GREY FRIARS IN OXFORD
Oxford
HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
THE GREY FRIARS IN OXFORD
PART I A HISTORY OF THE CONVENT
PART II BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF THE FRIARS
TOGETHER WITH _APPENDICES OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS_
BY ANDREW G. LITTLE, M.A.
BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD
Oxford
PRINTED FOR THE OXFORD HISTORICAL SOCIETY
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1892
[_All rights reserved_]
PREFACE.
The object of this work is to give an account of the outward life of the
Franciscans. This might be fairly taken to include the whole activity of
the friars with the exception of their contribution to scholastic
philosophy; for that clearly forms a subject by itself. But even with this
limitation the account here given of the Franciscans’ work does not
pretend to be complete. The documents which remain to us do not by any
means cover the whole of the active life of the Franciscans. While for the
thirteenth century and the Dissolution the records are fairly numerous,
the materials for the intervening period are very scanty. Thus any attempt
at a chronological narrative was out of the question. And the almost total
absence of all Franciscan records (properly so called) in England, has
proved an effectual bar to any completeness of treatment at all. The
arrangement here adopted, both in the choice of subjects and in the
relative prominence given to each of them, is due simply to the exigencies
of the available materials relating to the Oxford Convent. The
topographical information derived from records and other sources has been
neither full enough nor accurate enough to enable me to supply a map or
plan of the property and buildings of the Grey Friars.
A few words will be necessary to explain the plan pursued in Part II. An
endeavour has been made to collect the names of all the Grey Friars who
lived in the Convent at Oxford or who studied in the University: the list,
if complete, would have included all the names which were, or ought to
have been, entered in the ‘Buttery-books’ or ‘Admission-books’ of the
house. To show how far short of this aim the result falls, it is only
necessary to point out that the names of friars actually included in Part
II number little more than three hundred: and the connexion of some of
these with Oxford is doubtful. The bibliographies, appended to the
biographical notices, are intended to include all the extant works of each
friar, but not all the MSS. nor all the editions of each work.
Occasionally works are added which have not been identified, but of whose
previous existence there is sufficient evidence. For this part of the book
I have used, besides the well-known mediaeval bibliographies, a number of
catalogues of manuscripts; a list of these is given below, with the object
of showing not so much what has been done, as what has been left undone.
Among unpublished sources, the most valuable have been various collections
in the Public Record Office, especially the Patent, Close, and Liberate
Rolls; the Registers of Congregation (Reg. A a, G 6, H 7, I 8), the
records of the Chancellor’s Court (Acta Curiae Cancellarii ~D~, ~F~, EEE,
or ~B~), and Brian Twyne’s collections, in the Oxford University Archives.
Further, I have had occasion to consult the Oxford City Archives, some of
the old registers of wills at Somerset House, and various manuscripts in
the British Museum, Lambeth Palace, and Gray’s Inn; the Bodleian and
several College libraries at Oxford; the University (or Public) Library
and several College libraries at Cambridge; the library of Sir Thomas
Phillipps at Thirlestaine House, Cheltenham; the National Library at
Paris, and the Municipal Library at Assisi. I have had no opportunity of
examining the episcopal registers of the diocese of Lincoln, extracts from
which, however, are contained in Twyne’s transcripts.
The Index, so far as it deals with the names of persons and places, will,
I hope, be found complete, with the following limitations. The
authorities quoted, either in the text or in the notes, the places where
the manuscripts cited were written, or were formerly or are now kept, or
where the editions referred to were printed, are not mentioned in the
Index, unless there is some particular reason for including them. So far
as it deals with subjects, the Index is meant to be supplementary to the
Table of Contents. The writings of the friars are not classified in the
Index, except those which come under the headings _Aristotle_, _Bible_,
_Evangelical Poverty_ and _Sentences_.
Finally, I wish to express my thanks to those who have given me aid,
namely, to the Rev. W. G. D. Fletcher, Vicar of St. Michael’s, Shrewsbury,
author of ‘The Black Friars in Oxford,’ who generously placed a valuable
collection of references at my disposal; to Mr. Falconer Madan for
assistance and advice; to the Keeper of the University Archives and the
Town Clerk of Oxford for allowing me free and repeated access to the
documents under their respective charges; and to the authorities in the
various offices and libraries in which I have worked, for their unfailing
courtesy.
ANDREW G. LITTLE.
_30 November, 1891._
CATALOGUES OF MANUSCRIPTS CONSULTED.
For the compilation of the bibliographies in Part II the following
catalogues of manuscripts have been consulted[1]:--
Bernard de Montfaucon, Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum Manuscriptorum; Paris,
1739, 2 vols. fol.
