Provincial[1302], ‘about investigating the meaning of Holy Scripture
in the original books of the saints, and he professed himself very
ready to do this or anything else which you thought fit to enjoin on
him.’
This was not the only subject discussed at the interview. The English
Minister suspected Walter of a desire to go abroad and of having obtained
from the General the promise of a lectureship in some foreign convent or
University. The Provincial had indeed just received an order from the
General to send some English friars to teach at Paris, and perhaps
Madele’s name was mentioned. Madele however denied the imputation, and
Adam recommended the Provincial to keep him in England, sending other
friars to Paris, and to remedy his grievances. Though he had long taught
theology with success, no competent provision had been made for him; he
had not only to exhaust his mind by studies but also to wear out his body
by writing daily with his own hand, as he lacked the ‘great volumes and
the assistance of companions,’ which had been provided for his
predecessors in the office. Eccleston refers to him as dead when he wrote
his chronicle[1303]. None of Madele’s writings[1304] have been preserved.
=G. of St. Edmund=: Adam Marsh wrote to the Provincial (W. of Nottingham)
on behalf of Martin the warden and the other friars at Oxford, requesting
him to order without delay
‘that Friar G. de Sancto Eadmundo be restored to the convent of friars
at Oxford[1305].’
=Thomas of Eccleston=, the earliest historian of the Franciscan Order in
England, was probably a native of Lancashire[1306]. All that is known of
him is contained in his Chronicle. He was an inmate of the London Convent
when William of Nottingham was minister (1240-1250), and speaks from his
own experience of the poverty and hard fare of the brethren there[1307].
He was a student at Oxford in the lifetime of Grostete, whether before or
after the latter became bishop is not clear[1308]. He knew the earliest
converts to the Order in England, and enjoyed the intimacy of William of
Nottingham[1309]. His history is dedicated to Friar Simon of
Esseby--perhaps Ashby in Norfolk or Lincolnshire[1310]. In the preface he
states that he had been collecting and arranging materials for
twenty-five years, and explains his object in writing.
‘Every upright man ought to judge his life by the examples of better
men, because examples strike home more directly than the words of
reason.’
Other Orders have lives of their holy brethren; this Chronicle is intended
similarly to edify the Franciscans by giving them some account of those
who have sacrificed their all to enter the Order and observe the Rule of
St. Francis[1311]. From this point of view, chronology was of little
importance, and there is scarcely a date in the whole book. It is
impossible to give the exact date at which the Chronicle was finished; the
deaths of William of Nottingham and of Innocent IV are mentioned[1312];
and the work was probably not completed before 1260. It is certainly the
narrative of a contemporary, often of an eye-witness, and, apart from the
manifest sincerity of the author, the accuracy of the details can in some
instances be tested by independent and trustworthy authority. To take one
example; Eccleston’s account of the reception of the friars at Cambridge
(pp. 17, 18) may be compared with the following entry in Close Roll 22
Hen. III, m. 12, (June 15 1238):
Rex ballivis suis de Cantebr’ salutem. Sciatis quod concessimus
fratribus Minoribus de Cantebr’ domum illam cum pertinenciis in
Cantebr’ que fuit Magistri Benjamin Judei et quam prius vobis
concesseramus ad Gayolam nostram (_or_ vestram) inde faciendam, ad
clausum domorum predictorum fratrum dilatandum, salvis domino feodi
serviciis et redditibus ei inde debitis. Et idem vobis precipimus quod
eisdem fratribus de domo predicta plenam saisinam habere faciatis.
The following MSS. of the Chronicle ‘_De adventu Fratrum Minorum in
Angliam_’ are extant, all dating from the early fourteenth century.
(1) A mutilated MS. in the Chapter Library at York; Brewer’s text for
the earlier portion of the Chronicle is founded on this.
(2) Brit. Mus.: Cotton Nero A ix was used by Brewer as the guide for
the later part: this MS. begins with _Collatio IX_ (i.e. _Collatio
VIII_ in the York MS.).
(3) A fragment of the earlier portion of the Chronicle is contained in
a MS. at Lamport House; this has been printed by Howlett in Mon.
Franc. II; it supplies most of the chapters wanting in the Cottonian
MS., of which it probably formed a part.
(4) No. 3119 of the MSS. of Sir T. Phillipps (Thirlestaine House,
Cheltenham), contains the whole Chronicle, though without many of the
incidents which occur in the York and Cotton MSS. Neither Brewer nor
Howlett knew of its existence. A short account of it will be found in
‘The English Historical Review,’ Oct. 1890, p. 754.
In the same volume of MSS. is the treatise _De impugnatione_, etc.,
printed in the Appendix C: Bale and Pits ascribe this to Eccleston,
but without sufficient authority.
=Roger Bacon= is said on the authority of John Rous[1313] to have been
born at or near Ilchester in Dorsetshire. He came of a wealthy perhaps
noble family; he speaks of one brother as rich, of another as a scholar.
He was probably nephew of Robert Bacon the Dominican. Roger’s family
espoused the royal cause in the Barons’ war and suffered great
losses[1314]. The year 1214 is usually given as the date of his birth. The
date is an inference from the following passage written in 1267:
‘I have laboured much at sciences and languages, and it is now forty
years since I first learnt the alphabet; and I was always studious;
and except for two of those forty years I have always been _in
studio_[1315].’
The last phrase probably means ‘at a University’ or some place of study.
Boys of ten or twelve years frequently began their education at Oxford,
and it is likely that Bacon went there at an early age[1316]. Roger of
Wendover relates that Friar Robert Bacon preached before the King at
Oxford in 1233, and fearlessly rebuked him for listening to evil
counsellors, especially Peter des Roches. Matthew Paris gives the story
with the following addition:
‘a clerk of the court of a pleasant wit, namely, Roger Bacun, ventured
to make this joke: “My lord King, what is most harmful to men crossing
a strait, or what makes them most afraid?” The King replied, “Those
men know who occupy their business in great waters.” “I will tell
you,” said the clerk, “_Petrae et Rupes_[1317].”’
It cannot be regarded as certain that this Roger Bacon was the famous
friar. The name was not uncommon; e.g. a Roger Bacon, a Thomas Bacon, and
a Peter Bacon occur in Pat. Roll 3 Edw I. On the other hand Roger was
certainly in Oxford in or before this year. He states that St. Edmund,
Archbishop of Canterbury, lectured at Oxford in his time, i.e. Edmund
Riche who became Archbishop in 1233[1318]. At this period too, Roger
attended Grostete’s lectures and made the acquaintance of Adam Marsh, for
both of whom he always retained the greatest admiration. He found in them
that sympathy with and understanding of his experimental method, which
were denied him in later life[1319]. It was doubtless his connexion with
these men that led Roger to enter the Franciscan Order. When or where this
took place is unknown: perhaps at Oxford before the death of Grostete. He
had clearly reached years of discretion when he took the step. This may be
inferred from his denunciation of those who entered the Orders as boys and
begun the study of theology before they had been grounded in
philosophy[1320]. It is also implied in such passages as these:
‘When I was in another state, I wrote nothing on philosophy.’ ‘Men
used to wonder before I became a friar that I lived owing to such
excessive labour[1321].’
He began his studies on positive science before 1250[1322], and had by
1267 spent more than 2,000 _librae_[1323]
‘on secret books and various experiments and languages and instruments
and tables.’
It is not necessary to assume that this sum was expended before he joined
the Franciscan Order; he could, and undoubtedly did, obtain money by
begging to carry on his experiments[1324]. Roger left Oxford for Paris
some time before 1245; he states that he had seen Alexander of Hales with
his own eyes[1325], and he heard William of Auvergne dispute on the
_Intellectus Agens_ before the whole University: William died in
1248[1326]. Roger was in France in 1250 when he saw the chief of the
Pastoureaux, and remarked that
‘he carried in his hand something as though it were sacred, as a man
carries relics[1327].’
