Chapter III · (continued 2)

Philosophical and Theological Works.

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

MSS. Oxford:—Bodl. Canonic. Misc. 558, fol. 1, 24, 63^b, 93 (sec. xiv).

Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 14721.

Bruges 499, olim 59 (sec. xiii?).

The first three of these works (and perhaps the last) were printed at Bologna in 1496, under the title Expositio aurea super totam artem Veterem.

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

‘Correcciones octaui capituli de Ira. (Inc.) nisi tibi iratus fuissem. Refert eciam Valerius. (Expl.) et ei reuelauit archana. Cum igitur sobrietas.’

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

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

MSS. London:—Brit. Mus., Arundel 367 (sec. xiv).

Cambridge:—Caius Coll. 464[1460]: ‘Logica Gul. de Occham in sex tractatus divisa,’ viz. (1) de terminis, (2) de propositionibus, (3) de Sillogismo simplici, (4) de S. demonstrativo, (5) de S. topico, (6) de S. elenchorum, (written at Magdeburg, A. D. 1341): also Peterhouse 217.

Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 6430, 6431, 6432 (sec. xiv); Bibl. Mazarine 3521 (sec. xiv).

Laon 431 (sec. xiv).

Basel F ii. 25 (written at Oxford, A. D. 1342).

Florence:—Laurentiana, ex Bibl. S. Crucis, Plut. xii. Sin. Cod. ii (sec. xiv), six books.

Printed at Paris 1488, Venice 1522, Oxford 1675, &c.

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

MS. Oxford:—Merton Coll. 293 (sec. xiv). Cf. Vienna:—Bibl. Palat. 5460 (sec. xv).

Printed at Rome 1637[1461].

In the Bibl. Nat. at Paris, MS. 17841 (sec. xv) contains Quest. Okam super lib. Physic. et quotlibeta. The first leaf seems to have been misplaced; inc., ‘(U)trum deus sit super omnia diligendus: quod non.’ The second leaf begins: ‘Circa materiam de conceptu questio (?) utrum conceptus sit aliquid fictum’: the questions on the physics end on fol. 26. They appear to differ from the above[1462].

Questiones Ockam super phisicam et tractatus ejusdem de futuris contingentibus.

MS. Bruges 469 (sec. xiv).

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

MS. Rodez, 56, p. 107 (sec. xv), ‘Philosophia naturalis.’

Printed at Venice 1506, and elsewhere.

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

MSS. Oxford:—Balliol Coll. 299, f. 7 (sec. xiv); Merton College 100 (sec. xiv).

Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 15561, f. 246 (sec. xv).

Basel A vi. 12.

Printed at Lyons 1495, &c.

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

MSS. Oxford:—Merton Coll. 106 (sec. xiv).

Cambridge:—Caius Coll. 325.

Paris:—Bibl. Mazarine 894 (sec. xiv), ‘de ordinacione fratris Guillelmi de Okham de ordine fratrum Minorum Oxonie.’

Troyes 718 (sec. xiv).

Printed separately (at Strasburg) in 1483.

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

MSS. Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 16398 (sec. xv), books 3 and 4; Cf. ibid. 16708, f. 253^b (sec. xiv), ‘Circa tertium Sententiarum secundum Okkam.’

Munich:—Bibl. Reg. 8943 (sec. xv), books 2, 3, and 4.

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

MSS. Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 16398, f. 173 (sec. xv), and 17841, fol. 28 (sec. xv): the latter ends abruptly near the beginning of the fourth quodlibet.

Venice:—Bibl. S. Anton. (Tomasin, p. 11 b).

Printed at Paris 1487, Argentina 1491.

At the end of the edition of 1491: ‘Expliciunt quotlibeta septem venerabilis inceptoris magistri Wilhelmi de Ockam anglici, veritatum speculatoris acerrimi, fratris ordinis minorum, post ejus lecturam Oxoniensem (super sententias) edita.’

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

MS. Basel F ii. 24.

Cf. MS. Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 14715, f. 82^b (sec. xiv); 14909, f. 102^b; 14579, f. 345; 14580, f. 110^b. Incipiunt: ‘Quia circa materiam de predestinatione et prescientia sunt opiniones diverse.’

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

MS. Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 16130, f. 121 (sec. xiv). Cf. MS. Bruges, 500.

Propositio an sit concedenda; essentia divina est quaternitas.

MS. Basel A vii. 13.

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

MSS. Oxford:—Balliol Coll. 299, f. 196 (sec. xiv); Merton College 137 (sec. xiv).

Rouen, 561 (sec. xv).

Printed at Argentina 1491, at the end of the Quodlibeta; at Paris (1490?), and Venice 1516.

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

Printed at Lyons 1495, at the end of the Sentences.

Quaestiones Ocham in terminabiles Alberti de Saxonia.

MS. Padua:—Bibl. S. Joannis in Viridario (Tomasin, p. 37).

Sermones Occham, by William or Nicholas of Ockham?

MS. Worcester:—Cathedral Library 74 quarto (= Bernard, Tom. II. 918).

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

MS. Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 15888, f. 163, 174, 181.

Gul. Ocham quedam scripta.

