Walter de 
 Suffield, Bishop of Norwich, preached a sermon, in which he 
 exalted the treasure of which England had l^ecome possessed 
 above that which had passed into the hands of the King of 
 
 ^ Bliss, Calendar, i. 264. ^ It is interesting to note that 
 
 - Hist. Maj. iv. 640 sqq. Some Henry, in order to secure full publicity 
 
 confusion has arisen owing to the for the proceedings, and to ensure 
 
 fact that the translation of St. Ed- that a faithful record should be kept, 
 
 mund of Canterbury took place in asked Matthew Paris to write an 
 
 June of the same year, at Pontigny. account, and invited him to dinner 
 
 — Hist. Maj. iv. 631 ; v. 76, 192. with three of his brother monks. 
 
 Archdeacon Perry, p. 192, probably by — Hist. Maj. iv. 644, 645. 
 a slip, confuses tlie two.
 
 2 64 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 France. There were some, however, who entertained and 
 expressed doubts on the subject, and inquired " how it came 
 to pass that, as Christ had risen with His body perfect. His 
 blood could be there in a separate state." The question was 
 submitted to Grosseteste as the most learned theologian of the 
 day. Without committing himself to the genuineness of the 
 particular relic, except in so far as persons of authority had 
 vouched for it, he demonstrated its possibility by an elaborate 
 argument, which Matthew Paris took down in writing from the 
 Bishop's own lips, and included in the Additamenta to his 
 history.-^ The subject is treated with great reverence, but at 
 the same time with what may appear to some to be excessive 
 refinement of ingenuity. He draws a distinction between two 
 kinds of blood, of which the first is generated of the aliments 
 we take, and is frequently lost during lifetime by bleeding and 
 other processes, whilst the second is of the substance, or essence 
 of every animated body. Of the first kind some must have 
 been left, and probably preserved on earth ; and it may be 
 assumed that what had been sent in this vessel belongs to that 
 category. " Of the second kind of Christ's blood, however, we 
 have, perhaps, none upon earth ; I say ' perhaps,' because with 
 God all things are possible." He then proceeds to deal with 
 the nature of the resurrection. It is evident that Grosseteste 
 is not discussing, as might perhaps be supposed, any question 
 connected with the mystery of the Eucharist,- but is merely 
 replying to the specific question put to him, namely, how the 
 presence of a portion of Christ's blood contained in the vessel 
 which has been sent to the King, assuming its genuineness, is 
 consistent with the Scriptural statement. It must be re- 
 membered, however, when W(i read the account of the incident 
 and the expression of Grosseteste's opinion, as recorded by 
 Matthew Paris, and especially liis reference to Joseph of 
 Arimathfea, that the legend of the Holy Grail had, within a 
 comparatively recent number of years, been made widely 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. iv. 643 ; vi. 13S-144. - Cp. p. 335.
 
 XII ENCROACHMENTS OF THE KING 265 
 
 known through the writings of Walter de Mapes and others in 
 the latter half of the twelfth century.^ 
 
 In spite of the King's display of piety on that and on other 
 occasions, he was in frequent, and, indeed, in almost constant 
 conflict witli the Church and with his own subjects during the 
 period now under consideration. At one moment he opposed 
 the Papal demands, was threatened by his brother Eichard, 
 Earl of Cornwall, for so doing, and withdrew his opposition.- 
 Innocent's phrase that Henry was " Fredericizing " was sufti- 
 cient to suggest serious possibilities. At another moment he 
 incurred the public indignation for allowing the Pope to inter- 
 fere with the rights of patrons.^ His exactions and general 
 misgovernment increased, and his monetary difficulties, largely 
 due to the favours he conferred on his own and his wife's 
 relatives, were such as to earn him the nickname of " the 
 beggar kinglet," " regulus mendicans," which Matthew Paris 
 gives him in one passage, afterwards, however, trying, though 
 ineffectually, to erase the words.'* The Parliament wdiich met 
 in London in February 1248, and which was attended by nine 
 prelates, including Grosseteste, nine earls, and a large number 
 of barons, knights, abbots, priors, and clerks, took the oppor- 
 tunity, afforded by Henry's demand for a subsidy, of taking 
 him to task for his misrule.^ He was reminded that on the 
 last occasion on which he had made a similar exaction, he had 
 promised not to inflict any further injuries upon the realm. 
 And yet he had summoned into the kingdom an increasing 
 number of foreigners, and lavished English funds upon them ; 
 he was accused of obtaining from traders the meat, drink, and 
 clothing for his court by force, and without paying for them, 
 with the result that native dealers withdrew and foreign dealers 
 refused to come, thus dealing a serious blow to " that commerce 
 
 ^ See especially Mapes' Quest die * Ibid. v. 52 ; Luard's note, as well 
 
 Saiiit Graal, edited by Furnivall for as his Introduction to that volume, 
 
 the Roxburghe Club. p. 12. 
 
 - Hist. Maj. iv. 560. 
 
 ^ Ihid. iv. 655. ^ Hist. Maj. v. 5 sqq.
 
 266 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 by which nations are strengthened and enriched." ^ He was 
 charged with seizing silks and other materials, for the purpose 
 of giving alms to the poor and candles to churches, thus 
 snatching a reputation for benevolence and piety out of other 
 people's pockets ; even the poor fishermen were subjected to 
 such extortions that they found it more profitable to trust 
 themselves to the high seas, and to sell their herrings and 
 other fish on distant shores ; bishoprics and abbacies were kept 
 vacant, and their revenues turned to the King's own use ; and, 
 to crown all, he never appointed responsible ministers, such as 
 a justiciary, a chancellor, or a treasurer, in accordance with the 
 advice of the kingdom as a whole, but merely officials who 
 yielded implicit obedience to his personal rule, and only sought 
 their own advantage. Henry at first promised amendment, but 
 adjourned a definite reply until the mouth of June, but Parlia- 
 ment was then dissolved without having received a satisfactory 
 answer, whilst the King failed in obtaining the subsidy for which 
 he asked,- and resorted to the process of selling the royal plate 
 to citizens of London, and afterwards exacting large contri- 
 butions from them over and above the price they had paid.^ 
 He also extorted from the monasteries considerable sums, 
 amounting, in the case of Bury St. Edmunds alone, to 1200 
 marks. 
 
 It is not surprising, therefore, that, in view of the general 
 maladministration of the kingdom, Grosseteste should, in at 
 least two instances, have overstepped his legal rights and have 
 come into conflict with the royal authority. One instance 
 occurred towards the end of 1240 or the beginning of 1250 in 
 the county of Eutland, which formed part of the diocese of 
 Lincoln. Grosseteste had passed a sentence of deprivation and 
 excommunication on a certain beneficed clerk guilty of incon- 
 tinence. As the latter remained in possession for more than 
 forty days, the Bishop instructed the Sheriff of Eutland to 
 imprison him, and, as the Sheriff, who was a friend of the 
 
 1 Illst. Maj. I.e. - Ihid. v. 21. '■^ Ihid. v. 22, 47.
 
 XII DIFFICULTIES WITH HENRY III. 267 
 
 clerk, refused to act, he excommunicated him also. Henry the 
 Third thereupon appealed to the Pope, and obtained from 
 Innocent a letter forbidding the King's bailifts to be summoned 
 before ecclesiastical courts in secular matters.^ The other 
 instance is to be found in the course of one of Grosseteste's 
 visitations of his diocese, apparently in 1246, when, at the 
 suggestion of the Franciscans and Dominicans, he endeavoured 
 to extend his inquiries and his reforming energy to the task of 
 effecting an improvement in the morals of the laity, as well as 
 in those of the clergy, and gave instructions to that effect to his 
 archdeacons and rural deans.'^ As grave complaints arose, the 
 King addressed a letter to the Sheriff of Hertfordshire, requiring 
 him not to allow any laymen to appear before the Bishop or liis 
 delegates for the purpose of answering inquiries on oath or of 
 making attestations in other than matrimonial and testamentary 
 causes. Although Matthew Paris speaks as if the Bishop's 
 instructions were of a general character, the King's letter, 
 addressed as it was to the Sheriff of Hertfordshire alone, would 
 seem to indicate that it related to some exceptional incidents 
 which had occurred in that county. Although Grosseteste 
 exceeded his powers in both cases, the inability of the civil 
 authority to check wrongdoing and the King's misgovernment 
 may have supplied valid reasons, with which we are unacquainted, 
 for the course he thought fit to adopt. That he was as intent 
 as in the early days of his episcopate upon the necessity for 
 preventing the clergy from holding secular appointments, may 
 be inferred from the Papal mandate, which he obtained in 
 February 1247,^ authorising him to exercise his office without 
 fear against the rectors of churches in his diocese who took the 
 offices of justice, sheriff, bailiff, or notary in the secular courts. 
 Various ecclesiastical disputes of a minor character, apart from 
 the work connected with his annual visitations, also occupied 
 some of his time. A dispute, for instance, between John de 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. V. 109, 110. '- Ibid. iv. 579, 580. 
 
 =5 Bliss, Calendar, i. 230.
 
 268 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 Vercelli, Papal subdeacon and prebendary of Walton in Lincoln 
 cathedral, who was a Buckinghamshire rector, and the Arch- 
 deacon of Buckingham, appears to have commenced in 1239, 
 and only to have been settled in 1251 in favour of the former, 
 and the correspondence with the Pope on the subject was 
 carried on by Grosseteste.^ The excommunication of one PtOger 
 Gray of Buckingham necessitated in 1246 a communication to 
 the King.^ The Papal Provisions in his diocese, though his 
 resistance to them did not reach the stage to which it attained 
 after 1250, were such as to cause him much concern, and were 
 productive of serious difficulties. During Grosseteste's first 
 visit to Lyons he was informed in October 1245, that in 
 February of that year a mandate had been sent to John 
 Sarraceni, Dean of Wells and Papal chaplain, to give to John de 
 Eomania, Papal chaplain, or his proctor, corporal possession of 
 the church of Coleby in the diocese of Lincoln, which the Bishop 
 had conferred upon Master Simon, now deceased.^ In 1247 a 
 dispute occurred between an Englishman, Alan de St. Faith, 
 and an Italian, Bartholomew de Piovata, both of whom had been 
 presented to the same church of Ledenham in Lincolnshire, with 
 the result that in January of the following year Grosseteste 
 found himself compelled to sequestrate the church pending a 
 decision of the rival claims.'* In 1248 Grosseteste had to 
 procure a revocation of whatever had been attempted to his 
 prejudice by certain executors, who had suspended him from the 
 collation of prebends, and who had apparently received Papal 
 authority for so doing.^ He was also called upon in the same 
 year to take steps to secure Nicholas of Farnham, sometime 
 Bishop of Durham, who had resigned his See, against any 
 molestation to which he might be subjected on account of the 
 provision of certain manors made to him by the Archbishop of 
 York under Innocent's orders." It was probably on account of 
 
 1 liliss, Calendar, i. 181, 266. •* Ihid. i. 239, 241. 
 
 '^ Roberts, Calendarimii Gcncalocd- . ,,., . _,, 
 
 •' Ibid. 1. 244. 
 cum, 1. 19. 
 
 3 Bliss, Calendar, i. 214. « Ibid. i. 255.
 
 XII FRIENDSHIP WITH SIMON DE MONTFORT 269 
 
 applications of a similar character on other occasions that 
 he found it necessary to apply to the Pope for an indult, 
 which he obtained in June 1247, granting him the privilege 
 that he should not be summoned more than one day's journey 
 from his diocese, which is there stated to have been five days' 
 journey in length, unless special mention was made of this 
 indult in the apostolic letter, and also that he need not take 
 cognisance of the suits of litigants committed to him by the 
 Pope.^ It may be noted that a similar privilege was conferred 
 upon his successor, Henry de Lexington, in 1255," and the 
 reason is doubtless to be found in the vast extent of the 
 bishopric. 
 
 One of the most important features during this part of 
 Grosseteste's life was the quickening of the bonds of friendship 
 which united him with Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, 
 and his increased interest in the party of political reform, an 
 interest which he had commenced to show, as has been seen, 
 some years before he became a bishop, and which he had 
 exhibited in a conspicuous degree in the Parliaments in which 
 he took part, as well as in connection with the Committee of 
 twelve in 1244. The first reference to Simon de Montfort 
 in Grosseteste's correspondence is to be found in the letter 
 which he addressed in 1231, whilst Archdeacon of Leicester, to 
 the Countess of Winchester, with regard to the Jews who had 
 been expelled from the domam of the new Lord of Leicester.^ 
 In a letter written to Earl Simon himself in 1238, Grosseteste 
 warns him against the injustice of over-severity, and urges him 
 not to punish a certain burgess of the town of Leicester, 
 probably Simon de Curlevache, above the measure of his fault.^ 
 The letter is couched in affectionate terms, which imply a 
 friendship of long standing. In 1239 we find Grosseteste 
 exhortmg him to bear with patience the trouble which had come 
 
 ^ Bliss, Calend.ar, i. 234. p. 109. Hist. Maj. iii. 479. Simon 
 
 - Ibid. i. 309. de Curlevache was an alderman of 
 
 * See p. 100, and note. Letter 5. Leicester. See Miss Bateson's Records 
 
 * Letter 48. Luard's Introduction, of the Borough of Leicester, pp. 26, etc.
 
 2 70 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 over him in consequence of the King's hostility, and offering to 
 plead his cause with Henry.-^ The letter was probably written 
 shortly after he had gone into exile. A reconciliation with the 
 King took place a few months later, but it is not known how far 
 Grosseteste's suggested mediation contributed to that result. 
 From 1240 until 1243 he was, with one brief interval, out of 
 England, first in connection with the Crusade in Palestine, and 
 then with the campaign against Louis IX. In the Parliament 
 of 1244 he and Grosseteste were both placed on the Committee 
 of twelve, and, as has been shown, the Bishop was on that 
 occasion more thorough in his views and more opposed to the 
 King's exactions than the Earl. For the next few years the 
 latter appears to have spent most of his time in Leicestershire 
 without taking an active part in political affairs, and to have 
 been in frequent communication with Grosseteste, and more 
 especially with Adam Marsh. Ptishanger - says that it was in 
 accordance with Grosseteste's advice that he handled what was 
 difficult, attempted what was doubtful, and completed what he 
 had begun, in regard to all thmgs by which he hoped that his 
 merits would be increased. There can be no doubt that it was 
 the influence of the Bishop, who discerned the sterling worth 
 and true greatness of his character, in spite of his impulsive 
 nature and occasional harshness of temper,^ contributed greatly 
 towards the formation and development of the Earl's opinions. 
 It was for his benefit that Grosseteste wrote a short treatise, 
 entitled The Principles of Kingship and of Tyranny,^ in which 
 a distinction was doubtless drawn between the methods of 
 responsible government under a constitutional monarchy and 
 
 1 Letter 75. acts of the Earl's agents, imply that 
 
 ,, ^. , 1 -r.-! T> 11 £1 • Grosseteste is disposed to blame his 
 
 - Risnanger, ed. Riley, Rolls benes, r . j, i i. i ^ j • 
 
 ° *^ Iriend s somewhat hasty and incon- 
 
 p. 36. 
 
 siderate proceedings. 
 
 3 M. Bemont (lip. 61, 62) is probably ^ Mon. Francisc. p. 110. The date 
 
 right in his view that Letter 143, from of the letter is uncertain. It was 
 
 Grosseteste to Simon de Montfort in written either immediately before the 
 
 1250, and Letters 18 and 25 (Mon. Earl's return to Gascony in 1248, or 
 
 Francisc. pp. 103 and 110) from imuiediately before his return there in 
 
 Adam Marsh to the Bishop, relating to 1252. Tlie former is more likely.
 
 XII THE COUNTESS OF LEICESTER 271 
 
 those of personal rule under a despotism. In liis turn Simon 
 de Montfort was highly pleased with the Bishop's plans of 
 ecclesiastical reform, and was ready to further them with the 
 utmost enthusiasm, " The Earl of Leicester," writes Adam 
 ]\Iarsh to Grosseteste,^ "has spoken with me about the most 
 salutary and splendid project with which Heaven has inspired 
 your heart for the liberation of souls from bondage; he 
 approves of it, extols it, and embraces it with all his ardent 
 devotion to great ideas, and is ready to put it into execution at 
 once with his partisans, if any are found. But in his anxiety 
 for your bodily weakness he says that he does not see how you 
 can face such difficulties and dangers in person." The precise 
 meaning of the passage is obscure, but it relates in all likelihood 
 to Grosseteste's views on the need for combining in one and the 
 same effort the struggle for the liberties of the State and the 
 struggle for the liberties of the Church, and for co-operation be- 
 tween the friends of progress in the one and the friends of pro- 
 gress in the other,in view of the fact that they were confronted by 
 similar encroachments and similar perils. Frequent communica- 
 tions passed between him and the Bishop through the medium of 
 Adam Marsh, and they often held personal intercourse with one 
 another.- In 1248 Simon de Montfort was appointed Lieutenant 
 of Gascony, and for the next five years, except from November 
 of 1251 to June of 1252, he was continuously absent from 
 England. It was probably in that year, therefore, that he 
 entrusted to Grosseteste's charge ^ his son Henry, who must at 
 that time have been ten years of age, and who is described as 
 being of tender years, but old enough to be taught the rudiments 
 of literature and to be trained in the way he should go. His 
 youngest son, Almeric, was also placed under the Bishop's care 
 not long afterwards.* No mention is made by name of the Earl's 
 other sons, and it may therefore be assumed that the eldest and 
 the youngest were the only two who were sent to Grosseteste. 
 
 ^ JIov. Francisc. p. 111. ^ Ibid. p. 110. 
 
 - Ibid. pp. 107, 111, 262, etc. ^ Ibid. p. 163.
 
 272 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 Adam Marsh writes frequently to the Earl, stating how they are 
 progressing. In one letter he says : ^ " Thanks to God, the Lord 
 Bishop of Lincoln is w^ell, and so are your children, who are 
 showing remarkable capacity and are full of promise, making 
 advance from day to day in all that is good." Pdshanger 
 relates that Grosseteste, when nearing his end, laid his hand 
 upon the eldest son's head, and foretold that he and his 
 father would both sacrifice their lives one day in the cause 
 of truth and justice," a prediction which was fulfilled when, 
 on the 4th of August 1265, they fell on the field of Evesham, 
 and were honoured as the martyrs of liberty by the people of 
 England. 
 
 Simon de Montfort, who was a man of varied literary tastes, 
 took a special interest, for instance, in John de Basingstoke's 
 researches,^ and was well read in the Scriptures and in the 
 writings of some of the Fathers, found intellectual delight as 
 well as spiritual comfort in Grosseteste's conversation. The 
 Countess of Leicester, too, must have served as an additional 
 link between them. She was the sister of Henry the Tliird, 
 and the widow of William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, with whose 
 brother Grosseteste had been on terms of special intimacy, and 
 to whom he had addressed his letters on the glory and riches of 
 heaven, and on the two kinds of wisdom.^ The Countess was 
 devoted to her husband, accompanied him into exile when he 
 was driven from England by her l^rother, the King, and inspired 
 him with wise counsels when his rashness was apt to lead him 
 astray.^ She had, however, her weaknesses. Adam Marsh, for 
 instance, does not hesitate to tell her on one occasion that she 
 spends too much money on dress, and is not sufficiently guarded 
 in her language or in her temper.^ How pleasant, however, 
 were the relations between Grosseteste and the family may he 
 inferred from one little incident. The Bishop's cook having 
 
 ^ Mon. Francisc. p. 268. ■* Letters 6, 7. 
 
 2 Uiahgiiiacf a Chronicle {RolhSerica), . 
 
 „ ° •' Jlo)i. I'ranasc. pi). 298, 299. 
 
 p. 36. ii ' 
 
 =' Hist. Maj. V. 284. '' Ibid. pp. 294, 295.
 
 XII GROSSETESTE'S INFLUENCE OVER EARL SIMON 273 
 
 died, he borrowed I'roni the Countess a certain Jolm of Leicester, 
 who held the same office in her household. As he was a good 
 cook, and probably Simon de Montlbrt had already started for 
 Gascony, so that he no longer required to dispense hospitality, 
 Grosseteste thought it advisable to retain the said John's 
 services, and asked Adam Marsh, in a letter which excited in 
 his correspondent both laughter and tears, to convey his excuses 
 to the Countess. Her reply was that, even if she had the best 
 of servants, she would rejoice at the opportunity of being able 
 to place all or any of them at Grosseteste's disposal.-^ Her 
 gratitude to the Bishop for his support of her husband during 
 his trial in 1252 was unbounded.- 
 
 The most important part of Simon de Montfort's life belongs, 
 no doubt, to the period which followed Grosseteste's death ; but 
 the inspiration which led him to seek his triumph at Lewes 
 and his fall at Evesham was due, in no small measure, to the 
 principles with which he had been imbued by his friend. In 
 the early part of his career there was little, beyond his ancestral 
 connection with this country and his marriage with the King's 
 sister, to distinguish him from the numerous foreign adventurers 
 who came to these shores during the reign of Henry the Third, 
 but his great qualities of heart and mind gradually asserted 
 themselves above his defects ; and it was Grosseteste's object 
 to induce him to seek a broader basis of support than was to be 
 found by the mere assertion of the rights and privileges of his 
 own order, and to include the advocacy of such reforms as were 
 in harmony with the needs of the Church and of the nation as 
 a whole. When from May 9 to June 11, 1252, Earl Simon had 
 to answer the accusations brought against him by the nobles of 
 Gascony and the Archbishop of Bordeaux, in a trial of which 
 a vivid description is given in a letter written by Adam Marsh 
 
 ^ Mon. Francisc. p. 170. Household Eoll of 1265, edited by 
 
 Turner for the Bannatyne Club in 
 
 - Ihid. p. 130. For further de- 1S41, and also her biography in Mrs. 
 tails respecting Eleanor, Countess of Green's Lives of the Princesses of Eng- 
 Leicester, see the introduction to her land, vol. ii.
 
 2 74 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 to Grosseteste/ the testimony of the representatives of the 
 whole community of Bordeaux was used to discredit his adver- 
 saries, and to show that it was his strictness in tlie administra- 
 tion of justice which had aroused their enmity, and that his 
 horizon was not hounded by the interests of his own class. It 
 was Grosseteste who, when nearing his end in 1253, asked the 
 Earl to return good for evil, to forget the insults which Henry 
 the Third had addressed to him, and to come to the rescue of 
 his dominions in Gascony against the attacks of the King of 
 Castile and a new insurrection of the Gascon nobles ; and Simon 
 de Montfort, " who regarded," says Matthew Paris, " the Bishop 
 in the light of a father confessor, and was on terms of most 
 intimate friendship with him, inclined his ear and his heart in 
 obedience to his request." " And when, in the memorable year 
 1265, the Earl summoned by separate writs representatives 
 of the towns in addition to those of the counties for the purposes 
 of Parliament, and independently of the machinery of the 
 Sheriff's Court, he was acting in accordance with the spirit of 
 Grosseteste's maxim, laid down on a different occasion, that 
 " unless we all stand together we shall all utterly perish," and 
 was guided by that regard for " truth and justice " which he 
 had derived from his great teacher. 
 
 How closely Grosseteste and de Montfort were associated in 
 the popular imagination is indicated in the story, given by 
 Eishanger,^ that, on the Sunday before the battle of Evesham, 
 a lad was brought to Grosseteste's tomb to be healed. After a 
 long sleep he woke and told his parents that it was needless to 
 wait longer, for the Bishop was not present ; he was gone to 
 Evesham " to help Earl Simon, his brother, who was to die 
 
 ^ Moll. Francisc. pp. 122-130. The ing to Siiiiou de Montfort see Prof, 
 
 letter is translated in Mrs. Green's Prothero's fourth Appendix, the A] )])en- 
 
 Lives of the Princesses, vol. ii. pp. 447 dix to Kishanger's Clironidc, published 
 
 sqq, by the Camden Society, M. Bemont's 
 
 - Hist. Maj. iv. 415, 41G. Introduction, pp. 15-19, and Prof. 
 
 •^ Chronicle, ed. Camden Society, p. Maitland's edition of one of the songs 
 
 71, (juoted in Prof. Prothero's Simon in the Ewjlish Historical Eevicw for 
 
 de Montfort, p. 144. For songs relat- h.\)vi\ 1896.
 
 XII PEACEFUL RELATIONS WITH THE CHAPTER 275 
 
 there." And in a song relating to the death of Simon de 
 Montfort/ written shortly after tliat battle, occur the lines : — 
 
 Hie Robertum sequebatur 
 Cujus vita commendatur 
 
 Certa per miracula. 
 Dictis ejus vir obedit ; 
 Fert Robertus, Symoii credit 
 
 De statutis talia : 
 Si verum confitearis 
 Et pro dictis moriaris 
 
 Magna feres praemia. 
 
 It is clear, however, from the anecdote related by Matthew 
 Paris, that Grosseteste was able not only to direct the Earl's 
 policy in a forward direction, and to broaden the range of his 
 sympathies, but also to exercise over him a moderating influence 
 when the needs of the case required it ; and there can be no 
 doubt that, had he lived a few years longer, he would have used 
 every effort to avert a civil war, whilst upholding Simon de 
 Montfort's efforts to redress misgovernment, and to establish 
 the constitution of the realm on a wider foundation. 
 