He is said by Rous to have been made D.D. of Paris and to have been
incorporated as D.D. at Oxford[1328]. When he returned to Oxford is
unknown; probably soon after 1250. He must have lectured at this time; he
won some fame, as he says himself[1329], but without doubt made many
enemies. About the year 1257 or 1258--when Adam Marsh could no longer
protect his great pupil--Roger was exiled from England and kept under
strict supervision in Paris for ten years[1330]. In 1263 he wrote an
astronomical treatise called _Computus Naturalium_[1331]. Soon after this,
a clerk named Raymund of Laon mentioned Bacon’s name to the Cardinal
Bishop of Sabina and roused the latter’s interest in his
discoveries[1332]. Bacon sent a letter in reply to the Cardinal’s
communication: this has not been preserved. In 1265 the Cardinal became
Pope Clement IV. On 22nd of June 1266, Clement wrote requesting Roger to
send him a fair copy of the work which Raymond had mentioned, setting
forth the remedies he proposed, ‘_circa illa, quae nuper occasione tanti
discriminis intimasti_;’ the friar was to do this, in spite of any
constitution of his Order to the contrary, secretly and without
delay[1333]. The Pope’s supposition that the work was already written was
erroneous;
‘for,’ writes Roger[1334], ‘whilst I was in a different state of life,
I had written nothing on science; nor in my present condition had I
ever been required to do so by my superiors; nay, a strict prohibition
has been passed to the contrary, under penalty of forfeiture of the
book, and many days’ fasting on bread and water, if any book written
by us (i.e. the Franciscans) should be communicated to
strangers[1335].’
However, although the book was not yet written, and notwithstanding
endless difficulties, want of money, want of mathematical and other
instruments and tables, the restrictions of the Rule, jealousy of his
superiors and brethren who, he says,
‘kept me on bread and water, suffering no one to have access to me,
fearful lest my writings should be divulged to any other than the Pope
and themselves[1336]’--
the Opus Majus, the Opus Minus, and the Opus Tertium, were sent to the
Pope within fifteen or eighteen months after the arrival of the papal
mandate[1337]. ‘Such a feat’ says Brewer, ‘is unparalleled in the annals
of literature.’ The Pope probably used his influence in behalf of Roger,
as the latter seems to have returned to England about this time and to
have been freed from annoyance[1338]. The works sent to Clement he
regarded merely as handbooks; at the same time that he was writing them,
he was engaged on a larger work which was to embrace the whole range of
sciences as then understood[1339]. He was working at this in 1271[1340].
His attacks on all classes, including his own Order, became even more
violent than hitherto. In 1277 and 1278 synods were held at Paris and
Oxford to condemn erroneous doctrines. The repressive movement extended to
the Franciscans; in 1278, Jerome of Ascoli, the Minister General, held a
Chapter at Paris, and among other friars Roger Bacon was condemned
‘_propter quasdam novitates_[1341].’ He is believed to have remained in
prison for fourteen years. Jerome of Ascoli, who became Pope Nicholas IV
in 1288, died in 1292. Raymond Gaufredi, a man of liberal views, was
elected General in 1289, and released many friars who had been imprisoned
for their opinions by his predecessors. In 1292 he held a General Chapter
at Paris, and it is probable that among the friars here set free was Roger
Bacon[1342]. It is certain that the last work of Roger’s of which we have
any notice was written in 1292[1343]. The date usually assigned for his
death (1294) is a pure conjecture[1344]. John Rous says that he was buried
among the Friars Minors at Oxford[1345].
Such then is the chronological outline of his life, as far as it can be
ascertained. A list of his works will be more useful than a short account
of his character or philosophy.
=Roger Bacon’s Works= were neglected and regarded with a pious horror in
the Middle Ages[1346]. The result is that many of those which have
survived at all have reached us in a fragmentary state. ‘It is easier,’
said Leland, ‘to collect the leaves of the Sibyl than the titles of the
works written by Roger Bacon.’ The difficulty has to a considerable extent
been removed by Mr. Brewer’s valuable preface to the _Opera Inedita_, and
by the labours of M. Charles. The following account of Roger Bacon’s works
is based chiefly on these two writers. Some additions have been made and
some rearrangement attempted.
Miscellaneous works, lectures, &c., probably early:--
_Computus naturalium_, an astronomical treatise, is the earliest work of
Bacon’s to which a date can be assigned; it was written A. D. 1263-4.
_Inc._ ‘Omnia tempus habent.’
MSS. British Museum: Royal 7 F viii. fol. 99-191 (sec. xiii).
Oxford: University College, 48.
Douai 691, § 2.
Summary printed by Charles, _Roger Bacon_, pp. 355-8.
_De termino Paschali_, an earlier work, to which Bacon refers in the
_Computus naturalium_; (Charles, p. 78).
_Questions on Aristotle’s physics._
MS. Amiens 406, f. 1-25; cf. MS. Bodl. Digby 150, fol. 42 (sec. xiii),
‘Summa Baconis.’
_Quaestiones super librum physicorum a magistro dicto Bacon._
MS. Amiens 406, fol. 26-73.
_De vegetabilibus_ (gloss on this work then attributed to Aristotle).
MS. Amiens 406 (intercalated in the preceding work).
_In Aristotelis Metaphysica._
MS. Amiens 406, fol. 74.
_Tractatus ad declaranda quaedam obscure dicta in libro Secreti Secretorum
Aristotelis._ _Inc._ ‘Propter multa in hoc libro contenta qui liber
dicitur Secretum Secretorum Aristotelis sive liber de regimine principum.’
MS. Bodl.: Tanner 116, fol. 1 (sec. xiii exeuntis); the same MS. fol.
16, contains Aristotle’s supposititious _Secretum Secretorum_ ‘cum
glossa interlineari et notis Rogeri Bacon.’
_Questiones naturales mathematice astronomice_, &c. ‘Expliciunt
reprobationes Rogeri Baconis.’
MS. Paris:--Bibl. Nat. 16089, f. 93 (sec. xiii-xiv).
_Bacon in Meteora._ _Inc._ ‘Cum ad noticiam impressionum habendam.’
MS. Bodleian: Digby 190, fol. 38 (sec. xiv ineuntis).
_Processus fratris Rogeri Bacon ... de invencione cogitacionis_
(astrological fragment). _Inc._ ‘Notandum quod in omni judicio quatuor
sunt inquirenda, scil. natura planetae.’
MS. Bodl.: Digby 72, fol. 49 b, 50 (sec. xiv-xv).
_De somno et vigilia._
MSS. Bodl.: Digby 190, f. 77: _Inc._ ‘De somno et vigilia
pertractantes, Perypateticorum sentenciam potissime sequemur.’
Cambridge:--Publ. Library Ii, vi. 5, fol. 85 b-88 (sec. xiii). _Inc._
‘Sompnus ergo et vigilia describuntur multis modis.’
Logic:--
_Summulae Dialectices_, an elementary treatise on logic, characterised by
Charles, who expresses a doubt as to its authenticity, as very dry,
unimportant, and intended for lecturing purposes. _Inc._ ‘Introductio est
brevis et apta demonstratio.’ ‘Expliciunt sumule magistri Roberti (_sic_)
Baccun.’
MS. Bodl.: Digby 205, f. 48 (sec. xiv).
_Syncategoremata._ _Inc._ ‘Partium orationis quaedam sunt declinabiles.’
MS. Bodl.: Digby 204, fol. 88 (sec. xiv).
_Summa de sophismatibus et distinctionibus._ _Inc._ ‘Potest queri de
difficultatibus accidentibus.’
MS. Bodl.: Digby 67, fol. 117 (sec. xiii); fragment.
