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Title: The Grey Friars in Oxford

Author: A. G. Little

Release date: April 24, 2013 [eBook #42587]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREY FRIARS IN OXFORD ***

GREY FRIARS IN OXFORD

Oxford
HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

THE
GREY FRIARS IN OXFORD

PART I
A HISTORY OF THE CONVENT

PART II
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF THE FRIARS

TOGETHER WITH
APPENDICES OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS

BY
ANDREW G. LITTLE, M.A.
BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD

Oxford
PRINTED FOR THE OXFORD HISTORICAL SOCIETY
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1892
[All rights reserved]

PREFACE.

The object of this work is to give an account of the outward life of the Franciscans. This might be fairly taken to include the whole activity of the friars with the exception of their contribution to scholastic philosophy; for that clearly forms a subject by itself. But even with this limitation the account here given of the Franciscans’ work does not pretend to be complete. The documents which remain to us do not by any means cover the whole of the active life of the Franciscans. While for the thirteenth century and the Dissolution the records are fairly numerous, the materials for the intervening period are very scanty. Thus any attempt at a chronological narrative was out of the question. And the almost total absence of all Franciscan records (properly so called) in England, has proved an effectual bar to any completeness of treatment at all. The arrangement here adopted, both in the choice of subjects and in the relative prominence given to each of them, is due simply to the exigencies of the available materials relating to the Oxford Convent. The topographical information derived from records and other sources has been neither full enough nor accurate enough to enable me to supply a map or plan of the property and buildings of the Grey Friars.

A few words will be necessary to explain the plan pursued in Part II. An endeavour has been made to collect the names of all the Grey Friars who lived in the Convent at Oxford or who studied in the University: the list, if complete, would have included all the names which were, or ought to have been, entered in the ‘Buttery-books’ or ‘Admission-books’ of the house. To show how far short of this aim the result falls, it is only necessary to point out that the names of friars actually included in Part II number little more than three hundred: and the connexion of some of these with Oxford is doubtful. The bibliographies, appended to the biographical notices, are intended to include all the extant works of each friar, but not all the MSS. nor all the editions of each work. Occasionally works are added which have not been identified, but of whose previous existence there is sufficient evidence. For this part of the book I have used, besides the well-known mediaeval bibliographies, a number of catalogues of manuscripts; a list of these is given below, with the object of showing not so much what has been done, as what has been left undone.

Among unpublished sources, the most valuable have been various collections in the Public Record Office, especially the Patent, Close, and Liberate Rolls; the Registers of Congregation (Reg. A a, G 6, H 7, I 8), the records of the Chancellor’s Court (Acta Curiae Cancellarii , , EEE, or ), and Brian Twyne’s collections, in the Oxford University Archives. Further, I have had occasion to consult the Oxford City Archives, some of the old registers of wills at Somerset House, and various manuscripts in the British Museum, Lambeth Palace, and Gray’s Inn; the Bodleian and several College libraries at Oxford; the University (or Public) Library and several College libraries at Cambridge; the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps at Thirlestaine House, Cheltenham; the National Library at Paris, and the Municipal Library at Assisi. I have had no opportunity of examining the episcopal registers of the diocese of Lincoln, extracts from which, however, are contained in Twyne’s transcripts.

The Index, so far as it deals with the names of persons and places, will, I hope, be found complete, with the following limitations. The authorities quoted, either in the text or in the notes, the places where the manuscripts cited were written, or were formerly or are now kept, or where the editions referred to were printed, are not mentioned in the Index, unless there is some particular reason for including them. So far as it deals with subjects, the Index is meant to be supplementary to the Table of Contents. The writings of the friars are not classified in the Index, except those which come under the headings Aristotle, Bible, Evangelical Poverty and Sentences.

Finally, I wish to express my thanks to those who have given me aid, namely, to the Rev. W. G. D. Fletcher, Vicar of St. Michael’s, Shrewsbury, author of ‘The Black Friars in Oxford,’ who generously placed a valuable collection of references at my disposal; to Mr. Falconer Madan for assistance and advice; to the Keeper of the University Archives and the Town Clerk of Oxford for allowing me free and repeated access to the documents under their respective charges; and to the authorities in the various offices and libraries in which I have worked, for their unfailing courtesy.