Haenel, Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum qui in Bibliothecis Galliae,
Helvetiae, Belgii, Britanniae M., Hispaniae, Lusitaniae, asservantur;
Lipsiae, 1830.
Edward Bernard, Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae in
unum collecti; Oxon., 1697, 2 vols., fol. Vol. I, Bodleian; Oxford
Colleges; Cambridge Colleges and Public (University) Library. Vol. II,
Cathedral and other libraries in England; Irish libraries.
Catalogues of the following collections in the British Museum:--Royal MSS.
1734, 4to (Casley); Sloane and Birch, 1782, 2 vols. 4to (Ayscough);
Cotton, 1802, fol.; Harley, 1808-1812, 4 vols., fol.; Lansdowne, 2 parts,
1819, fol.; Arundel and Burney, 1834-40, fol.; Additional MSS. from A. D.
1783-1887.
A Catalogue of the Archiepiscopal MSS. in the Library at Lambeth Palace,
by H. J. Todd; 1812, fol.
Ancient MSS. in Gray’s Inn Library, 1869.
Catalogues of the following collections in the Bodleian:--Laudian MSS.,
1858-1885; Canonician MSS., 1854; Tanner MSS., 1860; Rawlinson, 1862-1878;
Digby, 1883; Catalogue of the Ashmolean MSS., 1845-1866.
Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum qui in Collegiis Aulisque Oxoniensibus
hodie adservantur (Coxe); Oxon., 1852, 2 vols., 4to.
A Catalogue of the Manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University
of Cambridge, edited for the Syndics of the University Press; Cambridge,
1856, &c., 6 vols., 8vo.
Nasmith, Catalogue of the Parker MSS. in Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge; 1787, 4to.
Catalogue of MSS. in the library of Gonville and Caius, by J. J. Smith;
1849, 4to.
Catalogus Manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Regiae Parisiensis; Paris,
1739-1744, 4 vols., fol.
Inventaire des Manuscrits conservés à la Bibliothèque Impériale sous les
Nos. 8823-18613, du Fonds Latin et faisant suite à la série dont le
Catalogue a été publié en 1744 par Léopold Delisle; Paris, 1863, &c., 8vo.
Inventaire des MSS. de la Bibliothèque Nationale, Fonds de Cluni, par L.
Delisle.
Catalogue général des Manuscrits des Bibliothèques Publiques des
Départements; Paris, 1849-1885, 7 vols., 4to.
Catalogue général des Manuscrits des Bibliothèques Publiques de France;
(α) Paris: (1) Bibliothèque Mazarine, by A. Molinier, 3 vols. 8vo.; (2)
Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, by H. Martin, 1885, &c. (vols. 1 and 2 contain
the Latin MSS.). (β) Départements, vols. 1-12, 1886-1889.
Catalogue des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Publique de Bruges (P. J.
Laude), Bruges, 1859, 8vo.
Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Regiae Monacensis, Cod. Lat.
vols. 1 and 2[2]; Monachii 1868-1874.
Katalog der Handschriften der königl. öffentlichen Bibliothek zu Dresden;
Leipzig, 1882-3, 2 vols., 8vo.
Tabulae Codicum Manuscriptorum praeter Graecos et Orientales in
Bibliotheca Palatina Vindobonensi asservatorum; Vienna, 1864-1875, 7
vols., 8vo. (Codices 1-14,000).
Catalogus Codicum Latinorum Bibliothecae Mediceae Laurentianae (Bandini),
1774, 5 vols., folio.
Bibliotheca Leopoldina Laurentiana (Bandini); Florence, 1791, 3 vols.,
folio.
Bibliotheca Manuscripta ad S. Marci Venetiarum (Valentinelli); Venet.
1868-1873, 6 vols., 8vo.
Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, Codices Palatini Latini, tom. I, codices
1-921; 1886.
Bibliothecae Patavinae Manuscriptae publicae et privatae opera Jacobi
Philippi Tomasini; Utini, 1639, 4to. (Tomasin).
Bibliothecae Venetae Manuscriptae publicae et privatae opera Jacobi
Philippi Tomasini; Utini, 1650, 4to. (Tomasin).
ABBREVIATIONS AND EDITIONS USED.
Anal. Franc. = Analacta Franciscana, sive chronica aliaque varia documenta
ad historiam Fratrum Minorum spectantia, edita a Patribus Collegii S.
Bonaventurae, Quaracchi, 1885-7, 2 vols.
Archiv f. L. u. K. Gesch. = Archiv für Literatur- und Kirchengeschichte
des Mittelalters, herausgegeben von H. Denifle und F. Ehrle.