_Tractatus de signis logicalibus._ _Inc._ ‘Signum est in predicamento
relationis.’
MS. Bodl.: Digby 55, fol. 228 (sec. xiii).
_Opus Majus_, written A. D. 1266-1267; 7 parts. _Inc._ ‘Sapientiae
perfecta consideratio consistit in duobus.’
MSS. of the whole work: Oxford:--Bodl. Digby 235 (sec. xv and xiv).
Dublin:--Trinity Coll. 81 (= 221); a transcript of this is in Trinity
Coll. Cambridge.
Paris:--Bibl. Mazarine 3488 (sec. xviii).
Rome:--Vatican 4086 (Montfaucon’s Catal. p. 114), ‘Rogerii Baconi
causae universales in septem partes distinctae’; probably the _Opus
Majus_.
Parts I-VI edited by Jebb, 1733: reprinted at Venice 1750.
The parts often occur separately.
I. _On the four causes of human ignorance_: authority, custom, popular
opinion, and the pride of supposed knowledge.
MS. Brit. Museum: Cott. Jul. F vii. fol. 186.
II. _On the causes of perfect wisdom in Holy Scripture_, or, _On the
dignity of philosophy_.
III. _On the usefulness of grammar._
This part, Charles points out (p. 62), is not perfect in Jebb’s edition:
see _Opus Tertium_, cap. XXVI, XXVII.
IV. _On the usefulness of mathematics._
MSS. London:--British Museum: Cotton, Tib. C. V. (sec. xiv); Julius D.
V. ‘De utilitate scientiarum’; Julius F vii. fol. 178 (sec. xv),
‘Declaratio effectus verae mathematicae.’ And fol. 180, ‘De moribus
hominum secundum complexiones et constellationes.’
Royal 7 F vii, p. 1 (sec. xiii), ‘Pars quarta compendii studii
theologiae’; pp. 82-125, ‘Descriptiones locorum’; pp. 133-140, ‘De
utilitate astronomiae,’ or ‘Tractatus de corporibus coelestibus.’
Sloane 2629, f. 17, ‘De utilitate astronomiae.’
Also Lambeth Palace Library 200 (sec. xv), ‘De arte mathematica.’
Oxford:--Bodl. E Musaeo 155, p. 185 (sec. xv ineuntis), ‘Pars quarta
in qua ostendit potestatem mathematicae in scientiis et rebus et
occupationibus hujus mundi.’ Univ. Coll. 49 (sec. xvii).
Paris:--Bibl. Nat. 7455 A (sec. xv), ‘De utilitatibus scientiae
mathematicae verae.’
Cf. Bodl.: Digby 218, f. 98 (sec. xiii-xiv).
Printed, except the last two chapters, by Combach, Frankfurt 1614,
under the title: ‘Specula Mathematica in quibus de specierum
multiplicatione ... agitur,’ &c.
V. _Perspective and Optics._
MSS. London:--Brit. Mus.: Royal 7 F vii. p. 125 (sec. xiii), ‘De visu
et speculis’; 7 F viii. f. 47 (sec. xiii), ‘Perspectiva quedam
singularis,’ ‘Perspectiva R. Bacon, liber secundus.’ Sloane 2156, f. 1
(A. D. 1428), and 2542 (sec. xv): Addit. 8786, f. 84, ‘Incipit
tractatus de modis videndi.’
Oxford:--Bodl. Digby 77 (sec. xiv) and 91 (sec. xvi).
Paris:--Bibl. Nat. 2598, f. 57 (sec. xv).
Venice:--St. Mark, Classis XI, Cod. 10 (sec. xiv).
Rome:--Vatican (Cod. Lat.) 828, f. 49 (A. D. 1349).
Printed by Combach, Frankfurt 1614, under the title, ‘Rogerii Baconis
Angli ... Perspectiva.’
VI. _Experimental Science._
MSS. Brit. Mus.: Sloane 2629 (sec. xvi), extracts.
Oxford:--Bodl.: Digby 235, p. 389; Canon. Misc. 334, fol. 53, ‘Alius
tractatus ejusdem Fratris Rogeri extractus de sexta parte compendii
studii theologiae.’ Univ. Coll. 49.
VII. _Moral Philosophy._ _Inc._ ‘Manifestavi in precedentibus quod
cognitio linguarum.’
MSS. Brit. Mus.: Royal 8 F ii. f. 167-179 (sec. xv), three parts out
of six.
Bodl.: Digby 235, p. 421[1347].
Omitted in Jebb’s edition: extracts printed by Charles, pp. 339-348.
Printed at Dublin 1860 (?)[1348].
_Opus Minus_, written in 1266-7, was mainly an abstract of the _Opus
Majus_ with some additions on the state of scholasticism, on alchemy
practical and speculative, and on astronomy. Charles gives the following
description of it. It consisted of 6 parts:
i. Introduction or dedicatory letter; ii. Practical alchemy; iii.
Explanation of the _Opus Majus_; the order of the sciences inverted, i.e.
they were arranged according to their dignity, moral philosophy first; iv.
Treatise on the seven sins of Theology; v. Speculative alchemy, or, _De
rerum generationibus_ (see below); vi. _De Coelestibus_.
Of this work only the fragment edited by Brewer (_Opera Ined._ 311-390)
from MS. Bodl. Digby 218, has been discovered. This includes a few pages
of Part ii., all of iii., most of iv., and part of v. Wood quotes a
passage from the _Opus Minus_ which does not occur in this fragment
(_Opera Ined._ xciv. n. 1). From this it has been assumed that he had
access to a MS. of the _Opus Minus_ now lost; but the passage is quoted by
Leland, and probably copied from him by Wood. It may perhaps occur in some
other work of Bacon’s; thus the passage quoted in _Op. Ined._ pp.
xcvii-xcviii, from which Brewer argues that ‘Wood must have seen some
other copy of the _Opus Minus_ not now discoverable,’ occurs in Brewer’s
edition of the _Opus Tert._ pp. 272-3.
Part of the blank on p. 375 is to be filled up from the _Opus Majus, Pars
VI, Exemplum II_, where the passage ‘_Est autem--curabit et_’ occurs, word
for word. How much of the _Opus Majus_ was here inserted is doubtful;
probably to the end of _Exemplum II_. Thus MS. Bodl. Canonic. Miscell.
334, f. 53, begins with the words, ‘_Corpora vero Adae et Evae_,’ _Opus
Minus_, p. 373, and leaves off with the words, ‘_et alibi multis modis_,’
which occur at the end of _Opus Majus, Pars VI, Exemp. II_.
The last part of the _Opus Minus_ is wholly wanting in Brewer’s edition.
The subject of this part may be gathered from Bacon’s words in _Opus
Tert._, cap. xxvi (p. 96):
‘Nunc igitur tangam aliquas radices circa haec quas diligentius
exposui in Secundo Opere, ubi de coelestibus egi’: and (p. 99) ‘Sed in
Opere Minore ubi de coelestibus tractavi, exposui magis ista.’
In Digby MS. 76, fol. 36 seq. (sec. xiii) is a treatise on this subject,
forming part of the _Physics_ in the great _Compendium Philosophiae_ (see
below). It is not improbable, that, before being incorporated in this
larger work, it formed part of the _Opus Minus_ sent to the Pope; on fol.
42 are the words:
‘et est nunc temporis scilicet anno domini 1266.’
_Opus Tertium_, written in 1267 (see _Opera Ined._ p. 277), 75 chapters.
MSS. London:--Brit. Mus: Cotton Tiberius C. V. (sec. xiv); also
Lambeth Palace Library, 200 (chapters 1-45).
Oxford:--Bodl. E Musaeo 155 (sec. xv ineuntis); and Univ. Coll. 49 (A.
