Note 36 — Bishop Grosseteste, the Reformer 1235–1253

Grosseteste had been unable to get his way with the barons on the question of legitimacy of children before legal wedlock. By the old church law marriage made such children legitimate, and at the council of Merton, in 1236, Grosseteste, with the bishops, tried to bring the common law into union with the church view on this matter. He was defeated, and to this day these children are illegitimate. “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 deemed 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 abroad, though unintelligible line of demarcation, has been open to grave objection on grounds of public convenience, apart from any inherent merits or demerits it may possess.”—F. S. Stevenson, Robert Grosseteste.