Bale, Script. = Illustrium Majoris Britanniae Scriptorum ... Summarium,
1559, 2 vols.
B. of Pisa = Bartholomew of Pisa, Liber Conformitatum, ed. Milan, 1510.
Bernard = Catalogi Librorum MSS. Angliae et Hiberniae, Oxon., 1697.
Burnet, Reformation = History of the Reformation of the Church of England,
Oxford, 1829.
Foxe = The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe, edited by Cattley, 1841.
Hist. Litt. = Histoire Littéraire de la France (by the Benedictines of St.
Maur, and the Members of the Institute), 1733-1873.
Lyte = Maxwell Lyte, History of the University of Oxford, 1886.
Montfaucon = B. Montfaucon, Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum MSS., &c.
P.C.C. = Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Wills proved in the, now at
Somerset House.
Q. R. Misc. = Queen’s Remembrancer, Miscellaneous Accounts, now in the
Public Record Office.
Q. R. Wardrobe = Queen’s Remembrancer, Wardrobe Accounts, now in the
Public Record Office.
R.O. = Public Record Office.
R.S. = Rolls Series, or Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and
Ireland during the Middle Ages, published under the direction of the
Master of the Rolls.
Tomasin = Bibliotheca Patavinae MSS., and Bibliothecae Venetae MSS. &c.
(see above).
Wadding = L. Wadding, Annales Minorum, Romae, 1731, &c.
Wadding, Script. = L. Wadding, Scriptores Ordinis Minorum, Romae, 1806.
Wadding, Sup. ad Script. = Supplementum et castigatio ad Scriptores trium
Ordinum S. Francisci a Waddingo aliisve descriptos ... opus posthumum Fr.
Jo. Hyacinthi Sbaraleae, Romae, 1806.
Wood-Clark = Survey of the Antiquities of the City of Oxford, by Anthony
Wood, edited by Andrew Clark, 1889-1890. [The MS. from which this edition
is printed is often referred to in the following pages, namely ‘Wood MS.
F. 29 a’ in the Bodleian.]
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
PART I. HISTORY OF THE CONVENT.
CHAPTER I. EARLY YEARS.
Arrival and first settlement of the Franciscan Friars at
Oxford 1
Their early poverty and cheerfulness 3
Oxford Friars as peacemakers and Crusaders 7
Relations to the University and to the earliest Colleges 8
Their strict observance of the Rule 10
CHAPTER II. PROPERTY AND BUILDINGS.
First settlement of the Friars was within the City Wall 12
They acquire the houses of William, son of Richard de
Wileford (1229), and Robert, son of Robert Oen 13
Increase of the _area_ in 1244-1245 14
Grants from the King, Thomas de Valeynes, and others 15
The island in the Thames, 1245 16
Messuage of Laurence Wych, Mayor of Oxford, 1246 17
Friars of the Sack settle in Oxford 17
Their property granted to the Minorites by Boniface VIII,
Clement V, and Edward II, 1310 18
Grants from various persons, 1310 19
Inquisitiones ad quod Damnum, concerning properties belonging
to Richard Cary and John Culvard, 1319 19
Grants by Walter Morton (1321) and John de Grey de Rotherfield
(1337) 20
To what classes did the donors belong? 20
Buildings of the Grey Friars, absence of information about 21
Original houses and chapel 21
School built by Agnellus 21
The stricter Friars oppose the tendency to build 22
Building of the new Church of St. Francis 22
Its site and appearance 23
William of Worcester’s description of it 24
Monuments and tombs in the Church 24
Grave of Roger Bacon 26
Cloisters, Chapter-house, Refectory, and other buildings 27
Conduit and Gates 28
CHAPTER III. FRANCISCAN SCHOOLS AT OXFORD.
Learning necessary to the Friars 29
The first readers or lectors to the Franciscans at Oxford 30
Nature of the office of lector, as understood by Grostete and
Adam Marsh 31
The lector and his _socius_ 33
Later lectors were ordinary Regent Masters in Theology 34
Appointment to the office of lector 34
Special regulations concerning the lectors 36
System of instruction in theology recommended by Grostete 36
Lectures by the Friars 37
Controversy with the University about theological degrees in 1253 38
Controversy between the University and the Dominicans 39
Study of Arts (philosophy) before Theology, insisted on by the
University 41
Roger Bacon on the need for some preliminary training for the
Friars 42
Extortion of graces by external influence; ‘wax-doctors’ 42
Career of a student Minorite 43
On the numbers of Friars sent to Oxford 43
Course of study before ‘opposition’ 44
‘Opposition’ and ‘Responsion’ 45
The degree of Bachelor of Divinity 46
Exercises before ‘Inception’ 47
‘Vesperies’ and Inception 48
Questions disputed on these occasions in the thirteenth century 49
How far were the statutable requirements as to the period of
study really carried out? 49
Expenses at Inception 50
Necessary Regency 52
Conditions on which dispensations were granted 52
Maintenance of Franciscan students at the University 53
What proportion took degrees 54
Relative numbers of the various Religious Orders at Oxford 54
CHAPTER IV. BOOKS AND LIBRARIES.