D. 1617).
Cambridge:--Trinity College, MS. Gale (transcript of the Cotton MS.).
Douai, 691 (sec. xvii), wanting chapters 38-52: this MS. has been
described by Victor Cousin, _Journal des Savants_ for 1848 (5
articles).
Printed in Bacon’s _Opera Inedita_ (Rolls Series), pp. 3-310.
Charles has been misled by a passage in the work called ‘_Communia
Naturalium_’ into thinking that this latter formed part of the _Opus
Tertium_; Charles, _R. Bacon_, pp. 65, 83-4; his description of _Opus
Tertium_ is consequently erroneous. The passage is from the Mazarine MS.
of the _Communia Naturalium_ (i.e. No. 3576), fol. 85:
‘Quod est improbatum in secunda parte primi operis, deinde in hoc
tertio opere explanavi hoc et solvi objectiones.’
These words refer to Bacon’s doctrine that the _intellectus agens_ is not
part of the soul, but God and angels. This is insisted on in the _Opus
Tertium_, cap. xxiii, and it is not likely that Bacon would do more than
refer to it again casually in the course of the same work. The relation of
the _Opus Tertium_ to the _Commun. Nat._ is probably as follows: the
latter was written or begun first. Bacon repeatedly mentions that he was,
while writing his three _Opera_ for the Pope, engaged on a larger work,
_Scriptum Principale_, which he did not send to Clement[1349]. Much of
this larger work naturally found its way, probably in a summarised form,
into the _Opus Tertium_ as we know it, the treatise actually sent to the
Pope.
_Tractatus de multiplicatione specierum_, or, _De generatione specierum et
multiplicatione et corruptione earum_, is inserted by Jebb in the _Opus
Majus_, pp. 358-445, between Part v and Part vi. The subject is however
discussed in Part iv, which is often quoted or referred to in Part v. In
the _De multiplicatione_, &c. (p. 368), are the words:
Ut tactum est in communibus naturalium.
Again (p. 358):
Recolendum est igitur quod in tertia parte hujus operis tactum est,
quod essentia, substantia, natura, potestas, potentia, virtus, vis,
significant eandem rem, sed differunt sola comparatione.
There is nothing about this in the third part of the _Opus Majus_; but it
is found in the _Communia Naturalium_. The treatise _De multiplicatione
specierum_ was therefore part of a work of which the _Communia Naturalium_
formed the third part. This large work was according to Jebb, the _Opus
Minus_; according to Charles, the _Opus Tertium_[1350]; according to
Brewer, the encyclopaedic _Compendium Philosophiae._ Brewer is no doubt
right; the _De multiplicatione_ was intended as a sub-section of the great
treatise on Physics.
How then did the treatise come to be regarded as part of the _Opus Majus_,
and to be inserted in the MSS. of that work? There can be little doubt
that it was, in its original form, the treatise on rays sent to the Pope
with the _Opus Majus_, but as a separate work (_Opera Ined._ pp. 227,
230). The references to the _Communia Naturalium_ are not inconsistent
with this hypothesis: (1) the treatise on rays does not seem to have been
written specially for the Pope, and consequently references to works which
he could not know were not unnatural; (2) Bacon had already begun the
encyclopaedic work, but found it impossible to get it finished or send it
to the Pope (_Opera Inedita_, pp. 60, 315).
_Inc._ ‘Primum igitur capitulum circa influentiam agentis habet tres
veritates.’
MSS. London:--Brit. Mus.: Royal 7 F viii. f. 13; _inc._ ‘Postquam
habitum,’ &c. Addit. 8786, fol. 20 b: _inc._ ‘Postquam habitum est de
principiis rerum naturalium’: Sloane 2156, f. 40 (A. D. 1428); _inc._
‘Postquam,’ &c.
Oxford:--Bodl. Digby 235, p. 305 (inserted in the _Opus Majus_).
Dublin:--Trinity Coll. 81 (in the _Opus Majus_).
Paris:--Bibl. Nat. 2598 (sec. xv): _inc._ ‘Postquam,’ &c.
Bruges, 490 (sec. xiii), called _Philosophia Baconis_.
Printed in Jebb.
_De speculis_ (on burning mirrors). _Inc._ ‘Ex concavis speculis ad solem
positis ignis accenditur.’
MS. Oxford:--Bodl. Ashmole, 440 (sec. xvi); cf. Digby 71.
Printed at Frankfurt 1614, in Combach’s _Specula Mathematica_, p. 168.
_Speculi Abnukefi compositio secundum Rogerium Bacon._ _Inc._ ‘Quia
universorum quos de speculis ad datam distanciam.’
MS. Bodl.: Canonic. Misc. 408, fol. 48.
Cf. Brit. Mus. Cott. Vesp. A ii. f. 140.
_Compendium Philosophiae_, an encyclopaedic work, which if completed would
have formed a kind of revised and enlarged edition of the _Opus Majus_,
_Opus Minus_, and _Opus Tertium_. In the _Communia Naturalium_, cap. i.
(MS. Bodl. Digby 70) Bacon gives a sketch of his plan. The work was to
consist of four volumes, and to treat of six branches of knowledge, viz.,
vol. i. Grammar and Logic; vol. ii. Mathematics; vol. iii. Physics; vol.
iv. Metaphysics and Morals. This _Compendium_ seems to have been known
also as _Liber sex scientiarum_. The latter title is found in the
collection printed at Frankfurt in 1603[1351] in MSS. Bodl. Canonic. Misc.
No. 334, fol. 49 b; _ibid._, No. 480, fol. 33; and E Musaeo 155, p. 689.
In each of these MSS. the same passage is quoted, as follows:
Dicta fratris Rogerii Bacon in libro sex scienciarum in 3{o} gradu
sapiencie, ubi loquitur de bono corporis et de bono fortune et de bono
et honestate morum. (_Inc._) In debito regimine corporis et
prolongatione vite ad ultimos terminos naturales ... miranda potestas
astronomie alkimie et perspective et scienciarum experimentalium.
Sciendum igitur est pro bono corporis quod homo fuit immortalis
naturaliter ... (_Expl._) ut fiant sublimes operaciones et utilissime
in hoc mundo, etc.
Charles identifies the _Liber sex scientiarum_ with the _Opus Minus_; but
this passage does not occur in the extant portion of the _Opus Minus_
which deals with the same subject and expresses the same ideas (_Opera
Ined._, p. 370 _seq._). It seems probable therefore that this passage is
an extract from the section on Alchemy in vol. iii. of the _Compendium
Philosophiae_.
Vol. I. _Grammar and Logic._ A portion of this has been edited by Brewer,
_Opera Ined._, pp. 393-519, under the title _Compendium Studii
Philosophiae_. It was written in 1271, and contains an introduction on the
value of knowledge and the impediments to it, and the beginning of a
treatise on grammar.
MS. Cott. Tiberius C. V. (sec. xiv).
Two other treatises on grammar by Roger Bacon are extant, and probably
formed part of the _Comp. Phil._[1352]:
(1) _Inc._ ‘Primus hic liber voluminis grammatici circa linguas alias a
Latino.... Manifestata laude et declarata utilitate cognitionis
grammatice’ (chiefly on Greek grammar).
MSS. Brit. Museum: Cotton Jul. F viii. f. 175 (sec. xv), a fragment.
Oxford:--Corpus Christi Coll. 148 (sec. xv); Univ. Coll. 47 (sec.
xvii).
Douai, 691 § 1 (sec. xvii), copied from Univ. Coll. MS. 47.
(2) _Inc._ ‘Oratio grammatica autem fit mediante verbo.’ ‘Explicit summa
de grammatica magistri Rogeri Bacon.’
MS. Cambridge:--Peterhouse, 1, 9, 5, James 3 (sec. xiv).