 It has been necessary in previous chapters to deal by anti- 
 cipation with much of the work in which Grosseteste was 
 engaged after his return from Lyons in 1245, in connection 
 with the visitation of his diocese, his endeavours to make satis- 
 factory arrangements with religious houses for the establish- 
 ment of vicarages, and his renewed attempt to improve the 
 condition, and at the same time the standard of conduct and of 
 learning of the clergy.- As far as the Chapter of Lincoln was 
 concerned, the Pope's decision had brought about a reconcilia- 
 tion, and one of the first duties to which he turned his attention 
 after his arrival in England was that of visiting the cathedral 
 and the prebendal churches.^ In spite of the settlement of the 
 dispute a few minor questions still remained in abeyance. The 
 new dean, for instance, Henry de Lexington, asked Grosseteste 
 
 1 Edited by Prof. Maitland from 2 See pp. 144-146, 154, 162, 163. 
 
 Caius College MS. No. 85, English ^ Aim. Monast. (Dunstable), iii. 
 
 Historical Review, April 1896, p. 317. 171 ; (T. Wykes), iv. 94.
 
 2 76 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 to alter the order in which he proposed to carry out his visita- 
 tions, and to leave the cathedral to the last, and, when the 
 Bishop changed his plan at his request, and began with the 
 prebends in the archdeaconry of Stow, turned round and 
 accused him of inconsistency.^ Grosseteste also noted that the 
 looks of the canons expressed the annoyance they felt in their 
 hearts at the decision, and appealed both to them and to the 
 Dean not to be influenced by petty considerations, but to co- 
 operate with him loyally in future in the great work in which 
 they were all engaged.^ The letter appears to have been suc- 
 cessful, for from that time forward no unpleasantness marred 
 the relations between him and them ; and although Matthew 
 Paris asserts that Thomas Wallensis, Archdeacon of Lincoln, 
 accepted the bishopric of St. David's, which was offered to him 
 at the end of 1247 or the beginning of 1248, because he was 
 annoyed at the humiliation to which the Dean and Chapter 
 had been exposed, it is hardly likely either that, as Grosseteste's 
 right-hand man, he would have been affected by that reason, or 
 that, as a "Welshman, he would have declined a promotion which 
 took him back into his native land, to a See which Giraldus 
 Cambrensis in his day had ardently coveted, however barren 
 and stony St David's may have been at that time.^ Moreover, 
 in a letter "^ in which he offers the archdeaconry of Huntingdon 
 with the prebend of Buckden to a friend who had previously 
 refused the offer of the prebend of Gretton on the ground of the 
 prolongation of the dispute, he expresses his thankfulness that 
 peace now reigns between himself and the Chapter ; and in any 
 case his visitation of the Chapter and of all the prebends with- 
 out exception met with no opposition from any quarter.^ 
 
 Into the story of his visitations during these years it is 
 
 ^ Letter 121. ]\Iaisli's letters, Moiu Francisc. p. 150, 
 
 '^ Letter 122. ratlier suggests that some coolness 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. iv. C-47 ; Giraldus had arisen between Grosseteste and 
 
 Cambrensis, Itinerarium Cambriac, Tliomas Wallensis. 
 
 ii. 1 ; Felten, p. 50. On the other •» Letter 118. 
 
 hand a passage in one of Adam '' Annalcs Monastici, I.e.
 
 XII DIFFICULTIES WITH THE RELIGIOUS HOUSES 277 
 
 needless to enter here. Suffice it to say that to the year 
 1249, in which he appears to have paid special attention to 
 the monasteries, belong his visits to the priories of Dunstable 
 and Caldwell, with the results previously mentioned,^ and his 
 deposition of the Abbess of Godstow,- His action in regard to 
 the abbey of Peterborough shows the confidence felt in him 
 by the monks in spite of his severity ; for it was the convent 
 itself which appealed to Grosseteste agamst its Abbot, on 
 account of the inordinate expenditure incurred by the latter for 
 the enrichment of his own relatives ; and the Bishop of Lincoln, 
 who, says Matthew Paris in that passage,'^ " was always ready 
 to punish those who strayed from the right path," was only 
 prevented from taking strong measures by the spontaneous 
 resignation of the Abbot ; whereupon " one of the manors 
 connected with the abbacy was assigned to him, although he 
 did not deserve it, in order that he might live more honestly 
 and more honourably, like a hermit, during the rest of his 
 life." The King, who had benefited by the Abbot's liberality, 
 was greatly annoyed by the proceedings. 
 
 It was towards the close of 1249 or the beginning of 1250 
 that Grosseteste, in his anxiety to place the vicarages on a 
 definite and satisfactory footing, summoned all the beneficed 
 monks in his diocese to meet him, first at Stamford, then at 
 Leicester, and then at Oxford, for the purpose of showing him 
 their founders' charters, episcopal confirmations, and Papal 
 privileges,* of w^hich he kept a copy, with the intention of con- 
 sultmg the Pope on the general question involved. JMatthew 
 Paris, who refers only to the Leicester meeting, which took 
 place on the 13th of January 1250,^ states that Grosseteste 
 was able to communicate a privilege which he had already 
 
 ^ See p. 154. ■* See p. 144. Ami. Monast. (Dun- 
 
 - See p. 164. Grosseteste Jloll of stable), iii. 180. 
 
 that date, under the head of the Arch- * Hist. Maj. v. 96 ; Hist. An- 
 
 deaconry of Oxford ; Luard's Introd. glorum, iii. 68, 69 ; Luard's Introd. 
 
 to the Letters, p. 69. to the Letters, p. 71 ; Pegge, p. 
 
 =* Hist. Maj. V. 84. 171.
 
 2 78 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap, xh 
 
 obtained from Innocent IV., and which is given in the Addita- 
 menta} by sending to the Eoman Court a certain Master 
 Leonard, his clerk, at great expense to himself. The Pope's 
 letter, dated the I7th of May 1249, authorises Grosseteste, in 
 cases in which monks have appropriated churches or tithes to 
 their own use without the consent of the Chapter of Lincoln, to 
 annul their action, and to forbid similar proceedings in future, 
 through the operation of ecclesiastical censure and without 
 appeal. The course advocated was one which Grosseteste had 
 long been pursuing, but the letter was intended to strengthen 
 his hands and to help him to overcome the obstacles which 
 stood in his way. How great was the resistance he encountered 
 from the wealth, the vis inertiac, and the e&iyrit de corps of the 
 monastic bodies, may be gathered from the strenuous opposition 
 offered to his efforts in the pages of Matthew Paris. Appeals 
 against the Bishop's decisions were made to the Pope on the 
 part of the Templars, the Hospitallers, the exempt abbots and 
 priors, mainly Cistercians,^ the Premonstratentian Abbot of 
 Newhouse,^ and also by others, who, with large sums of money, 
 purchased peace for themselves from Innocent, much to the 
 sorrow of Grosseteste, who thus found his action thwarted, 
 and much of his work undone.^ 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. vi. 152. anno obtinuinius in causa contra Wal- 
 
 ^ Ibid. V. 97. terum vicariuni nostrum de Stodham 
 
 * Hist. Anglorum, iii. 70. (Studham), quia retractata fuit aug- 
 
 * The manner in which tlie attempts mentatio vicariae suae facta per 
 to undo Grosseteste's Avork with re- dominum Eobertum Grosteste Lin- 
 gard to vicarages continued after his eohiiae episcopum. Et per abbatem 
 death may be inferred from the follow- Westmonasterii, judicem nostrum 
 ing entry under the year 1254, Ann. delegatum, redacta fuit ad statum 
 Monast. (Dunstable), iii. 195 : " Eodem pristinum."
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 1250 — Grosseteste's second visit to Lyons — The exempt orders and the establish- 
 ment of vicarages — Difficulties with Archbishop Boniface — Grosseteste's 
 "sermon" before Innocent IV. on the external dangers and internal abuses 
 of the Church — Its effect — Return to England — Depression of spirits— The 
 Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops — Grosseteste's resistance of unjust 
 taxation — The maintenance of the Charters. 
 
 It was under the conditions described in the latter part of the 
 previous chapter that Grosseteste, in order to defeat the ejfforts 
 to undermine his establishment of vicarages, decided to proceed 
 in person to Lyons. Other questions also took him there, one 
 of which was the question of the conduct of Boniface, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. Grosseteste had anticipated, some years 
 before,^ that the other bishops would not be over anxious to see 
 him triumph over his Chapter, as the outcome of that decision 
 might be that the Archbishop of Canterbury would claim similar 
 rights over them, though the cases were by no means parallel. 
 And, indeed, it so happened that Boniface cited Grosseteste's 
 example as a precedent for visiting not only the prebends 
 connected with his own Cathedral, but also the canons of St. 
 Paul's, in defiance of the Bishop of London.- The Archbishop, 
 however, was one of the most singular persons ever raised to high 
 ecclesiastical office, and Grosseteste's eyes had long been open to 
 his incapacity. It was mainly on that account that he had urged, 
 some years earlier, that Boniface should be assisted by friars 
 of both Orders possessing the qualifications previously men- 
 tioned.^ In the affairs of liobert de Passelew tlie Archbishop 
 had acted merely as the King's tool.'* The request for a subsidy 
 
 1 Letter 80, p. 257. s P. 254, Letter 115. 
 
 2 Hist. Maj. V. 119-121. * Letter 126.
 
 28o ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 from the whole province had only been granted after much 
 hesitation/ and, as years went on, Boniface's attitude gave rise 
 to strong opposition on the part of the English prelates. Some 
 anecdotes related by jMatthew Paris " exhibit him in the light 
 rather of a condottiere than of an ecclesiastic, and his appoint- 
 ment had certainly been due originally to the King's weakness 
 and to the fact that he was the Queen's uncle. His visitations 
 were intended, says the St. Albans historian, " not for the 
 advancement of religion or the reform of morals, but to satisfy 
 his usual greed for filthy lucre." ^ The officials sent as his 
 representatives extorted large sums of money from the dioceses 
 to which they went, and aroused the indignation of the bishops. 
 The connection between the action of the Archbishop and 
 Grosseteste's visit to Lyons may be inferred from the fact that 
 his companions on his journey were the Bishops of London and 
 of Worcester,'* both of whom had grievances to urge against 
 Boniface, and both of whom subsequently took part with 
 Grosseteste and certain other prelates in the meeting held at 
 Dunstable, in 1251, to protest against his claims and exactions. 
 The Bishop of Lincoln was also accompanied by Eobert Marsh, 
 Archdeacon of Oxford, and by John de Crackale, Archdeacon of 
 Bedford,'' and several of his clerks. The companion of his 
 previous journey to Lyons, Adam Marsh, was unable to go with 
 him : he writes to Grosseteste that he wept as he stood on the 
 shore of Dover, earnestly desiring that he might, in filial 
 
 1 Letter 85. mistake for Wintonicnsis. It is im- 
 
 - Hist. Maj. V. 123. Adam Marsh, probable, however, that the mistake 
 
 however, points out (Mon. Francisc. would occur in both passages. It is 
 
 p. 163) that a good many exaggerated true that the Bishop of Winchester 
 
 and mendacious stories concerning was also in France in 1250 for about 
 
 Boniface's ])roceedings were current eleven months before his death at 
 
 among the clergy and the people, and Tours on the 21st of Sept. 1250. The 
 
 it is jiossible that some of them may ))oint, however, is settled by the docu- 
 
 have been repeated by Matthew Paris. ment cited in Bliss, Calendar of the 
 
 ■■' Hist. Maj. v. 187. Papal llcgistcrs, i. 264, showing that 
 
 ^ Ibid. v. 96, 97; cp. Hist. the Bishop of "Worcester was at Lyons 
 
 Angloruvi, iii. 562. Sir F. Madden in 1250. 
 
 suggests that Wigorniensis may be a •'' See p. 324.
 
 XIII OBJECTS AND RESULTS OF THE JOURNEY 281 
 
 obedience to the Bishop, follow his directions in works of piety ; 
 but that this could not be done without leave, which he was 
 desirous of obtaining, from the Pope or from the Minister- 
 General, and serious obstacles had been placed in the way of 
 the suggestion by the King, the Queen, and the Franciscan 
 Order itself, and could only be removed by Grosseteste's 
 strenuous exertions.^ What was the precise object at which 
 Grosseteste and Adam Marsh both aimed is not quite clear 
 from the letter in question : possibly the Bishop may have 
 wished him to give up his connection with the Court and with 
 the Archbishop, which occupied much of his time, in order to 
 devote himself to spiritual and other work ; or, possibly, he 
 may have wanted Adam Marsh to accompany him, as before, 
 to Lyons, for the purpose of supporting his statement as to the 
 €vils from which the Church was suffering. In a letter - 
 written almost immediately afterwards to William de Notting- 
 ham, the Provincial Minister in England, Friar Adam expresses 
 his deep regret that he was unable to go with Grosseteste, refers 
 in terms of gloomy pessimism to the religious outlook in Eng- 
 land, and says that his feelings of annoyance are increased 
 owing to the fact that he has to be constantly in the Arch- 
 bishop's company.^ 
 
 Grosseteste's second visit to Lyons presents some important 
 differences as compared with his first visit to that city. In 
 1245 the principal objects of his journey were to secure an 
 authoritative decision in the dispute with the Dean and Chapter, 
 and to take part in the proceedings of the General Council. 
 In 1250 his main objects were, first, to overcome the resistance 
 of the monastic orders, especially such as were exemj)t, to the 
 establishment of vicarages and of proper financial arrangements 
 for the maintenance of \dcars ; secondly, to explain to the Pope 
 the evils from which the Church in England was exposed, with 
 special reference to the encroachments of the King, the exactions 
 
 ^ Mon. Francisc. p. 156. ^ "Domini Cautuariae contubernio 
 
 ^ Ibid. p. 312. aggravatus."
 
 282 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 and claims of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the state of the 
 clergy ; and, thirdly, to state the objections entertained to the 
 Papal Provisions, and to point out the abuses which did most to 
 injure the reputation and efficiency of the Eoman Court. It is 
 possible, also, that he may have been desirous of holding some 
 personal intercourse with Simon de Montfort, who was at Lyons 
 for a few months that year ; ^ but no record of their interviews 
 has been preserved. 
 
 It is natural that Matthew Paris, as the avowed champion 
 of monastic rights and privileges, should devote most space to 
 the first of the three objects above named, and should endeavour 
 to make it appear as though Grosseteste only turned his atten- 
 tion to the second and the third after he had failed in the first, 
 in order that he might be thought not to have been utterly 
 defeated in his purpose.^ As a matter of fact, however, he was 
 not entirely unsuccessful in the first of those objects. Adam 
 Marsh writes to William de Nottingham that he has received a 
 letter from the venerable Bishop of Lincoln, dated from the 
 Eoman Court, in which he states that he is returning in good 
 health and has prospered in his business.^ And Matthew Paris 
 himself cites,'* though under the year 1252, the text of a letter 
 addressed by Innocent on 25th September 1250, to Grosse- 
 teste, practically agreeing to his principal suggestions on the 
 subject of vicarages. The reason why the publication of that 
 letter was delayed is not stated. The letter runs thus : — 
 " Whereas in your city and diocese certain monks and others 
 forming communities hold possession, for their own benefit, of 
 the parochial churches, in which the vicarages are either too 
 small or non-existent : we, by this apostolic mandate, authorise 
 you to institute vicarages in the said churches out of their 
 revenues, or, if need be, to augment them from the same source 
 in order to make them less poor, in accordance with the will of 
 
 ^ See M. Bemont, Sivio7i da Mont- ^ Mon. Francisr. pp. 308, 309. 
 
 fort, p. 89. 
 
 - Hist. Maj. V. 98. •• Hist. Maj. v. 300.
 
 XIII THE EXEMPT ORDERS AND VICARAGES 283 
 
 God and the custom of the country, notwithstanding that the 
 aforesaid persons may be exempted or otherwise protected by 
 any apostolic privileges or indulgences, by which the mandate 
 may be impeded or deferred, and of which special mention 
 ought to be made in these presents ; and we empower you to 
 postpone all appeal and to restrain all opponents by ecclesi- 
 astical censure." 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that the conversation stated by 
 Matthew Paris ^ to have taken place between the Pope and 
 Grosseteste cannot represent an accurate report of what actually 
 occurred, in so ftir as it rests upon the supposition that the 
 Bishop did not succeed in the first of the three objects for 
 which he went to Lyons. Grosseteste is reported, after saying 
 that he blushed to have failed in his purpose, to have used the 
 words, " money, money, how much power you have, especi- 
 ally at the Eoman Com-t ! " whereupon the Pope, overhearing 
 what he said, retorted, " ye English, most wretched of men 
 are you. Each of you is trying to impoverish his neighbour. 
 How many monks, subject to you like sheep, your own country- 
 men and servants, intent upon prayers and hospitality, you are 
 wearing out, in order that you may satisfy your tyranny and 
 cupidity, and enrich others who may be foreigners ! " Grosse- 
 teste's words, if any such were spoken, are more likely to have 
 formed part of his general indictment of the abuses of the 
 Eoman Court, than to have been applied in a special sense to 
 the appeal made by the Templars, Hospitallers, Cistercians, and 
 others ; the reference to money paid to foreigners is not one 
 which is likely to have proceeded out of Innocent's mouth ; and 
 Grosseteste was the last man in the world to whom the accusa- 
 tion of " cupidity " could have been applicable. In all prob- 
 ability the conversation was written down in the scriptorium at 
 St. Albans on the strength of some tenth-rate hearsay evidence. 
 If, as Matthew Paris states, the Bishop departed " amid the 
 insulting cries of all present," - and returned to England " with 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. V. 97, 98. - Ibid. v. 98.
 
 284 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 empty hands and a sad countenance," ^ the cause of the former 
 incident must have been due, not to any failure with respect to 
 the question of vicarages, but to the odium which his plain- 
 spoken denunciation of abuses aroused among those who winced 
 under his attack, while the cause of tlie latter must be souglit 
 in the apparent hopelessness of the task of redressing the griev- 
 ances of the Church. 
 
 It is possible that some of Grosseteste's dissatisfaction may 
 have arisen from the support accorded to Boniface at the Eoman 
 Court.^ On that subject he despatched to his brother bishops 
 in England reports, on the strength of which they decided to 
 collect funds for the purpose of opposing the Archbishop's 
 demands, and neutralising his influence at Lyons ; for, observes 
 Matthew Paris, the Curia was apt to be turned now one way, 
 now another, by the intervention of money, like a reed shaken 
 by the wind. It must be remembered, however, that Innocent 
 was under peculiar obligations to Boniface, whose brother 
 Philip was Archbishop-elect of Lyons as well as Bishop-elect of 
 Valence, and also head of the Papal military forces ;^ indeed, 
 the two militant archbishops on one occasion undertook to 
 protect the Pope by main force not only against the Emperor 
 but also, if necessary, against the King of France.* It may 
 also be surmised from one passage that Innocent was practi- 
 cally in Philip's hands at Lyons, and was obliged to submit to 
 his will.^ 
 
 The main cause, however, of Grosseteste's despondency — a 
 despondency so intense tliat it nearly induced him to resign his 
 See, and actually led him to commit for a time the administra- 
 tion of the affairs of his diocese to Eobert Marsh ^ — is to be 
 found in the failure of his attempt to secure adequate recognition 
 of the abuses he denounced with a view to their removal. It 
 was on 13th May 1250 that, standing in tlie presence of the 
 
 1 HisL Maj. V. 186. •» Ihid. v. 175. 
 
 - Ibid. ^ Ibid. V. 226. 
 
 ^ Ibid. iv. 426. " Ibid. v. 186.
 
 XIII "SERMON" BEFORE INNOCENT IV. 285 
 
 Pope and the College of Cardinals, and with no one at his side 
 save Eobert^ Alarsh, Archdeacon of Oxford, Grosseteste first 
 asked permission to call attention to a matter of grave import- 
 ance, and produced four copies of an elaborate memorandum, or 
 sermon, as it is sometimes called, which he had prepared on the 
 evils prevailing in tlie Church. One copy he handed to the 
 Pope himself, a second to Cardinal bishop William de Sabina, a 
 third to Cardinal priest Hugh de Sabina, and a fourth to Cardinal 
 deacon John de St. Nicholas, the last of whom read it aloud,, 
 with scarcely any interruption, in the presence of the assembled 
 Pope and cardinals.^ No stronger denunciation of ecclesiastical 
 abuses has ever been penned, and the vigour of its invective 
 is rarely surpassed even in the writings of the sixteenth century ; 
 but it is obvious that it must have been composed with the 
 object of placing before the Pope, without extenuation or pallia- 
 tion, the w^orst evils connected with the existing system, in the 
 hope of convincing him and those who shared with him the 
 responsibility for the central government of the Church, of the 
 imperative necessity for taking the most drastic measures to 
 destroy the corruption which was eating into its heart. The 
 unflinching courage displayed by Grosseteste in placing the 
 facts before such an assembly is hardly equalled in history ; 
 and it must be recognised that Innocent showed no small 
 degree of toleration and breadth of view in allowing such a 
 document to be read aloud. 
 
 The early part of the memorandum deals with the general 
 question of the form of the Christian Church and the nature of 
 the pastoral power, somewhat on the lines laid down in 
 Grosseteste's letter of 1239, on the subject of the right of a 
 bishop to visit his chapter.^ After referring to the humility 
 
 ^ "Richard" in the text is a mis- It is parti}' translated, partly para- 
 take for "Robert." phrased by Archdeacon Perry, pp. 207- 
 
 - The memorandnra is printed in 223. Portions are quoted by Wycliffe 
 
 the Appendix to Brown's Fasciculus, in his De civili dominio, i. chap, 
 
 ii. 250-258, with an introductory note xliii. pp. 385-394. 
 by Robert Marsh, who was present. ^ Letter 127. See pp. 188-193.
 
 286 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 of Christ, and the purity and siniphcity of the early Church, 
 he points out that the spread of Christianity and the neces- 
 sities of proper organisation led the first planters of the faith 
 to ordain and constitute fellow-labourers, men of power, fear- 
 ing God, hatmg covetousness, elders not so much in years as 
 in wisdom and virtue, to assist them in their work, and to hand 
 on unimpaired the truths they had received, in holy deeds and 
 the endurance of tribulations and martyrdoms. Out of those 
 beginnings grew an elaborate system, and necessarily so, inas- 
 much as the methods of government applicable to a very small 
 number of persons were not adapted to the requirements of 
 large numbers, but the type and principle of the organisation 
 remained the same. And " although all pastors in common are 
 but one in the first pastor Christ, and all represent Him and 
 occupy His place, yet, by a special prerogative, those who preside 
 in this most holy See are peculiarly the representatives and 
 vicars of Christ, as the cardinals represent the apostles, and 
 other pastors those first fathers." All these ought incessantly 
 to labour for the coming of God's kingdom. Such is the theory, 
 but what are the facts ? Part of the world is in a state of 
 unbelief, part has been severed by schism,^ and of the remainder 
 a considerable portion is a prey to heresy ^ and vice ; and the 
 cause is to be found in the lack of good pastors, the multiplica- 
 tion of bad pastors, and the restrictions placed upon the pastoral 
 power. Then follows a fierce denunciation of the covetousness, 
 the avarice, and the immorality of the clergy. " As the life of 
 the pastors is tlie book of the laity, it is manifest that such as 
 these are the preachers of all errors and wickednesses. They ai'e 
 in truth teachers of heresy, inasmuch as the word of action is 
 stronger than the word of speech : they are worse than those 
 who practise abominations, for they defile the soul." 
 
 " But what," he continues, " is the first cause and origin of 
 
 ^ The Greek Church. See Uist. England, where the thing may be said 
 Maj. iii. 470, v. 191, vi. 336. to have been absolutely unknown at 
 
 that time. See p. 61 for the probable 
 ^ The teim had no application to reference.
 
 XIII THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH 287 
 
 these great evils ? I fear to speak it, but yet I dare not be 
 silent, lest I should merit the reproach of the prophet, ' Woe is 
 me, because I have held my peace ! ' The cause, the fountain, 
 the origin of all this, is this Eoman Court, not only because it 
 does not put to flight these evils and purge away these abomina- 
 tions, when it alone has the power to do so, and is pledged most 
 fully in that sense ; but still more because by its dispensations, 
 provisions, and collations to the pastoral care, it appoints in the 
 full light of the sun men such as I have described, not pastors, 
 but destroyers of men ; and, that it may provide for the likeli- 
 hood of some one person, it hands over to the jaws of death 
 many thousands of souls, for the life of each one of which the 
 Son of God was willing to be condemned to a most shameful 
 death. He who does not hinder this when he can is involved 
 in the same crime ; and the crime is greater in proportion as he 
 who commits it is more highly placed, and the cause of evil is 
 worse than its effect. Nor let any one say that this Court acts 
 thus for the common advantage of the Church. This common 
 advantage was studied by the holy fathers who endured 
 suffering on this account ; it can never be advanced by that 
 which is unlawful or evil. "Woe to those who say. Let us do 
 evil that good may come ! The work of the pastoral cure does 
 not consist alone in administering the sacraments, repeating 
 the canonical hours, and celebrating masses — and even these 
 offices are seldom performed by mercenaries — but in the 
 teaching of the living truth, the condemnation of vice, the 
 punishment of it when necessary, and this but rarely can the 
 mercenaries dare to do. It consists also in feeding the hungry, 
 giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, receiving guests, 
 visiting the sick and those in prison, especially those who 
 belong to the parish and have a claim on the endowment of the 
 Church. These duties cannot be performed by deputies or 
 hirelings, especially as they scarce receive out of the goods of the 
 Church enough to support their own lives. This bad use of their 
 office is greatly to be lamented in the case of the seculars, but
 
 288 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 iu theii" case, at any rate, there is always the possibihty that 
 others of a better mind may follow them. When, however, 
 parish churches are appropriated to religious houses, these evils 
 are made permanent. Those who preside in this See are in a 
 special degree the representatives of Christ, and in that character 
 are bound to exhibit the works of Christ, and to that extent 
 are entitled to be obeyed in all things. If, however, through 
 favouritism or on other grounds they command what is opposed 
 to the precepts and will of Christ, they separate themselves from 
 Christ and from the conception of what a Pope should be ; they 
 are guilty of apostasy themselves and a cause of apostasy in 
 others. God forbid that such should be the case in this See I 
 Let its occupants, therefore, take heed lest they do or enjoin 
 anything which is at variance with the will of Christ." 
 