Absence of privacy in a Franciscan Friary 55
Books of individual Friars 56
The two libraries, and their contents 57
Grostete’s bequest of books 57
Extant MSS. formerly in the Franciscan Convent 59
Alleged illegal detention of books by the Friars in 1330 60
Richard Fitzralph’s statements 60
Richard of Bury, on the libraries of Mendicant Friars 61
Dispersion of the books of the Oxford Franciscans 61
Leland’s description of the library in his time 62
CHAPTER V. PLACE OF OXFORD IN THE FRANCISCAN ORGANIZATION.
Learned Friars as practical workers among the people 63
Their Sermons 64
Educational organization throughout the country 64
Relations of the Franciscan School at Oxford to the other
Franciscan Schools of Europe 66
English Franciscans teach in foreign Universities 67
Oxford as the head convent of a _custodia_ 68
Provincial Chapters held at Oxford 69
CHAPTER VI. RIVALRY BETWEEN THE ORDERS: ATTACKS ON THE FRIARS.
Rivalry between the Friars Preachers and Minors: proselytism 71
Politics and Philosophy 72
Peckham and the Oxford Friars 73
Evangelical Poverty 75
Contrast between theory and practice 78
Attack on the Friars by Richard Fitzralph 79
Charge of stealing children 79
Wiclif’s early relations to the Friars 81
His attack on them in his later years 82
Charges of gross immorality made not by Wiclif, but by his
followers 83
The University and the Friars; summary of events in 1382 84
Unpopularity of the Friars in the fifteenth century 85
Foreign Minorites expelled from Oxford 86
Conspiracies against Henry IV; part taken by the Oxford
Franciscans 87
Relations between the Conventual and Observant Franciscans 87
CHAPTER VII. ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FRIARS’ MANNER OF LIFE AND MEANS
OF LIVELIHOOD: BENEFACTORS.
On the loss of Franciscan Records 89
Mendicancy as a means of livelihood 91
Procurators and limitors 92
Career of Friar Brian Sandon, legal _syndicus_ of the Oxford
Friary in the sixteenth century 93
Charges of immorality against the Friars 94
Their worldly manner of life before the Dissolution 96
Poverty of the Convent 97
Sources of income 97
Annual grants from the King and others 97
Frequency of bequests to the Friars 100
List of benefactors 102
Some other sources of income 110
Classes from which the Friars were drawn 111
Motives which led men to enter the Order 111
CHAPTER VIII. THE DISSOLUTION.
Attitude of the Grey Friars towards the Reformation in its
intellectual, religious, and political aspects 112
The Royal Divorce 114
Visitation of Oxford University in 1535 116
Suppression of the Friaries in 1538 116
Condition of the Grey Friary 117
Expulsion of the Friars; their subsequent history; Simon Ludford 119
Houses and site of the Grey Friars 120
Dr. London tries to secure the land for the town 121
Lease and sale of the property 121
Notes on its subsequent history 123
Total destruction of the buildings 124
PART II. BIOGRAPHICAL AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF INDIVIDUAL FRIARS.
CHAPTER I.
Custodians and Wardens 125-133
CHAPTER II.
Lectors or Regent Masters of the Franciscans 134-175
CHAPTER III.
Franciscans who studied in the Convent at Oxford, or had
some other connexion with the Town or the University 176-294
APPENDICES OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS.