ANDREW G. LITTLE.

30 November, 1891.

CATALOGUES OF MANUSCRIPTS CONSULTED.

For the compilation of the bibliographies in Part II the following catalogues of manuscripts have been consulted[1]:—

Bernard de Montfaucon, Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum Manuscriptorum; Paris, 1739, 2 vols. fol.

Haenel, Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum qui in Bibliothecis Galliae, Helvetiae, Belgii, Britanniae M., Hispaniae, Lusitaniae, asservantur; Lipsiae, 1830.

Edward Bernard, Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae in unum collecti; Oxon., 1697, 2 vols., fol. Vol. I, Bodleian; Oxford Colleges; Cambridge Colleges and Public (University) Library. Vol. II, Cathedral and other libraries in England; Irish libraries.

Catalogues of the following collections in the British Museum:—Royal MSS. 1734, 4to (Casley); Sloane and Birch, 1782, 2 vols. 4to (Ayscough); Cotton, 1802, fol.; Harley, 1808-1812, 4 vols., fol.; Lansdowne, 2 parts, 1819, fol.; Arundel and Burney, 1834-40, fol.; Additional MSS. from A. D. 1783-1887.

A Catalogue of the Archiepiscopal MSS. in the Library at Lambeth Palace, by H. J. Todd; 1812, fol.

Ancient MSS. in Gray’s Inn Library, 1869.

Catalogues of the following collections in the Bodleian:—Laudian MSS., 1858-1885; Canonician MSS., 1854; Tanner MSS., 1860; Rawlinson, 1862-1878; Digby, 1883; Catalogue of the Ashmolean MSS., 1845-1866.

Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum qui in Collegiis Aulisque Oxoniensibus hodie adservantur (Coxe); Oxon., 1852, 2 vols., 4to.

A Catalogue of the Manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge, edited for the Syndics of the University Press; Cambridge, 1856, &c., 6 vols., 8vo.

Nasmith, Catalogue of the Parker MSS. in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; 1787, 4to.

Catalogue of MSS. in the library of Gonville and Caius, by J. J. Smith; 1849, 4to.

Catalogus Manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Regiae Parisiensis; Paris, 1739-1744, 4 vols., fol.

Inventaire des Manuscrits conservés à la Bibliothèque Impériale sous les Nos. 8823-18613, du Fonds Latin et faisant suite à la série dont le Catalogue a été publié en 1744 par Léopold Delisle; Paris, 1863, &c., 8vo.

Inventaire des MSS. de la Bibliothèque Nationale, Fonds de Cluni, par L. Delisle.

Catalogue général des Manuscrits des Bibliothèques Publiques des Départements; Paris, 1849-1885, 7 vols., 4to.

Catalogue général des Manuscrits des Bibliothèques Publiques de France; (α) Paris: (1) Bibliothèque Mazarine, by A. Molinier, 3 vols. 8vo.; (2) Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, by H. Martin, 1885, &c. (vols. 1 and 2 contain the Latin MSS.). (β) Départements, vols. 1-12, 1886-1889.

Catalogue des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Publique de Bruges (P. J. Laude), Bruges, 1859, 8vo.

Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Regiae Monacensis, Cod. Lat. vols. 1 and 2[2]; Monachii 1868-1874.

Katalog der Handschriften der königl. öffentlichen Bibliothek zu Dresden; Leipzig, 1882-3, 2 vols., 8vo.

Tabulae Codicum Manuscriptorum praeter Graecos et Orientales in Bibliotheca Palatina Vindobonensi asservatorum; Vienna, 1864-1875, 7 vols., 8vo. (Codices 1-14,000).

Catalogus Codicum Latinorum Bibliothecae Mediceae Laurentianae (Bandini), 1774, 5 vols., folio.