MS. Venice:—Bibl. SS. Joannis et Pauli (Tomasin, p. 25^b).

Political Works.

The dates are taken for the most part from Riezler.

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

MS. Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 3387, fol. 1-163 b (sec. xv).

Printed at Louvain 1481, Lyons 1495, and in Goldast’s Monarchia, II. 993-1236.

This treatise corresponds to Dialogus, Part III, Tract vi. de gestis fratris Michaelis de Cesena (see below).

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

MS. Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 3387, fol. 262 b-265 a (sec. xv).

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

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

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

ii. De dogmatibus Johannis XXII, tractatus duo (A. D. 1333 or 1334). Inc. ‘Verba oris ejus iniquitas et dolus.’

iii. De gestis circa fidem altercantium, (A. D. 1342-3). (1) De potestate papae et cleri; 4 books. (2) De potestate et juribus Romani imperii; 3 books. Inc. ‘Discip. Salomonis utcumque sequendo vestigia.’

MSS. London:—Brit. Mus. Royal 7 F xii, §§ 1 and 2 (sec. xv), Parts I and II; Harleian, 33 (sec. xv), Parts I and II; Addit. 33243 (sec. xv), Parts I and II; also Lambeth Palace Library 168 (sec. xv), Parts II and III.

Oxford:—St. John’s College, 69 (sec. xv), Part I.

Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 3657 (sec. xiv) Part I, fol. 1-208; Part II, fol. 289-321; Part III, Tractatus ii, fol. 210-287, breaking off with the words nec antedicte sedis scil. Romane antistitem in Lib. 3, cap. 16 of Tract. ii; also 14313 (A. D. 1389), Parts I and II; 14619, fol. 121-166 (sec. xv), Part III, Tractatus ii, breaking off in Lib. 3, cap. 16 of Tract. ii, as above; 15881 (sec. xiv), Parts I, II; and Part III, Tractatus ii, breaking off in Lib. 3, cap. 16, as above.—Bibl. de l’Arsenal 517, fol. 17-303, Parts I, II, and III, ending with the words ‘Magister Hoc multis racionibus improbatur. Primo ...’, in Chapter 17 of the 3rd book of Tractatus ii of Part III[1465],—Bibl. Mazarine 3522 (sec. xiv), fol. 149-198, Part III, Tract. ii, ending in Cap. 16 of Lib. 3; fol. 200-246, Part III, Tract. i; fol. 246-297, Part III, Tract. ii, ending with Cap. 23 of Lib. 3, passibilis et mortalis.

Rome:—Vatican, Bibl. Regin. Sueciae, 90; cf. 79, ‘de potestate papae.’ (Montfaucon.)

Dijon 340 (sec. xv), Parts I, II, and III, ending with the words ‘pro nunc tibi sufficiant,’ in the printed editions.

Auxerre 252, f. 88 (sec. xiv), containing Part III, Tract. ii (3 books).

Avignon 185, containing Part I.

Toulouse 221 (sec. xiv), Parts I, II, and Part III, Tractatus ii, which is called Tractatus iii in the MS.

Basel A vi. 5, Parts I, II, and III.

Florence:—Laurentiana, ex Bibl. S. Crucis, Plut. xxxvi. Dext. Cod. xi (sec. xiv), Parts I and II.

Venice:—St. Mark, Vol. I, Cl. viii. Cod. 7 (sec. xv), Part I, book 6.

Printed at Lyons 1495; reprinted in Goldast’s Monarchia II, 398-957.

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

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

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

‘passibilis et mortalis. Et haec de tertia parte Dialogorum pro nunc tibi sufficiant.’

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

‘et non plus de hoc notabili opere potui reperire’[1470].

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

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

Printed at Venice 1513, and by Edw. Brown, Fascic. Rerum expetend. II, 439-464.

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

MS. Brit. Museum: Royal 10 A, xv (sec. xiv).

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

MSS. London:—Lambeth 168, fol. 289-314 (sec. xv).

Paris:—Bibl. Mazarine 3522, fol. 298-310 (sec. xiv).

Printed at Louvain 1481, Lyons 1495, and in Goldast II, 957-976.

Cf. Dialogus, Part III, Tract. iii.

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

MS. Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 3387, fol. 175-213^b (sec. xv).

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

MS. Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 3387, fol. 214^b-262^a (sec. xv).

Cf. Dialogus, Pars III, Tract. v.

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

MS. Rome:—Bibl. Apostol. Vaticana, Codd. Palat. Latin. No. 679. Pars I, fol. 117 (sec. xv).

Cf. Boehmer, Fontes rerum Germanicarum, Vol. IV, p. 592, ‘ex libro Nicolai Minoritae de controversia paupertatis Christi 1324-1338.’ Inc. ‘Subsequenter ponuntur articuli et describunter de juribus imperii.’

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

MSS. Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 14603, fol. 147-216 (sec. xiv): ‘Explicit tractatus venerabilis, theologi Guillelmi Okam de potestate pape.’—Bibl. Mazarine, 3522, f. 104-148 (sec. xiv).

Cf. MS. Rome, Vatican, Bibl. Reg. Sueciae, 79, De potestate Papae; and 375, De potestate utriusque jurisdictionis.