Vol. II. _Mathematics_; 6 books:
i. _Communia mathematicae_, ii-vi. Special branches of mathematics.
Liber i. _Inc._ ‘Hic incipit volumen verae mathematicae habens sex libros.
Primus est de communibus mathematicae, et habet tres partes principales.’
MSS. British Museum: Sloane 2156, f. 74-97 (sec. xv), ending in the
second part of the first book.
Bodl.: Digby 76, fol. 48 (sec. xiii), containing the remainder of the
first book (?). _Inc._ ‘Mathematica utitur tantum parte.’
Libri ii-vi. An extant fragment of a commentary on Euclid by Bacon may
have belonged to this part; in _De Coelestibus_ (_Comp. Phil._ vol. iii.)
he often refers to his commentary on the Elements of Euclid (Charles, p.
85).
MS. Digby 76, f. 77-8 (sec. xiii).
A treatise, _De laudibus mathematicae_, expressing the same ideas as Part
iv. of the _Opus Majus_, may have been intended as an introduction to this
volume.
MS. Royal 7 F vii. fol. 141-152: cf. Digby 218, f. 98.
Vol. III. _Physics._ First came general physics (1 book), then particular
sciences (3 books).
Liber i. _Communia Naturalium_, divided into 4 parts.
MSS. Brit. Mus.: Royal 7 F vii. f. 84 (sec. xiii), _Liber Naturalium_.
‘Hoc est volumen naturalis philosophiae in quo traditur scientia rerum
naturalium, secundum potestatem octo scientiarum naturalium quae
enumerantur in secundo capitulo; et habet hoc volumen quatuor libros
principales, Primum scilicet _De communibus ad omnia naturalia_;
secundum _De Coelestibus_; tertium _De Elementis, mixtis, inanimatis_;
quartum _De vegetabilibus et generabilibus_.’ (This MS. ends at the
third part of the first book).
Bodl.: Digby 70 (sec. xiv). _Communia Naturalium._ _Inc._ ‘Postquam
tradidi grammaticam’ [Desinit ad init. cap. vii].
Cf. Digby 190, f. 29 (sec. xiv ineuntis). _De principiis naturae_;
beginning illegible.
Paris:--Bibl. Mazarine 3576; olim 1271, f. 1-90 (sec. xiv). ‘Incipit
liber primus Communium naturalium Fratris Rogeri Bacon, habens quatuor
partes principales, quarum prima habet distinctiones quatuor. Prima
distinctio est de communibus ad omnia naturalia et habet capitula
quatuor. Capitulum primum de ordine scientiae naturalis ad alias.
(_Inc._) Postquam tradidi grammaticam secundum linguas diversas.’
Extracts printed by Charles, pp. 369-391.
Libri ii, iii, iv. The special natural sciences, according to the Royal
MS. just quoted, were treated in three books. They were seven[1353] in
number, as Bacon enumerates them in the second chapter of the first part
of the _Communia Naturalium_.
‘Praeter scientiam communem naturalibus, sunt septem speciales,
videlicet perspectiva, astronomia judiciaria et operativa, scientia
ponderum de gravibus et levibus, alkimia, agricultura, medicina,
scientia experimentalis.’
Liber ii. (1) _Optics_ or _Perspective_ (a version of the _De
multiplicatione specierum_). _Inc._ ‘Ostensum quippe in principio hujus
Compendii Philosophiae.’
MSS. Brit. Mus: Royal 7 F vii. p. 221 (sec. xiii), fragment, called
‘Quinta pars Compendii theologiae’; and Addit. 8786, fol. 2
(fragment).
[Cf. Bodl. Digby 183, fol. 49 (sec. xiv)?] See the references under
_Tract. de multiplicatione specierum_.
(2) _Astronomy_, or, _De coelo et mundo_.
MSS. Oxford:--Bodl. Digby 76, f. 1 (sec. xiii), _Compendium
Philosophiae_. _Inc._ ‘Prima igitur veritas circa corpora mundi est
quod non est unum corpus continuum et unius nature.’ _Ibid._ fol. 36,
_De corporibus coelestibus, sc. de zodiaco, sole, etc._ _Inc._ ‘Habito
de corporibus mundi prout mundum absolute constituunt’ (cf. _Opus
Minus_). Cf. Ashmole 393 I, f. 44 (sec. xv), ‘Veritates de magnitudine
... planetarum. Tractatus extractus de libris celi et mundi,’ etc.
Also, Univ. Coll. 49, De corporibus coelestibus.
Paris:--Mazarine 3576, _De coelestibus_ (five chapters). _Inc._ ‘Prima
igitur veritas.’
(3) _Gravity_, _Scientia ponderum de gravibus et levibus_.
Cf. _Tractatus trium verborum_.
Liber iii. (4) _Alchemy_, or, _De elementis_[1354].
Liber iv. _De vegetabilibus et generabilibus_[1355].
(5) _Agriculture._
See note in Brewer, _Opera Ined._ p. li.
(6) _Medicine._
(7) _Experimental Science._
Vol. IV. _Metaphysics and Morals._
_Inc._ ‘Quoniam intencio principalis est innuere nobis vicia studii
theologici que contracta sunt ex curiositate philosophie.’
MSS. Bodl.: Digby 190, fol. 86 b (sec. xiii-xiv). ‘Methaphisica
fratris Rogeri ordinis Fratrum Minorum, de viciis contractis in studio
theologie’ (25 lines).
Paris:--Bibl. Nat. 7440 (sec. xiv), fol. 38-40, fol. 25-32. ‘Incipit
metaphysica Rogeri Baconis de ordine praedicatorum’ (fragment).
It is, however, probable that these MS. fragments ought to be referred to
Bacon’s last work, the _Compendium Studii Theologiae_, rather than to the
_Compendium Philosophiae_.
_Compendium studii theologiae_, Bacon’s last work, bears the date 1292
(‘usque ad hunc annum Domini 1292’). Extracts from it are printed by
Charles, pp. 410-416. This work consisted of six parts or more.
Part i. _On the causes of error._
Part ii. _Logic and grammar in reference to theology._
These two parts are extant (though not complete) in MS. British
Museum, Royal F vii. pp. 153-161: there is a long gap between pp. 154
and 155.
According to this MS. the work consisted of two parts:
‘Incipit compendium studii theologiae et per consequens philosophiae
ut potest et debet servire theologicae facultati, et habet duas partes
principales; prima liberali communicatione sapientiae investigat omnes
causas errorum, et modos errandi in hoc studio.... Secunda pars
descendit ad veritates stabiliendas et ad errores cum diligentia
exterminandos.’
Part v. is preserved in Royal MS. 7 F. viii. f. 2 (sec. xiii) (almost
complete); it is a treatise on _optics_.
_Incipit_: ‘Acto prologo istius quintae partis hujus voluminis quam
voco compendium studii theologiae, in quo quidem comprehendo in summa
intentionem totius operis, extra partem ejus signans omnia impedimenta
totius studii et remedia, nunc accedo ad tractatum exponens ea quae
necessaria sunt theologiae de perspectiva et de visu.’
Part vi. is mentioned in Part v.: it is to be a treatise, ‘_De
multiplicatione Specierum_.’
In Part iv. also the words ‘_in partibus sequentibus_’ occur.
_Alchemy_ was treated in the _Opus Minus_ and in the _Compendium
Philosophiae_. Bacon divides it into (1) Speculative alchemy, ‘the science
of the generation of things from elements’; (2) Practical alchemy, ‘which
teaches us how to make noble metals and colours,’ &c., and the art of
prolonging life (_Opus Tertium_, cap. xii). Wood mentions a treatise of
Bacon’s _De rerum generationibus_, of which he had seen two copies
varying much. These may have been the versions in the _Opus Minus_[1356]
and the _Compendium Philosophiae_[1357]. A number of works on alchemy and
medicine ascribed to Bacon have been preserved, some of them are
undoubtedly genuine, others apocryphal.