 Grosseteste then passes to the subject of the difficulties with 
 which the bishops are confronted iu the discharge of their 
 pastoral duties, especially in England, owing to various 
 restrictions, both ecclesiastical and secular. The exempt 
 monasteries are a source of grave scandal, the secular arm 
 intervenes to prevent inquiry into the morals of the laity, and 
 the appeals to the Koman Court and to the archi episcopal See 
 enable offenders to secure the postponement of their punishment 
 for a year or for ever, with the result that they continue to 
 wallow in their vices. Those difliculties are disheartening to 
 bishops who have a sense of the importance of their task and 
 are earnestly devoted to its performance. " If a bishop out of 
 zeal for souls removes from the cure of souls unfit persons, he is 
 at once subjected to intolerable vexation, particularly if those 
 whom he has rejected happen to be related to persons holding 
 offices or dignities in the State. Each art is best carried out iu 
 accordance with its own laws : the highest art, which is that of 
 providing for the salvation of souls, ought to be carried out in 
 accordance with the laws which God has a})pointed for it, 
 namely, Ijy the Gospels, which constitute the standard and 
 measure of its right performance. Let this holy See, therefore. 

 
 xin LMTERNAL ABUSES AND EXTERNAL DANGERS 289 
 
 be bound by these precepts. As it is, the Curia has lilled the 
 world with lies, and has even taken away confidence in docu- 
 ments. By disobeying the precept given to St. Peter, ' Put up 
 thy sword into thy sheath,' it invites the woe denounceil, 'AH 
 they that smite with the sword shall perish with the sword.' 
 Moses and Samuel, the types and figures of this Court, received 
 no gifts ; they oppressed and atfiicted no one ; but the whole 
 people and clergy of England murmur against this Court for 
 having conceded to the Archbishop of Canterbury the first- 
 fruits of all the benefices in the province for a year, which were 
 levied with the utmost violence and oppression, although the 
 church of Canterbury had sufficient for the payment of its own 
 debts. In proportion as the days are more evil ought we the 
 more diHgently to keep ourselves from evil actions and to cling 
 to those things which are good. Where the battle rages most 
 fiercely, there ought sloth and cowardice to be most avoided, and 
 most resolution to be displayed. It is much to be feared, nay, 
 it is certain that the calamities under which this holy See is 
 now labouring have been brought upon it because it has done 
 such evil things that good might come of them. Unless it 
 corrects itself in this without delay the time will soon come 
 when it will be deprived of all good things, and when it shall 
 say ' Peace and safety,' then shall sudden destruction come upon 
 it. These few considerations, with fear and trembling, I hand to 
 your fatherhood, being impelled by a vehement dread of that 
 woe which terrified Isaiah, and by a desire to obtain the correc- 
 tion of the evils which I have described. Think it not, most 
 humbly, earnestly, with anxious heart and abundance of tears — 
 think it not, in your paternal kindness, an act of presumption 
 that, urged on by this fear and this earnest desire, I, a grievous 
 sinner, have ventured upon this exhortation." 
 
 It will be observed that by far the greater part of the 
 foregoing memorandum represents ideas, and is even clothed in 
 language familiar to the readers of Grosseteste"s letters. His 
 view as to the nature of Church government, and the relative 
 
 u
 
 290 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 position of Pope and cardinals, bishops and pastors, is worked 
 out in a similar way in his letter of 1239 to the Dean and 
 Chapter of Lincoln.^ The high standard of conduct and attain- 
 ments wdiich he requires of the clergy is explained, in almost 
 the same words, in the rebuke lie addressed in 1235 to the 
 monk who wished him to institute to the cure of souls a deacon 
 who was illiterate and in other respects unfit,^ as well as in the 
 numerous letters in which he declines to admit improper 
 presentations. His high sense of the responsibilities and im- 
 portance of the episcopal office, and his aversion to restrictions 
 which militate against its efficiency, are again and again 
 reflected in his writings. What is new, therefore, is that he 
 traces the evils to their source, and asks for a reform of the 
 abuses connected with the central administration of the Church 
 as an essential condition of improvement in the Church as 
 a whole. The germ of the idea is no doubt to be found in 
 some of Grosseteste's earlier letters, for example in those 
 addressed to Cardinal Otho,^ but it had not developed fully, or 
 even assumed a definite form until personal experience had 
 brought him in close contact with the proceedings of the Papal 
 Court. In 1245 his chivalrous desire not to add to the diffi- 
 culties of an exiled Pope, and his sympathy with Innocent in 
 his struggle with Frederick, had induced Grosseteste to hold 
 his peace, and, while protesting against particular acts, such as 
 the grant of a subsidy to Boniface, to refrain from any action 
 calculated to embarrass the Pope. In 1250, although Innocent 
 was still at Lyons, he was no longer faced by the great dangers 
 which had confronted him five years earlier ; he felt more 
 secure in his position ; he could afford to alienate sympathy by 
 refusing twice within a few months to agree to the Emperor's 
 overtures ; ■* and his unyielding and aggressive attitude must 
 have inspired Grosseteste, as well as many other loyal sons of 
 the Church, with the conviction that it constituted at that time 
 
 1 Letter 127. ^ Letters 49, 74, 76. 
 
 2 Letter 11. •• Hist. Maj. v. 78, 99.
 
 XIII IMPRESSION PRODUCED BY REMONSTRANCE 291 
 
 the principal obstacle to the peace and to the Lest interests of 
 Christendom. St. Louis himself, his brothers, and subsequently 
 the Duke of Burgundy, used every effort to induce Innocent to 
 come to an arrangement with the Emperor, as he was the only 
 person who could give effective aid in the Crusade ; ^ and 
 Frederick's sudden death in December 1250 is said to have 
 destroyed the French hopes of assistance towards the rescue of 
 St. Louis from his perilous position.- It was possible, therefore, 
 for Grosseteste, in May of that year, to utter his thoughts 
 without being affected by the consideration that he was thereby 
 weakening the Pope's influence for good. On the contrary, 
 his object was to strengthen the Pope's hands by inducing him 
 to reform the abuses which prevailed in connection with his 
 Court, and to address himself seriously to the task of remov- 
 ing the corruptions of the Church. The memorandum must, 
 therefore, be regarded as antagonistic not to the existence 
 or to the exercise of the Papal power, which Grosseteste con- 
 tinued to uphold as before, but to the neglect and misuse 
 of that power. It will be observed later on that, after the 
 Emperor's death, Grosseteste spoke and wrote with even less 
 restraint. To ascribe to him, however, the ideas and the 
 motives which influenced the reformers of the sixteenth 
 century, or even those of the fourteenth and fifteenth, is to 
 misunderstand his point of view, and to lose sight of the value 
 and importance of the action he took at that juncture. His 
 object was not to subvert the existing edifice in order to raise 
 another in its place, but to strengthen its foundations. He 
 desired to consolidate the Church by eliminating its corruptions 
 and abuses ; not to weaken the hierarchy, but to purify it and 
 render it more effective for good, by insisting upon the rigid 
 adherence on the part of all who held the pastoral office, from 
 the highest to the lowest, to the Christian rule of faith and of 
 conduct. 
 
 It is not surprising that Grosseteste's exhortation should 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. V. 70, 175. - Ihid. v. 190 ; vi. 197.
 
 292 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 have been received with mixed feelings by those who heard it. 
 Innocent himself does not appear to have been greatly, if at 
 all disconcerted : it did not prevent him from acceding to 
 Grosseteste's request in the matter of vicarages ; and, as it can 
 hardly be supposed that he would have allowed so severe an 
 indictment to be read in the presence of himself and the 
 College of Cardinals unless he had some previous notion of its 
 general purport, it may, perhaps, be assumed that he was not 
 altogether unwilling that his hands should be strengthened by 
 the moral authority of so eminent a man as the Bishop of 
 Lincoln, with a view to overcoming the reactionary and corrupt 
 influence exercised by the majority of his advisers. Even in 
 that case it is easy to understand that the scowling looks and 
 the contumely with which jNIatthew Paris says ^ that Grosse- 
 teste was met at the Eoman Court, proceeded from those who 
 thought themselves designated and attacked in the memoran- 
 dum, rather than, as the chronicler supposes, from the special 
 champions of the monks against the seculars. The clearest 
 . view of the impression produced is to be obtained from a letter 
 written by Adam Marsh, on the 15th of August 1250,^ to 
 Grosseteste, in reply to a letter from the Bishop communicating 
 the news of his protest. Friar Adam expresses his deep con- 
 cern and surprise at hearing that things are in so deplorable a 
 condition, and that no signs for the better can be discerned. 
 Were the words of the text applicable, that " they would not 
 hear him, because the Lord would slay them " ? He compares 
 the firm stand taken by Grosseteste on behalf of right and 
 truth with the attitude of Elias, John the Baptist, St. Paul, St. 
 Stephen, Hilary of Poitou, St. Athanasius of Alexandria, St. 
 Augustine of Hippo, who at sundry times and in divers places 
 withstood the tyranny of the oppressor, and who had striven 
 against "principalities and powers, against the rulers of the 
 darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high 
 places." Personally he takes comfort in the words, " If the 
 
 ^ Hist. Mnj. V. 98. - Mon. Francisc. pp. 153-157.
 
 XIII GROSSETESTE'S DEPRESSION OF SPIRITS 293 
 
 Lord be for us, who can be against us ? " He rejoices to read 
 Grosseteste's determination not to yield, but to j)roceed along 
 the path which he has marked out for himself with the help of 
 God, and that he has no intention of resigning his See. There 
 is so much in Grosseteste's diocese that still requires correction, 
 there are so many evils to be uprooted, that he earnestly trusts 
 that no consideration will induce him to leave his post, what- 
 ever may be the anxiety of the times, and however weak his 
 bodily strength. In a subsequent letter,^ written from Buck- 
 den on the 15th of September, Adam Marsh expresses his joy 
 at the prospect of Grosseteste's speedy return to England, and 
 asks where he shall meet him. He refers to the Bishop's work 
 at Lyons as affording an example of apostolic holiness and 
 prophetic inspiration, and then bursts into a ptean of ardent 
 thanksgiving for the fruit of his labour, " which for a brief 
 time, at least, breaks the power of those sins which cumber 
 the world, and for all time to come gives encouragement and 
 strength to the defenders of the Lord's camp." It is clear, 
 therefore, that in the course of the month intervening between 
 those two dates Adam Llarsh must have received from Grosse- 
 teste a letter giving a less gloomy account of the outlook, and 
 anticipating some change for the better. 
 
 When the Bishop, however, returned to his diocese, he was 
 still, according to Matthew Paris,"^ in an extremely depressed 
 frame of mind. " Perceiving that confusion was threatening 
 the universal Church, and desiring to find time for contempla- 
 tion, prayer, and study, he divested himself of the worldly cares 
 in which he had been entangled to no purpose, handed over to 
 the charge of Eobert Marsh all business matters connected with 
 the See, and conceived the intention of bidding farewell to a 
 world which was about to perish, and of resigning his bishopric. 
 In so doing he was following the example of Nicholas of Farn- 
 ham, Bishop of Durham. But, fearing the King's rapacity, 
 which was in the habit of impoverishing vacant Sees, and to 
 
 1 Moil. Francisc. pp. 157, 158. - Hist. Maj. v. 180.
 
 294 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 impose upon them unfit persons in an underhand way, he 
 decided to postpone his secret resolve, and waited anxiously, 
 not knowing what the turmoil of events would bring forth." 
 The letter of Adam Marsh, previously quoted, would appear to 
 indicate that reports of the Bishop's proposed resignation were 
 current, and also that they were without foundation. Still less 
 is there any reason for thinking that the Lanercost Chronicle is 
 correct in its assertion that Grosseteste offered to resign his See 
 whilst at the Eoman Court.^ One passage, indeed, in the letter^ 
 he addressed to his archdeacons and clergy soon after his return, 
 has been interpreted to mean that Grosseteste contemplated 
 resignation, but was prevented by an authority which he could 
 not disobey. As Archdeacon Perry, however, points out,^ the 
 words do not refer to any intention of resigning, but merely to 
 the fact that he was unable to be amongst them at that moment ; 
 and what is probably the correct explanation is supplied by 
 Dr. Felten,* who suggests that the reference is simply to the 
 physician's orders not to endanger his life at that moment by a 
 personal visitation. Matthew Paris is correct in his statement 
 that Robert Marsh was entrusted by the Bishop with the 
 management of business matters connected with the See, but 
 he would appear to have acted in some such capacity for some 
 years before the second visit to Lyons, for in a letter of the 
 year 1248'' Robert Marsh is addressed as the Bishop's officiarius, 
 though it is possible that the term may there be applied to him 
 with reference solely to his official position at Oxford as Grosse- 
 teste's representative for certain purposes. It was he, however, 
 who was instructed by Grosseteste to draw up a list of the 
 privileges of the clergy,^ and the position he occupied may be 
 inferred from the fact that when, after Grosseteste's death, a 
 
 ^ Chron. de Lanercost, p. 43. See iiefas ceusetur, quae no3 ad teinpus 
 
 Luard's Introd. to the Letters, \y. 74. sul)trahit vestrae praesentiae at a con- 
 
 ^ Letter 130. Luard's Introduction, cepto salubri proposito nos retardat." 
 p. 74. ■• Page 57. 
 
 3 Page 229, Tlie words are: "In- " Letter 129. 
 
 tervenit auctoritas, cui non parere " Ann. Monast. (Burton), i. 425.
 
 XIII ARCHBISHOP BONIFACE AND THE BISHOPS 295 
 
 question arose between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the 
 Chapter of Lincohi with regard to the right of jurisdiction 
 during the vacancy of the See, it was he who was selected to 
 act as joint arbitrator.^ 
 
 Grosseteste's letter to his archdeacons and clergy^ recapitu- 
 lates in a practical form his previous denunciations of the in- 
 capacity, the slothfulness, and even the vices of the seculars, 
 and of the bad example they set to the laity. He declares that 
 the sight of all those evils drives him to despair, and implores 
 those to whom he writes to redeem the time they have lost, and 
 in future to watch over themselves and their flocks, and to feed 
 them with the word, the example, and the sacrament of life. 
 " As my testament," he says, " I leave to you zeal for souls, zeal 
 which, because it is lukewarm and slight in me, I pray you to 
 increase by your prayers. Let us pray in common that from 
 the truth of the gospel and from the love of our flock no human 
 fear may ever tear us." The letter was to be published by the 
 archdeacons and their oflicials in all their synods and chapters, 
 and to be brought to the knowledge of all rectors and vicars 
 of what condition soever, in order that they might have no 
 excuse, and that he might escape the charge of silence. 
 
 Grosseteste's illness, indicated in the foregoing letter as well 
 as in Adam Marsh's correspondence, cannot have been of long 
 duration ; for early in the following year he had resumed his 
 usual activity, and was engaged in his visitations, in the course 
 of which he visited Dunstable on February 24, and met there 
 Fulk Basset, Bishop of London, the Bishops of Salisbury, 
 Norwich, Ely, and Worcester,^ and the proctors of the other 
 bishops who did not appear in person. The object of the 
 meeting was to protest against the Archbishop's claim to visit 
 their dioceses. They signed and sealed an agreement binding 
 them to joint resistance, and made arrangements to collect 
 
 ^ Aiui. ilonast. {Dunstahle), iii. 190 ; ^ Ann. Monast. (Dunstable), iii. 
 
 Hist. Maj. vi. 264 ; Mon. Francisc. 181 ; Hist. Maj. v. 225. The Bishops 
 
 p. 324. of Ely and Worcester are mentioned 
 
 ■^ Letter 130. by Matthew Paris alone.
 
 296 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 funds for the purpose of defraying the necessary expenses. In 
 March they sent representatives to the Pope, empowering them 
 to use every effort to oppose Boniface's attack, even if it cost 
 four thousand marks to do so ; and he was also informed that 
 the Archbishop had already collected more than the eleven 
 thousand marks previously assigned to him. Innocent had left 
 Lyons, now that the Emperor's death had removed the peril 
 which kept him away from Italy, and arrived at Perugia, after 
 a short stay at Genoa.^ It was to Perugia that not only the 
 proctors sent by the bishops, but also Boniface himself hastened 
 in order to fight out their respective cases. The Pope's decision" 
 limits the Archbishop's right of visitation to the officers of the 
 province and the heads of conventual establishments, and even in 
 those cases stipulates that he shall not receive for each day a 
 procuration of more than four marks. It exempts the parish 
 churches of the several dioceses altogether from archiepiscopal 
 visitation and from procurations, pronounces his censures to be 
 null and void, and especially absolves the Dean and Chapter of 
 St. Paul's, who had been excommunicated by Boniface for their 
 opposition. As a reason for exemption the letters state that 
 the province of Canterbury contains abundance of prelates who 
 are diligent? in the performance of their duties. The Pope also 
 rehearses the canon of the third Lateran Council, limiting the 
 retinue of an archbishop to less than fifty horsemen, that of a 
 bishop to less than thirty, that of an archdeacon to five or 
 seven, and that of a rural dean to two, and providing that none 
 of them are to hunt with hounds or hawks, or indulge in sump- 
 tuous repasts, but to remember the sacred duties in which they 
 are engaged. The Bishops of Lincoln, London, and Bath are 
 
 ^ It was from Genoa that, ou tlie obligation to reside or to receive orders. 
 
 7th of June 1251, Innocent dated a — Bliss, Calendar, i. 271. 
 
 license to Manuel, son of Henry "Picta- - Hist. Maj. v. 346 ; vi. 228 ; Ann. 
 
 vinus," citizen of Genoa, to hold the Monast. (Burton), i. 300-304, where 
 
 rectory of St. Mary Ludeborch (? Lutter- the Pope's letters are given most fully, 
 
 worth), in the diocese of Lincoln, and They are dated 1252, but some of them 
 
 to receive other benefices, without any may liavc been written in the previous 
 
 year, and tlien all dated together.
 
 XIII THE DIOCESE AND THE UNIVERSITY 297 
 
 appointed " conservators," to see that the conditions as to 
 visitation are duly observed. The Burton annalist says that 
 the Papal letters cost as much as was anticipated, namely, four 
 thousand marks, and that two thousand marks were paid to the 
 proctors who were sent from England out of the funds collected 
 from various quarters.^ 
 
 The severity of Grosseteste's visitation continues in 1251 to 
 excite the indignation of Matthew Paris, who recognises, how- 
 ever, the excellence of its motives, and unconsciously admits its 
 necessity. It is to that year that his rigorous proceedings in 
 regard to the abbey of Eamsey and several of the nunneries, to 
 which reference has already been made in connection with his 
 relation to the monastic orders,- are to be assigned. He also 
 carried out a careful scrutiny of his whole diocese, with special 
 regard to the morals of the clergy, punishing offenders by de- 
 privation, and endeavouring to purify the whole of his bishopric 
 from all taint of vice. By gentle entreaties, as well as by severe 
 modes of persuasion, he tried to induce all holders of benefices 
 to take priest's orders. He frequently preached to the people, 
 and convened the priests who lived in various districts, com- 
 pelling them to listen to his words.^ It had been his practice 
 in the earlier years of his episcopate to preach to the clergy in 
 Latin, and to employ others to preach to the people in English ; 
 but the foregoing passage helps to confirm the tradition that he 
 was in the habit also, at any rate during his later years, of using 
 the latter language also in his sermons. The reason w^hy many 
 of his Latin sermons are still extant, while none of the English 
 ones have been preserved, is doubtless due to the fact that the 
 former were committed to writing, whilst the latter were ex- 
 temporary.* It is strange that strenuous opposition should have 
 
 ^ It is not quite clear whether the dition to, or included in, the foregoing 
 
 sum of 2000 marks which the Pope sums. 
 
 demanded, on the 5th of June 1252, of - See p. 162, 163 ; Hist. Maj. v. 227. 
 
 the Bishops of Lincoln, London, and ^ Eist. Maj. v. 256, 257. 
 
 Worcester, as payment to the proctor ^ See p. 32. Wharton, in his ^Jij/Kflr 
 
 of the province of Canterbury {Hist. Sacra, refers to some, but no trace of 
 
 Maj. Addit. vi. 213-217), was in ad- them can be found. On Grosseteste's
 
 298 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 been aroused by his attempt to induce all beneficed persons to 
 be ordained priests, and still stranger that it should have been 
 partly siiccessful. Matthew Paris relates that many of them 
 united together, collected a considerable sum of money, which 
 they sent to the Eoman Court, and obtained special license to 
 frequent schools ^ for some years {scliolas exercere) without being 
 properly ordained, whilst retaining their benefices. The incident 
 illustrates the difficulty of carrying out reforms. Grosseteste 
 himself had frequently permitted incumbents to resort for a time 
 to a course of theological training for the purpose of improving 
 their qualifications for the post, proper provision being made in 
 the meantime for a deputy to take their place f nor was he 
 averse to the introduction of the lay element into religious 
 work, as he had shown by his active support of the friars, a 
 large majority of whom, at any rate in their early days, especially 
 in the case of the Franciscans, were laymen, in the sense that 
 they were not in holy orders ; but he was consistent throughout 
 his life in denouncing the holding of a cure of souls by any but 
 properly ordained priests, and in repeatedly refusing on that 
 ground to institute deacons. 
 
 A letter from Adam Marsh, written in 1251,^ shows that, in 
 spite of Grosseteste's ill-health and the strain of his personal 
 visitations, as well as of his activity as a preacher and a 
 reformer of abuses, he had time to think of the interests of the 
 University of Oxford and of the advancement of learning, 
 Three questions of urgency had arisen at the University. The 
 first was that of the extension of the Chancellor's jurisdiction 
 
 use of the English language see Eccle- ^ Mon. Francisc. pp. 113-116, cp. 
 
 ston, De Adventu Alinorum, Mon. p. 107. The date of Letter 22 (p. 
 
 Francisc. p. 64, " surrexit et confessus 107) is fixed by tlie reference to the 
 
 eat Anglice," etc. approaching marriage of the King of 
 
 ' Archdeacon Perry, p. 240, trans- Scots to Margaret, daughter of Henry 
 
 lates e.vercc?'e scholas "to teach" ; but III., which took place at Christmas, 
 
 see Pegge, p. 312, wlio quotes other in- 1251. Letter 26 cannot have been 
 
 stances from Mattliew Paris of the use written much later. But see p. 237, 
 
 of exercere in the sense of "to fre- and Mr. Little's Grey Friars at Ox- 
 
 quent." Hist. Maj. v. 279. ford, p. 38, note. 
 
 2 See p. 146.
 
 XIII GROSSETESTE'S WIDE RANGE OF INTERESTS 299 
 
 raised by the incarceration of two clerks, and brought l^efore 
 the King's attention on the occasion of one of his visits to 
 Oxford, when a compromise was effected after a cessation of 
 lectures and a general strike of scholars.^ The second related 
 to a dispute between the Northerners and the Irish, which was 
 settled in the following year by the establishment of a tribunal 
 of arbitration.- The third was connected with the discussions 
 which led up to Oxford's first statute of 1252 or 1253, 
 requiring graduation in arts on the part of those who desired 
 to be admitted to a license in theology.^ The last of those 
 questions must have been of special interest to Grosseteste, on 
 account of the support he had always given to the Franciscans. 
 A similar step had been taken in 1250 by the University of 
 Paris, with the avowed object of checking the multiplication 
 of friar doctors.'* It was probably due to the influence of 
 Grosseteste that the Oxford statute, instead of beins, like its 
 Paris prototype, a mere measure of protection designed by the 
 Theological Faculty for the purpose of guarding the secular 
 theologians against the competition of their rivals of the 
 Dominican and Franciscan schools, was passed by the Uni- 
 versity itself with the object of securing its control over 
 regular gi^aduates, and in the interest of the studies within the 
 purview of the Faculty of Arts. A dispensing power was, 
 however, preserved to the Chancellor and regents. If, as is 
 probable, Adam Marsh's letter ^ to Grosseteste relating to the 
 use of the University seal and other matters, belongs to the 
 early part of 1252, it would appear that the form of the statute 
 was based upon the Bishop's own recommendations. Such 
 was the advance which had been effected in the University of 
 Oxford since the days when Grosseteste had first become 
 connected with it, that in 1252 Matthew Paris could rank it 
 without fear of contradiction on a par with that of Paris.^ 
 
 1 See above, p. 235. * Raslidall, i. 373, 374 ; ii. 378, 
 
 - Anstey's Munimenta Academica, 379. 
 
 pp. 20 sqq. ^ Mem, Francisc. pp. 99-102. 
 