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

Printed at Heidelberg 1598; and in Goldast I, 21. It is of doubtful authenticity; see Riezler, 254.

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

See Riezler, p. 271, 303, who refers to Höfler, Aus Avignon, 13.

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

I. Philosophical.

De pluralitate formae, contra Sutton (Leland, Tanner).

De invisibilibus (Leland).

Tractatus incip.: ‘Dominus potest facere omne quod fieri vult non includit contradictionem’:—

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

Comment. in Metaphysicam.

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

Leland adds:

Vidi etiam tres libros Ochami, quorum primus De privatione, de materia prima, de forma quae est principium, et De forma artificiali; secundus vero De causis materiali, formali, efficiente, finali; tertius De mutatione subita tractat.

[Cf. Quaestiones in lib. Physic?]

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

II. Political.

De paupertate Christi et Apostolorum (Tritheim, Wadding).

This is probably incorporated in the Dialogus (see Wadding, Ann. Min. VIII, 81-2). Cf. MS. Florence:—Laurentiana, ex Bibl. S. Crucis, Plut. xxxi. Sin. Cod. iii (sec. xiv).

De actibus hierarchicis, lib. i (Wadding).

Wadding, Sup.: ‘citat Joan. Picus Mirandulanus in sua Apologia quaest. 1.’

Errorum quos affinxit papae Johanni, lib. i (Wadding). Inc. ‘Locuti adversum me lingua.’

(Probably identical with one of the extant treatises.)

Defensorium (against the pope); mentioned by Leland, Bale, &c. Inc. ‘Omni quippe regno desiderabilis.’

This is the Defensor pacis of Marsilius of Padua.

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

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

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

MSS. Bodl.: 2004 = . B. 3. 18, now Bodley 57. Laud. Misc. 85, fol. 67 b (sec. xiv).

Cambridge:—Pembroke Coll. 175.

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

MS. formerly in the Franciscan library, London[1474]: quoted in MS. Bodl. Laud. Misc. 213, f. 192 (sec. xv).

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

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

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

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

‘Item anno domini 1343 in capitulo provinciali Londoniis celebrato, et in Oxonia plurimis vicibus prius et post in studio secum commoranti, frater Hermanus de Colonia fratri Johanni de Latthebury retulit viva voce, quod in patria sua est quedam villa que vulgariter dicatur Enger, de qua Anglia vocaliter derivatur, et prope illam villam ad distanciam unius miliarii est quedam quercus, arbor ingens et antiqua, ad quam ipse cum esset puerulus ex more patrie cum reliquis concurrebat. Nam omni nocte nativitatis Christi, quasi nocte media, quercus illa glandes grandes et perfectas subita apparicione ex se profert et producit copiose. Unde et incole illius patrie annuatim illa nocte ad illum locum turmatim ex consuetudine concurrunt, et ibi cum luminibus et lanternis vigilantes, horam solitam expectant et explorant, bibentes, edentes, ludentes et noctem insompnem ducentes, habentes secum lapides, baculos et saculos pro fructu arboris excuciendo et asportando.’

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

‘Hos libros cum multis aliis Joannes Lathbury senior contulit juniori Joanni Lathbury A. D. 1348. Ex cenobio Minorum Radinge.’

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

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

MSS. Oxford:—Merton Coll. 189—Exeter Coll. 27, &c.

Printed at Oxford in 1482, being one of the first books issued by the Oxford press.

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

MSS. Brit. Mus.: Royal 11 A xiii (sec. xv).

Oxford:—Exeter Coll. 26 (sec. xv), with the note ‘Johannes Latbury, doctor de ordine fratrum minorum, qui fecit lecturam super librum Trenorum, compilavit istum tractatum.’

Cambridge:—Peterhouse 96.

De luxuria clericorum.

Extracts from this treatise of Lathbury’s are in MS. Bodl. James 19 (Cf. Bernard’s Catal. I, 260 b), from MSS. in Exeter College: the treatise itself seems to be extracted from the Distinctiones.

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

MS. Oxford:—Magd. Coll. 93 (A. D. 1438); perhaps merely excerpts from some other work.

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

Mentioned by Bale (MS. Seld. sup. 64, fol. 89) ‘ex musaeo Rob. Talbot.’

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

Robert (or John?) Lamborne,

‘the son of a baron, and the last heir of that barony, entered the Order in London[1485].’

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

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

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

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

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

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

Robertus Haliphax de sententiarum libris I et II.

MS. Assisi 161 (sec. xiv).

Primus Eliphat super sententias.

MSS. Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 14514 (sec. xiv).

Vienna:—Bibl. Palat. 1511, f. 110-120 (sec. xiv).

Quaestiones Rob. Eliphat.

MSS. Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 14576 (xiv), 15561, f. 243 (xv), 15880 (xiv), 15888, f. 181, (xiv)[1496].

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

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

William Scharshille (co. Stafford),

‘formerly a justiciary under Edward III, gave away all his temporal goods and entered the Order, with great honour, at Oxford[1499].’

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

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

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

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

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

‘for the spiritual recreation of himself and of the nobles of England,’

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

‘he strenuously defended his Order in the Curia against Armachanus[1507].’