_Epistolae fratris Rogerii Baconis de secretis operibus artis et naturae
et de nullitate magiae_ [or, _De mirabili potestate artis et naturae_].
The work consists of a letter or collection of letters in ten or eleven
chapters, the last five of which Charles considers doubtful, addressed
perhaps to William of Auvergne (who died in 1248), or to John of London,
whom Charles identifies with John of Basingstoke (d. 1252).
_Inc. cap._ 1. ‘Vestrae petitioni respondeo diligenter. Nam licet.’
MS. Brit. Mus: Sloane 2156, p. 117.
Printed at Paris 1542; at Oxford 1594; Hamburg 1613; in Zetzner’s
_Theatrum Chemicum_, 1659; and by Brewer in _Rog. Bacon Opera
Inedita_, App. I.
The three following treatises were printed at Frankfurt in 1603, under the
title, _Sanioris medicinae magistri D. Rogeri Baconis angli de arte
chymiae scripta_, &c., and elsewhere.
Summary of Avicenna’s _De anima_. _Inc._ ‘In illius nomine qui major est.’
MS. Bodl: Ashmole 1467 (sec. xvi). [Cf. Charles, _R. Bacon_, p. 59;
_Opera Ined._ p. 39.]
_Breve Breviarium_, or, _De naturis metallorum in ratione alkimica et
artificiali transformatione_, or, _Coelestis alchymia_, or, _De naturis
metallorum et ipsorum transmutatione_.
Divided into two parts, speculative and practical alchemy; the work
contains no doubt some of the ideas incorporated in the _Opus Minus_ and
the _Comp. Philosophiae_. The date is uncertain.
_Inc._ ‘Breve breviarium breviter abbreviatum.’
MSS. Brit. Mus: Sloane 276, f. 4 (sec. xv-xvi).
Bodl.: Digby 119, fol. 64 (sec. xiv); and Bodl. E Musaeo 155, p. 513.
Paris:--Bibl. Nat. new Latin collection, No. 1153. (Abbey of St.
Germain).
_Tractatus trium verborum_, or, _Epistolae tres ad Johannem Parisiensem_;
namely:
i. ‘De separatione ignis ab oleo,’ or, ‘De modo projectionis’; ii. ‘De
modo miscendi’; iii. ‘De ponderibus.’ _Inc._ ‘Cum ego Rogerus rogatus a
pluribus.’
MSS. British Museum: Cotton Julius D. V.; Harleian 3528, f. 174;
Sloane 1754, ‘Mendacium primum, secundum, et tertium.’
Oxford:--Bodl: Digby 119, f. 82 (sec. xiv ineuntis); Ashmole 1448, pp.
1-25 (sec. xv); Corpus Christi Coll. 125, f. 84{b}; University Coll.
49.
_Fragment on alchemy_, without title.
MS. Paris:--Bibl. Nat. 2598, f. 138 (sec. xv), ‘Explicit de subjecto
transmutationis secundum Rogerum Bachonis.’ It perhaps occurs in one
of his larger works.
_Libellus Rogerii Baconi ... de retardandis senectutis accidentibus et de
sensibus conservandis_ (11 chapters). This work is assigned by Charles to
the year 1276. _Inc. prol._ ‘Domine mundi ex nobilissima stirpe originem
assumpsistis.’ _Inc. cap._ 1. (De causis senectutis). ‘Senescente mundo
senescunt homines.’
MSS. Brit. Museum: Sloane 2320, fol. 56.
Bodl.: E Musaeo 155, pp. 591-637 (sec. xiv-xv); Canonic. Misc. 334,
fol. 1 (sec. xv); and 480, fol. 1 (sec. xv).
Printed at Oxford in 1596 (and in English, London 1683).
_Antidotarius_, a second part of this work. _Inc._ ‘Post completum
universalis sciencie medicacionis tractatum.’
MSS. Bodl.: Canonic. Miscell. 334 (fol. 21{b} to 25), and 480 (fol.
16); E Musaeo 155, p. 645. Cf. MS. Canon. Misc. 480, fol. 38{b}-47,
below.
_Liber Bacon de sermone rei admirabilis, sive de retardatione senectutis._
_Inc._ ‘Intendo componere sermonem rei admirabilis domino meo fratri E,
cujus vitam deus prolonget.’
MSS. Bodl.: E Musaeo 155, pp. 655-666; Digby 183, fol. 45 (sec. xiv
exeuntis); Canonic. Miscell. 334, fol. 25-31.
_De universali regimine senum et seniorum._ _Inc._ ‘Summa regiminis senum
universalis est hoc ut dicit Avicenna.’
MSS. Brit. Mus.: Sloane 2629, fol. 57.
Bodl.: Canon. Miscell. 334, fol. 18{b}-21{b}; 480 (_explicit_ fol.
16); and E Musaeo 155, p. 638.
_De graduacione medicinarum compositarum._ _Inc._ ‘Omnis forma inherens.’
MSS. Bodl. Canon. Misc. 334, fol. 32; 480; fol. 23{b} (the author’s
name is obliterated in the MS.).
_Tractatus de erroribus medicorum_[1358]. _Inc._ ‘Vulgus medicorum.’
MSS. Oxford: Bodl. Canon. Misc. 334, fol. 42; 480, fol. 30 (author’s
name obliterated); E Musaeo 155, pp. 669-689. Corpus Ch. Coll. 127
(sec xv).
_Canones practici de medicinis compositis componendis_, ‘Cap. i. Extractum
de libro septimo Serapionis qui est antidotarium suum et est theoricum
capitulum.’ (13 chapters.) _Inc._ ‘Necesse est illi qui vult componere
medicinas.’ ‘Explicit tractatus de compositione medicinarum per fratrem
rugerium bacon editus.’
MS. Bodl. Canon. Misc. 480, fol. 38{b}-47.
_De leone viridi_ (on the manufacture of mercury); only the summary by
Raymund Gaufredi is extant. _Inc._ ‘Verbum abbreviatum.’
MSS. Brit. Mus.:--Sloane 692, f. 46 (sec. xv). Oxford:--Corpus Chr.
Coll. 277. Printed at Frankfurt, 1603 (_Sanioris medicinae_, p. 264),
&c.
A number of works on alchemy are attributed to Roger Bacon erroneously or
without any probability.
_De consideratione quintae essentiae_; 3 books.
The author was a Franciscan who entered the Order at Toulouse[1359]. _Inc.
opus._ ‘Dixit Salomon sapientie cap. vii. Deus dedit mihi.’
MSS. Bodl.: Canonic. Misc. 334, fol. 59{b}. ‘Primus liber de
consideracione quinte essencie omnium rerum transmutabilium. In nomine
domini nostri Jhesu Christi. Incipit liber de famulatu philosophie
ewangelio domini Jhesu Christi et pauperibus euangelicis viris Amen.’
Fol. 94{b}, ‘Explicit liber quinte essencie secundum fratrem Rogerium
Bacun de ordine minorum.’
Bodl. E Musaeo 155, pp. 431-507. ‘Explicit liber tertius de
consideracione 5{te} essencie secundum magistrum Rogerum Bacon,
correctus et scriptus per Johannem Cokkes manibus suis propriis
Oxon[1360].’
Brit. Museum: Sloane 2320, f. 73 (sec. xv-xvi).
Paris:--Bibl. Nat. 7151 (xv).
Venice:--St. Mark, vol. IV. CI. XIV., Cod. 39.
_De expulsione veneni._ _Inc._ ‘Ista subscripta sequerentur post capitulum
de hiis que expellunt venenum.’
MS. Bodl. E Musaeo 155, p. 507 (not expressly ascribed to Bacon in the
MS.: see Brewer, _Op. Ined._ p. xl.).