 3 See above, pp. 237, 298. « Hist. Maj. v. 353.
 
 300 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 The Bishop was still engaged, in his leisure moments, in 
 his work connected with Aristotle's Ethics} Adam Marsh asks ^ 
 that the copy which the Bishop has caused to be transcribed 
 for his own use may be sent to the house of the Grey Friars in 
 London, in order that it may be recopied by a certain Hugh de 
 Berions. He adds that Master Peter de Alpibus,^ rector of the 
 church at Wimbledon, the Queen's physician and a man well 
 versed in literature and of high integrity, will vouch for the 
 safe transmission and return of the valuable manuscript. The 
 variety of Grosseteste's interests at this time is also indicated 
 by the fact that Adam Marsh sends him a collection of the 
 prophetic writings of the mystical Abbot Joachim de Floris, 
 to whom Eichard the First had given an interview at Messina 
 in 1190, and who had foretold for the year 1260 the coming 
 of " the new era of the Spirit," and asks his opinion on the 
 subject. What the reply was is not known ; but in the de- 
 pressed condition of his mind with regard to the future of 
 Church and State,* Grosseteste may have been in a mood for 
 examining with sympathy works of that description. All news 
 relating to the vicissitudes of the Crusade was eagerly welcomed 
 by him, as well as information relating to such matters as the 
 excesses of the Pastoureaux in France, and a volcanic eruption 
 which took place in the island of Guernsey.^ Hardly any 
 question of high ecclesiastical or political importance at that 
 time is left untouched in the correspondence of Adam Marsh's 
 letters with Grosseteste, and it is a matter for deep regret that 
 none of the letters written by the Bishop to his friend at that 
 period of his life should have been preserved. There can be no 
 doubt that he was taxing his strength to the uttermost with the 
 
 1 See above, p. 247, note. 1251 or 1252. Joachim was not the 
 
 '^ Mon. Francisc. p. 114; Pauli, a.\\i\\oi- oi The Eternal Gospel, \i\itt\\a.t 
 
 p. 17. work was largely based upon his 
 
 " Presumably a Savoyard. writings ; see Rashdall, ii. i)p. 737 
 
 * Cp. Hist. Maj. V. 186; "pro- sqq., and the authorities mentioned 
 
 ponens mundo perituro vale dicere," there ; Sabatier, Vie de St. Francois 
 
 and his letter to the archdeacons, iV Assise, p. 55. Cp. p. 247. 
 
 both, however, relating to 1250, not •''' Man. Francisc. pp. 109, 121, 151.
 
 XIII RELATIONS WITH THE ROYAL FAMILY 301 
 
 large number of duties which he had imposed upon himself, 
 in spite of his advanced years, and which he discharged with 
 vmfailing conscientiousness. It is on that account that 
 Adam Marsh urges him to be more careful about his health, 
 and especially to relax his ardent devotion to literary studies.^ 
 
 In spite of his continued and increasing opposition to the 
 King's encroachments and to the exactions of Boniface, his 
 relations with the royal family were on a friendly footing. 
 Soon after his return from Lyons he appears, in accordance 
 with Adam Marsh's advice,- to have written conciliatory letters 
 to the King, the Queen, and Eichard, Earl of Cornwall. In 
 1251 he is assured by Friar Adam^ that the Queen is resolved, 
 as far as in her lies, to present none but suitable clergymen, a 
 determination which harmonises with his earlier conception of 
 the promise of her character. Adhemar, the King's brother, at 
 one time conveys to Grosseteste his desire to have a conference 
 with him concerning his own spiritual welfare."* In November 
 1251, the Bishop of Lincoln was present at the dedication of 
 the church and monastery of Hayles, erected by the Earl of 
 Cornwall at a cost of ten thousand marks, in fulfilment of a 
 vow make by him when in danger of shipwreck. The King 
 and Queen were present, and almost all the nobles and prelates 
 of England, and more than three hundred knights. Although 
 thirteen bishops were there, Grosseteste took precedence over 
 them all, and celebrated mass at the high altar.^ Aljout the 
 same time Adam Marsh suggests to the Bishop the propriety 
 of sending a suitable wedding present to the Princess Mar- 
 garet, who was to be married at Christmas to the King of 
 Scots at York.*" The magnificence of the ceremonies and the 
 lavish expenditure incurred on that occasion have been fully 
 described by INIatthew Paris, who, perhaps by way of contrast, 
 
 ^ Mon. Francisc. p. 143. fused with .^thelmar, Bishop - elect 
 
 •2 jf^^ p 253 of Winchester, the King's uterine 
 
 brother. 
 » Ibid. p. 115. 5 2{ist. Maj. v. 262. 
 
 ■* Ihid. p. 175. Not to be con- ^ Mon. Francisv. v. 107.
 
 302 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 relates a few pages farther on how the Franciscans refused to 
 accept from Henry III. a present of woollen garments, on the 
 ground that they were not his to give, as he had extorted them 
 from the plunder of the poor.^ 
 
 On one occasion the King's misuse of patronage led to a 
 difference of opinion between himself and the Queen, with the 
 result that Grosseteste took decided action on behalf of the 
 latter. On the death, early in 1252, of Eichard de Thiony, 
 treasurer of Anjou, who held many revenues in France, Eng- 
 land, and Scotland, his churches fell vacant, and, amongst 
 others, that of Flamstead, not far from St. Albans. The Queen, 
 as guardian of Ei chard's son, bestowed the living on the 
 chaplain "William, a clerk of St. Albans, and there appears to 
 have been no fault to find with the choice, or any dispute as 
 to her right. Henry, however, when he heard what had 
 happened, exclaimed against the insolence and seK-assertion of 
 women, cancelled the Queen's act, and conferred the church on 
 a Burgundian clerk of his own, named Hurtold, who promptly 
 ejected the Queen's nominee. Grosseteste thereupon excom- 
 municated Hurtold, laid an interdict on the church, and seems 
 to have succeeded, though the sequel is not told, in securing 
 the reinstation of the original presentee.-' 
 
 In October 1252, Grosseteste took an active part in 
 resisting the King's demand for a tenth from the whole 
 kingdom, equivalent to a whole of the revenues of the Church, 
 for the space of three years, in aid of his proposed Crusade, 
 although the demand was supported and emphasised by a 
 Papal mandate.^ A meeting of all the prelates, with the 
 exception of the two archbishops, who were unavoidably absent, 
 and the Bishop of Chester,^ who was ill, took place for the 
 purpose of considering the King's message. The objections 
 urged were directed not against the ostensible object for which 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. V. 275. ■* Roger de Weseham, Bishop of 
 
 - IMd. V. 299. Coventry and Lichfield, sometimes 
 
 ^ IMd. V. 325 sqq. styled Bishop of Chester.
 
 XIII RESISTANCE TO THE KING'S DEMANDS 303 
 
 the money was asked, but against the amount of the sum and 
 the mode of its collection ; for it was to be estimated not 
 according to the old computation of the value of the churches, 
 but according to the judgment and discretion of the royal 
 agents. Moreover, ever since the loss of Normandy in the 
 days of King John, the English nation had consolidated its 
 unity and its strength, and the national instinct was at that 
 time opposed, and rightly so, to expeditions on the mainland, 
 which had the effect of frittering away the country's strength 
 and impoverishing its resources.-^ Grosseteste's antagonism 
 cannot have been directed against the Crusade itself, in view 
 of the prominent part which he, the Bishop of AVorcester, and 
 the Bishop of Chichester had taken, between 1247 and 1250, 
 towards the promotion of its objects.' The King, however, 
 desired to receive the money in advance of the expedition, and 
 it was evidently suspected that he intended to use it for other 
 purposes, such as the payment of his own debts, or perhaps 
 an attempt to recover Normandy.^ Matthew Paris, who has 
 preserved some record of the debate, says that, when Grosse- 
 teste heard how the sum was to be levied, he exclaimed : " By 
 our Lady, what is this ? You are proceeding on the strength 
 of alleged concessions which have not been made to you. Do 
 you suppose that we shall consent to this accursed contribu- 
 tion ? Let us not bend the knee to Baal." ^Ethelmar de 
 Lusignan, Bishop-elect of Winchester, and uterine brother of 
 Henry III., replied : " My father, how shall w' e be able to oppose 
 the will both of the Pope and of the King ? The one pushes us 
 on, and the other draws us. In a similar case the French 
 agreed to a similar contribution in aid of their Kinfj when he was 
 about to depart on his Crusade. They are stronger than we 
 are, and have been more accustomed to resistance ; but what 
 
 1 The offer of the Sicilian crown to - Seeabove, pp. 260-263. The latest 
 
 Richard, Earl of Cornwall, in 1250 letter written to them on the subject 
 
 and again in 1252, also excited ap- is dated September 1250. — Hist. Maj. 
 
 prehensions of a similar character, cp. Additamenta, vi. 200. 
 
 Stubbs, ii. p. 69. ^ Hist. Maj. v. 280 sqq.
 
 304 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 means have we of resisting ? " Grosseteste retorted : " It is 
 precisely" because the French contributed that we ought to 
 oppose ; for two acts create a custom ; and, besides we now 
 see clearly what has l^een the result of this tyrannical extor- 
 tion by the King of France. Let us be warned by past 
 examples. That neither the King nor we may incur the divine 
 wrath, for my own part I declare without hesitation that I 
 oppose his injurious contribution." His argument convinced 
 even the Bishop-elect of Winchester, who had suggested the 
 difficulties of the course he proposed. That Fulk Basset, Bishop 
 of London, and Walter de Cantelupe, Bishop of Worcester, 
 should have sided with him, is not surprising, as they were 
 usually found on his side ; and it is also worthy of note that 
 Pdchard de la Wyche, Bishop of Chichester, who was specially 
 favourable to the Crusade, was among Grosseteste's supporters 
 on that occasion, as were almost all the rest, with the exception 
 of the Bishop of Salisbury, who wavered in his views.^ 
 
 The King at first was filled with indignation, but, being 
 appeased by his courtiers, altered his tone and changed his 
 demand into a request, which he made as a suppliant, and by 
 virtue of the Papal injunction. The bishops replied that if the 
 Pope had been truly aware of the oppressions and exactions 
 with which the English Church was burdened, the King would 
 never have obtained such a concession from the Roman Court, 
 and that if he were to be informed of the real state of affairs 
 he would doubtless revoke his mandate. After rehearsing some 
 of Henry's injuries to the kingdom, they proceed to state that 
 they will grant the subsidy, provided that he undertakes to 
 observe the Great Charter, so often violated, to refrain from 
 similar exactions in the future, to collect the money on the 
 usual basis, and not at the good pleasure of the royal agents, and 
 to provide adequate guarantees that the money shall be expended 
 for the purposes for which it is asked." Henry declined to 
 accept the conditions named, and the bishops declined to take 
 
 1 Hist. Mcvj. V. 324-326. ^ jf.^^^ ^^ 326-328.
 
 XIII THE OBSERVANCE OF THE GREAT CHARTER 305 
 
 further steps in the absence of the two archbishops, one of 
 whom was on the Continent, and the other in the far north.^ 
 
 In the great Parliament held in London in April of the 
 following year, Grosseteste again played a conspicuous part. 
 After debates which lasted more than fifteen days, it was agreed 
 that the King should receive from the Church one-tenth of its 
 annual revenues for three years, and from the knights a scutage 
 of three marks for one year, with a view to his pilgrimage and 
 Crusade, on certain conditions, one of which was that he should 
 observe the provisions of the Great Charter. On the 3rd of 
 May, in the presence of Henry and the nobles, the prelates 
 assembled in the great hall at Westminster, clad in their 
 pontifical robes, and with candles lighted, solemnly pronounced 
 sentence of excommunication on " all violators of the liberties 
 of the Church, and of the liberties or free customs of the 
 kingdom of England, especially those contained in the Charter 
 of the liberties of England, and in the Charter of the forests." 
 The King, too, swore to maintain the Charter inviolate. It was, 
 however, noted that, at the commencement of the solemn 
 proceedings, when lighted candles were given to all present, 
 Henry alone of all in the assembly refused to take one, on the 
 ground that he was not a priest. Grosseteste revolving the 
 matter in his heart, and reflecting on the King's previous 
 violations of his promises, and fearing lest he should withdraw 
 from his engagements, " caused on his return to his See a 
 sentence of excommunication to be solemnly pronounced in 
 every parish church in his diocese, which for their great number 
 it would be difficult to reckon, against all ^dolators of the 
 Charter, and especially against priests, so that this sentence 
 tingled in the ears and awed the hearts of all who heard it." ^ 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. V. 328. - Ibid. v. 377, 378.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 1250-1253 — The struggle against the Papal Provisions — Grosseteste's letter con- 
 cerning Frederick de Lavagna — Examination of his line of action — Results 
 achieved. 
 
 In the meautime, in addition to his opposition to the King's 
 demands and encroachments, Grosseteste was engaged more and 
 more in a struggle against the Papal Provisions. Matthew Paris, 
 in one passage, declares that the Bishop of Lincoln " hated like 
 poison the dishonest Romans who had the Pope's precept for 
 obtaining a provision. He was in the habit of saying that, if 
 he were to hand the cure of souls over to them, he would be 
 acting Satan's part. Consequently he often threw away letters 
 sealed with the Papal bulls, and acted directly in contravention 
 of such commands." ^ There is no doubt that Grosseteste had 
 refused, almost from the commencement of his episcopate, to 
 appoint or institute foreigners to English benefices save in 
 exceptional cases in which they had special qualifications, just 
 as he scrutinised and rejected all improper presentations, 
 whatever might be the nationality of the presentee. It is 
 equally certain that, particularly after his second visit to Lyons, 
 his feelings revolted even more strongly against the system. 
 The language, however, of Matthew Paris, who is apt to 
 ascribe to others his own opinions and motives, conveys, in 
 this and in other passages, a somewhat exaggerated and in 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. V. 257. Eccleston Englisli language, as the fact that ' ' non 
 
 {Mon. Francisc. p. 64) gives a reason quaerebant nisi teniporalia. " He had 
 
 for thinking that Grosseteste's main sometimes availed himself in his diocese 
 
 ground for refusing " eos (juos Papa of the services of friars who were un- 
 
 instituit et nepotes cardinalium " was ac(juainted with English, in order that 
 
 not so much their ignorance of the they might teach by their example.
 
 CH. XIV INNOCENT IV. AND THE PAPAL PROVISIONS 307 
 
 other respects inaccurate notion of the nature of the Bishop's 
 opposition. 
 
 On at least four occasions during the last three years of 
 his life, apart from his general denunciations of the system, is 
 Grosseteste recorded to have taken definite action in antagonism 
 to " Provisions." The first was when he refused to institute an 
 Italian, who was ignorant of the English language, to a certain 
 benefice in his diocese, and is said to have been suspended in 
 consequence of his refusal.^ It is not quite certain whether the 
 incident occurred in Lent 1251, or in Lent of the following year.^ 
 In neither case can the suspension have been of long duration ; 
 for in November of the former year he celebrated mass at the 
 dedication of the church at Hayles, and in the latter year he 
 performed all his episcopal duties as if nothing had occurred, 
 and was, as has been seen, appointed " conservator " for certain 
 purposes by the Pope. Nor is there any other mention of his 
 suspension.^ The second instance is to be found in a letter of 
 1252, sent by the Pope to Archbishop Boniface, and by his 
 official to Grosseteste, ordering him to provide for Eobert, a 
 mere boy,'* son of John de Salins, who styled himself Count of 
 Burgundy, with one benefice or more of the value of three 
 hundred marks.^ Grosseteste appears to have declined to do so, 
 as is indicated by the fact that the Pope asked the King to give 
 Eobert de Salins a living of five hundred marks, as a return for 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. V. 227. ^ Cotton MSS. Nero d. 1, an addi- 
 
 ^ " Inquadragesimasequente." See tiou to the Additamenta of Matthew 
 
 Luard's note, Introd. to the Letters, Paris. Luard (Introd. to vol. v. of the 
 
 p. 77. Hist. Moj. p. 19) says that as the 
 
 3 It is remarkable, however, that the Vatican MS. of the Papal Letters 
 
 Calendar of the Papal Registers (ed. speaks of only one benefice, and this of 
 
 Bliss) should make no reference to the value of 200 marks, he inferred 
 
 any letter addressed by Innocent at first that Archbishop Boniface 
 
 to Grosseteste between the end of tampered with the letter in the in- 
 
 January 1251, p. 266, and the middle terest of the nominee, who was a 
 
 of March 1253, p. 284. Numerous relative of his own. He ascertained 
 
 dispensations, etc., were in the mean- afterwards, however, that two other 
 
 time granted direct to clerks in his MS. copies of the letter in the Vatican 
 
 diocese. Register give the higher figure, so that 
 
 ■* " Puerulo." the supposition fell to the ground.
 
 3o8 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 supporting the election of ^thelmar of Valence to the See 
 of Winchester.^ The third instance is to be found in the 
 inquiries which Grosseteste caused to be made throughout his 
 diocese and elsewhere in 1252, with the object of arriving at a 
 correct estimate of the revenues of foreign beneficiaries. In the 
 words of Matthew Paris,^ " it was ascertained that the present 
 Pope, Innocent IV., had impoverished the universal Church 
 more than all his predecessors had done from the time of the 
 establishment of the Papacy ; and the incomes of the foreign 
 clerks appointed by him in England, whom the Eoman Church 
 had enriched, amounted to more than seventy thousand marks. 
 The clear revenue of the King did not amount to one-third of this." 
 The fourth, and most celebrated instance, is that of the 
 letter which he sent on the occasion of the one written by Pope 
 Innocent IV., on the 26th of January 1253, to Hugh Mortimer, 
 Archdeacon of Canterbury, and " Master Innocent, our writer, 
 sojourning in England," requiring that a vacant canonry at 
 Lincoln should be conferred upon his nephew, Frederick de 
 Lavagna.^ Hugh Mortimer was the Archbishop of Canterbury's 
 official, and was the usual intermediary in transactions of that 
 character. His name occurs in that capacity in the letter 
 forwarded by Boniface to Grosseteste in 1249, enclosing the 
 Pope's recommendation in favour of Albert, the rural dean'* 
 of Campilio, a relative of the Queen. The letter respecting 
 Frederick de Lavagna is couched in remarkably dictatorial 
 language. The Pope begins by stating that William, Cardinal 
 deacon of St. Eustache, " has canonically conferred, at our 
 special command, a canonry of Lincoln on Frederick de Lavagna, 
 a clerk in holy orders, our nephew, and by his ring has 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. V. 224. i. 311-313, 436-438 ; Grosseteste's Letter 
 
 - Ihid. V. 355 ; Hist. Angloruni, iii. 128 ; Moii. Francisc. pp. 382-385. 
 128,129. * "Plebano." Hist. Maj.\\. 186, 
 
 ^ For the Pope's letter to the Arcli- cp. Bliss, Calotdar, i. 249. Mr. Bliss 
 
 deacon of Canterbury and Master renders the word "curate." The usual 
 
 Innocent, and for Grosseteste's letter meaning of plcbamis, howevev, is "an 
 
 to them, see Hist. Maj. v. 389-392 ; urban or rural dean," rpii i^Ichem regit. 
 
 vi. 229-231 ; Ann. Monastici (Burton), See Ducange, s.v.
 
 XIV LETTER CONCERNING FREDERICK LAVAGNA 309 
 
 corporally invested him in the same, so that from that time 
 forward he became a canon of Lincoln, and had the full name 
 and right of a canon, and a title to any prebend which should 
 become vacant after our venerable brother the Bishop of Lincoln 
 had been informed by those letters as to receiving and providing 
 for him in the same church, or which he shall have reserved 
 according to the apostolical donation to be conferred upon its 
 vacancy." The letter proceeds to threaten with excommunica- 
 tion all who oppose Frederick's installation, and adds that they 
 are to be cited peremptorily to appear at the Eoman Court 
 within two months, " notwithstanding any privileges or indulg- 
 ences granted by the said See to the inhabitants of the kingdom 
 of England generally, or to any person, dignity, or place in 
 particular." The tone of the letter, which is of an unusual 
 character, plainly indicates that opposition has already been 
 threatened, or possibly offered, by Grosseteste to the appoint- 
 ment, and its intention is to overawe his resistance. 
 
 That intention, however, failed in its effect. Grosseteste's 
 reply, addressed, not as some, including Dr. Luard,^ have supposed, 
 to the Pope himself, but to " Master Innocent," his representative 
 in England, refuses in firm and resolute, though respectful 
 terms, to carry out the mandate, " It is well known to your 
 wisdom," he writes, " that I am ready to obey apostolical com- 
 mands with filial affection, and with all devotion and reverence ; 
 but to those things which are opposed to apostolical commands 
 I, in my zeal for the honour of my parent, am also opposed. 
 By apostolical commands are meant those which are agreeable 
 to the teaching of the Apostles and of Christ Himself, the Lord 
 and Master of the Apostles, whose type and representation is 
 specially borne in the ecclesiastical hierarchy by the Pope. The 
 letter above mentioned is not consonant with apostolical sanctity, 
 but on the contrary utterly at variance and at discord with it." 
 
 ^ Dr. Luard, however, states the (Higden's Folychronicon, ed. Lumby, 
 
 fact correctly in his index to the Flores viii. pp. 240, 242) as a " sharpe pistle," 
 
 Historiarum. This is the letter de- " epistolam satis tonanteni." 
 scribed by Higden and by Trevisa
 
 3IO ROBERT CxROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 He proceeds to argue, first, that the innumerable exemptions 
 granted under non obstante clauses lead to the worst results, 
 disturbing and confusing the purity of the Christian religion 
 and the quiet of social intercourse among men ; and, secondly, 
 that no sin can so resemble that of Lucifer and of Antichrist, 
 or can be so distinctive to the highest interests of the human 
 race, as that which consists in defrauding and slaying souls 
 which need to be quickened and saved by the pastoral office 
 and ministry, by robbing them of those means of grace ; and 
 this sin is shown by the clearest testimonies of Scripture to be 
 committed by those who, being constituted shepherds, provide 
 for their own carnal and temporal desires and necessities from 
 the milk and wool of Christ's sheep, and fail to administer the 
 duties of the pastoral office with a view to the eternal salvation 
 of their flocks ; for the neglect to perform those duties brings 
 loss and destruction to the sheep. And, inasmuch as the cause 
 of evil is worse than the particular effect which it produces, 
 those who are responsible for the introduction of such slayers 
 of the divine image and handiwork are worse even than those 
 murderers, and are nearer to Lucifer and Antichrist ; and in 
 this gradation of wickedness those excel most who, from a 
 greater and a diviner power given to them from on high for 
 edification and not for destruction, are more especially bound 
 to exclude and root out from the Church of God those destroyers. 
 It is not possible, therefore, that the apostolic See, to which 
 has been handed down from Christ Himself power for edifica- 
 tion and not for destruction, can issue a precept so hateful and 
 so injurious to the human race as this ; for to do so would con- 
 stitute a falling off, a corruption and abuse of its most holy and 
 plenary power. No one who is subject and faithful to the said 
 See in immaculate and sincere obedience, and is not cut off 
 from the body of Christ and the said holy See by schism, can 
 obey commands or precepts such as this, even if it emanated 
 from the highest order of angels ; but he must of necessity, and 
 with his whole strength, contradict and rebel against them."
 
 XIV GROSSETESTE'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS PAPACY 311 
 
 Grosseteste goes on to say that it is owing to his obedience and 
 fidelity to the Christian Church and the apostolic See, and 
 because the precept issued is contrary to the unity of the former 
 and the sanctity of the latter, as well as opposed to the spirit 
 of Christ and the welfare of the human race, that he takes the 
 stand which he has done. " It is out of filial reverence and 
 obedience that I disobey, resist, and rebel." ^ " To sum up," he 
 concludes, " the holiness of the apostolic See can only tend to 
 edification and not to destruction ; for the plenitude of its power 
 consists in being able to do all things for edification. These 
 provisions, however, as they are called, are not for edification, 
 but for manifest destruction. They are not, therefore, within 
 the power of the apostolic See : they owe their inspiration to 
 ' fiesh and blood ' which ' shall not inherit the kingdom of God,' 
 and not to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who is in 
 heaven." 
 
 It will be observed that the letter is an attack, not upon the 
 authority of the Papal See, to which, indeed, Grosseteste re- 
 peatedly expresses his devotion, but upon specific abuses and 
 corruptions connected with its exercise. The Bishop's desire is 
 to purify and strengthen the Church, by eliminating from it all 
 causes of offence and occasions for falling. Just as at various 
 periods of his life he has been engaged in struggles against the 
 King's encroachments and exactions, against the resistance 
 offered by the monastic bodies to the establishment of vicarages, 
 against the failings and inefficiency of the clergy, against 
 the opposition of his Dean and Chapter to episcopal visitation, 
 and against the defects and errors in the existing system of 
 ecclesiastical administration, so, on this occasion, he concentrates 
 his efforts upon the removal of one of the gravest blots on that 
 system. His method of controversy is, it may be noted, the 
 same as it was in the days when he resisted the King's appoint- 
 ment of abbots as itinerant justices ; he begins, that is to 
 
 ^ " Filialiter et obedienter non obedio. contradico et rebello. " — Letter 128, 
 p. 436,
 
 312 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 say, by citing the exact text, in the one case, of the royal man- 
 date to the Abbot of Eamsey, and, in the other case, of the 
 Pope's letter to the Archdeacon of Canterbury and Master 
 Innocent, and from these particular instances he deduces, on 
 the strength mainly of arguments derived from Scripture, con- 
 clusions applicable, in the former instance, to the general 
 question of the invasion of the liberties of the Church by secular 
 interference, and, in the latter, to the general question o'f the 
 use and abuse of Papal Pro\dsions, with special reference to the 
 absolute necessity for securing the appointment of properly 
 qualified persons to cures of souls. Although the language of 
 the letter is full of vigour, the sequence of the thoughts is less 
 logical than when Grosseteste's faculties were in their prime. 
 His position, in fact, was one of great difficulty. As an upholder 
 of the prerogatives of the Eoman See, and at the same time as 
 an unflinching adversary of abuses, he tries to uproot the latter 
 without assailing the former. The formula that a Pope can 
 only act apostolically, and that for him to act otherwise is a 
 contradiction in terms, enables Grosseteste to reconcile those 
 two lines of action, just as the constitutional formula that the 
 King can do no wrong had enabled him to resist Henry's 
 encroachments and exactions without attacking the kingly office.^ 
 The effect produced by the issue of a letter of that kind by 
 the most learned man of his time produced a great sensation. 
 In a letter addressed shortly after Grosseteste's death to the 
 Minister of the Franciscans in England,^ Adam Marsh speaks 
 in terms of admiration of " that fearless answer, written with 
 so much prudence, eloquence, and vigour, which will with the aid 
 of God benefit all ages to come." Although Grosseteste's letter 
 was not addressed to Innocent IV., its purport must have been 
 
 1 See Stubbs, ii. pp. 300 sqq, October 1891, and his Grey Friars at 
 
 - Mon. Francisc. p. 325. This Oxford, p. 184. It must, in that 
 
 can hardly have been written to case, have been addressed to Peter of 
 
 William of Nottingham, who probably Tewkesbury, his successor, and the 
 
 died in 1251. See Mr. Little's art. "W."have been inserted by mistake 
 
 in the English Historical Review for in the heading.
 