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

‘at the instance of Roger Coneway of the Order of Friars Minors, who asserts that he needs these letters on behalf of the said Order[1508].’

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

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

‘Joannes Cassianus de Institutis Egyptiorum Coenobiorum. Cui haec notula apponitur: “Iste est liber Fratris Rogeri de Coneway[1512]”.’

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

MSS. Oxford:—Bodl. sup. A I, art. 95; also Corpus Christi Coll. 182, fol. 37 (sec. xv).

Cambridge:—Public Library Ii. iv. 5. fol. 15 (sec. xv); also Corpus Christi Coll. 333 (sec. xv).

Paris:—Bibl. Nationale 3221, fol. 206-46 (see. xv); and 3222, fol. 117, under the title: ‘Quedam informacio contra intentionem domini Ricardi Archiepiscopi Armachani super decretali Vas electionis, edita a ffratre Rogero Conewey magistro in Theologia de ordine fratrum minorum.’

Vienna:—Bibl. Palat. 4127, f. 221 (sec. xv).

Printed at Lyons 1496; Paris 1511 (among the works of Armachanus); and in Goldast, Monarchia II, p. 1410, (under the name ‘Chonoe’).

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

MS. Paris:—Bibl. Nat. 3222, fol. 133^b-158^b: it is anonymous in this MS., but is attributed to Roger Conway by Bale, MS. Seld. sup. 64, fol. 157^b, and Tanner, Bibl. 197. The same MS. contains the Replicationes of Armachanus against this work, ff. 159 sqq.

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

MS. Vienna:—Bibl. Palat. 4127, f. 249-269 (sec. xv).

Wadding (Script. p. 212) gives the second incipit and says: ‘Habeo MSS.’ These may be now in some Italian library; perhaps in the Franciscan Convent at Rome, or MS. Vatican 3740, ‘Tractatus diversorum super quaestione de paupertate Christi et Apostolorum’ (Montfaucon, p. 110).

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

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

MSS. London:—Brit. Mus. Addit. 8866 (sec. xiv).

Oxford:—Bodleian; Digby 90 (sec. xiv); Bodley 515 (= 2185) (sec. xv).

Printed in E. de Coussemaker’s Auctores de Musica, &c. Paris 1876.

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

MS. Worcester Cathed. Library, fol. No. 35: ‘Wyneshed de motu de locali et aliis Physicis’ (?); but the name here is probably an error for Swynshed; see MS. Cambridge, Caius Coll. 499.

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

‘in putting forward his opinion he behaved amicably, modestly and courteously, without introducing any abuse or improprieties whatsoever.’

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

‘showing that the two swords did not mean temporal and spiritual power, and that Christ had not temporal diminion; which he proved by the scriptures and gospels, by quotations from the doctors, by the example of the religious who leave worldly goods, and by the decretals; and he related how Boniface VIII claimed to be lord of all kingdoms, and how he was repulsed in France and England.’

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

Thomas of Portugal studied at Oxford and Paris, c. 1360, and lectured at Lisbon and Salamanca. He was elected in the General Chapter to lecture on the Sentences at Cambridge, and was promoted to the degree of D.D. in the University of Toulouse by Pope Gregory XI in 1371[1529].

Philip Zoriton (?), according to Wadding ‘professor in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge,’ received the insignia of the magisterium at the hands of Friar Francis de Cardaillac S.T.P. in 1364[1530]. Zoriton appears to be a mistake for Torinton or Torrington. Philip Torrington S.T.P. was made Archbishop of Cashel in 1373[1531]. He was sent by Richard II as ambassador to Urban VI, and, on his return in 1379, urged the English king to invade France in support of the Pope, against the Antipope Clement VII. Philip died in 1380[1532].

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

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

Determinatio Magistri Francisci de Empoli de materia montis (?)

MS. Florence:—Laurentiana, ex Bibl. S. Crucis, Plut. xxxi, Dext. Cod. xi (sec. xiv or xv).

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

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

Mentioned by Bale, ‘Ex bibliotheca Nordovicensi’[1536].

Quaestiones.

One or both of these works may be the Opera Joannis Hilton in Bibl. Eccles. Cathed. Sarisbur. MS. 94 (Bernard).

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

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

‘studied many years at Oxford and lectured in the theological faculty, and obtained the license of teaching in the said faculty and the honour of Master; he desired to lecture in the same faculty at Paris, and to give to his country what he had acquired elsewhere by studious labours.’

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

‘ad legendum determinandum disputandum et ceteros actus Magistrales exercendum,’

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

‘Saracenorum, Alanorum, Gazarorum, Gothorum, Schytarum, Ruthenorum, Jacobitarum, Nubianorum, Nestorianorum, Georgianorum, Armenorum, Indorum, Mochitarum.’

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

MS. Vatican, Bibl. Reginae Sueciae, cod. 1960 (Montfaucon).

John Somer, of the Convent of Bridgwater[1542], was at Oxford in 1380[1543]. It does not appear whether he was a doctor either at this time or afterwards. He enjoyed a great reputation as an astronomer, and is said to have made use of the astronomical researches of Roger Bacon[1544]. Chaucer refers to him in his treatise on the Astrolabe[1545].