_Speculum alchemiae._ _Inc._ ‘Multifariam multisque modis.’
MSS. Brit. Museum: Addit. 8786, f. 62; 15,549; Sloane 3506 (English
translation).
Bodl.: Ashmole 1416, f. 101 (sec. xv).
Printed in Zetzner’s _Theatrum Chemicum_, vol. ii., A. D. 1659; in
Manget’s _Theasurus_, vol. i., &c., &c.
_Speculum alchemiae._ _Inc._ ‘Speculum alchemiae quod in corde meo
figuravi.’
MS. Brit. Mus.: Harl. 3528, fol. 185.
_Speculum secretorum_, or, _Liber secretorum_. _Inc._ ‘In nomine Domini
... ad instructionem multorum circa hanc artem.’
MSS. Brit. Mus.: Sloane 513, f. 178{b} (sec. xv).
Oxford:--Bodl.: Digby 28, f. 61 (sec. xiv); Digby 119, f. 90{b};
Ashmole 1467, f. 208{b}, and 1485, p. 117 (sec. xvi). Also Corpus
Christi Coll. 125, f. 86.
Printed at Frankfurt, 1603 (p. 387).
_Secretum secretorum naturae de laude lapidis Philosophorum._ _Inc._
‘Secretum secretorum naturae audiant secreti quae loquor.’
Printed at Frankfurt, 1603 (pp. 285-291).
_Rogerina major et minor_, two medical treatises; neither by Bacon: one is
by a Roger Baron.
MSS. Bodl. 2626; Cf. MS. St. Omer 624 (sec. xiii); Charles, _R.
Bacon_, p. 75, _note_.
Cambridge, Publ. Libr. Ii, I. 16 (sec. xiv) and Ee, II. 20.
Brit. Mus.: Sloane 342, f. 146 (sec. xiii).
_De Magnete._ _Inc._ ‘Amicorum intime, quamdam magnetis lapidis.’
MS. Bodl. E Musaeo 155, pp. 414-426 (anon.): Charles (p. 18) ascribes
it to Peter de Maricourt.
_Calendar_, wrongly attributed to Bacon; made by a Minorite at Toledo
1297, and extracted from the _Tabulae Toletanae_.
MS. Cott. Vesp. A. II. f. 2; Cf. _Opus Majus_ p. 140 (ed. Venet,
1750).
_Semita recta alchemiae_ (or, _Liber duodecim aquarum_).
MS. Brit. Mus.: Sloane 513, f. 181{b}-188{b} (sec. xv): ‘Explicit
semita recta alkemie secundum Magistrum Rogerum Bakun.’
Cf. MS. Sloane 276, f. 21, an anonymous work on the same subject,
differing somewhat from the above.
Bodl.: Ashmole 1485, pp. 173-188 (sec. xvi), ‘Liber aquarum.’
_Thesaurus spirituum_, four treatises on the influence of planets, &c.
_Inc._ ‘Hec est doctrina omnium experimentorum.’
MS. Brit. Museum: Sloane 3853, f. 3-40 (sec. xv). ‘Hec est tabula
libri sequentis ... a quodam viro venerabili ordinis Minorum fratre
summa composita et ordinata, et a diligencia M. Rogero Bakon ordinis
Minorum nuper recognita, qui quidem liber pro omnibus hujus mundi
experimentis sufficit,’ &c.
‘Explicit liber qui secundum Robertum Turconem et Rogerum Bakon
fratrem Minorum Thesaurus spirituum nuncupatur.’
Cf. MS. Sloane 3850, f. 129{b}, _De nigromantia_, extracted from the
above.
_De fistula._
MS. Sloane 238, f. 214{b}-216{b} (sec. xv). ‘Secundum Rogerum Bacon ut
habetur in libro qui dicitur Thesaurus pauperum[1361].’
_Necromanciae._ _Inc._ ‘Debes mundare manus et pedes ante visionem
characterum.’
MS. Sloane 3884, f. 44{b} (sec. xv-xvi): ‘Haec sunt quae Rogerus Bacon
de pura necromancia dixit.’
Other worthless recipes, fragments, &c., attributed to Bacon will be found
in MSS:--
Bodl. 3, 349, ‘Index simplicium’; Ashmole 1423, iv. pp. 1-7 ‘Opus,’
‘Opus Commune,’ ‘De conclusionibus’; Sloane 692, f. 102, ‘Finalis
conclusio’; Harl. 2269, art. I; Cott. Jul. D. V. ‘De colore faciendo’;
Digby 196, f. 163{b}, ‘Septem virtutes naturae’; Ashmole 1485 (sec.
xv), various.
_De intellectu et intelligentia_, and _De nutrimento_, which Charles
considers genuine, are printed among the works of Albertus Magnus.
MSS. Bodl.: Digby 67, f. 107 (sec. xiv), anon: and Digby 55, f. 193,
anon: Alb. Magnus, _Opera_, V. p. 239 and 175 (Lugd. 1657).
_Tractatus de veritate theologiae in septem partes distributus_, perhaps
by Robert Bacon. _Inc._ ‘Flecto genua mea ad patrem domini nostri Jesu
Christi.’
MS. Bodley 745 (= 2764) (sec. xiv) pp. 113-188: ‘Incipit tractatus
fratris B.’ Part i. de trinitate dei; ii. de creatura dei; iii. de
corruptela peccati; iv. de incarnacione verbi; v. de gratia spiritus
sancti; vi. de medicina sacramentali; vii. de statu finalis judicii.
_Tractatus super Psalterium_, probably by Robert Bacon.
MS. _ibid._ pp. 193-497. ‘Incipit tractatus fratris R. Bacun, super
psalterium. Beatus vir qui.’
_Excerptiones Rogeri Bacon ex auctoribus musicae artis_; or correctly,
_Excerptiones Hogeri abbatis_, &c.
MS. Cambridge:--Corp. Chr. Coll. 260 (_olim_ 189).
Cf. MS. Milan:--Ambrosiana, _Rogerii de Baccono de generatione et
corruptione, de Musica, de prospectiva_ (Montfaucon, p. 523). Cf.
Opera Inedita, 295 _seq._
_De sacrae scripturae profundis misteriis authore Rogero Bacon._
MS. London:--Gray’s Inn, 17 (sec. xv); the title is in a later hand.
It is probably a version of the Expositiones Vocabulorum de singulis
libris Bibliae Rogeri compotistae monachi S. Eadmundi;
MSS. Oxford:--Bodl. Laud. Misc. 176 (sec. xiv); Magd. Coll. 112 (sec.
xv).
=John=, Roger Bacon’s favourite pupil, was certainly not John of
London[1362], or John Peckham[1363]. On the other hand it is impossible to
identify him with any known scholastic doctor. It is not certain whether
he was a friar or whether he was ever at Oxford. About 1260 Roger Bacon
found him probably at Paris, as a poor boy of fifteen eager to learn, but
forced to beg his bread and to serve those who gave him the necessaries of
life[1364].
‘I caused him,’ says Roger[1365], ‘to be taken care of and instructed
for the love of God.’
The boy repaid his master’s care. Wishing to send a fit interpreter of his
works to the Pope, Bacon writes[1366],
‘I chose a youth whom for five or six years I have had instructed in
languages and mathematics and optics, in which is all the difficulty
of what I send; and I instructed him gratis with my own mouth after I
received your command, feeling that I could not at present have
another messenger after my own heart.’