=A. Documents relating to the acquisition of land property by the
Grey Friars.=
1. Grant of a house by William, son of Richard de Wileford 295
2. Grant of a house by Robert, son of Robert Oen, 1236 296
3. Royal license to enclose their possessions and throw down
part of the old City Wall, 1244 296
4. Island in the Thames acquired by Henry III, 1245 297
5. Grant of the same island to the Friars, 1245 297
6. Grant of two messuages by Thomas de Valeynes, 1245 298
7. Grant of a messuage by Laurence Wych, Mayor of Oxford, 1246 299
8. License to enclose their new possessions; the City Wall to
be repaired, 1248 299
9. Royal grants to the Friars of the Sack, 1262, 1265 300
10. Grants to the Friars Minors from various persons, 1310 301
11. Property of the Friars of the Sack conferred on the Friars
Minors, 1310 301
12. Re-grant of the same property to them, 1319 302
13. Inquiry held at Oxford in 1319 as to the advisability of
allowing John Culvard to grant a parcel of ground to the
Friars Minors 303
14. Grant of a parcel of ground by John de Grey de Rotherfield 305
=B. Miscellaneous Documents.=
1. Food for the Friars Minors and others, 1244 307
2. Adam Marsh as royal _nuncius_, 1247 307
3. For the same, 1257 308
4. The Church of the Minorites used as a Sanctuary, 1284-5 308
5. Royal grant of 50 marcs, 1289 308
6. Decree of the General Chapter at Paris, 1292 309
7. Royal grant of 50 marcs, 1323 309
8. ‘Receptor Denariorum’ of the Grey Friars, 1341 310
9. Goods and chattels of Friar John Welle, S.T.P., 1378 311
10. Expulsion of foreign Minorites, 1388 312
11. William Woodford; confirmation of his privileges by
Boniface IX, 1396 312
12. Appointment of a lecturer to the Convent at Hereford,
c. 1400 313
13. Decree of the General Chapter at Florence, 1467 314
14. Recovery of debt from a Sheriff, 1488 315
15. Documents relating to the lease of a garden at the Grey
Friars to Richard Leke, 1513-1514 316
16. Extracts from the Will of Richard Leke, 1526 318
17. An ex-warden called to account, 1529 318
=C. Controversy between the Friars Preachers and Friars Minors
at Oxford, 1269= 320
=D. Supplications and Graces from the Registers of Congregation.=
John David, 1450/1, 1454/5 336
John Sunday, 1453/4 336
Richard Ednam, 1462, 1463 336
Walter Goodfeld, 1506-1510 337
John Thornall, 1525 338
Thomas Kirkham, 1527 338
INDEX 341
CORRIGENDA.
P. 6, _n._ 5, _for_ tempora, _read_ temporalem.
P. 33. There was no house of Grey Friars at Evesham. Simon de Montfort was
buried by the monks of Evesham (_see_ Rishanger). The _Miracula Symonis de
Montfort_, however, bears evident traces of Franciscan influence.
P. 49, _n._ 3, _for_ Church, Quarterly Review, _read_ Church Quarterly
Review.
P. 54, _l._ 11, _for_ because, _read_ became.
P. 56, _n._ 5 _for_ quos, _read_ quas.
THE GREY FRIARS IN OXFORD.
_PART I._
_HISTORY OF THE CONVENT, A. D. 1224-1538._
CHAPTER I.
EARLY YEARS.
Arrival of the Franciscans at Oxford.--Their early Poverty, and
Cheerfulness.--Oxford Friars as Peacemakers, and Crusaders.--Relations
to the University, and to the first Colleges.--Their strict observance
of the Rule.
The Franciscans first arrived in England in 1224[3]. On Tuesday, the 10th
of September in that year (to follow the account of Friar Thomas
Eccleston, the earliest historian of the Order in this country), a
company of nine friars, four of them clerks and five laymen, landed at
Dover, under the leadership of Agnellus of Pisa, the first Provincial
Minister. After staying two days at Canterbury, four of them proceeded to
London; and at the end of the month, two of these, Friar Richard of
Ingeworth and Friar Richard of Devon, set out for Oxford. It is perhaps to
this place that the well-known story told by Bartholomew of Pisa properly
belongs[4]. As they neared Oxford they were stopped by the floods, and
finding themselves at nightfall ‘in a vast wood which lies between Bath
and Oxford,’ they sought refuge ‘for the love of God’ at a grange
belonging to the monks of Abingdon, ‘lest they should perish from hunger
or the wild beasts in the forest.’ The prior, judging them to be
jesters[5], had them turned out; but a young monk, when the rest had gone
to bed, put them into a hayloft and brought them bread and beer. That
night he had a dream. The prior and his brethren were summoned before the
judgment-seat of Christ; and
‘there came a certain poor man, humble and despised, in the habit of
those poor friars, and he cried with a loud voice: “O most impartial
Judge, the blood of my brethren, which hath been shed this night,
crieth unto Thee. The guardians of this place have refused them meat
and lodging, although they have left all for Thy sake, and were now
coming here to seek those souls which Thou hast redeemed with Thy
blood; they would not, in fact, have refused as much to jesters and
mummers.”... Then the Judge commanded them to be hanged on the elm
that stood in that cloister.’
In the morning the young monk found his companions dead, and became an
early convert to the order of St. Francis.
On their arrival at Oxford, the two friars were received with great
kindness by the Dominicans.