Somer is often coupled with the contemporary astronomer Nicholas of Lynn[1546], and it is possible that the following passage in Mercator’s Atlas, which is supposed by Hakluyt and others to refer to Nicholas, relates to John Somer[1547].

‘That which you see described in this table of those foure Iles is taken from the journal of James Knox of Bolduc or the Busse[1548], who reporteth[1549] that a certaine English Friar, minorite of Oxford, a Mathematician, hath seene and composed the lands lying about the Pole, and measured them with an astrolabe, and described them by a Geometrical instrument.’

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

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

‘ad instantiam nobilissime Domine, Domine Johanne Principisse Wallie, ... ac matris ... Ricardi secundi ..., ad meridiem tamen Universitatis Oxonie, ex precepto reverendi Patris, fratris Thome Kyngesburi, Ministri Anglie, ... a fratre Johanne Somur (or Semour) ordinis minorum, A. D. 1380.’

MSS. Brit. Mus.: Royal 2 B viii. (sec. xiv). Cotton Faustina A II, f. 1-12; and Cotton Vesp. E VII. f. 4-22.

Bodl.: Digby 5, f. 73 (sec. xiv).

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

MS. British Museum; Cott. Domit. A II, f. 1-6^b.

The framework of the annals may be by John Somer: the entries are short and scattered—some being later than the middle of the 15^th century—and in different hands. Several refer to Bridgwater, e.g. ad annos 1241, 1411. Ad. an. 1433 is the entry: ‘E(clipsis) solis universalis 17 die Junii in festo S. Botulphi secundum fratrem som.’

His astronomical and astrological writings are frequently quoted:

Bodl. Laud. Misc. 674 (sec. xv), fol. 24; Regulae ad sciendum nati vitam secundum Jo. Somer, Ord. Minorum; fol. 24^b: ‘Hoc receptum inveni scriptum de propria manu J. Somour de ordine Minorum.’

See also fol. 42^b, ... and fol. 99^b of the same MS.

Bodl. Digby 88 (sec. xv), ‘An extracte of freer John Somerys Kalender, of ille days in the yere,’ fol. 62^b.

Cf. Digby 119, fol. 25^b.

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

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

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

‘when he was going from London to Oxford to incept in theology he fell among robbers, who took from him £40[1557].’

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

‘Et ad ejus (sc. Willelmi Goddard) dexteram sub lapide cruce exarato Jacet bone memorie et hereticorum extirpator Acerimus frater Willelmus Wydford doctor Egregius et minister[1563].’

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

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

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

British Museum MS. Royal 4 A xiii (sec. xiv)[1565].

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

MSS. Brit. Museum: Royal 7 B iii. § 2, (sec. xiv): Harl. 31, fol. 1-94 (sec. xv), and 42 fol. 1 (sec. xv).

Oxford:—Exeter Coll. 7, fol. 4 (sec. xv); St. John’s Coll. 144 (sec. xv).

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

MSS. Brit. Mus.:—Harl. 31 (sec. xv. ineuntis): 1^st lecture fol. 124-132; 2^nd 132-163^b; 3^rd 163^b-170; 4^th 170-181: Harl. 42, f. 1-124.

Oxford:—Bodleian 2766, f. 69; 2224, p. 33 (= Bodley 393); 3340; Digby 170, f. 1-33 (sec. xiv. exeuntis): this last MS. begins in the second determination with the words: ‘et nullum predictorum est impedimentum legitimi matrimonii.’

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

MSS. British Museum:—Royal, 8 F xi. (sec. xv); Harl. 31, f. 95: Harl. 42, f. 125.

Oxford:—Bodl. 2766, § 1. [and Bodl. 3629, p. 216?]—Merton Coll. 198 § 3 (sec. xv) and 318, f. 84 (xv)—C.C.C. 183, f. 23 (xv).

Printed, Brown, Fascic. rerum expetendarum, I, 190-265.

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

MSS. British Museum:—Royal 7 B. III. § 1.

Oxford:—Merton Coll. 198 fol. 14 (xv ineuntis).

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

MSS. Oxford:—Magdalen Coll. 75 (sec. xv).

Cambridge:—Publ. Library, Ff. I. 21, f. 1-257.

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

MSS. Cambridge:—Publ. Libr. Ff. I. 21, f. 258-265.

Oxford:—New Coll. 290 fol. 258.

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

MS. Oxford:—Bodl. 2766, p. 41. (= T. Bodl. super O. I. Art. 9).

De veneratione imaginum.

MS. Brit. Mus.:—Harl. 31, f. 182-205; anon. and imperfect at the beginning, but probably by Woodford; 8 chapters. Inc. cap. 2. ‘Aliter tamen senciunt doctissimi Christiani, oppositum ostendentes per naturam, per artem, per historiam, per scripturam.’

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

referred to by Woodford in De causis condempnacionis etc., but no longer extant; Fasc. Per. Expetend. I. 220, 222.

Super quinque capitula Evangelii S. Matthaei:

mentioned by John Wheathamstede among the books which he had transcribed, but not now to be found: (Tanner, from MS. Cott. Otho, B. IV; this MS. was burnt in the Cotton library fire).