Bibliotheca Leopoldina Laurentiana (Bandini); Florence, 1791, 3 vols., folio.

Bibliotheca Manuscripta ad S. Marci Venetiarum (Valentinelli); Venet. 1868-1873, 6 vols., 8vo.

Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, Codices Palatini Latini, tom. I, codices 1-921; 1886.

Bibliothecae Patavinae Manuscriptae publicae et privatae opera Jacobi Philippi Tomasini; Utini, 1639, 4to. (Tomasin).

Bibliothecae Venetae Manuscriptae publicae et privatae opera Jacobi Philippi Tomasini; Utini, 1650, 4to. (Tomasin).

ABBREVIATIONS AND EDITIONS USED.

Anal. Franc. = Analacta Franciscana, sive chronica aliaque varia documenta ad historiam Fratrum Minorum spectantia, edita a Patribus Collegii S. Bonaventurae, Quaracchi, 1885-7, 2 vols.

Archiv f. L. u. K. Gesch. = Archiv für Literatur- und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters, herausgegeben von H. Denifle und F. Ehrle.

Bale, Script. = Illustrium Majoris Britanniae Scriptorum ... Summarium, 1559, 2 vols.

B. of Pisa = Bartholomew of Pisa, Liber Conformitatum, ed. Milan, 1510.

Bernard = Catalogi Librorum MSS. Angliae et Hiberniae, Oxon., 1697.

Burnet, Reformation = History of the Reformation of the Church of England, Oxford, 1829.

Foxe = The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe, edited by Cattley, 1841.

Hist. Litt. = Histoire Littéraire de la France (by the Benedictines of St. Maur, and the Members of the Institute), 1733-1873.

Lyte = Maxwell Lyte, History of the University of Oxford, 1886.

Montfaucon = B. Montfaucon, Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum MSS., &c.

P.C.C. = Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Wills proved in the, now at Somerset House.

Q. R. Misc. = Queen’s Remembrancer, Miscellaneous Accounts, now in the Public Record Office.

Q. R. Wardrobe = Queen’s Remembrancer, Wardrobe Accounts, now in the Public Record Office.

R.O. = Public Record Office.

R.S. = Rolls Series, or Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages, published under the direction of the Master of the Rolls.

Tomasin = Bibliotheca Patavinae MSS., and Bibliothecae Venetae MSS. &c. (see above).

Wadding = L. Wadding, Annales Minorum, Romae, 1731, &c.

Wadding, Script. = L. Wadding, Scriptores Ordinis Minorum, Romae, 1806.

Wadding, Sup. ad Script. = Supplementum et castigatio ad Scriptores trium Ordinum S. Francisci a Waddingo aliisve descriptos ... opus posthumum Fr. Jo. Hyacinthi Sbaraleae, Romae, 1806.

Wood-Clark = Survey of the Antiquities of the City of Oxford, by Anthony Wood, edited by Andrew Clark, 1889-1890. [The MS. from which this edition is printed is often referred to in the following pages, namely ‘Wood MS. F. 29 a’ in the Bodleian.]

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

		PAGE
PART I. HISTORY OF THE CONVENT.
CHAPTER I. EARLY YEARS.
Arrival and first settlement of the Franciscan Friars at Oxford		1
Their early poverty and cheerfulness		3
Oxford Friars as peacemakers and Crusaders		7
Relations to the University and to the earliest Colleges		8
Their strict observance of the Rule		10

CHAPTER II. PROPERTY AND BUILDINGS.
First settlement of the Friars was within the City Wall		12
They acquire the houses of William, son of Richard de Wileford (1229), and Robert, son of Robert Oen		13
Increase of the area in 1244-1245		14
Grants from the King, Thomas de Valeynes, and others		15
The island in the Thames, 1245		16
Messuage of Laurence Wych, Mayor of Oxford, 1246		17
Friars of the Sack settle in Oxford		17
Their property granted to the Minorites by Boniface VIII, Clement V, and Edward II, 1310		18
Grants from various persons, 1310		19
Inquisitiones ad quod Damnum, concerning properties belonging to Richard Cary and John Culvard, 1319		19
Grants by Walter Morton (1321) and John de Grey de Rotherfield (1337)		20
To what classes did the donors belong?		20
Buildings of the Grey Friars, absence of information about		21
Original houses and chapel		21
School built by Agnellus		21
The stricter Friars oppose the tendency to build		22
Building of the new Church of St. Francis		22
Its site and appearance		23
William of Worcester’s description of it		24
Monuments and tombs in the Church		24
Grave of Roger Bacon		26
Cloisters, Chapter-house, Refectory, and other buildings		27
Conduit and Gates		28