 XIV TRUTH AND FICTION 313 
 
 communicated to him almost immediately.^ Matthew Paris, who 
 sometimes assigns appropriate conversations, much in the same 
 way as Thucydides attributes fitting speeches, to the personages 
 about whom he writes, relates ^ that the Pope, who had removed 
 from Perugia to Eome, exclaimed in an outburst of indignation, 
 " Who is this raving old man, this deaf and foolish dotard, who 
 in his audacity and temerity judges my actions ? " adding that, 
 if it were not for the mildness of his disposition, he would hurl 
 him to headlong ruin, and suggesting that the King of England, 
 as vassal of the holy See, might be ordered to imprison the bold 
 prelate. Thereupon the Spanish Cardinal Egidius, Giles de 
 Torres, Archbishop of Toledo, who was a friend of Grosseteste, 
 and to whom four of his letters are addressed,^ took the Bishop's 
 part, and urged that it was impossible to take proceedings 
 against him, as what he said was true. " We cannot condemn 
 him : he is a Catholic, yea, and most holy, even stricter in his 
 religious observances than we are, and, indeed, he is believed 
 to have no equal, still less a superior, among all prelates. This 
 is known to the whole clergy of France and of England, and our 
 opposition to him would be of no avail. The truth of such a 
 letter, which has by this time, perhaps, become known to many, 
 will have the power of stirring up many against us ; for he is 
 held a great philosopher, fully learned in Latin and Greek 
 literature, a zealous champion of justice, a reader of theology in 
 the schools, a preacher to the people, and a persecutor of 
 simoniacal offenders.'" ^ The other cardinals took a similar line, 
 and advised that the Pope should pass the matter over and 
 pretend not to notice it, lest a tumult should be excited, 
 especially as it was known that Grosseteste's death could not 
 be far distant.^ Although the actual words spoken may not 
 
 ^ The Burton Annalist states that ■* Hist. Maj. v. 393. 
 
 the Archdeacon of Canterbury and ^ The words " quia scitur, quod 
 
 Master Innocent forwarded Grosse- quandoque discessio est ventura " have 
 
 teste's letter to Innocent IV. — Ann. been rendered "because it is known 
 
 Monast. (Burton) i. 313. that there will be a schism " ; but the 
 
 2 Hist. Maj. V. 392. other is the more likely interpreta- 
 
 3 Letters 36, 45, 46, 67. tion.
 
 314 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 have been those which Matthew Paris records, there is nothing 
 intrinsically improlmble in the supposition that Innocent, who 
 was of an impulsive and often dictatorial temperament, may 
 have expressed indignation, and possibly have used threatening 
 language with regard to Grosseteste, and that Cardinal Egidius, 
 who had enjoyed better opportunities than most of those 
 present for personal intercourse with the Bishop, and who was 
 able to appreciate his great qualities, exercised a restraining 
 influence. 
 
 A legend, however, grew up in the course of years, and was 
 embodied in the Lanercost Chronicle, as well as in those of 
 Capgrave, Knyghton, and others, and in Pdchard of Bardney's 
 metrical life, to the effect that Grosseteste was excommunicated 
 by the Pope;^ but there is no contemporary evidence for the 
 statement, and the foregoing passage from Matthew Paris is 
 directly opposed to the supposition. " In his last days," says 
 the Lanercost Chronicle, " he was excommunicated, which sen- 
 tence he, being himself tenacious of justice, bore patiently and 
 accepted, and also appealed to the tribunal of the Highest 
 Judge." The others speak as if the Bishop had been summoned 
 to Eome. The whole story, however, is a legend, based prob- 
 ably upon a confusion between the suspension which would 
 seem to have been pronounced on Grosseteste in 1251 or 1252,^ 
 and the incident arising out of the letter concerning Frederick 
 de Lavagna in 1253. The only sentence of excommunication 
 known to have been ever directed against the Bishop of Lincoln 
 was that which was passed against him by the monks of Christ 
 Church, Canterbury, in connection with the dispute relating to 
 Bardney Abbey ,^ and he was expressly protected by a Papal 
 indult of April 1244 against similar proceedings in the future 
 without special license from the Pope."* Perhaps, too, the error 
 may have been due to a misunderstanding of the sentence in 
 
 ^ See Luard's Introduction to tlie ■' Ihid. p. IhQ. 
 
 Letters, p. 81, note. ■* Bliss, Calendar, i. 209. 
 
 ^ See above, p. 307.
 
 XIV EFFECT OF GROSSETESTE'S EFFORTS 315 
 
 which Matthew Paris relates that Sewal, Archbishop of York, 
 who was excommunicated by Pope Alexander IV. in 1257, was 
 comforted and strengthened by the example of St. Thomas 
 Becket, by the example and teaching of St. Edmund, and by 
 the faithfulness of St. Kobert of Lincoln.^ Certainly Grosse- 
 teste could not have himself excommunicated the violators of 
 the Great Charter in ]May 1253, and again subsequently through- 
 out his diocese, as well as carried out his usual episcopal functions 
 during that year, if lie had himself been subject to that sentence. 
 It may also be noted that on the 16th of July Grosseteste was 
 appointed by the Pope " conservator " in connection with a 
 certain indult granted to the Bishop -elect of Winchester.^ 
 It may be added that the terms in which all contemporary, 
 or nearly contemporary, chroniclers speak of his last days and 
 of his death are absolutely inconsistent with the notion.^ 
 
 Grosseteste's letter on the subject of Frederick de Lavagna 
 is as well authenticated as any document of that period can 
 possibly be. It occurs not only in the Historia Major, but in 
 the Annals of Burton, and in numerous independent manu- 
 scripts. The same certainty does not apply, however, to an 
 address to " the nobles of England, the citizens of London, and 
 the commons of the whole kingdom " against the Papal Pro- 
 \'isions and the exactions of foreign clerks in England, which 
 has been printed among his letters.* The style differs in many 
 respects from the Bishop's, and it is hardly likely that, with his 
 strong views against secular interference in questions of ecclesi- 
 astical administration, he would have appealed to those to whom 
 the letter is addressed to " arm effectively the secular power in 
 order that, by excluding altogether provisions of this sort, the 
 priesthood of the kingdom may increase in the Lord, and the 
 treasure of the English may be kept for its support." ^ Never- 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. V. 653. catalogo sanctorum merito coniiume- 
 
 - Bliss, Calendar, i. 289. randus." See also p. 327. 
 
 ^ E.g. T. Wykes {Ann. Monastici, 4 t tt T?l 
 
 iv. 104): "Obiit venerabilis Robertas 
 
 Grosseteste Lincolniae episcopus, in ^ Letter 131, p. 444.
 
 3i6 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap, 
 
 theless, although the letter cannot well have been written by 
 Grosseteste himself, it contains much that is in harmony with 
 his known views, and its general purport may have been in- 
 spired by him with the object of enlisting public sympathy on 
 behalf of his protests, but he must not be held responsible either 
 for the wording or for the form of the appeal.^ 
 
 An important point, however, which is left out of sight by 
 Matthew Paris in his History, though it is indicated in the 
 documents contained in his Additamenta, is that Grosseteste's 
 struggle was, after all, successful, at any rate for a time, inas- 
 much as it helped to secure from the Pope a recognition of the 
 principle for which he was striving. Just as in 1250 Matthew 
 Paris speaks of his failure and ignores his success, so on this 
 occasion he conveys the impression that no result was achieved. 
 As a matter of fact Innocent IV. addressed in 1252 and 1253 two 
 letters to the English bishops on the subject of the Papal Pro- 
 visions of English benefices. The first is dated from Perugia on 
 the 23rd of May of the former year, and is a reply to the complaints 
 of the bishops with regard to the amount of money which goes 
 out of the country into the hands of alien beneficiaries, to the 
 detriment of the best interests of the Church and of the nation.' 
 The Pope expresses regret at the amount, and mentions that he 
 has frequently been compelled by the force of circumstances to 
 assent to measures of which in a period of less difficulty he 
 
 ' M. Charles Jourdain, in an article conversations recorded by Matthew 
 
 in the AcaxUmie des Inscriptions et Paris. Dr. Felten, who examines the 
 
 Belles Lettres for 1868, reprinted in criticisms carefully, pp. 109-112, comes 
 
 his Excursions Historiques, published to the conclusion that the authenticity 
 
 posthumously in 1888, pp. 147 sqq., of (1) and (2) is absolutely unshaken 
 
 disputes the authenticity of certain by M. Jourdain's attack, but that (3) 
 
 utterances against the Roman Court was not written by Grosseteste, and 
 
 attributed to Grosseteste. They are that (4) is entitled to slender credence. 
 
 (1) the memorandum read in 1250 in I agree with Dr. Felten 's view as to 
 the presence of the Pope and Cardinals ; (1), (2), and (3), but only with certain 
 
 (2) the letter to " Master Innocent" reservations as to (4). See farther on, 
 concerning Frederick de Lavagna ; (3) pp. 320, 321, 323. 
 
 the address to the nobles, citizens of 
 
 London, and commons of the realm - Rymer, i. 166 ; Uist. Maj. vi. 210 ; 
 
 (Letter 131); and (4) the deathbed RA\m\s AcLa Rc(jia.
 
 XIV SUBSEQUENT VICISSITUDES OF THE QUESTION 317 
 
 would not have been able to approve. At the same time he 
 maintains that, in the majority of cases, the system of Provisions 
 has been not only a means of recompensing individuals who 
 deserved well of the Clmrch, but also has been of advantage to 
 the particular parishes. He ends by suggesting that, in view 
 of the serious grievances put forward by the English bishops, 
 they might, by way of compromise, be satisfied with a limitation 
 of the total amount paid to foreign clerks to a sum of eight 
 thousand marks a year. As the suggested compromise does not 
 appear to have given satisfaction. Innocent issued, on the 3rd 
 of November 1253, about one month after Grosseteste's death, a 
 bull dealing with the whole subject of the Papal Provisions.-^ 
 The Burton annalist distinctly states " that it was written in 
 consequence of the Bishop of Lincoln's letter, after the Pope 
 had read and understood its purport. It is addressed to the 
 archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, and other ecclesiastical 
 authorities of the Church in England, as well as to chapters, 
 convents, and colleges, and to all patrons, both clerical and lay, 
 and removes all hindrances and impediments to the free exercise 
 of the rights of collation, election, presentation, and institution 
 on the part of those who are thereunto entitled. Grosseteste's 
 efforts, therefore, were crowned with success, as far as concerned 
 the recognition of the principle for which he had contended ; 
 but in practice the question remained unsolved, and, indeed, 
 gave rise to serious diflficulties within a few years after that 
 date. Sewal, Archbishop of York, found it necessary to write 
 to Pope Alexander IV. in the sense of Grosseteste's letter.^ In 
 1266 a bull of Clement IV. specially reserved for Papal nomina- 
 tion all benefices of which the possessors died at Eome ; in 
 1268, or the following year, the abuse was the immediate cause 
 
 ^ Ann. Monastici (Burton), i. 314- addressed, apparently in 1256, a long 
 
 317 ; Hist. Maj. Additamenta, vi. letter or pamphlet, divided into 47 
 
 260-264. chapters, based largely upon Grosse- 
 
 ;_, p 01 < teste's views, and referring especially 
 
 to his sanctity, courage, and persever- 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. V. 692. It was to ance. — Mon. Francisc. pp. 438-489, 
 
 Archbishop Sewal that Adam Marsh particularly p. 466.
 
 3i8 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap, xiv 
 
 of the somewhat doubtful Pragmatic Sanction of St. Louis, the 
 charter of the liberties of the Galilean Church ; in 1298 Boni- 
 face VIII., and subsequently other Popes, reasserted the prin- 
 ciple ; and, as far as England was affected, it led in the fourteenth 
 century to the passing of the Statute of Provisors.-^ 
 
 1 25 Edward III. chap. 4.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 1253 — Failure of Grosseteste's health — His last illness — Conversations with John 
 de St. Giles — His death — Legends — Attempts to procure his formal canonisa- 
 tion — Anecdotes — Grosseteste's personality, as depicted by Adam Marsh, 
 Roger Bacon, and IVIatthew Paris — His influence during his lifetime and 
 during the generations that followed — Review of his work, and estimate of 
 his character and of his place in history. 
 
 Grosseteste's bodily health, never strong at any time, showed 
 increasing signs of decay. It will be remembered how in 1232, 
 during a severe illness, he resigned his j)referments with the 
 exception of his Lincoln prebends,^ and how, five years later, he 
 was indebted to John de St. Giles and another for the preserva- 
 tion of his life, after an attempt had been made to poison him." 
 In 1238 he offered, though feeble and infirm in body, to go to 
 preach the gospel to the Saracens if ordered by the Pope and 
 Cardinals to do so.^ In writing to his Dean and Chapter in 
 1239,^ and to the King a few years later,^ he refers to his weak 
 constitution, and in 1242 he asks Cardinal Otho to explain to 
 Gregory IX. that his infirmities will not permit him to attend 
 the proposed General Council. In 1245, however, Adam Marsh 
 writes that he has reached Lyons in better health than usual. 
 At a later date, especially after his return from his second visit 
 to Lyons in 1250, his increasing weakness aroused the keenest 
 anxiety both of Simon de Montfort '^ and of Adam Marsh. The 
 latter urged him not to overwork himself by combining too 
 intense a devotion to literary pursuits with his multifarious 
 
 1 See p. 105, Letter 8. -^ Letter 71. 
 
 - Page 182. '' Letter 101. 
 
 ^ Letter 49. '"' Mon. Francisc. p. 110.
 
 320 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 activity in other spheres,^ and recommended to him two 
 physicians, John de Stokes, who became a member of his house- 
 hold," and Adam de Hekesover.^ Both his hearing and his 
 eyesight appear to have been affected ; the former may be 
 inferred from the remark attributed to Innocent by Matthew 
 Paris,"* and the latter seems to be mentioned in a letter from 
 Adam Marsh.^ The pressure of work during the last few years 
 of his life, and the anxiety arising out of the strenuous con- 
 flicts in which he was engaged, had taxed his strength to the 
 uttermost. He must have reached the age of seventy-eight 
 when, in the summer of 1253,'^ he was attacked by his last 
 illness at his residence at Buckden, and summoned to his side 
 his friend John de St. Giles, the learned Dominican theologian 
 and physician who had cured him twenty-six years earlier, in 
 order that he might act in the twofold capacity of medical 
 adviser and of spiritual comforter. Matthew Paris devotes 
 several pages to Grosseteste's conversations during that last 
 illness. How far the account given by Matthew Paris is 
 founded upon a correct version of what the Bishop actually 
 said, is a question which cannot be solved authoritatively in 
 the absence of either corroborative or contradictory evidence. 
 Some portions, however, are evidently highly coloured by the 
 St. Albans historian's prepossessions, who, however accurate 
 may be his statement of ascertained facts, may have, on this as 
 on other occasions, built up elaborate discourses on the slender 
 foundation of hearsay evidence.''' It is certainly curious that 
 some of his alleged denunciations, such as that of the Caursins, 
 are almost identical, alike in thought and in language, with the 
 
 1 Mon. Francisc. p. 143. words to refer to the Bishop's eyesight, 
 
 - Ihicl. p. 113. and not, as might naturally be supposed, 
 
 ^ Ihicl. p. 137. to that of Adam Marsh. This species 
 
 ■* See above, p. 313. Hist. MaJ. v. 372. of nmsiructio cul scnsitwi, due to hasty 
 
 ^ Mo7i. Francisc. p. 348: "Pro- wilting, is not uncommon in Adam 
 
 fectus sum Tyngehyrst ad dominum Marsh's letters. 
 Lincolniae niultis e.x causis valetu- '^ Hist. Maj. v. 400. 
 
 dinem satis molestam sustinens ocu- '' Ihid. v. 400 sqq. Cp. the revised 
 
 lorum. " Luard, Introd. to Grosse- and abbreviated account given in the 
 
 teste's Letters, p. 82, interi)rets these Histuria Anglonim, iii. 145.
 
 XV HIS LAST CONVERSATIONS 321 
 
 views expressed with regard to them by Matthew Paris himself 
 iu several passages of his History. The special praise, too, 
 accorded to the rule of St. Benedict/ and the complaint with 
 regard to a letter addressed by the Pope to the Abbot of St. 
 Albans, are not likely to have proceeded at that time out of 
 Grosseteste's mouth, but come naturally from the pen of the 
 St. Albans monk. The conversations must be received, there- 
 fore, with considerable caution, and it must be remembered that 
 they represent at best a second-hand report in which particular 
 phrases may have been taken out of their context, and under- 
 stood iu a somewhat different sense from that in which they 
 were actually employed.^ 
 
 In speaking of the two orders of friars, whom he had so 
 consistently and so strenuously supported, Grosseteste is stated 
 to have rebuked them on the ground that, although they had 
 taken the vows of poverty, and consequently enjoyed greater 
 freedom of action and speech than those who were shackled 
 by the possession of riches, on Juvenal's principle that 
 
 " Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator," 
 
 they did not sufficiently use that freedom for the purpose of 
 reproving the errors of those iu power. " As for you, Friar 
 John, and the rest of you preachers, I regard you as downright 
 heretics for not boldly reprobating the sins of the nobles and 
 unveiling their offences. What, by the way, is heresy ? Give 
 me a definition." And, as John de St. Giles hesitated for a 
 reply, the Bishop, referring to the Greek etymology of the 
 word, said : " Heresy is an opinion chosen by human sense, 
 contrary to the Holy Scripture, openly taught, and obstinately 
 defended." He then proceeded to apply that definition to the 
 failure of the friars to oppose the Papal Provisions, and to the 
 Pope's own action in regard to them, arguing that to give the 
 cure of souls to a child or other unfit person might be described 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. V. 403. Jourdain and of Dr. Felteu see above, 
 
 - On the respective views of M. p. 316. 
 
 Y
 
 322 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 as a prelate's " opinion, chosen by human sense, contrary to 
 Holy Scripture," which forbids those to be pastors who cannot 
 keep off the wolves, as well as " openly taught " in characters 
 bearing the seal and the bull, and " obstinately defended " by 
 the weapons of suspension and excommunication. As, then, in 
 the words of St. Gregory, he who does not oppose a manifest 
 crime is a participator in it, it follows that the Pope himself, 
 unless he ceases from this course, and the friars, both Minors 
 and Preachers, unless they show themselves anxious to resist 
 it, come under the definition of heresy and deserve its punish- 
 ment. There is, moreover, he is reported to have added, a 
 decree in existence which says that, for such an offence, namely 
 heresy, the Pope himself can be called to account. The 
 reference in the last sentence appears to be to a decree of Pope 
 Hadrian II. in the Roman Council of 868, cited in the seventh 
 Act of the Fourth Council of Constantinople held in the 
 following year, and included in the Decretum of Gratian.^ 
 Wliatever may have been the attitude of the English Domini- 
 cans with regard to the Papal Provisions, it is clear from the 
 correspondence between Adam Marsh and the Provincial 
 Minister of the Franciscans, that the leading Minorites, at any 
 rate, in this country shared Grosseteste's view of the contro- 
 versy, and it is strange, therefore, that he should have included 
 them in his rebuke, unless it be that he merely meant that 
 they did not openly give utterance to their feelings on the 
 subject. His reference to the Pope seems rather to be of the 
 nature of a hypothetical instance adduced to illustrate a 
 definition, and the point of the remarks is that moral delin- 
 quency falls in certain cases into the category of heresy, as well 
 as error of opinion. 
 
 It is quite possible, and indeed probable, that, in his love 
 for the friars, he warned them against the dangers to which 
 they were exposed, and tliat, in his earnest desire for the 
 removal of all abuses and corruptions in the administration of 
 
 ^ See Luard's note to Hist. Maj. v. 402.
 
 XV THE PASSING OF GROSSETESTE 323 
 
 the Church, he repeated, in a different form, the warning he 
 had addressed in 1250 to the Pope and tlie asseni])led cardinals. 
 It is impossible, however, to read carefully the long discourse 
 which he is said to have pronounced on the 7th of October ^ 
 in the presence of some of his clergy, when " worn down witli 
 illness, oppressed with wearmess, and uttering his words witli 
 difhculty, and amid sighs and tears," without coming to the 
 conclusion that, for the reasons already mentioned, more of that 
 utterance is due to the pen of Matthew Paris than to the lips of 
 Grosseteste. All due allowance being made, however, for the 
 alterations and additions introduced by the chronicler, there still 
 remains much that must have been uttered by the Bishop, and 
 much that is in harmony with views previously expressed by him 
 with regard to the rapacity of those connected with the Eoman 
 Court and the exactions and oppressions to which the Church 
 was exposed. The concluding sentences indicate, perhaps, what 
 was uppermost in Grosseteste's thoughts. He, whose last great 
 public act had been to join in securing from the King, on the 3rd 
 of May in that year, the renewed confirmation of jNIagna Carta, 
 and to cause the sentence of excommunication pronounced upon 
 the violators of the liberties granted by that instrument to be re- 
 peated throughout the length and breadth of his vast diocese, was 
 filled with apprehension lest the liberties thus obtained should 
 be placed in jeopardy by the combination of Pope and King 
 against the wishes and against the rights of the united clergy 
 and laity. As one who, in the last letter he is known to have 
 written, expressed his devotion to the head of the Church, 
 whilst deploring and strenuously attacking the abuses which 
 he failed to correct, and as one who, wdiilst opposing the King's 
 encroachments, nevertheless strove on his deathbed to reconcile 
 to him liis greatest enemy, Simon de Montfort,^ Grosseteste de- 
 sired reform and not revolution in the Church, and the advent 
 of freedom by peaceful means, and not by civil war, iu the 
 
 ^ Hist. Maj. V. 402-407. 
 ^ Ihid. V. 415 ; see above, p. 274.
 
 324 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 State. It was, therefore, with the deepest anxiety that he 
 looked to the troubled conditions of the times, and to the signs 
 of coming strife. With prophetic insight he is said to have 
 breathed the words : " The Church will not be freed from her 
 Egyptian bondage except at the point of the blood-stained 
 sword. These evils of which I have spoken are but slight as 
 compared with those which will come in a short time, perhaps 
 within three years." Hardly had he uttered those words when 
 his voice faltered and was hushed, and in a few hours that 
 mighty heart had ceased to beat. His prophecy found its 
 fulfilment not indeed within three years, but within a brief 
 period, on the fields of Lewes and of Evesham. 
 
 The 9th of October was, in all likelihood, the date of 
 Grosseteste's death.^ Medioeval legends often afford a clue to 
 the place held by the deceased in the hearts and minds of 
 the nation. Matthew Paris relates that on that night, as was 
 mentioned to him by John de Crackale, the Bishop's confidential 
 clerk and a man who enjoyed the high esteem of all who knew 
 him,^ it so happened that Fulk Basset, Bishop of London, who 
 was in the neighbourhood of Buckden, though far from any 
 convent, heard as it were the melodious music of a great 
 convent bell resounding from the sky. " On the same night 
 also certain Minorites, who were journeying in haste towards 
 
 ^ That is the date mentioned by adopts the 10th of October as the date. 
 
 Matthew Paris and those who follow From an ordinance of 1321 respecting 
 
 him. The AVinchester Annals mention the tombs of St. Hugh and of St. 
 
 the 4th, those of Burton the 7th, and Robert, it seems that the anniversary 
 
 those of Dunstable the 14th of that of his death was celebrated in that 
 
 month. Other dates assigned are the year on the 8th of October, St. Pelagia. 
 
 8th of October and the 8th of Novem- — Lincoln Cathedral Statutes, ed. Brad- 
 
 ber, the latter being obviously a mis- shaw and Wordsworth, i. pp. 335, 337. 
 
 take of the Lanercost Chronicle. John ^ John de Crackale was Canon of 
 
 de Schalby (App. to Giraldus Cam- Lincoln as far back as 1242. Addit. 
 
 hrensis, vii. p. 205) mentions the 10th Charter (British Museum) 21, 881. 
 
 of October. See Dimock's note to He accompanied Grosseteste to Lyons 
 
 that passage, and also Luard's note, p. in 1250 whilst Archdeacon of Bedford. 
 
 83 of the Introduction to the Letters, His name frequently occurs in the cor- 
 
 and Dr. Felten, p. 101. Stubbs, in respondence both of Grosseteste and of 
 
 his Retjistrum Sacrum Anglicaiuiin, AJani Marsh. See p. 280.
 