‘They ate in their refectory, and slept in their dormitory, like
conventuals for eight days[6].’
They then hired a house in the parish of St. Ebbe from Robert le
Mercer[7]. Alms sufficient for the purpose were probably already
forthcoming, as the new Order did not have to wait long for recognition.
Though they only occupied this house till the following summer[8], they
were there joined by ‘many honest bachelors and many eminent men’[9]; and
it may have been owing to this increase in their numbers that they left
their first abode in 1225 and hired a house with ground attached from
Richard the Miller[10]. It is significant of the rapid growth of opinion
in their favour that Richard
‘within a year conferred the land and house on the community of the
town for the use of the Friars Minors.’
Enthusiasm and self-sacrifice were the powerful agents which ensured
success and favour to the early Franciscans, and many are the stories of
their primitive poverty and its effects; and if the convent at Oxford was
not especially distinguished like that at Cambridge by ‘_paucilitas
pecuniae_,’ or like that at York by ‘_zelus paupertatis_[11],’ the Oxford
Minorites, during the time of Agnellus at least, departed but little from
the ideal of their founder[12], and lived the life of the poor among whom
they ministered. The pangs of hunger were not unknown in the convent; and
on one occasion the friars were in debt to the amount of ten marks for
food[13]. Their first houses were mean and small--too small for the
numbers who flocked to their Order[14]; and the infirmary was
‘so low that the height of the walls did not much exceed the height of
a man[15].’
When at length they built their church, the brethren worked with their own
hands, and a bishop and an abbat who had assumed the coarse habit of the
friars are said to have ‘carried water and sand and stones for the
building of the place[16].’
The appearance of the Minorites was no less humble than their buildings.
Their habits of coarse gray or brown cloth[17], tied round the waist with
a cord, often worn and patched, as Grostete loved to see them, hardly[18]
distinguished them from ‘simple rustics[19].’ In the convent at Oxford,
pillows were forbidden, and the use of shoes was permitted only to the
infirm or old, and that by special licence[20]. We hear of two of the
brethren returning from a chapter held at Oxford at Christmas time singing
as they
‘picked their way along the rugged path over the frozen mud and rigid
snow, whilst the blood lay in the track of their naked feet, without
their being conscious of it[21].’
Even from the robbers and murderers who infested the woods near Oxford the
Barefoot Friars were safe[22].
‘Three things,’ said Friar Albert, Minister General, ‘tended to the
exaltation of the Order,--bare feet, coarse garments, and the rejecting of
money[23]’; and the Oxford Franciscans were as zealous in the last respect
as in the other two. The Archdeacon of Northampton sent a bag of money to
Friar Adam Marsh, and when the latter refused it, the messenger threw it
down in the cell and left it:--
‘Wherefore,’ writes Adam to the Archdeacon, ‘the bearer of these
presents has at the instance of the brethren taken the said money,
just as it was, sealed with your seal, to your lordship, to dispose of
according to your pleasure[24].’
The evidence of the Public Records, containing scattered notices of grants
from the Crown, is striking on this point, and the poverty of these early
Franciscans can hardly be better illustrated than by the means taken to
relieve it. During the long reign of Henry III, the Patent, Close, and
Liberate Rolls contain only three grants of money to the house of the
Minorites at Oxford, and all of them are due to exceptional circumstances.
They are, ten marks for the support of a provincial chapter in 1238,
60_s._ for their houses in 1245 in lieu of six oaks which the king had
before given them, and three marks for the fabric of their church in
1246[25]. The alms to the house at Oxford are almost wholly in kind, and
consist chiefly of supplies of firewood from the royal forests round
Oxford. The earliest recorded instance of royal bounty was a grant of
thirteen oaks in ‘Brehull’ (Brill) forest for fuel on the 9th Jan.
1231[26]. A few years later they received fifteen cartloads of brushwood
from Shotover forest[27], and in 1237 fifteen oaks in Wychwood Forest ‘to
make charcoal[28].’ Similar notices occur almost every year--sometimes
twice a year--throughout the reign of Henry III[29]. In 1240 the keepers
of the wines at Southampton were ordered to deliver one cask of Gascon
wine, of the king’s bounty, to the Friars Minors at Oxford ‘to celebrate
masses[30].’ In 1248 the Sheriff of Oxford received orders to
‘give to the Friars Minors of Oxford one cask of wine of the six casks
which he took into the king’s hand of the wine of those who lately
killed a clerk in the town of Oxford[31].’