CHAPTER III. FRANCISCAN SCHOOLS AT OXFORD.
Learning necessary to the Friars		29
The first readers or lectors to the Franciscans at Oxford		30
Nature of the office of lector, as understood by Grostete and Adam Marsh		31
The lector and his socius		33
Later lectors were ordinary Regent Masters in Theology		34
Appointment to the office of lector		34
Special regulations concerning the lectors		36
System of instruction in theology recommended by Grostete		36
Lectures by the Friars		37
Controversy with the University about theological degrees in 1253		38
Controversy between the University and the Dominicans		39
Study of Arts (philosophy) before Theology, insisted on by the University		41
Roger Bacon on the need for some preliminary training for the Friars		42
Extortion of graces by external influence; ‘wax-doctors’		42
Career of a student Minorite		43
On the numbers of Friars sent to Oxford		43
Course of study before ‘opposition’		44
‘Opposition’ and ‘Responsion’		45
The degree of Bachelor of Divinity		46
Exercises before ‘Inception’		47
‘Vesperies’ and Inception		48
Questions disputed on these occasions in the thirteenth century		49
How far were the statutable requirements as to the period of study really carried out?		49
Expenses at Inception		50
Necessary Regency		52
Conditions on which dispensations were granted		52
Maintenance of Franciscan students at the University		53
What proportion took degrees		54
Relative numbers of the various Religious Orders at Oxford		54

CHAPTER IV. BOOKS AND LIBRARIES.
Absence of privacy in a Franciscan Friary		55
Books of individual Friars		56
The two libraries, and their contents		57
Grostete’s bequest of books		57
Extant MSS. formerly in the Franciscan Convent		59
Alleged illegal detention of books by the Friars in 1330		60
Richard Fitzralph’s statements		60
Richard of Bury, on the libraries of Mendicant Friars		61
Dispersion of the books of the Oxford Franciscans		61
Leland’s description of the library in his time		62

CHAPTER V. PLACE OF OXFORD IN THE FRANCISCAN ORGANIZATION.
Learned Friars as practical workers among the people		63
Their Sermons		64
Educational organization throughout the country		64
Relations of the Franciscan School at Oxford to the other Franciscan Schools of Europe		66
English Franciscans teach in foreign Universities		67
Oxford as the head convent of a custodia		68
Provincial Chapters held at Oxford		69

CHAPTER VI. RIVALRY BETWEEN THE ORDERS: ATTACKS ON THE FRIARS.
Rivalry between the Friars Preachers and Minors: proselytism		71
Politics and Philosophy		72
Peckham and the Oxford Friars		73
Evangelical Poverty		75
Contrast between theory and practice		78
Attack on the Friars by Richard Fitzralph		79
Charge of stealing children		79
Wiclif’s early relations to the Friars		81
His attack on them in his later years		82
Charges of gross immorality made not by Wiclif, but by his followers		83
The University and the Friars; summary of events in 1382		84
Unpopularity of the Friars in the fifteenth century		85
Foreign Minorites expelled from Oxford		86
Conspiracies against Henry IV; part taken by the Oxford Franciscans		87
Relations between the Conventual and Observant Franciscans		87