 XV LEGENDS— PLACE OF BURL\L 325 
 
 Buckden, where Eobert, Bishop of Lincoln, then was, — for he 
 was a comforter and father to the Franciscans and Dominicans, 
 — lost their way in the royal forest of Wauberge, and, while 
 wandering about, heard in the air a sound as of bells, amongst 
 which they clearly distinguished one bell of sweeter note than 
 any they had heard before. When the dawn appeared they 
 met some foresters, of whom, after obtaining directions to 
 enable them to regain the right road, they inquired what 
 meant that solemn peal of bells which they had heard in the 
 direction of Buckden ; to which the foresters replied that they 
 had not heard, and did not then hear anything, though the 
 sound still greatly filled the air. Greatly wondering, the 
 brethren made their way to Buckden, and were there told that 
 at the very time of night when they had heard those melodious 
 sounds the Bishop of Lincoln had breathed forth his happy 
 spirit." ^ Of a different character is the legend mentioned also 
 by Matthew Paris and by later chroniclers, that Innocent IV. 
 wrote to the King of England, asking that Grosseteste's bones 
 should be disinterred and placed outside the church, but that, 
 on the following night, the deceased Bishop of Lincoln ap- 
 peared to him in a vision, smote him with his pastoral staff, 
 and rebuked his pride." The Pope is also said to have ex- 
 claimed, when he heard of the death of Conrad, King of Sicily, 
 that in him and Grosseteste he had lost his two worst enemies.^ 
 Those stories are of value in so far as they tlirow light upon 
 the popular estimation of his character and attitude. There 
 are, however, as has been shown, no reasons whatsoever for 
 believing that he was ever excommunicated by Innocent, and 
 the requests for canonisation addressed to successive Popes 
 make no mention of any such sentence. 
 
 Boniface, Archbishop of Canterbury, happened to be at 
 Lincoln on the 7th of October, for purposes connected with 
 the visitation of the province, but had left that city almost 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. V. 408. - Ibid, v. 429, 470. 
 
 3 Ibid. V. 460.
 
 326 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 immediately, and had arrived at Newark.^ On hearing the 
 news of Grosseteste's death he retraced his steps in order to 
 attend his funeral. Although often opposed by Grosseteste of 
 late years, Boniface was not blind to his great qualities, and 
 must, indeed, have felt that he was indebted to him, when he 
 first came to England, for friendly counsels which might, if 
 followed, have kept him from many errors. Among those 
 present were also Fulk Basset, Bishop of London, who had known 
 Grosseteste in his Wiltshire days,^ and "Walter de Cantelupe, 
 Bishop of Worcester, who had stood by him in many a fight, 
 and who, in days yet to come, was to receive the dying 
 confession of Simon de Montfort at the battle of Evesham. 
 Many abbots and priors were also there, as well as an innumer- 
 able concourse of clergy and people.^ Grosseteste was interred 
 in the upper south transept of the cathedral. His tomb is 
 described by Leland, who saw it, as a goodly one of marble, 
 with an image of brass over it.* It shared the fate of many 
 other tombs when, in the middle of the seventeenth century, 
 the Parliamentary forces commanded by the Earl of Manchester 
 inflicted upon the interior of Lincoln Cathedral injuries 
 similar to those which it had suffered at the hands of royalist 
 troops more than four centuries earlier in 1217.'' In 1782 the 
 coffin was opened, and it was found that with the great Bishop 
 had been buried part of his crosier-head, on which was carved 
 the inscription — 
 
 Per baculi formam 
 Praelati discito normani, 
 
 and also his seal-ring engraved with his name, and a chalice and 
 paten.*' Close to him, as the Lanercost Chronicle declares, was 
 
 ^ On Boniface's subsequent dispute - See p. 26. 
 
 with the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, ■' Ann. Monast. (Huvton), i. 314. 
 
 who should exercise the right of giving ■* Leland, Ilimrary, viii. pt. 2, 
 
 away the prebends and revenues of the \\ 4. 
 
 bishopric sede vacante, see p. 295. ■'* Ann. Monast. (Waverley), ii. 287. 
 
 Jlist. Maj. v. 412, 413 ; Ann. Monastici " They are described by Pegge, pp. 
 
 (Dunstable) iii. 190 ; Mon. Francisc. 215-217. What is supposed to be a 
 
 p. 324. representation of the slab is given in
 
 XV ATTEMPTS TO OBTAIN FORMAL CANONISATION 327 
 
 buried a few years later, l)etween his grave and the southern 
 wall, his faithful friend Adam Marsh, in order that, as they 
 were lovely and pleasant in their lives, in death they should 
 not be divided.^ It was found that in his will Grosseteste had 
 bequeathed to the i'ranciscan library at Oxford the books 
 which he had collected with such assiduous care from various 
 parts of the world.- 
 
 There is nothing surprising in the fact that, even without 
 formal canonisation, he should have been described almost 
 immediately after his death as a saint. The Tewkesbury Annals 
 assert erroneously that the title was actually bestowed upon 
 him by the Pope in 1257,^ and almost all the chroniclers confer 
 upon him that designation. Eoger Bacon constantly speaks of 
 him as Saint Eobert, and the rules which he composed for the 
 guidance of the Countess of Lincoln were called the " Eeules 
 Seynt Eoberd." In the public estimation those who stood forth 
 as the champions of the liberties of the Church and of the 
 people were by an almost unconscious and automatic process 
 added to the catalogue of the saints. It was thus that Simon 
 de Montfort, a few years later, in spite of all the efforts of those 
 in authority, was hailed as the " blessed martyr." ■* In the case 
 of Grosseteste even the royalist chronicler Wykes asserts 
 without hesitation his claim to the title.'' As early as 1255 
 Eichard, Earl of Cornwall, the King's brother, made a pilgrimage 
 
 Gough's Sepulchral Moincments of ber 1258. — Little's (Jrey Friars at 
 
 G-reat Britain, vol. i. plate 16, and O-rford, p. 138. The boy, St. Hugh 
 
 reproduced in Pegge's Grosseteste, p. of Lincoln, not to be confused with 
 
 114. See also Browne Willis' Cathe- St. Hugh, the Bishop of Lincoln, was 
 
 rfra^s (London, 1742), ii. p. 7. Gough, also buried near Grosseteste's tomb a 
 
 i. p. 48, quotes from Camden's few years later. — Ann.3Ionast.{Jij>\xvto\\), 
 
 Remains an epitaph which Grosseteste i. 344. 
 
 is said to have composed for himself, - See p. 86. 
 
 and another which was written alter ^ Ann. Monasf. (Tewkesbury), i. 
 
 his death ; but both are of doubtful 159. 
 
 authenticity. •* See IL Bemont's Simon dc Mont- 
 
 ^ Chron. dc Lanercosf, p. 58. Adam fort, Introd. pp. 15-19. See above, 
 
 Marsh, however, died not in 1253, but p. 274. 
 
 a few years later, probably in Novem- ' Ann. Monast. (T. Wykes), iv. 103.
 
 328 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 to the Bishop's tomb at Lincohi/ and miracles are reported by 
 Matthew Paris,^ as well as by the Burton and Tewkesbury 
 annalists, to have occurred there. In 1300 a special guardian 
 had to be appointed for his tomb under the name of " Gustos 
 Tumbe Santi Eoberti," and in 1314 Bishop Dalderby granted a 
 forty days' indulgence to pilgrims who visited it.^ 
 
 That particular kind of homage, though indicating 
 Grosseteste's firm hold on the imagination, as well as on the 
 affections of the English people, was not such as to bring out 
 the real greatness of his life and character, and would probably 
 have been out of harmony with the feelings of humility which 
 animated him. The efforts made to secure his canonisation are, 
 however, of considerable importance, as the grounds on which 
 they were attempted are clearly shown. One such effort was 
 made in 1286, when letters advocating the adoption of that 
 course were written by John Eomanus, Archbishop of York, 
 and the Bishops of Worcester and St. David's, as well as by 
 the Abbots and convents of Grimsby, Newhouse, Thornton, 
 Hagnaby, Osney, St. James, Northampton, Eevesby, Peter- 
 borough, Louth, and Bardney, and by several prominent laymen,* 
 Similar letters were written in 1288 by Oliver Sutton, Bishop 
 of Lincoln, and the Dean and Chapter of that cathedral, and 
 also by the Bishops of Durham and Ely,^ In 1307 a general 
 application was made to Clement V. for the purpose by the 
 Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, who sent one of their number, 
 Eobert de Killing worth, to Eome with that object,*' and also by 
 
 1 Ann. Monast. (Burton), i. 344. ^ Historical MSS. Commission Re- 
 
 - Hist. Maj. V. 491. 'ports, l.c, 
 
 ^ Pegge, pp. 213, 214. Giraldus ^ Register quoted by Pegge, p. 218. 
 
 C'am&rensis, Appendix, vii.(ed.Dimock), See also Giraldus Camhrensis, vii. (ed. 
 
 p. 206. Dimock), Appendix, p. 206, where 
 
 * Twelfth Report of the Historical Jolin de Schalby states that steps were 
 MSS. Commission (1891), Appendix repeatedly taken in that sense by the 
 ix. pp. 566, 567. The letter from Dean and Chapter, From Chapter 
 Archbishop John Romanus is given in Acts of the 10th of I\Iay 1307, it 
 Brine's Letters fro7n Northern Registers ajipoars that Robert de Killingworth, 
 (Roll Series, 1873), p. 87, with the or Kivelingworlh, was allowed his ex- 
 date 1287, penses of travel and residence, whilst
 
 XV TESTIMONY TO GROSSETESTE'S INFLUENCE 329 
 
 the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, London,^ the Abbot and 
 convent of Osney, King Edward the First, Greenfield, Arch- 
 bishop of York, and the University of Oxford.- The letter 
 from the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's states that Grosseteste 
 " far surpassed all the philosophers of his time, and outstripped 
 all theologians in divine knowledge and doctrine. His most 
 famous works remain to testify this to scholars of our day, and 
 by virtue of his genius, which was wonderfully strengthened by 
 divine grace, he might say ' I have more understanding than all 
 my teachers.' But most of all did he excel in humility, 
 simplicity, and sanctity, so that he passed his life in innocency, 
 chastity, and purity." Edward I. wrote twice, once himself and 
 once through the Chancellor. He speaks of the Bishop as " ex- 
 celling in merits, illustrious for holiness of life, like the morning 
 star discerned through a gap in the clouds, like a candle not 
 put under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that all may see the 
 light." He adds that what he asks for is in accordance with 
 the views of the English Church, the pontifical testimony, the 
 recollection of the aged, and in harmony with the wishes of the 
 clergy, the knighthood, and the people, and that the whole 
 population of England of both sexes reveres his tradition. The 
 most interesting testunony, however, is that from the University 
 of Oxford, which says that he never did anything connected 
 with the office he held or his pastoral care through fear of any 
 man, and that he was ready, if need be, to suffer martyrdom for 
 what he beheved to be right. It also speaks of his magnificent 
 services to the cause of science, and of the admkable character 
 of his " regency " at Oxford. What was the precise influence 
 which prevented his canonisation is unknown, though his 
 attitude of sturdy independence may have contributed to the 
 
 engaged at Rome in furthering the ^ 'Wood's A7itiquities of the University 
 
 canonisation " beati Roberti." — Lin- of Oxford, i. p. 105 ( = 2-19); Prjmne, 
 
 coin Cathedral Statutes, ed. Bradshaw Collect. pp. 1135-1184 ; Pegge, 
 
 and Wordsworth, i. p. 82. Appendix 9, pp. 369, 370 ; Raine's 
 
 > Wharton's Anglia Sacra, ii. p. Letters from Northern Registers, pp. 
 
 343. 182, 183 ; Luard, Introd. p. 84.
 
 330 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 result. Higden, in his Polychronicon, attributes it to the 
 " sharpe pistle " he wrote on the subject of the Papal Provisions.^ 
 John cle Schalby, Canon of Lincoln, who wrote in or about 
 1330, declares that he is absolutely ignorant as to the grounds on 
 which the canonisation has failed to take place. " The efforts," 
 he says, " have not been successful previous to the writing of 
 the present treatise — for what reason God only knows." ^ 
 
 It would be impossible in this place to collect all the lauda- 
 tory references to Grosseteste contained in the Chronicles of 
 his own and of succeeding generations, and there is hardly one 
 of them which fails to bear witness to the reverence in which he 
 was held.^ The special testimony, however, of three of his contem- 
 poraries deserves to be accentuated and emphasised. The first is 
 contained in the letter written by Adam Marsh to the Minister 
 of the Franciscans in England shortly after Grosseteste's death,^ 
 and in a subsequent letter addressed to Sewal, Archbishop of 
 York, probably in 1256;^ To both passages some reference has 
 already been made, but it may be added that in both the writer 
 finds a parallel for the fearless character of Grosseteste in that 
 of Elijah. The second consists in Eoger Bacon's previously 
 quoted tribute to the universality of the Bishop's attainments 
 and the marvellous profundity of his intellect.*" The third is to 
 be found in the pages of Matthew Paris, who had so often been 
 
 ^ Higden's Polychronicon, Trevisa, voice had not been forgotten. Michael 
 
 etc., ed. Lumby, ii. pp. 240-242. Drayton writes in his Pohjolhion, bk. 
 
 "Epistolani satis tonantem." xix. p. 91 (Loudon, 1622): — 
 
 - Giraldus Cambrensis, vii. (ed. ^^^ Lincolne to the Saints our Robert Gros- 
 Dimock), Appendix, p. 206. Wycliffe, teste lent, 
 
 „,,,,,., -,^ , , , ,, ... A perfect godly man, most learn li and elo- 
 
 Select hncjlish Works, ed. Arnold, iii. qnent, 
 
 p. 467, with regard to the failure to I'hau whom no bishop yet walkt in more 
 
 . . n|)riL;ht wayes, 
 
 secure his canonisation, says : How who clufst reproue proud Rome, in her most 
 
 gloriouse a cause he had, ande pleyne prosperous dayes, etc. 
 
 treuthe, and comyne protite of holy ■' Some of them have been collected 
 
 Chirche, and what gloriouse bokis he by Sir Thomas Pope Blount in his 
 
 wrote, more than any other greto Censura, London, 1690. 
 
 seintis of his londe, to comyne protite •* Mon. Francisc. p. 325 ; see p. 
 
 of all Ohristendome." Even in the 312. 
 
 early part of the .seventeenth cen- ■'' Ibid. pp. 466, 487 ; see p. 317. 
 
 tury his canonisation by the popular " See ];)p. 51 sqq.
 
 XV ADAM MARSH, ROGER BACON, MATTHEW PARIS 331 
 
 an adverse critic of the severity of his visitations, whilst appro^'- 
 ing of his resistance to the King's exactions and to the Pope's 
 Provisions. " He was an open confuter," writes the Benedictine 
 historian,^ " of both Pope and King, the corrector of monks, the 
 director of priests, the instructor of clerks, the supporter of 
 scholars, a preacher to the people, a persecutor of the incon- 
 tinent, the unwearied student of the Scriptures, a hammer and 
 despiser of the Pomans. At the table of bodily refreshment he 
 was hospitable, eloquent, courteous, pleasant, and affable ; at 
 the spiritual table devout, tearful, and contrite. In the epis- 
 copal office he was sedulous, dignified, and indefatigable." Here, 
 then, are contemporary testimonies from three writers, each of 
 whom approaches the question from a different point of view : 
 first, from Adam Marsh, a scholar and Franciscan, heart and 
 soul, who, in addition to his interest in the advancement of 
 learning and the necessities of spiritual work, is in agreement 
 with most of Grosseteste's views as to general policy ; secondly, 
 from Roger Bacon, a scholar like Adam Marsh, though on 
 different lines and of more penetrating insight, a Pranciscan, 
 though without much vocation for that calling, and a royalist, 
 whose hereditary sympathies are opposed to the frame of mind 
 which enables Grosseteste to reckon among his warmest friends 
 Richard Marshall and Simon de Montfort ; and, thirdly, from 
 one who, whilst primarily a defender of monastic rights and 
 privileges, is at the same time a patriotic Englishman and a 
 friend of the liberties of the nation. And yet those three, from 
 their various standpoints, are able to concur in their estimate of 
 the value and greatness of Grosseteste's place in the life and 
 thought of his country and of his generation. And the reason, 
 apart from his personal influence, is plain. Each of the forces 
 represented, to a greater or less extent, by those three names 
 received from Grosseteste a most powerful impulse, the effect 
 of which endured long after he had left the scene : the revival 
 of relio;ion, the revival of learning, and the revival of the national 
 
 1 Hist. Maj. V. 407.
 
 332 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 spirit owed to liim, in no small degree, their strength, their 
 inspiration, and their support. 
 
 It must not he supposed, as might be inferred from a perusal 
 of his letters, all of which are couched in language of deep and 
 often extreme earnestness, that Grosseteste's austere severity of 
 demeanour was never relaxed. In order to realise the truth of 
 Matthew Paris's statement that he was " as a host hospitable, 
 eloquent, courteous, pleasant, and affable," it is necessary to 
 turn rather to the letters of Adam Marsh, which throw light 
 upon the friendliness of his intercourse with all sorts and con- 
 ditions of men, from members of the King's family, cardinals, 
 prelates, and nobles, to the poorest scholar who needed his 
 assistance and the humblest friar who desired his counsel. The 
 incident of the Countess of Leicester's cook affords an instance 
 of the lighter side of his nature,^ the Lanercost Chronicle men- 
 tions the pleasure which the charm and refinement of his 
 hospitality gave to the Earl of Gloucester,- and Trivet tells how 
 he found his chief delight in the society of friars of both orders, 
 and in talks with them on scriptural subjects.^ They were, 
 indeed, kindred spirits, and their interest in scientific studies, 
 and their acquaintance with foreign countries, must have given 
 an additional inducement to his intercourse with them. The 
 pages of Eccleston's narrative of the coming of the Minorites 
 contain several anecdotes concerning him and his relations with 
 the Franciscans both as a teacher and as a friend. At Oxford 
 he encouraged students to think questions out for themselves, 
 and thus stimulated their intellectual faculties. One story 
 told by Eccleston ^ can best be understood when it is remembered 
 that the lecture of that day was not, as a rule, a monologue 
 delivered by a professor ex cathedra, but consisted largely of the 
 to -and -fro toss of disputation between the lecturer and the 
 students,^ with the object of developing their mental alertness. 
 
 ' See p. 272. ■• See Brewer's Introd. to tlie Mon. 
 
 - See p. 7 ; Chron. de Lanercost, p. Francisc. p. 45. 
 44. ^ Mon. Francisc. p. 39. 
 
 ^ Trivet, ed. Hog, p. 243. " See Brewer's Introduction, p. 49.
 
 XV ANECDOTES— LOVE OF MUSIC 333 
 
 They also made notes, and reproduced them afterwards as a 
 lecture. On one occasion Grosseteste told a promising pupil 
 that " he had not known that the lecture he had given was his 
 own," meaning that as much had been ehcited by the remarks 
 and suggestions of the listener as by that which he had pre- 
 viously prepared. He attached, however, great importance to 
 due preparation for lectures.^ He used to tell the friars that, 
 unless they studied, and were assiduous in the knowledge of the 
 Scriptures, they would be like certain monks who walked in the 
 darkness of ignorance."^ He told Peter of Tewkesbury ^ that he 
 could not help loving hmi and members of his brotherhood, 
 though he had sometimes to reprove them.'* It was their 
 practice to settle in the lowest parts of the suburbs of the towns 
 amid the dregs of the population. Grosseteste used to advise 
 them, on sanitary grounds, not to build their houses too near 
 the water's edge, but at a higher level.^ He liked to see their 
 friars' robes patched, implying thereby, it would seem, that the 
 vow of poverty was no reason why they should not look neat. 
 Of excessive austerity he did not approve. Three things, he 
 once said to a Dominican, are necessary for temporal salvation, 
 — food, sleep, and good humour.*^ To another friar who was of 
 a very melancholy temperament he suggested, as a penance, that 
 he should drink a cup of the best wine, and, after it had been 
 drunk with great reluctance, said to him : " Dear friar, if you 
 frequently underwent such a penance, you would have a better 
 ordered conscience." '' Anything that savoured of bribery was 
 utterly abhorrent to him. Soon after his elevation to the See 
 
 1 Mo7i. Francisc. p. 66. and pepper. It will be remembered 
 
 ■^ Ihid. p. 64. ^ See p. 257. that Grosseteste had borrowed her cook 
 
 * Mon. Francisc. p. 65. probably seventeen years earlier. In the 
 
 ^ Ihid. p. 66. ^ Ihid. p. 64. same connection it is curious to note 
 
 ^ Ibid. He once expressed the that in the Countess's accounts, April 7, 
 
 opinion {ih. p. 66) that a little pepper 1265, occurs the following entry : "For 
 
 gave more flavour to sauce than ginger. spicery, three pounds of pepper, ginger. 
 
 In the Countess of Leicester's Household cinnamon, and galingale, and one pound 
 
 Roll for 1265 (Bannatyne Club, 1841) of cloves ; thirteen pounds of rice ; 
 
 the following spices are named: ani- saffron, thirty-eightpounds ; three frails 
 
 seed, cinnamon, cloves, galingal, ginger, of figs, and one of raisins for Lent."
 
 334 
 
 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 of Lincoln, when he was in need of horses, his seneschal came, 
 whilst he was sitting at his books, and told him that two white 
 monks, who presumably hoped for some favour to come, had 
 brought him as a present two splendid palfreys.^ The Bishop 
 refused to admit the monks or to receive the horses, and said, 
 " Were I to take them, they would drag me down by their tails 
 into the infernal regions." On another occasion (though it is 
 not quite clear whether the story is told of him or of St. Edmund 
 of Canterbury), when friends offered him some precious jewels 
 and entreated him to accept the gift, he replied, " Si prenderem, 
 penderem : between ' prendere ' and ' pendere ' there is only one 
 letter."^ Other anecdotes repeated by Eccleston also convey 
 an impression of his good-natured common sense, 
 
 Grosseteste's fondness for nmsic is mentioned in the English 
 version by Eobert Mannyng (Robert de Brunne) of William de 
 Wadington's Manuel des PSchds, which has sometimes been 
 wrongly attributed to the Bishop himself : ^ 
 
 " Y shall you tell as I have herd 
 Of the bysshop seynt Eoberd ; 
 His toname is Grosteste, 
 Of Lyncolne, so seyth the geste. 
 He lovede moche to here the harpe, 
 For inaus witte it makyth sharpe ; 
 Next hys chamber, besyde his study, 
 Hys harpers chamber was fast the by. 
 Mauy tymes, by nightes and dayes, 
 He hadd solace of notes and layes. 
 One askede hem the resun why 
 He hadde delyte in mynstrelsy : 
 He answerde hyni on thys manere 
 "Why he helde the harpe so dere : 
 ' The virtu of the harpe, thurgh style and ryght 
 Wyll destrye the fendys myght ; 
 And to the cros by gode skeyl 
 Ys the harpe lykened weyl.' 
 Thirefore, gode men, ye shall lere, 
 
 1 On the care taken by the Cistercians - J/on. Francisc. p. 65; Luard's 
 
 in the breeding of horses see Giraldus Introd. to the Letters, p. 89. 
 Cainbrensis, Specuhim Ecdcsiac, iv. ^ See \i-\}. 39, 40. 
 
 130, and Brewer's preface to vol. iv. of 
 liis works, p. 24,
 
 XV GROSSETESTE'S PLACE IN HISTORY 335 
 
 When ye any gleman here, 
 
 To worshepe God at your power, 
 
 And David in the sauter, 
 
 Yn harpe and tabour and syinphon glee, 
 
 Woi'shij) God in trumpes and sautre : 
 
 Yn cordes, yn orgaues, and bells ringyng, 
 
 Yn all these worsliip the hevene King." ^ 
 
 Dr. Luard remarks that "probably no one has had a 
 greater influence than Grosseteste upon English thought and 
 English literature for the two centuries which followed his 
 time ; few books will be found tliat do not contain some 
 quotations from Zincobiiensis, The great clerk Grostest." " It is 
 worthy of note that both Wycliffe and Tyssington, engaged on 
 opposite sides in the great theological controversies which raged 
 after a period of more than a century after the date of his 
 death, are equally in the habit of appealing to his authority. 
 "Wycliffe ranks Grosseteste above Aristotle,^ and frequently 
 cites his writings in terms of approval.^ Tyssington says that 
 " to compare Grosseteste with modern doctors is like comparing 
 the sun to the moon, when the latter is eclipsed," '" and re- 
 peatedly quotes the Bishop of Lincoln in favour of his views, 
 and in antagonism to those put forward by Wycliffe with 
 
 ^ Handlyng Synnc, by Eobert Arnold, iii. pp. 467, 469, 489 ; and Opus 
 
 Mannyng de Brunne, has been edited £vangelicam, i. -p. 117. To these may be 
 
 by Furnivall for the Roxburghe Club added the tract entitled Lincolniensis, 
 
 in 1862. The passage is quoted by Select Works, iii. 230-232; and vol. 
 
 "Warton, Hist, of English Poetry, i. p. ii. p. 58 of the De Civili Dominio, ed. 
 