But a fortnight later the king repented of his generosity and assigned the
same cask to one of his numerous relatives[32]. Of more interest, as
showing that the friars were really classed with the poor of the town, is
a royal brief of the 12th of Dec. 1244 to the bailiffs of Oxford, bidding
them
‘give of the ferm of their town to Friar Roger, King’s Almoner, on
Wednesday the morrow of the feast of St. Lucy the Virgin, ten marks,
to feed a thousand paupers and the Friars Preachers and Minors of
Oxford, for the soul of the Lady Empress sister of the King, on the
day of her anniversary[33].’
With all their poverty and holiness they were singularly free from that
form of piety which consists in wearing a sad countenance and appearing
unto men to fast. We hear indeed of strict silence, of constant prayer, of
vigils that lasted the whole night[34].
‘Yet,’ continues Eccleston[35], ‘the brethren were so full of fun
among themselves, that a mute could hardly refrain from laughter at
the sight. So when the young friars of Oxford laughed too frequently,
it was enjoined on one that as often as he laughed he should be
punished. Now it happened that, when he had received no punishments in
one day, and yet could not restrain himself from laughing, he had a
vision one night, that the whole convent stood as usual in the choir,
and the friars were beginning to laugh as usual, and behold the
crucifix which stood at the door of the choir turned towards them as
though alive, and said: “They are the sons of Corah who in the hour of
chanting laugh and sleep.”... On hearing this dream, the friars were
frightened and behaved without very noticeable laughter[36].’
Grostete said to a Friar Preacher, ‘Three things are necessary to temporal
health--to eat, sleep, and be merry[37].’ Excessive austerity was
discountenanced by the authorities of the Oxford convent. Friar Albert of
Pisa, who was himself ‘always cheerful and merry in the society of the
brethren[38],’ compelled Friar Eustace de Merc, contrary to custom, to eat
fish, saying that the Order lost many good persons through their
indiscretion[39]. Grostete again
‘commanded a melancholy friar to drink a cup full of the best wine as
a penance, and when he had drunk it up, though most unwillingly, he
said to him, “Dear brother, if you often performed a penance like
that, you would have a better ordered conscience[40].”’
The friars lovingly treasured up the great bishop’s puns and jokes and
wise sayings[41], and were always ready to tell or appreciate a good
story. From first to last they had the reputation of being excellent
company[42], and were welcome at the tables of the rich or well-to-do[43].
They were allowed by the rule to
‘eat of all manner of meats which be set before them[44],’
a practice which occasionally caused some scandal[45]; and Friar Albert of
Pisa ordered them to keep silence in the house of hosts, except among the
preachers and friars of other provinces[46]. Like St. Francis himself, the
Oxford friars often possessed the courtesy and charm of manner which is
born of sympathy[47]; and it was perhaps to this quality that their
employment as diplomatic agents is to be attributed. Thus Agnellus was
chosen in 1233 to negotiate with the rebellious Earl Marshall and try to
bring him back to his allegiance[48]. Adam Marsh was on more than one
occasion sent beyond the sea as royal emissary[49], and Edward I sent
Oxford Minorites to treat for peace with his enemies[50]. But to the
mediaeval mind, there was a cause more sacred than that of peace or good
government; and the Franciscans would not have had their great
influence--would not have become leaders of men throughout the world--had
they not shared the one ideal, which still even in the thirteenth century
appealed to every class in every country of Europe. The Crusades attracted
the scholastic philosopher no less than the baron with his sins to
expiate, or the serf with his liberty to win. It was partly to increase
his influence as a missionary[51] that Adam of Oxford, one of the first
‘masters’ who joined the Order[52], took the vows of St. Francis; against
the wishes of his brethren in England, who hoped to keep among them so
famous and learned a convert, and who indeed feared lest he should come
under heretical influences[53], he went to Gregory IX, and at his own
prayer was sent by the Pope to preach to the Saracens[54]. When Prince
Edward went to the Holy Land in 1270, he took with him as preacher Friar
William de Hedley, the lecturer and regent master of the Friars Minors at
Oxford[55]. Hedley died before the army reached Acre; but these learned
friars did not flinch when summoned to meet a sterner fate. In 1289
Tripoli was captured by the Saracens: an English friar led the last charge
of the despairing Christians, carrying aloft the cross till his arms were
hewn off;
‘the above-mentioned friar,’ continues the chronicler, ‘who by his
example provoked very many to martyrdom, had been no small space of
time warden of the Oxford Convent[56].’