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

MS. Oxford:—Ball. Coll. 63, f. 100 (sec. xiv).

Other works attributed to him:

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

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

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

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

‘jocundus vir et eloquens in Latina lingua et Graeca, solemnis et nominatissimus Doctor in Theologia[1572].’

Lectures on the Sentences.

MSS. Basel A II. 22. ‘Conclusiones textuales super Magist. Sentent.’

Paris:—Bibl. Nat. Fonds de Cluni 54, = 1467 of the Latin Addit. MSS. (sec. xiv) fol. 8. ‘Expl. collectiva pro primo principio fratris Petri de Candia, quam compilavit Parisius, a^o M^o CCC^o LXXVIII^o XXIIII^a die mensis Septembris, et XXVIII die ejusdem mensis in scolis legit, etc.’

Venice:—St. Mark, Vol. I, Cl. III, Cod. 110 (A. D. 1382), Questiones in lib. 1 Sentent., being lectures at Paris in 1379.—Ibid. Cod. III (A. D. 1394), Questiones in lib. 2 et 3 Sentent. ‘Explicit lectura super sententias ven. mag. fratris Petri de Candia ordinis Minorum A. D. 1390 compilata tempore quo Parisiis legebat sententias, quas de verbo ad verbum ut jacet suis scolaribus in scolis antedicti ordinis prolegebat.’

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

MS. Florence:—Laurentiana, ex Bibl. S. Crucis, Plut. xxv. Sin. Cod. ix.

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

MS. Ibid.

Praefationes Ambrosianae.

MS. Rome:—Archiv. Basilicae S. Petri (Montfaucon, p. 158).

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

MS. Brit. Mus.:—Harl. 431, fol. 30^b. Cf. ibid. fol. 33^b, 34^b, 35; and Cambridge:—Emmanuel Coll. I. § 29, Conclusiones P. de Candia positae in Concilio.

De obligationibus Epistola.

Oxford:—Bodl. Canonic. 278, fol. 65.

Florence:—Bibl. Leopoldina (Laurentiana), Cod. Gaddian. 188 (sec. xv).

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

‘virum, prout experiencia certa et ejusdem fama preclaris diffusa virtutibus nobis constat, sciencie, vite, ac morum honestate perspicuum, et per omnia graciosum, nedum in sciencia speculativa, sed in verbi dei predicacione multipliciter preexpertum.’

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

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

‘to the Community of the Friars Minors at Oxford, with the authority and consent of Friar Thomas de Kyngusbury, Master, Minister of England, A. D. 1388[1579].’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘Tres cher et bien ame. Nous vous prions, que, en ce que notre cher en dieu frere Johan Wastenays de lordre dez Menours, Commenceour en theologie, ad affaire deuers vous touchant son commencement en la Vniuersitee doxon, lui veullez faire la grace et le fauour que bonement purrey, sauuant lez estatutz et lez priuileges de la vniuersitee auantdicte. Donne souz, etc. (i.e. souz notre priue seal).’

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

‘Explicit compilatio quædam diversorum argumentorum recollectorum a diversis doctoribus in Vniversitate Oxoniæ ordinata satis pulchre per Reverendum Fratrem ...[1592] S.T. Mag. ejusdem Vniversitatis de Ordine Carmelitarum, scripta per me Fratrem J. Fey de Florentia Ordinis Minorum in Conventu Oxoniæ anno Domini MCCCXCIII die sequenti festum 40 Martyrum ad laudem Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Amen.’

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

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

‘Our mother, the Roman Church, is full of troubles and calamities. Yet her daughter, the University of Paris, alone has tried to comfort her: Paris has borne the burden and heat of the day, and may well upbraid us. We too must work for the union of the Church and the reformation of peace. I therefore, promoted to the degree of Master though unworthily, through zeal for the religion of Christ and for the Church of God, and by reason of the command of our lord the King, propose to move some matters pertaining to the proposition, in the form of a question, not as a formal determinator, but rather as a friendly speaker (familiaris concionator), now on one side, now on the other, now as an impartial person. In these writings I wish to say nothing against the Catholic Church or good morals or Pope Boniface; if I do so inadvertently I submit to the Chancellor and others in authority.—Touching the reformation of the desolate Church, I ask whether there is any reasonable way of restoring it to its original unity.’

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

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

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

‘et incipiunt alie conclusiones ejusdem de eodem scismate cum epistola directa domino Karolo Regi Francorum pro reformacione scismatis prenominati.’

Some ‘conclusions’ then follow.

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

‘Minorum ordinem proclamat impium,’ etc.[1599].

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

MS. Paris:—Bibl. Nationale, MS. 1201 (sec. XV) contains: Ricardi Trevithelani Supplicationes ad beatam Mariam Virginem.

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

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

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

MS. Oxford:—Bodley 815 (= 2684 in Bernard) f. 1-8, a fragment (sec. xv). The MS. (fol. 1) contains the note: ‘Habetur liber complete inter fratres minores Hefordie’ (sic)[1605].