 61 ; by Pegge, pp. 362, 363, and most of Loserth, Lane-Poole, and Matthew, 
 
 it by Dr. Luard and Archdeacon Perry. See especially chapter 43 of the Ve 
 
 - Luard's Introd, to the Letters, p. 1. Civili Dominio, where Wycliffe quotes 
 
 ^ Wycliffe, Trial, iv. chap. 3. He largely from Grosseteste's "sermon" 
 
 mentions Demoeritus, Plato, St. Angus- of 1250 before Innocent IV. John 
 
 tine, and ' Lincolniensis " as being Huss, Dc Ecclesia, chap. 18, also 
 
 "longe clariores philosophi, et in quotes at some length from it. The 
 
 multis metaphysicis scientiis plus MSS. which Huss probably used are 
 
 S2>lendentes. " Seep. 330. contained in thirteen volumes in the 
 
 * Shirley's pref. to the Fasciculi Royal (formerly the University) 
 Zizaniorum, p. 49. Mr. G. M. Tre- Library at Prag, described by Mr. 
 velyan, Englaiul in the Age of Wycliffe, Sheppard, travelling Bachelor of the 
 London, 1899, p. 172, gives the follow- University of Cambridge, in the Gam- 
 ing references : De Civili Dominio, ed. bridge University Library MS. Oo. vi. 
 Lane-Poole, i. pp. 385-394 ; De Officio 97, § 49. 
 Ecgis, p. 85 ; Select English Works, ed. '" Fasciculi Zizani&rum, p. 135.
 
 336 ROBERT GROSSETESTE chap. 
 
 regard to the nature and meaning of the Eucharist.^ The 
 question has been asked, What would Grosseteste's attitude 
 have been towards the Eeformation, had he been born during 
 that period of the world's history ? The question is one which 
 does not admit of a definite answer, and it is an unprofitable 
 speculation to consider what the views of men who lived in 
 the thirteenth century would have been had they lived in the 
 sixteenth. On the one hand his opposition to the Papal 
 Provisions, his denunciation of the abuses and corruptions 
 connected with the existing system of ecclesiastical admini- 
 stration, and his constant appeals to the authority of the 
 Scriptures as the paramount authority in matters of faith, 
 mark him out as a pioneer and precursor of the movement 
 which led to the Eeformation, much in the same way as he 
 may be said to occupy a similar position in regard to the 
 Eenaissance. On the other hand, he never wavered in his 
 adherence to the accepted doctrines of the Catholic Church, in 
 his belief in the unity of Christendom, in his recognition of the 
 obedience due to the authority of the Pope, in so far as his 
 commands were in accord with apostolic teaching, or in his 
 conception of the inherent value and dignity of the episcopal 
 office ; and, moreover, the resistance he offered to encroach- 
 ments on the part of the civil power, and the fact that his 
 object in denouncing abuses was to strengthen and not to 
 weaken the Church, suggest a different hypothesis. It is 
 possible that he might have chosen the part of Cranmer, 
 Eidley, and Latimer. It is equally possible that he might have 
 chosen that of Sir Thomas More. It is possible, again, that 
 his great intellect might have conceived and carried into 
 execution a settlement other than that which was actually 
 effected. It is fruitless to attempt the solution of such a 
 problem : it is a mystery, not perhaps unknowable, but which 
 to us must remain unknown. One thing alone is certain : 
 in the language in which the University of Oxford spoke of 
 
 ' Fasciculi Zizaniomm, pp. 152, 161, IG'2, 1G6, 175.
 
 XV CONCLUSION 
 
 337 
 
 hiin after his death, he would have been ready, if need be, to 
 suffer martyrdom for what he believed to be right. 
 
 Grosseteste, then, may be regarded in a threefold aspect : 
 first, as a reformer who sought to reform the Church from 
 within and not from without, by the removal of existing abuses, 
 by the encouragement he gave to the great religious revival of 
 the early part of the thirteenth century, and by the example of 
 unflinching fearlessness and rectitude which he set in his per- 
 formance of the episcopal office ; secondly, as the teacher who 
 guided the rising fortunes of the University of Oxford, gave a 
 powerful impulse to almost every department of intellectual 
 activity, revived the study of neglected languages, and grasped 
 the central idea of the unity of knowledge, with which he was 
 the first to inspire the encyclopaedic writers and thinkers of that 
 century ; and, thirdly, as the statesman who, applying to new con- 
 ditions the policy associated with the name of Stephen Langton, 
 endeavoured to combine into one effort the struggle of the clergy 
 for the liberties of the Church with the struggle of the laity for 
 the liberties of the nation, imbued Simon de Montfort with 
 principles of " truth and justice " which went far beyond the 
 mere maintenance of the privileges of his own order, and at the 
 same time, by his effort to reconcile him with his sovereign and 
 by the whole tenour of his actions, showed that, had he lived a 
 few years longer, his influence would have been dii'ected to the 
 task of achieving by peaceful means the constitutional advance 
 brought about by those who, taking the sword, perished by the 
 sword. The services rendered by Grosseteste in each of tliose 
 capacities, taken singly, are such as to entitle him to lasting 
 gratitude ; taken in conjunction, they exhibit the true greatness 
 of his life and work, and render his name imperishable.
 
 Additional Note to pages 5 and 6. — Canon Eaven, as an additional 
 argument in favour of his hypothesis that Grosseteste may in his youth 
 have been brought in contact with John of Oxford, Bishop of Norwich, 
 refers to the incident described in Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chief 
 Justices on the authority of Ralph de Diceto (i. p. 435, ed. Stubbs, sub 
 anno 1179) and others, as indicating that the experience gained by that 
 prelate as to the objections which might be urged against the tenure of 
 secular offices by ecclesiastics may have been subsequently imparted by 
 him to Grosseteste, and have had some influence upon the line of action 
 
 he adopted in later years. See Chapter VIII. Davy, in his MS. notes, 
 
 transcribes all the older inscriptions in the church and churchyard of 
 Stradbroke, but they throw no light on the subject of this biography. 
 Canon Raven is of opinion that certain stones of the coffin -lid order, 
 devoid of inscription, are coeval with Grosseteste. There is a faint possi- 
 bility that the contents, if unearthed, might convey some information 
 bearing upon his relatives. However, reqtiiescant in -pace.
 
 INDEX 
 
 OF NAMES OF PERSONS AXD PLACES 
 
 [This Index is not intended to include either the names of the authorities, or the 
 titles of the works cited in the text and in the notes. In exceptional cases, 
 however, references to the former are inserted ; for example, under the head 
 of Matthew Paris mention is made of the pages on which his credibility is 
 discussed, but not of the numerous passages in which his writings are 
 quoted or otherwise used.] 
 
 Abbeville, 215 
 
 Abbotsley, or Alboldesley, 26, 88-91 
 
 Abelard, 16, 18, 21 
 
 Acre, 261 
 
 Adam Marsh, see Marsh 
 
 of Oxford, 78 
 
 Rufus, see Rufus 
 Adhemar, 301 
 Aethelmar de Lusignan, or Valence, 
 
 see AViuchester 
 Agatha, R. de St., 238 
 Agnellus of Pisa, 69-71, 78, 80, 93, 174 
 Aigueblanche, Peter d', see Hereford 
 Ailly, d', Pierre, 47 
 Alan de Beccles, 196, 206 
 
 of St. Faith, 268 
 Alard, 67 
 Albans, St., 96, 149, 151, 154, 226, 
 
 260, 283, 302, 321 
 Albert of Pisa, 72, 74 
 
 plebanus of Campilio, 308 
 Albertus Magnus, 50, 55-57, 75, 183, 
 
 240 
 Albigenses, The, 61, 62 
 Alexander, III., Pope, 27 
 
 IV., Pope, 315, 317 
 
 de Hales, 50, 74, 256, 257 
 
 de Stavensby, see Coventry and 
 Lichfield 
 
 Friar, 259 
 Alfred (Alured) Anglicus, 53 
 Almaricians, The, 62 
 Almeric, son of Simon de Montfort, 
 
 271 
 Alphraganus, 47 
 Alpibus, Peter de, 300 
 
 Alvingham, 150 
 
 Ambrose, St., 20 
 
 Anagni, 157, 165 
 
 Andrews, St., 244 
 
 Anjou, 53, 302 
 
 Anselm, St., see Canterbury 
 
 Anthony, St., of Padua, 72, 83 
 
 Apulia, 53 
 
 Aquinas, St. Thomas, 43, 45, 50, 55, 
 
 75, 240 
 Ararat, 226 
 
 Arden, Simon de, 187, 188, 194 
 Arimathea, 264 
 Aristotle, 18, 20, 30, 41-46, 52, 54, 
 
 191, 224, 247, 299, 335 
 vicar of Hemingford, 141 
 Aries, 98 
 
 Armenia, 62, 226, 240, 261 
 Arragon, 245 
 Arvernus (of Auvergne), "William, 15, 
 
 46, 56 
 Asaph, Bishop of St., 116, 117 
 Ashwell (Heswell), 209 
 Athanasius, St., 292 
 Athens, 224, 227 
 Atto (Acton), S9, 207 
 Augustine, St., of Hippo, 20, 31, 37, 
 
 86, 92, 127, 181, 292, 335 
 Austin (Augustinian) Canons Regular, 
 
 150-152, 190 
 Averroes, 41, 54 
 Avicenna, 41, 52, 54 
 
 Babwell, 85 
 
 Bacon, Robert, 12, 64-66, 107, 109, 
 110, 119, 235
 
 340 
 
 ROBERT GROSSETESTE 
 
 Bacon, Roger, 5, 23, 33, 41-43, 46, 47, 
 
 49-57, 65, 66, 75, 76. 80, 224, 239, 
 
 330, 331 
 Bacon thorpe, John, 105 
 Baliol, John, 220 
 Balliol College, 11, 88, 89 
 Bardney Abbey, 149, 154-160, 175, 244, 
 
 314, 328 
 Richard, Abbot of Croylaud, 176 
 Richard of, 4, etc. 
 Barlings, 150 
 
 Bartholomew de Rovata, 268 
 Barton on Huraber, 114 
 Basil, St., 166 
 Basingstoke, John de, 21, 53, 208, 
 
 227, 228, 272 
 Bath, 76 
 
 Bishops of — 
 
 Jocelyn de Wells, 91, 116 
 
 William Button, 296 
 Reginald de, 164 
 Beaueaire, 98 
 Beaulieu, 206 
 Beaune, 256 
 Beauvais, 129 
 
 Beccles, Alan de, see Alan de Beccles 
 Bede, 20 
 Bedford, 122, 280, 324 
 
 Archdeacon of, 91, 280, 324 
 Beguines, the, 83 
 Beleth, Michael, 118 
 Belvoir, 154, 233 
 Benedict, St., 166, 321 
 Benedictines, The, 83, 85, 148 sqq., 
 
 190, 231, 321 
 Benevento, 53 
 
 Beningworth, Walter de, 155 
 Berions, Hugh de, 300 
 Berkshire, 142, 143, 206 
 Bernard, St., 145 
 Bernay, 5 
 
 Berwick Bassett, 26, 205 
 Bigod, Earl, 220 
 Bilenda, Henry de, 154 
 Bittlesden, 149 
 Blanche de Castile, 76 
 Blokkesham, 164 
 Blundus, John, 119 
 Blunville, Thomas de, see Norwich 
 Boethius, 18, 45, 46, 52 
 Boetius, 139, 179 
 Bogomilians, The, 62 
 Bologna, 34, 63, 67, 72, 74, 165, 174 
 Bolton, 131 
 
 Bonaventura, St., 75, 77 
 Boniface of Savoy, see Canterbury 
 
 VIII., Pope, 318 
 Bordeaux, 273 
 Bosnia, 62 
 Botolph, St., 233 
 Bourgoudion of Pisa, 21 
 
 Bourne (Brunne), 113, 131, 150 
 
 Boville, Simon de, 184 
 
 Boxgrave, 117 
 
 Bradwell, 131 
 
 Brahmanism, 63 
 
 Brent Marsh, 76 
 
 Brewes, Flandrina de, 164 
 
 Bristol, 71, 233 
 
 Brunne, Robert Mannyng de, 40, 334, 
 
 335 
 Buckden, 77, 82, 276, 320, 324, 325 
 Buckingham, 122, 146, 268 
 Buckinghamshire, 77, 268 
 Buddhism, 63 
 Bulgaria, 62 
 Bullington, 150 
 
 Bungay, Thomas of, 55, 56, 75 
 Burgh, Hubert de, 96, 110, 210 
 Burgundy, 302 
 
 Count of, 307 
 
 Duke of, 291 
 
 Kingdom of, 245 
 Burley, 75 
 Bury St. Edmunds, 10, 32, 85, 97, 98, 
 
 149, 165, 206, 220, 266 
 Bushmead, 154 
 
 Cahors, 102 
 
 Cairo, 98, 219 
 
 Caldwell, 113, 150, 154, 277 
 
 Calne, 26, 201, 204 
 
 Cambridge, 28, 34, 69, 71, 234 
 
 Cami)ano, 48 
 
 Campden, Roger de, 182 
 
 Campilio, 308 
 
 Canou Law, 13, 132, 174, 176, 177, 
 
 185, 193 
 Canons Ash by, 150 
 Cantelupe, Walter de, see Worcester 
 Canterbury, Archbishops of — 
 Theodore, 21 
 St. Anselm, 37, 123, 215 
 St. Thomas Becket, 15, 157, 173, 
 
 204, 215, 315 
 Hubert, 10 
 
 Stephen Langton, 15, 63, 93, 94, 97, 
 135, 140, 141, 175, 177, 186, 337 
 St. Edmund Rich, 12, 15, 26, 41, 66, 
 114-117, 127, 132, 133, 156, 170, 
 172, 173, 175, 178, 186, 195, 202- 
 204, 215, 244, 263, 315, 334 
 Boniface of Savoy, 111, 154, 156, 
 159, 176, 204, 212, 215, 217, 220, 
 242, 252-255, 279-282, 284, 289, 
 290, 293-296, 301, 307, 308, 325, 
 326 
 John Peccham, 31, 75, 164 
 St. Augustine's, 210 
 Christ Church, 114-117, 149, 154, 
 
 156-160, 186, 244, 314 
 Archdeacon of, 117, 308
 
 INDEX 
 
 341 
 
 Canterbury, Proctor of the Province of, 
 297 
 
 See of, 158, 253, 254 
 Canute, 9 
 Capito, 3, see Grosseteste 
 
 Wolfgang, 38 
 Carlisle, Bishop of — 
 
 Walter Mauclerc, 64, 218, 244 
 Carthusians, The, 150 
 Castile, 60, 274 
 Catagna, Peter de, 74 
 Cathari, The, 61 
 Catiui, The, 62 
 Caursins, The, 102, 103, 320 
 Cavershani, 233 
 Celestine IV. Pope, 217 
 Cerda, William de, 15, 121 
 Chalgrave, 139, 179 
 Champeaux, William de, 16, 42 
 Chancellorship of Oxford, 24, 25, 28, 
 29, 64, 66, 88, 109, 112, 184, 217, 
 223, 235-238, 299 
 Charles of Anjou, 53 
 Charter, The Great, 175, 177, 304, 
 
 305, 315, 323 
 Chartres, 124 
 Chaucer, 83, 130 
 Chester, 25, 27, 68, 79, 164, 231 
 
 Ranulf, Earl of, 100, 231 
 
 Bishop of, 302. See Coventry and 
 Lichfield 
 Chesterton, 141 
 Chetwoode, 166 
 Chichester, Bishops of — 
 
 Ralph Neville, 214, 244 
 
 St. Richard de la Wyche, 217, 262, 
 303, 304 
 
 See of, 214, 217 
 Christ Church, Canterbury, see Can- 
 terbury 
 
 Oxford, 237, see Frideswyde's, St. 
 Chrysostom, St. 21 
 Cincio, 96 
 
 Cistercians, The, 22, 84, 148, 149, 154, 
 163, 165, 189, 190, 232, 278, 283, 
 334 
 Civita Vecchia, 245 
 Clahaule, 146 
 Clare, Gilbert de, 140 
 
 Richard de, Earl of Gloucester, 7, 332 
 Clement IV., Pope, 317 
 
 VI., Pope, 89 
 Clifton, Prebend of, 25, 27 
 Clive, Geofirey de, 67, 120 
 Cluniacs, The, 148, 150, 163 
 Cofle, 164 
 Cold Norton, 131 
 Coleby, 268 
 Cologne, 75, 183 
 Compton, William de, 160 
 Committee of Twelve, 220-222 
 
 Committee of Twenty-four, 222 
 
 Conches, William de, 45 
 
 Connor, 156 
 
 Conrad, King of Sicily, 325 
 
 Constantina, 227 
 
 Constantinople, 22, 54, 224, 226 
 
 Copley, 3, 4 
 
 Cordova, 54, 98 
 
 Cornwall, Archdeacon of, 325 
 
 Earl of, see Richard, Earl of Corn- 
 wall 
 Corsini, 102 
 
 Council, Third Lateran (1179), 128, 
 132, 135, 140, 169, 177, 180 
 
 of Westminister (1200), 140 
 
 Fourth Lateran (1215), 89, 132, 177, 
 180 
 
 of Oxford (1222), 128, 137, 139, 140, 
 175, 177, 198 
 
 of London, Legatine (1237), 132, 
 177-182 
 
 of Lyons (1245), 206, 243-253, 281 
 Coventry and Lichfield, Bishops of — 
 
 Alexander de Stavensby, 68, 79, 132 
 
 Hugh de Pateshall, 117, 120 
 
 Roger de Weseham, 73, 121, 129, 
 198, 199, 246-249, 302 
 
 and Lichfield, See of, 10, 27, 216, 242 
 
 Richard of, 75 
 Crackale, John de, 280, 324 
 Cranmer, 336 
 Cremona, Gerard of, 53 
 Crescentius, 74 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 99 
 Croxton, 150 
 Croyland, 149, 176 
 
 Crusades, The, 54, 61, 210, 232, 350, 
 260-263, 270, 291, 300, 302, 303-305 
 Curie vache, Simon de, 269 
 
 Damascus, John of, 21, 224 
 Damietta, 250 
 Dante, 102, 211 
 Datchet, 22, 226 
 Daventry, 150 
 David, 152, 191 
 David's, St., 276 
 Bishops of St. — 
 
 Thomas Wallensis, 75, 119, 121, 
 155, 199, 276 
 
 Thomas Beck, 327 
 Dean of Christianity, 193 
 De la Land, 131 
 Decretals, 174, 177 
 Democritus, 335 
 Denmark (Dacia), 75, 82 
 Diana, foundress of the Convent of St. 
 
 Agnes, Bologna, 67 
 Diogenes, 197 
 
 Dionysius the Areopagite, 223, 224 
 Dockyng, Thomas, 75
 
 342 
 
 ROBERT GROSSETESTE 
 
 Dominic, St., 60 
 
 Dominicans, The, 32, 55, 59-69, 107, 
 120, 121, 122, 146, 163, 174, 183, 
 190, 218, 254, 259, 267, 299, 320- 
 322, 325, 332, 334 
 Domus Conversorum, 99, 100 
 Dorchester, 122, 131, 150, 161 
 
 Remigius, Bishop of, 122, 123 
 Dover, 243, 280 
 Drayton, Michael, 330 
 Drogheda, William of, 185 
 Duns Scotus, 75 
 Dunstable, 150, 154, 243, 277, 278, 280, 
 
 295 
 Durham, 87, 90, 203, 216 
 Bishops of— 
 
 Richard !Marsh (de Marisco), 76 
 Richard Poore, 26, 91, 137 
 Nicholas of Farnham, 157, 216, 
 
 218, 242, 268, 293 
 Antony Beck, 328 
 College, Oxford, 44, 86, 87 
 See of, 76, 123, 137, 203, 208, 214, 
 
 216 
 William of, 238 
 
 Ebbe's, St., 69, 70, 78 
 
 Edmund, St., of Canterbury, see 
 
 Canterbury 
 St., of East Anglia, 6 
 Edmundsbury, Walter of St., 165, 206 
 Edward the Confessor, 263 
 Edward I., 39, 99, 329 
 
 III., 318 
 Edward's, St., Oxford, 65 
 Egidio, Johannes de St., see Giles, 
 
 John de St. 
 Egidius (Giles de Torres), Cardinal, 16, 
 
 179, 188, 313, 314 
 Eleanor, Countess of Leicester, 80, 82, 
 
 210, 212, 272, 273, 332, 333 
 of Provence, Queen of Henry III., 
 
 82, 111, 170, 178, 211-214, 235, 
 
 280, 300-302 
 Elijah, 292, 330 
 Ely, Bishops of Ely, 328 
 
 Hugh de Northwold, 106, 198, 244, 
 
 295 
 Prior of, 197 
 Empingham, Prebend of, 26, 88 
 English Language, 32, 41, 229, 230, 
 
 297, 298, 306 
 Eppworth, 150 
 Esseby, William of, 70 
 Essex, Archdeacon of, 262 
 Esther, 213 
 Ethelred II., 142 
 Eustache, William, Cardinal of St., 
 
 162, 308 
 Evesham, 149, 196, 272-274, 324, 326 
 Exeter, 119, 120, 169, 214, 244 
 
 Eye, 5, 7 
 
 Eynsham, 25, 149, 237 
 
 Ezekiel, 161 
 
 Faith, Alan of St., 268 
 
 Faust, 56, 57 
 
 Faversham, Haymo of, 74 
 
 Fecamp, 69 
 
 Felton, Sir William, 89 
 
 Ferentino, John de, 96 
 
 Ferrers, Earl, 207 
 
 Fishacre, Richard, 12, 64, 65 
 
 Flamstead, 214, 302 
 
 Fleury, 147, 162 
 
 Florence, 102, 165 
 
 Fools, Feast of, 128, 129 
 
 Francis, St., of Assisi, 60, 61, 63, 68, 
 74 
 
 Franciscans, The, 29, 35, 37, 55, 59-63, 
 65, 68-87, 92, 104, 107, 110, 112, 
 120, 121, 146, 163, 190, 247, 254, 
 256, 267, 279, 281, 299, 301, 321, 
 322', 324, 325, 327, 331, 332, 334 
 
 Fraxiueto, Gilbert de (de Fresnov), 63, 
 67 
 
 Frederick II., 62, 65, 81, 120, 182, 
 183, 204, 206, 217-219, 241, 244- 
 246, 250, 252, 255, 259, 260, 262, 
 265, 290, 291 
 de Lavagna, see Lavagna 
 
 French Language, 39, 40, 229, 230 
 
 Fressingfield, 57 
 
 Friars Minors, see Franciscans 
 Preachers, see Dominicans 
 
 Frideswyde's, St., 11, 73, 131, 132, 147, 
 162, 237, 238 
 
 Friesland, 246 
 
 Fulk Basset, see London 
 
 Fulk Fitz Warren, 243 
 
 Fyshborne, John, 87 
 
 Garinus, 79 
 Garlande, Jean de, 40 
 Gascoigne, Thomas, 308, 287 
 Gascony, 220, 271, 273, 386 
 Genevieve, Mont St., 16 
 Genoa, 218, 244, 296 
 Geoffrey de Clive, see Clive 
 
 de Noyers, 123 
 Gerard of Cremona, 53 
 Gerbert (Pope Sylvester II.), 57 
 Gilbert de Fraxineto, see Fraxineto 
 
 St., of Sempringham, 150 
 Gilbertines, The, 150 
 Giles, John de St., 55, 64, 67, 120, 
 
 182 183 319 321 
 Giraldus Cambrensis, 4, 8, 10, 12, 13, 
 
 15, 16, 114, 134, 135, 145, 170, 
 
 276 
 Glasgow, Bishop of, 244 
 Gledley, Walter de, 154
 
 INDEX 
 
 343 
 
 Gloucester, 81 
 
 Earl of, see Clare, Richard de 
 Godstow, 2, 106, 149, 164, 277 
 Goetlie, 14 
 Gothland, 246 
 Gower, 56 
 
 Grana, William de, 119 
 Grantham, 207 
 
 Gratian, Decretum of, 174, 322 
 Gray, Roger, 268 
 Gray, Walter de, see York 
 Greek, 17, 20-22, 52-54, 165, 223-228, 
 
 246, 313, 321 
 Greene, Robert, 57 
 Gregory, St., of Nyssa, 21 
 
 I., St., Pope, 80, 247, 322 
 
 IX., Pope, 27, 46, 63, 79, 94, 96, 
 97, 102, 132, 153, 174, 175, 178, 
 179, 186-188, 194, 196, 199, 203, 
 204, 206, 216-218, 244, 245, 319 
 Gretton, 276 
 Grimsby, 167, 328 
 Gualo, 257, 258 
 Guernsey, 300 
 Guillaume de Conches, 45 
 
 Hadrian II., Pope, 322 
 
 Hagnaby, 328 
 
 Hales, de, see Alexander 
 
 Hampole, Richard Rolle of, 31, 39, 40 
 
 Hayles, 301, 307 
 
 Haymo of Faversham, see Faversham 
 
 Hebrew, 17, 22, 23, 53, 97, 228. See 
 
 Jews 
 Hekesover, Adam de, 320 
 Helias (Elias), 72, 74, 78, 92 
 Heloise, 21, 22 
 
 Hemiugbm-gh, Walter de, 229 
 Hendover, John, 51 
 Henley, 114, 229 
 
 Walter of, 6, 40, 229-234 
 Henry I., 155 
 II., 123 
 
 III. , 7, QQ, 82, 86, 93, 94, 99, 109, 110, 
 114, 149, 160, 169-173, 175-178, 
 182, 184, 188, 203, 206, 208-221, 
 228, 235, 236, 242-246, 251-254, 
 257, 258, 262, 263, 265-267, 270, 
 272, 273, 277, 279, 293, 301-305, 
 307, 319, 323, 325, 327 
 IV., 141 
 VIII., 63, 86 
 provincial prior of the Dominicans, 
 
 67 
 son of Richard, Earl of Cornwall, 203 
 son of Simon de Montfort, 271 
 Heraclius, 263 
 Hereford, 71 
 Bishops of — 
 