The friars of both Orders soon took a leading part in the affairs of the
University. As Bishop of Lincoln[57], Grostete continued to exercise a
kind of paternal authority over the University[58], and his high character
and long connexion with Oxford gave him an influence which was denied to
his successors. It was natural that this influence should be reflected on
the Franciscans, whom he had taken under his especial care and among whom
was his ‘true friend and faithful counsellor[59]’ Adam Marsh. The latter
was specially summoned to the congregation to hear and advise on the
answer sent by Grostete to some petitions of the University[60], and we
find him interceding with the Bishop on behalf of the Chancellor, Radulph
of Sempringham[61]. One of the most important stages in the constitutional
development of the University is marked by the charter of Henry III in
1244, which constituted a special tribunal for the scholars, and formed
the basis of the Chancellor’s jurisdiction. On the 11th of May of the same
year, a deed of acknowledgment was executed at Reading and signed and
sealed on behalf of the University by the Prior of the Friars Preachers,
the Minister of the Friars Minors, the Chancellor of the University, the
Archdeacons of Lincoln and Cornwall, and Friar Robert Bacon[62]. Edward I
in 1275[63] appointed ‘Friars John de Pecham and Oliver de Encourt’ royal
commissioners to decide a suit between Master Robert de Flemengvill[64]
and a Jewess named Countess, the wife of Isaac Pulet, which had long been
pending in the Chancellor’s court; this however was not to be treated as a
precedent to the prejudice of the Chancellor’s jurisdiction.
It is probable that the example afforded by the houses of student friars
was not lost on the founders of the early colleges. We know that Walter de
Merton was a friend of Adam Marsh[65], and a benefactor of the friars, but
it would be dangerous to attempt to trace any direct Franciscan influence
in the statutes of his college[66]. There is however no doubt about the
connexion of the Franciscans with the foundation of Balliol College. Sir
John de Balliol died in 1269 without having established his house for poor
scholars on a permanent footing. His widow Devorguila first gave them a
definite organisation in 1282. According to an old tradition[67], she was
induced to take this step by her Franciscan confessor, Friar Richard de
Slikeburne. It is clear that the latter was her most trusted and energetic
agent in carrying out the plan. Devorguila urges him by all means in his
power to promote the perpetuation of ‘our house of Balliol[68],’ and the
executors of Sir John de Balliol assigned certain moneys to the scholars
of the house
‘with the consent of Devorguila and at the advice of Friar Richard de
Slikeburne[69].’
Nor was the connexion merely a transitory one. The statutes of 1282[70]
are addressed to Friar Hugh de Hertilpoll and Master William de Menyl, who
are evidently the two ‘proctors’ mentioned in the document. To the
proctors (who did not belong to the house but were in the position of
permanent visitors) was entrusted the institution of the principal after
his election by the scholars, together with a general supervision over the
economy of the college. They alone could expel a refractory scholar, and
they were constituted the special guardians of the poorer students[71].
Nothing remains to show how long the first proctors held their office, or
how their successors were appointed. It is probable however that the
office was intended to be a perpetual one[72]--not a temporary expedient
to be called into existence from time to time,--and further that one of
the proctors was always a Franciscan. Two other documents bearing on the
subject are known to exist. In 1325 a doubt had arisen whether the members
of the college might study any science except the liberal arts; it was
declared to be unlawful to do so and contrary to the mind of the founder,
and was consequently forbidden
‘by Masters Robert of Leicester, of the Order of Friars Minors,
S.T.P., and Nicholas de Tyngewick, M.D. and S.T.B., then _Magistri
Extranei_ of the said House[73].’
The second document[74] is a letter dated 1433 addressed to the Bishop of
London by
‘Richard Roderham, S.T.P., and John Feckyngtone of the order of
Minorites in Oxford, Rectors of Balliol College.’
The Rectors having, ‘according to the exigency of the office which we
discharge upon the rule of the said college and the observance of the
statutes thereof,’ inquired into the working of the first statute,
decided, with the consent of the majority of the house, that it was
prejudicial to the college, and asked the Bishop to consent to the
modification of it[75].
It will be readily admitted that in the thirteenth century the Oxford
Franciscans deserved their high reputation. It is true, that frequent
complaints are heard of the decline of the Order[76]--that many
relaxations had been introduced into the Rule. But these were not demanded
by the English province. When Haymo was General, orders were issued by the
Chapter that friars should be elected in each province to note any points
in the Rule which seemed to require revision, and send them to the
Minister General. Eccleston[77] gives the names of three friars elected
for this purpose in England--Adam Marsh, the foremost of the Oxford
friars; Peter of Tewkesbury, Custodian of Oxford; and Henry de Burford.
‘Having marked some articles, the said friars sent them to the
General, in a schedule without a seal, beseeching him, by the
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, to let the Rule stand, as it
was handed down by St. Francis, at the dictation of the Holy
Spirit[78].’