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

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

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

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

‘legendi docendi et dogmatizandi ubique locorum sui regni Artem generalem ceterosque libros Raymundi Lulli.’[1617]

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

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

‘Determinacio magistri Johannis Whytheed de Hibernia in materia de mendicitate contra fratres; in quo respondet pro Radulpho Archiepiscopo Armachano contra fratrem Petrum Russel.’

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

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

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

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

MS. Paris:—Bibl. Nationale, 3221, § 5 (sec. XV).

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

‘Illud non est silentio praetereundum, catalogum illustrium Franciscanorum accurate Colemannum laudare, ac peritissimum carminis pronunciare’[1628].

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

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

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

‘that he should be judged and condemned as a heretic and schismatic.’

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

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

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

MS. Oxford:—Corpus Christi Coll. 126, fol. 1, and fol. 4.

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

‘and teaching seditious doctrines among the common people in many places by uncircumcised words.’

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

‘He commended the play to the people, affirming that it was good in itself and very laudable; but for several reasons he induced the people to have the play on one day and the Corpus Christi procession on the second, so that the people might be able to come to the churches on the festival’[1644].

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

Richard Leke or Leech, D.D. of Oxford, was thirty-sixth Provincial Minister between 1430 and 1438. He was buried at Lichfield[1646].

Thomas Radner or Radnor, of the custody of Bristol and the Convent of Hereford, D.D. of Oxford, was Provincial in 1438, being the thirty-seventh in order. He was buried at Reading[1647].

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

‘In witness whereof, because our seals are known to few, we have procured that the seal of the Chancellor of the University of Oxford should be appended to these presents. Given at Merton College, April 19, 1433’[1648].

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

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

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

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

‘to absent himself from every scholastic act for a fortnight, that he might be able to visit his friends who were sick’[1657].

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

‘to resume his ordinary lectures after the feast of St. Thomas next ensuing (July 3rd), and to resume the acts of a Regent, except entry into the house of Congregation’[1659].

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

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

John Foxholes (co. York) on April 14th, 1451, was allowed to count opponency from Michaelmas term to Easter as his complete opposition, on condition that he should preach one Latin sermon in addition to those which he was bound to deliver by the University statutes[1663]; this was equivalent to a supplication for B.D.

We venture to identify John Foxholes with John Foxalls or Foxal, Minorite, who lectured at Bologna and some other University[1664]. In 1475 he was appointed Archbishop of Armagh by the Pope, but died in England within a year or two, probably without having visited his diocese[1665].

He was the author of several works[1666]—

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

Printed at Venice, 1508 and 1512, under the name Joannes Anglicus.

Opusculum super libros Posteriorum.

MS. Paris:—Bibl. Nationale, 6667 (A. D. 1501).

Printed at Venice, 1509 (?).

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

MS. Florence, olim Bibl. S. Crucis (nunc Bibl. Laurent.?).

Expositio super metaphysicam Antonii Andreae.

MS. olim penes Waddingum[1667].

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

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

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

‘he calls the modern preachers pulpit-bawlers (clamatores in pulpitis)’[1673].

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

‘And doctor William Gooddard the elder, that was provinciall of the Grey-freeres, apechyd hym of hys erysys’[1674].

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

‘Item, I bequeth to maister Godard thelder doctoure of dyvynyte to pray for my soule C^s’[1675].

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

‘Ad cujus (Johannis Hastyng’, comitis Pembrochie) dexteram in plano sub lapide jacet venerabilis pater et frater Willelmus Goddard doctor egregius et ordinis fratrum minorum in anglia Minister benemeritus. Qui obiit 30^o die Mensis Octobris a^o domini 1437’[1678].

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

MS. Brit. Mus.:—Sloane 4, p. 77 (c. A. D. 1468).

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

‘that he should incept within a year and give the Regents the usual livery’[1681].

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

‘that he should incept before the feast of St. Thomas (July 3rd), pay £15 on the day of his inception, and give a separate livery to the Regents at his own expense’[1682].

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

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

‘give a livery, i.e. cultellos, according to the ancient custom, to all the Regents’[1688].

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

‘venerandus pater frater Gundisalvus, qui bis Vicarius Provincialis fuit’[1689].

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MS. Venice:—St. Mark, Vol. IV, Cl. x. Cod. 246.

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

‘laudably fulfilled his regency and all that pertains to the solemnity of such a degree.’

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

‘preached publickly that Christ preached from door to door, that Pope John was a Heretic, and such like, telling the People withal, that they in their proceedings had been encouraged by the University of Oxford.’

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

‘after recantation degraded and rejected the University as vagabonds.’

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

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

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

—— Wyȝht. The proctors in their accounts for the year ending April 17, 1482,

‘reddunt compotum de compositionibus 4 Doctorum Theologie, viz. Morgan, Browne, et Richeford, fratrum ordinis predicatorum, et Wyȝht ordinis minorum, 26^li 13^s 4^d.’[1704]

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

For his writings, most of which have been printed, see Tanner, Bibl. p. 605, Wood, Athenae I, 16-18. They relate for the most part to works of Duns Scotus, ‘whom (Wood remarks) he had in so great veneration that he was in a manner besotted with his subtilties.’ The Distinctiones ordine alphabetico by ‘Frater Mauricius Anglus’ cannot be by Mauritius de Portu; they exist e.g. in a fourteenth-century MS. in the British Museum (Royal 10 B. xvi), and in a thirteenth-century MS. at Paris[1706].