 William de Vere, 4, 11-15, 29, 170 
 Ralph Maidstone, 116 
 
 Hereford, Bishops of — 
 
 Peter d'Aigueblanclie, 117, 215, 252 
 
 Sec of, 211, 214 
 Hertford, 149, 153, 156 
 Hertfordshire, 267 
 Herzegovina, 62 
 Heswell, see Ashwell 
 Hilary of Poitou, 292 
 Holy Grail, The, 264 
 
 Land, The, 246, 247, 262. See 
 Crusades, Jerusalem, Saracens 
 Holywood, Jolin (Johannes de Sacro 
 
 Bosco), 46-48 
 Honorius III., Pope, 93, 136, 177, 257 
 Hospitallers, The, 150, 263, 278, 283 
 Hubert, Archbishop, see Canterbury 
 
 de Burgh, see Burgh 
 Hugh, St., see Lincoln, Bishops of 
 
 St., of Lincoln, a boy, 103, 327 
 
 de Northwold, see Ely 
 
 de Wells, see Lincoln, Bishops of 
 Hungary, 246 
 Huntingdon, 91, 122, 150, 154, 208, 
 
 276 
 Huss, John, 325 
 Hurtold, 302 
 
 Ignatius, St., 31, 224, 225 
 
 Ingworth, Richard de, 69 
 
 Innocent III., Pope, 27, 129 
 
 IV., Pope, 5, 144, 150, 157, 159, 
 165, 197, 199, 205, 210, 221, 238, 
 241, 242, 244-247, 250, 252-255, 
 257, 259-262, 263, 267-269, 277, 
 278, 281-285, 290-293, 296, 304, 
 306-308, 312-317, 320, 323, 325 
 Master, the Pope's "writer," 308, 
 309, 312 
 
 Interdict, The, 27, 59, 94 
 
 Isabella, sister of Henry III. , and wife 
 of Frederick II., 64, 120,183, 219 
 
 Italians, see Romans 
 
 Ives, St., 185, 226, 233 
 
 Jacques, Hopital de St., 64 
 James I. of Arragon, 245 
 Jedburgh, 88 
 Jerome, St., 158 
 Jerusalem, 61, 219, 228, 263 
 Jews, 9, 20, 22, 23, 97-101, 103-105, 
 113, 228, 234, 238, 269. See 
 Hebrew •• 
 
 Joachim de Floris, Abbot, 247, 300 
 John Anglicus, Friar, 85, 262 
 
 Chapelof St., 221 
 
 de Basingstoke, see Basingstoke 
 
 de Ferentino, see Ferentino 
 
 Hendover, see Hendover 
 
 Holywood, see Holvwood 
 
 King, 27, 28, 62, '94, 95, 98-101, 
 103-105, 113, 228, 2-34. 238, 269
 
 344 
 
 ROBERT GROSSETESTE 
 
 John, of Damascus, see Damascus 
 
 of Leicester, 273 
 
 of Salisbury, see Salisbury 
 
 of Stamford, 256 
 
 Parenti, 74 
 
 Romanus, Archbishop, see York 
 
 Romanus, Treasurer of York, 139, 
 179 
 
 the Baptist, 292 
 Jordan of Saxony, 55, 66, 79, 182 
 Joseph of Arimathea, 264 
 Judas Maccabaeus, 172 
 Jiietta (Ivetta), 2, 106, 164 
 Julian Calendar, 47, 48 
 Juvenal, 81, 218, 321 
 
 Kilkenny, Odo de, 185, 197 
 Killingworth, Robert de, 328 
 Kingship, 181, 228, 311, 323, 331, 
 
 See also Henry III. 
 Kirkby, 150 
 
 Kirkham, Richard de, 198 
 Kirkstead, 149 
 
 Lacy, John de, see Lincoln 
 Langton, Archbishop Stephen, see 
 Canterbury 
 Simon, Archdeacon of Canterbury, 
 117 
 Latimer, 336 
 Latin, 32, 41, 297, 313 
 Lavagna, Frederick de, 308, 309, 315, 
 
 316 
 Ledenham, 268 
 
 Leicester, 71, 100, 122, 130, 144, 150, 
 160, 161, 231, 269, 273, 277 
 Archdeacon of, 26, 28, 78, 88, 100, 
 122, 126, 141, 208, 227, 235, 268 
 Eleanor, Countess of, see Eleanor 
 John of, 273 
 
 Robert Fitz Parnell, Earl of, 100 
 Simon de Montfort, Earl of, 31, 76, 
 82, 93, 100. 210, 212, 220, 221, 231, 
 269-275, 282, 319, 323, 326, 327, 
 331, 337 
 St. Margaret's, 27, 88 
 Leighton, Prebend of, 65 
 Leonard, Master, 278 
 Lewes, 273, 324 
 "Lewythiel," 95 
 Lexington, Henry de, see Lincoln 
 
 Robert de, 171 
 Lichfield, see Coventry and Lichfield 
 Lincoln, 4, 8, 9, 16, 98, 117, 122-124, 
 150, 236, 328 
 Arcluleacon of, 91, 121, 122, 276 
 Bishops of, see also Dorchester 
 Robert Bloet, 6, 123 
 Robert de Chesney, 6 
 St. Hugh of Avalon, 10, 114, 123- 
 125, 137, 141, 150, 324, 327 
 
 Lincoln, Bishops of — 
 
 Hugh de Wells, 24, 27, 88, 91, 97, 
 105, 109, 112-114, 124, 126, 137, 
 141, 147, 150 
 Robert Grosseteste, imssim 
 Henry de Lexington, 236, 269, 275 
 Richard de Gravesend, 137, 209 
 Oliver Sutton, 24, 327 
 John Dalderby, 124, 328 
 Cathedral, 326 
 Chancellor of, 65 
 
 Dean and Chapter of, 114, 
 115, 124, 186-201, 246-250, 275, 
 276, 278, 319, 326, 328. See 
 also Tournay, William de ; and 
 Coventry and Lichfield, Roger de 
 Weseham, Bishop of 
 John de Lacy, Earl of, 230, 231 
 Margaret, Countess of, 230-234, 327 
 Use, 137 
 
 See of, 67, 79, 111, 122-124, 141, 144, 
 149, 150, 168, 269, a.udi passim 
 Lindisse, 122 
 Lindsey, 233 
 Llewellyn, 164 
 Lombard, Peter, 19, 34, 65 
 Lombardy, 102 
 
 London, 63, 96, 98, 132, 177, 178, 186, 
 195, 215, 219, 243, 265, 266, 305, 
 315, 316. See also Council of 
 London 
 Bishops of — 
 
 Roger Niger, 103, 116, 196 
 Fulk Basset, 26, 204, 205, 279, 
 280, 295-297, 304, 324, 326 
 Longespee, William, see Salisbury 
 Losinga, Herbert de, see Norwich 
 Louis, son of Philippe Auguste, 257 
 Louis IX. (St. Louis), 215, 219, 245. 
 
 263, 284, 291, 318 
 Louth, 149, 328 
 
 Ludeborch (? Lutterworth), 296 
 LuUy, Raymond, 75 
 Lunel, 98 
 Luton, 243 
 Lynn, 70 
 
 Lyons, 75, 80, 82, 145, 165, 186, 200, 
 
 206, 219, 243-254, 262, 263, 268, 
 
 275, 279-282, 290, 293, 294, 296, 
 
 319, 324. See also Council of Lyons 
 
 The Poor ]\Ien of, 61 
 
 Macaire, Abbot of Fleury, 21 
 
 Mahometanism, 62, 261. See Saracens 
 
 Maimonides, 98 
 
 Mainz, 183 
 
 Malcolm, 89 
 
 Manasseh ben Israel, 99 
 
 Manchester, Earl of, 326 
 
 Manfred, son of Frederick II., 53 
 
 Manichaeism, 61
 
 INDEX 
 
 345 
 
 Mannyng, Robert, see Bruiiue 
 
 Mansel, John, 208, 209 
 
 Mansourah, 261 
 
 Mantes, 256 
 
 Mapes, Walter de, 130, 255 
 
 Markby, 150 
 
 Margaret, Princess, 298, 301 
 
 de Quincy, see Winchester, Countess of 
 Marleberge, Tliomas de, 12 
 Marlow, Great, 139 
 Marlowe, 57 
 
 aiarsh (de Marisco\ Adam, 23, 31, 34, 
 44, 51, 52, 71, 72, 75-78, 80-82, 
 86, 92, 104, 106, 119, 120, 159, 
 161, 164, 201, 209, 211, 213, 229, 
 236, 238, 247, 256, 257, 270-273, 
 276, 280, 281, 292-295, 298-301, 
 317, 319, 320, 322, 324, 327, 330, 
 331, 332 
 
 Richard, see Durham 
 
 Robert, 77, 119, 237, 248, 284, 285, 
 293-295, 326 
 
 Thomas, 77 
 
 William, 77 
 Marmoutier-les-Tours, 162 
 Marseilles, 98 
 
 Marshall, Richard, Earl of Pembroke, 
 66, 93, 108, 110, 210, 272, 331 
 
 Walter, Earl of Pembroke, 220, 230 
 
 William, Earl of Pembroke, 66, 272 
 Martin, nuncio, 241-245, 247, 250 
 Martin's, St., Oxford, 237 
 Matthew, provincial prior of the 
 Dominicans, 67 
 
 Paris, 83, 151, 160-162, 167, 226, 
 252, 313, 320, 330, 331 
 Mauclerc, Walter, see Carlisle 
 Maurolyciis, 48 
 Melkeley, Robert de, 146 
 ilendlesham, 135 
 Merivale, 154 
 Merton, Council of, 169-171 
 
 College, 11 
 Messina, 300 
 Michael Acominatus, 227 
 
 Scot, 46, 47, 53 
 Middleton, Richard, 75 
 Milan, 61 
 Milton, 39 
 
 Minorites, see Franciscans 
 Mintinsj, 147, 162, 183 
 Missenden, 6, 113, 131, 150, 152 
 Mongols, the, 246, see Tartars 
 Monte, William de, 8, 16 
 Montfichet, Richard de, 220 
 Montpellier, 183 
 Moray, 137 
 
 More, Sir Thomas, 336 
 Morley, Daniel de, 6, 15 
 Mortimer, Hugh, 308, 312 
 Moses, 188, 189, 191, 289 
 
 Narbonne, 98 
 
 Neot's, St., 113 
 
 Netter, Thomas, of Walden, 87 
 
 Neville, Ralph, see Chichester 
 
 Newark, 325 
 
 near Guildford, 117 
 Newenham, 150, 152, 154 
 Newhouse, 150, 278, 328 
 Newport Pagnell, 63 
 Nicholas of Farnham, see Durham 
 John de St., Cardinal, 284 
 of Tusculum, 28, 237, 262 
 Sandwich, 159 
 St., Oxford, 65 
 
 the Greek, 21, 22, 53, 105, 225, 226 
 Nogent, 256 
 Norfolk, 68, 233 
 Normandy, 5, 27, 94, 150, 303 
 Northampton, 3, 25, 28, 69, 122, 128, 
 150, 176, 205, 217, 328 
 Archdeacon of, 26, 28, 91, 203 
 Norwich, 70, 214, 215 
 Bishops of — 
 
 Herbert de Losinga, 6 
 John of Oxford, 6, 338 
 Thomas de Blunville, 6 
 William de Raleigh, see Win- 
 chester 
 Walter Suffield, 259, 263, 295 
 Nottingliam, William de, 71, 83, 256, 
 
 281, 282, 312 
 Noj-ers, see Geoffrey de Noyers 
 Noyon, 124 
 Nutley, 131 
 
 Occham (Ockham), William of, 75 
 Odo de Kilkenny, see Kilkenny 
 
 Archbishop of Rouen, 76 
 Oliver Sutton, see Lincoln 
 Osney, 12, 73, 150, 184, 185, 197, 226, 
 
 234. 328, 329 
 Otho, Cardinal. 86, 116, 117, 131, 132, 
 150, 154, 158, 159, 176-180, 183, 
 184, 205, 207, 214, 218, 234, 244, 
 290, 319 
 Ovid, 119 
 Owston, 131 
 
 Oxford, 8, 9, 17-20, 24, 25, 28, 29, 32, 
 34, 41, 63, 66, 67, 69-75. 81. 83, 86, 
 88, 93, 98, 106, 109, 110, 112, 113, 
 121, 131, 137, 139, 144, 164, 174, 
 177, 183, 184, 218, 223, 224, 226, 
 234-240, 259, 277, 294, 298, 299, 
 327, 329, 332, 336, 337 
 Adam of, 78 
 
 Archdeacon of, 65, 122, 198, 280 
 Countess of, 64 
 John of, see Norwich 
 
 Padua, 67, 72 
 
 St. Anthony of, see Anthony
 
 ;46 
 
 ROBERT GROSSETESTE 
 
 Palestine, 263, 270. See Holy Land 
 Papacy, The, 27, 94, 177, 179-182, 188, 
 219, 252, 253, 255, 286-288, 290, 
 291, 302, 304, 306-318, 321, 331, 
 336. See also under the head of 
 the various Popes 
 Parenti, John, 74 
 
 Paris, 15-18, 28, 29, 33, 41, 55, 67, 
 71, 74, 75, 98, 124, 174, 183, 226, 
 227, 238, 239, 256, 257 
 Matthew, see Matthew Paris 
 Parliament, 220, 241, 259, 265, 266, 
 
 269, 274, 305 
 Passelew, Robert de, 176, 217, 279 
 Pastoureaux, The, 300 
 Patarenes, The, 61, 62 
 Pateslmll, Hugh de, see Coventry 
 Paul, St., 37, 86, 292 
 Paul's, St., London, 177-179, 203, 263, 
 279, 296, 329. Sec also Council 
 of London 
 Paulicians, The, 62 
 Peccham, Archbishop, see Canterbury 
 Pembroke, Earls of, see Marshall 
 Penaforte, see Raymond de Penaforte 
 Perugia, 296, 313, 316 
 Peter d'Aigueblanche, see Hereford 
 de Alpibus, 300 
 de Catagna, see Catagna 
 de Rievaulx, see Rievaulx 
 des Roches, see "Winchester 
 Lombard, see Lombard 
 of Tewkesbury, see Tewkesbury 
 reader to the Franciscans, 73 
 Stacia, 74 
 St., 152, 289 
 Peterborough, 125, 149, 165, 185, 206, 
 
 225, 277, 328 
 Philip Augustus, 62, 64 
 
 of Savoy, 284 
 Pienza, 165 
 Pinchbeck, 241, 242 
 " Piers the Plowman," 83 
 Pipewell, 149 
 Pisa, 218. See Agnellus, Albert, Bour- 
 
 goudion 
 Plato, 42, 335 
 Poblet, 23 
 Poland, 246 
 Pontigny, 204 
 Ponts et Marais, 76 
 Poore, Richard, see Durham 
 Pragmatic Sanction, The, 318 
 Premonstratensians, The, 150, 278 
 Provence, 253. See Eleanor and San- 
 chia of Provence 
 William of, 214 
 Provisors, Statute of, 318 
 Psellus, 42 
 
 Rabanus, 80, 247 
 
 Raleigh, William de, see Winchester 
 Ralph Keville, see Chichester 
 Ralph de Semjiingham, 237 
 Ramsey, 149, 161, 162, 171, 173, 185, 
 
 220, 297, 312 
 Randes (Rand), 207 
 Ranulf, Earl of Chester, see Chester 
 Raymond, Cardinal, 188 
 
 de Penaforte, 122, 174 
 
 Lully, 75 
 Raynald, Cardinal, 188 
 Reading, 28, 80, 89, 90, 116, 117, 215, 
 
 235, 247 
 Revesby, 149, 328 
 J\£.i- Natalicius, 110 
 Richard L, 97, 300 
 
 de la Wyche, St., see Chichester 
 
 de Ingworth, 69 
 
 Earl of Cornwall, 99, 140, 202, 203, 
 217-220, 262, 265, 268, 301, 327 
 
 of Coventry, 75 
 
 of Devonshire, 69 
 
 Fishacre, 12, 64, 65 
 
 Middleton, 75 
 
 Poore, see Durham 
 
 Rolle, see Hampole 
 Riddell, Ralph, 88 
 Ridley, 336 
 Rievaulx, Peter de, 66 
 Robert Mannyng, see Brunne 
 
 Marsh. See Marsh 
 
 St., 3. See Grosseteste 
 Rochester, Archdeacon of, 198, 210 
 
 Bishop of, 123 
 
 Richard de Wendene, 156, 186 
 
 Prior of, 209 
 Roger de Weseham, see Coventry 
 Rolls Chapel, 99 
 Romania, John de, 268 
 Romans (term frequently applied to 
 Italian beneficiaries), 91, 95, 96, 
 205, 226, 251, 254, 260, 306-312, 
 331 
 Romanus, see John Romanus 
 Rome, 72, 82, 90, 92, 96, 120, 165, 
 177, 187, 188, 194, 195, 197, 198, 
 204, 215, 244, 278, 313, 314, 317, 
 328 
 Rous (Rufus), Ernald de, 5 
 
 Roger de, 5 
 Rufus, Adam, 5, 20, 43 
 
 Giles, 5 
 Rouen, 76, 124 
 Rovata, Bartholomew de, 268 
 Ruiinymede, 220 
 Rujiellis, John de, 257 
 Rutland, 265, 266 
 
 Sabina, Hugh de, Cardinal, 285 
 
 William de. Cardinal, 285 
 Salby, 150
 
 INDEX 
 
 347 
 
 Salins, John de, 307 
 
 Robert de, 307 
 Salisbury, Bishops of — 
 
 Richard Poore, see Durham 
 Robert Bingham, 116, 203 
 William ot York, 171, 295, 304 
 
 Diocese of, 25, 26, 200 
 
 John of, 15, 20, 145 
 
 William Longespee, called Earl of, 
 261, 262 
 Saltrey, 149 
 
 Samson, Abbot, 10, 32, 97 
 Samuel, 191, 2S9 
 Sanchia of Provence, 219 
 Bancroft, 2 
 
 Sandwich, see Nicholas Sandwich 
 Saracens, The, 62, 78, 219, 247, 319 
 Sarraceni, John, 268 
 Sawtry, 185 
 Scarborough, 84 
 Scot, Michael, see Michael Scot 
 
 William, 196 
 Scotland, 27, 216, 220, 244, 293, 301, 
 
 302 
 Scott, Sir Walter, 98 
 Scotus, Duns, 75 
 Seine, 256 
 Selden, 104, 105 
 Sempingham, Ralph de, 237 
 Sempringham, 150 
 
 St. Gilbert of, 150 
 Seneca, 92 
 Senlis, 124 
 Sens, 124, 129 
 Sentences, The, 19, 20 
 Shu-ewood, V\llliam of, 42, 248 
 Shoreham, William de, 40 
 Shrewsbury, 164 
 Sicily, 62, 228, 303, 325 
 Sidnacester, 122 
 Siena, 102, 165 
 Simon, Master, 268 
 
 de Curlevache, 269 
 
 de Moutfort (lY.), 62 
 
 de Montfort, son of the foregoing, 
 see Leicester, Earl of 
 
 of London, 208 
 Sixtus Y., Pope, 6 
 Sodom, 102 
 Soissy, 204 
 Solomon, 52 
 Somerset, 233 
 
 Southampton, County of, 233 
 Southwark, 215 
 Spalding, 149, 241, 242 
 Stacia, Peter, 74 
 Sttidinger, The, see Catini 
 Stamford, 144, 277 
 
 Stavensby, Alexander de, see Coventry 
 Stephen, King, 5, 9 
 
 Langton, see Canterbury 
 
 Stodham (Studham), 278 
 
 Stokes, John de, 320 
 
 Stow, 4, 122, 276 
 
 Stradbroke, 1, 5, 6. 9, 57, 229, 338 
 
 Stykeswold, 149 
 
 Sudbury, Archdeacon of, see Alan de 
 
 Beccles 
 Suftield, Walter, see Norwich 
 Suffolk, 1, 2, 97 
 Suidas, 225 
 Susa, 215 
 Swineshead, 149 
 Swinford, 141 
 
 Sylvester IL, Pope, see Gerbert 
 Symon de Yalentinis, 238 
 Syward, Richard, 93, -210 
 
 Tartars, The, 226, 246, 247 
 Templars, 150, 263, 278, 283 
 Tewkesbury, 139 
 
 Peter of, 256, 257, 312, 333 
 Thaddeus of Suessa, 250 
 Thame, 149, 205, 208, 210 
 Themistius, 46 
 Theodosius, Code of, 56 
 Thiony, Richard de, 302 
 Thomas, Cardinal, 188 
 
 Dockyng, 75 
 
 St., see Aquinas 
 
 St., Becket, see Canterbury 
 
 son of Earl Ferrers, 207 
 
 Wallensis, see David's, St. 
 Thornholm, 150 
 Thornton, 150, 328 
 Thucydides, 313 
 Torksey, 113 
 Torrington, 131 
 Totternhoe, 142 
 Tour nay, AYilliam de, 198, 199 
 Tours, 280 
 Tracy, Eva de, 164 
 Twenge, Sir Robert de, 96 
 Tykeford, 150, 163 
 Tyrrel, John, 135 
 Tyssington, 34, 225, 335 
 
 Ugolino, Cardinal, 63. See Gregory IX 
 University College, Oxford, 11 
 Urban lY., Pope, 85 
 Ussher, Archbishop, 31, 224 
 Uzzah, 160, 175, 211 
 Uzziah, 175, 211 
 
 Valence. 214, 263, 284, 308 
 Aethelmar of, see Winchester 
 William of, 263 
 
 Yalery, St., 215 
 
 Yaudey, 149 
 
 Yercelli, 67, 72, 77, 268 
 John de, 77, 267, 268 
 
 Yere, William de, see Hereford
 
 348 
 
 ROBERT GROSSETESTE 
 
 Wadington (Widdindune), William de, 
 
 40, 334 
 Waldenses, The, 61, 63 
 Waleran, a German, 209 
 Wales, 110, 135, 208, 209, 230, 257, 276 
 Wallensis, John, 31, 75 
 
 Thomas, see David's, St. 
 Wallingford, 184 
 Walsingham, Sir Richard, 4 
 Walter de Cantelupe, see Worcester 
 
 de Gray, see York 
 
 of Henley, see Henley 
 
 Snffield, see Norwich 
 Walton, 268 
 AVardon, 149, 156 
 Wartre, 197 
 Wauberge, 325 
 Wearmouth, 76 
 Wells, 268 
 
 Hugh de, see Lincoln 
 
 Joceljm de, see Bath 
 Weseham, Roger de, see Coventry 
 Wesley. 63 
 Westminster, 149, 175, 177, 209, 215, 
 
 220, 263, 278, 305 
 Wight, Isle of, 257 
 William, a clerk of St. Albans, 302 
 
 Cardinal of St. Eustache, 
 
 de Grana, 119 
 
 de Raleigh, see Winchester 
 
 de Vere, see Hereford 
 
 Earl of Warren, 207 
 
 of Durham, 238 
 
 of Esseby, see Esseby 
 
 of Nottingham, see Nottingham 
 
 of Occham, see Occham 
 
 of Shoreham, see Shoreham 
 
 of York, see Salisbury 
 
 Rufus, 123, 200 
 
 the Conqueror, 122 
 "William Wither," 95 
 Wilts, Archdeacon of, 25, 28, 201, 204, 
 326 
 
 Wimbledon, 300 
 Winchester, 215, 216, 233 
 Bishops of — 
 William de GiflFard, 123 
 Peter des Roches, 66, 93, 97, 110, 
 
 168, 170, 214, 218 
 William de Raleigh, 117, 119, 169, 
 203, 214-216, 218, 220, 244, 247, 
 259, 280 
 Aethelmar de A^alence, 303, 304, 
 308, 315 
 Margaret de Quincy, Countess of, 
 
 22, 100, 269 
 See of, 203, 211, 212, 214, 308 
 Windsor, 220 
 Wingham, 96 
 
 Winterbourn Bassett, 26, 205 
 Wissenden (Wliissendine), 3 
 Woburn, 149, 154 
 Wolsey, Cardinal, 1 
 Woodford, William, 225 
 Worcester, 72 
 
 Archdeacon of, 196 
 Bishops of — 
 Godfrey Gififard, 328 
 Walter de Cantelupe, 153, 179, 
 196, 199, 211, 215, 220, 244, 
 247, 261, 262, 280, 295, 297, 
 303, 304, 326 
 Wroxton, 118, 150 
 Wycliffe, 83, 105, 285, 330, 335 
 Wynkyn de Worde, 230 
 
 Yarmouth, 70 
 
 York, 67, 98, 119, 120, 123, 139, 301 
 Archbishops of — 
 Thomas, 123 
 Walter de Gray, 81, 157, 178, 202, 
 
 203, 218, 242, 244, 246, 268 
 Sewal de Boville, 315, 317, 330 
 John Ronianus, 328 
 William Greenfield, 329 
 
 THE END 
 
 Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 lP 13 1965 
 
 1365^ 
 
 OCT 1 L 
 
 m 3 
 
 
 FEB 3 11966 # 
 JUN 1 
 
 JUN9 
 
 t-1^ 
 
 I96G 
 
 JU N U 
 
 JUN 
 
 — A^ 
 
 .IAN 91 
 
 1989 
 5 1953 5 
 
 1974 
 
 IB 20 n80 
 
 UCSOUTHtR^R^GlO 
 
 ilillillllllll 
 
 330 983 6 
 
 GAYLORD 
 
 PRINTED IN U.S.
 
 m-