CHAPTER VII. ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FRIARS’ MANNER OF LIFE AND MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD: BENEFACTORS.
On the loss of Franciscan Records		89
Mendicancy as a means of livelihood		91
Procurators and limitors		92
Career of Friar Brian Sandon, legal syndicus of the Oxford Friary in the sixteenth century		93
Charges of immorality against the Friars		94
Their worldly manner of life before the Dissolution		96
Poverty of the Convent		97
Sources of income		97
Annual grants from the King and others		97
Frequency of bequests to the Friars		100
List of benefactors		102
Some other sources of income		110
Classes from which the Friars were drawn		111
Motives which led men to enter the Order		111

CHAPTER VIII. THE DISSOLUTION.
Attitude of the Grey Friars towards the Reformation in its intellectual, religious, and political aspects		112
The Royal Divorce		114
Visitation of Oxford University in 1535		116
Suppression of the Friaries in 1538		116
Condition of the Grey Friary		117
Expulsion of the Friars; their subsequent history; Simon Ludford		119
Houses and site of the Grey Friars		120
Dr. London tries to secure the land for the town		121
Lease and sale of the property		121
Notes on its subsequent history		123
Total destruction of the buildings		124

PART II. BIOGRAPHICAL AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF INDIVIDUAL FRIARS.
CHAPTER I.
Custodians and Wardens		125-133

CHAPTER II.
Lectors or Regent Masters of the Franciscans		134-175

CHAPTER III.
Franciscans who studied in the Convent at Oxford, or had some other connexion with the Town or the University		176-294

APPENDICES OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS.
A. Documents relating to the acquisition of land property by the Grey Friars.
1.	Grant of a house by William, son of Richard de Wileford	295
2.	Grant of a house by Robert, son of Robert Oen, 1236	296
3.	Royal license to enclose their possessions and throw down part of the old City Wall, 1244	296
4.	Island in the Thames acquired by Henry III, 1245	297
5.	Grant of the same island to the Friars, 1245	297
6.	Grant of two messuages by Thomas de Valeynes, 1245	298
7.	Grant of a messuage by Laurence Wych, Mayor of Oxford, 1246	299
8.	License to enclose their new possessions; the City Wall to be repaired, 1248	299
9.	Royal grants to the Friars of the Sack, 1262, 1265	300
10.	Grants to the Friars Minors from various persons, 1310	301
11.	Property of the Friars of the Sack conferred on the Friars Minors, 1310	301
12.	Re-grant of the same property to them, 1319	302
13.	Inquiry held at Oxford in 1319 as to the advisability of allowing John Culvard to grant a parcel of ground to the Friars Minors	303
14.	Grant of a parcel of ground by John de Grey de Rotherfield	305

B. Miscellaneous Documents.
1.	Food for the Friars Minors and others, 1244	307
2.	Adam Marsh as royal nuncius, 1247	307
3.	For the same, 1257	308
4.	The Church of the Minorites used as a Sanctuary, 1284-5	308
5.	Royal grant of 50 marcs, 1289	308
6.	Decree of the General Chapter at Paris, 1292	309
7.	Royal grant of 50 marcs, 1323	309
8.	‘Receptor Denariorum’ of the Grey Friars, 1341	310
9.	Goods and chattels of Friar John Welle, S.T.P., 1378	311
10.	Expulsion of foreign Minorites, 1388	312
11.	William Woodford; confirmation of his privileges by Boniface IX, 1396	312
12.	Appointment of a lecturer to the Convent at Hereford, c. 1400	313
13.	Decree of the General Chapter at Florence, 1467	314
14.	Recovery of debt from a Sheriff, 1488	315
15.	Documents relating to the lease of a garden at the Grey Friars to Richard Leke, 1513-1514	316
16.	Extracts from the Will of Richard Leke, 1526	318
17.	An ex-warden called to account, 1529	318

C. Controversy between the Friars Preachers and Friars Minors at Oxford, 1269		320

D. Supplications and Graces from the Registers of Congregation.
John David, 1450/1, 1454/5		336
John Sunday, 1453/4		336
Richard Ednam, 1462, 1463		336
Walter Goodfeld, 1506-1510		337
John Thornall, 1525		338
Thomas Kirkham, 1527		338

INDEX		341

The Grey Friars in Oxford

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