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

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

‘in plano sub lapide jacet venerabilis pater et frater Johannes Persevall doctor egregius et ordinis minorum in anglia minister qui obiit 16 die Mensis Decembris, A^o Domini 1505^o’[1709].

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

‘Ultimo Februarii 1499 (= Feb. 29th, 1500) W. Botehill de Gloucestre, scitatus coram nobis ad instanciam fratris Thome Roger gardiani fratrum minorum Gloucestrie, prestitit juramentum corporale quod ipse in persona sua propria comparebit Gloucestrie responsurus obiciendis sibi pro parte dicti Gardiani et hoc citra ffestum Pasche proximum’[1710].

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

‘Eodem die (October 24th, 1507) Thomas Clarke executor testamenti Joannis Falley promisit se soluturum domino doctori Kynton ordinis Minorum xxvi^s viii^d[1711].’

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

‘for,’ writes Wood, ‘on a little gravestone there, yet remaining, is written this: “Obiit Johannes Kynton, Frater Minor, sacræ Theologiæ professor, 20 Januar. 1535”[1717].’

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

‘that he shall say the mass Salus populi thrice for the good estate of the regents.’

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

‘conditionata quod habet studium 4^or annorum in sacra theologia post gradum bacallariatus.’

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

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

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

‘Et ad capud ejus (i.e. J. Seller, D.D. warden of London) sub lapide jacet frater Xpoforus Studley electus [gardianus ?] qui obiit 10 die mensis Marcii A. D. 157^o (sic)’[1720].

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

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

‘quod legat tres primas questiones Scoti’[1722].

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

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

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

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

‘Hec est concessa conditionata, una quod habet studium 6 annorum in universitate; alia quod predicet semel preter formam in ecclesia b. Virginis’[1727].

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

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

‘quatinus graciose secum dispensetur sic quod solvat tantum septem marcas de compositione sua, causa est quia est pauper et habet paucos amicos.’

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

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

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

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

‘to the end that his loving parishioners, when they should happen to see his grave and tomb, might be sooner moved to pray for his soul.’

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

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

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

‘it was not against the liberty of the Church, because it was for the weal of the whole realm.’

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

‘to take part with the commonalty against the strangers’

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

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

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

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

‘Provided that the King allow those constitutions which are not contrary to the law of God or of the realm to be put in execution as before[1752].’

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

‘Item pro sepultura mea quadraginta libras. Item pro Tumba erigenda xiij^li. vj^s viij^d in ecclesia fratrum minorum ubi contigerit corpus meum quiescere. Item pro exhibicione scolarium in Universitate Oxonie quadraginta libras. Item pro edificatione Insule ecclesie fratrum Minorum Oxonie quadraginta libras.’

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

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

‘quatenus gratiose secum dispensetur ut respondeat sine aliqua oppositione propter defectum schole. Hec est concessa et conditionata quod replicet in scholis post responsionem.’

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

‘that he will tell no one except those whom it concerns.’

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

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

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

‘sic quod semel predicet in ecclesia B. M. V. infra annum, et non utatur aliqua gratia generali vel speciali pro sua necessaria regentia infra annum.’

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

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

‘quia est gardianus alicujus loci et sunt ei magna negotia’[1763].

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

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

‘he said the mass de Spiritu Sancto five times for the good estate of the regents, and preached in propria persona at St. Mary’s before Easter.’

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

‘et nemini revelabit nisi quarum interest.’

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

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

‘cum oppositione et responsione (?) in novis scolis et responsione in capitulo (?) generali cum introitu biblie’[1768].

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

‘quatenus illa particula olim posita in sua gratia, viz. quod sit medietas anni inter oppositionem et responsionem possit deleri. Hec est concessa, sic quod dicat unam missam de spiritu sancto pro bono statu regentium, et aliam de trinitate, et aliam de recordare[1771].’

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

‘omnes libros meos distribuendos secundum discrecionem magistri Johannis Cudnor S.T.D., nunc gardiani fratrum Minorum Londoniensium et magistri Willelmi German eiusdem facultatis, et cuilibet ipsorum quinque marcas pro labore[1774].’

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

‘promised to pay William Hows 11s. 4d. before the fourth Sunday in Lent under penalty of the law[1775].’

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

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

‘In die cinerum ego frater Joannes ordinis minorum italus de Castro Bononiensi praedicabo sermonem dante domino[1778].’

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

‘in hac universitate et Cantibrigie et in partibus transmarinis[1779].’

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

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

‘quatenus studium octodecim annorum in eodem jure et in jure civili cum multis lecturis publicis in cathedra doctoris et multis aliis locis sufficiat ut admittatur ad lecturam extraordinariam alicujus libri decretalium. Hec est concessa sic quod solvat vj^s viij^d Universitati in die admissionis sue et legat duos libros decretalium[1781].’

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

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

‘Johannes Perse (or Person) electus et cursor theologie hujus loci (London), qui obiit 18 die Mensis februarii 1527,’

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

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

‘because he is very poor and scarcely has what is necessary to take a degree,’

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