There was no one at Paris who knew so much of the roots of philosophy as
did _juvenis Johannes_; he was ‘a virgin, not knowing mortal sin,’ and ‘an
excellent keeper of secrets[1367].’ John was sent to Clement with the
_Opus Majus_ and other treatises[1368] in 1267, the other works, _Opus
Minus_ and _Opus Tertium_, being sent later and probably by other
messengers. From this time we have no authentic information about him, and
do not know whether he fulfilled Bacon’s expectations:
‘he has that which will enable him to surpass all the Latins, if he
lives to old age and builds on the foundations which he has[1369].’
=Robert de Ware=, in Hertfordshire[1370], entered the Order at Oxford
between 1265 and 1268. In the prologue of his only extant work, addressed
to his younger brother John, he gives the following account of his
conversion[1371]:--
I was the eldest son of my father; at a tender age, tenderly beloved,
I was designed for a life of study. At length I came to Oxford, and
then I entered the Order of Friars Minors. At this my father was
exceedingly grieved, and did all in his power to force me to leave the
Order, sending my mother and brother and relatives and other friends
to me, with intreaties and promises; and, I am told, with the help of
some powerful persons, he made every exertion to secure my liberation
in the court of Ottobon, who was then acting as legate in
England[1372]. At length finding himself thwarted because I would not
give my consent, he became so embittered against me that he absolutely
refused to see me or speak with me, nor could any of my friends pacify
him. One day even, when I had come to his gates with my
companion-friar, and wished to enter, he refused me admittance by his
servants, drew his sword, and swore with a mighty oath that he would
kill me if I presumed to enter.
At length the father was stricken down by a mortal disease, and, warned in
a vision, he relented towards his son. The latter was summoned hastily
from London, and reconciled to his father, who before his death gave proof
of his devotion to the Order of St. Francis.
_Twenty-five discourses on the Virgin Mary, by friar Robert de Ware._
_Inc. prol._ “Aue rosarium scripturarum per areolas.”
MS. London:--Gray’s Inn, 7, f. 62-138: (sec. xiii). No title; the name
of the author is given in a hand of the fourteenth century.
=Walter de Landen=, =William Cornish=, =William de Wykham=, =Dyonisius=,
and =Robert de Cap(e)ll=, were Franciscans at Oxford, and took part in the
controversy with the Dominicans in 1269. All that is known about them will
be found in Appendix C.
=Nicholas de Gulac= was at Oxford in 1269. Suffering from stone and
despairing of life, he at length prayed the Lord
‘to cure him by the merits of his martyr Earl Simon de Montfort.’
On the next morning as he rose from his bed ‘_ut commingeret_,’ the stone
fell at his feet, and he had no pain before or afterwards, being
completely cured on Easter Tuesday, 1269; to this miracle witness was
borne by the whole convent of Minorites at Oxford[1373].
=Laurence of Cornwall=, to whose miraculous recovery from fever, after
prayer to Simon de Montfort, the same Friar N. de Gulac bore witness, was
probably at Oxford about the same time[1374].
=Stephanus Hibernicus=, called also =Stephen of Exeter= and =Stephen of
Oxford=, was born in 1246, and became a Minorite at ‘Mutifernana’ in 1263.
These facts are contained in the _Annales Montis Fernandi (sive
Minoritarum Multifernanae) ab a{o} 45 usque ad an. 1274_, the authorship
of which is usually ascribed to Stephen[1375]. It is very doubtful whether
he was at Oxford.
The _Annales_ are extant in ‘MS. Bibl. Arch. Armachani,’ according to
Hardy; formerly MS. Clarendon 19, f. 32-44 (Bernard).
=William of Ware=, or =William Warre=, =Guaro=, =Varro=, &c., born at Ware
in Hertfordshire, entered the Order in his youth, according to William
Woodford[1376]. It is not improbable that he studied at Oxford, but there
is no authority for the statement[1377]. He was S.T.P. of Paris, where
most of his life was spent[1378]. He is said to have been a pupil of
Alexander of Hales[1379] (d. 1245), and master of Duns Scotus[1380], who
went to Paris in 1304. He was called _doctor fundatus_ by later
writers[1381].
His _Commentaries on the Sentences_ were seen by Leland in the Franciscan
Library, London[1382], and are now extant in the following MSS.:
Oxford:--Merton Coll. 103, 104 (sec. xiv). _Inc._ ‘Utrum finis per se
et proprius theologie.’
Toulouse, 242, § 1 (sec. xiv), anon. _Inc. ut supra._
Troyes, 661, § 1 (xiv). ‘Questiones super I et III lib. Sentent.’
ascribed to Duns Scotus. _Inc. ut supra._
Troyes, 661 § 2 (xiv). ‘Questiones Wareti super tertium librum
Sententiarum.’ _Inc._ ‘Queritur utrum incarnacio sit possibilis Quod
non. Incarnacio est quedam.’
Vienna:--Bibl. Palat. 1424, and 1438 (xiv).
Florence:--Laurentiana, _ex Bibl. S. Crucis_, Plut. xxxiii, Dext. Cod.
i (sec. xiii).
Padua, Bibl. S. Antonii, _in Pluteis_ xxiv and xxii. (Tomasin, pp.
62{a}, 60{b}.)
=Richard Middleton= is said by Bale, Wood, and others, to have studied at
Oxford, but they produce no evidence for the statement[1383]. He was B.D.
at Paris in 1283[1384], when with other doctors and bachelors he was
appointed to examine the doctrines of Peter Johannis Olivi. He appears to
have incepted as D.D. soon afterwards[1385], and is reckoned among the
masters of Duns Scotus. Like many other famous doctors of his Order, he is
said by Wadding to have written on the Immaculate Conception[1386].
According to Willot he was known at Paris as _Doctor solidus et copiosus,
fundatissimus et authoratus_[1387]: at the Council of Basel he was
referred to as _Doctor profundus_[1388].
_Commentum super iv. Sententiarum._ _Inc. prologus_, ‘Abscondita
produxit.’
MSS. Oxford:--Bodl. 2765 (now Bodley 744)--Balliol Coll. 198 (sec.
xiv)--Merton Coll. 98, f. 118 (sec. xiv).
Cambridge:--Caius Coll. 303--Pembroke Coll. 111, 113.
Canterbury:--Cathedral Lib. 4.
Munich:--Bibl. Regia, 3549 (sec. xv) and 8078 (sec. xiii-xiv).
Printed at Venice 1489, at Venice _sine anno_, and Venice 1507-9, &c.
_Quaestiones quodlibetales_ (two parts). _Inc. Pars I._ ‘Queritur utrum
Deus sit summe simplex.’
MSS. Oxford:--Merton Coll. 139, fol. 2 (sec. xiv).
Troyes, 142 (xiv); _Pars II incipit ut supra_.
Florence:--Laurentiana, _ex Bibl. S. Crucis_, Plut. xvii, Sin. Cod. vi
(sec. xiv _ineuntis_).
_Quodlibeta tria._ (The first contains 22 questions; the second 31; the
third 27.) _Inc._ ‘In nostra disputacione de quolibet.’
MSS. Oxford:--Merton Coll. 139, f. 162 (sec. xiv).
Paris:--Bibl. Nat. 14305 (sec. xiii) _Questiones de quolibet_; this
may contain either the _Quodl. tria_ or the _Questiones Quodlib._, or
both.
Toulouse, 738 (sec. xiii).
Florence:--Laurent. _ut supra_.
Printed at Venice 1509, Paris 1519, and Brescia 1591.
_De gradibus formarum._
MS. Munich 8723, fol. 175 (sec. xiv and xv).
_Quaestiones disputatae_, by R. Middleton and others.
MS. Assisi (see Fratini, p. 203).
_Sermo fratris Ricardi de dilatatione sermonum_ (?). _Inc._ ‘Quoniam
emulatores estis.’
MS. Oxford:--Merton Coll. 249, f. 175 (sec. xiii).
=William de la Mare=, =de Mara=, or =Lamarensis=, may have studied at
Oxford[1389] before he went to Paris, where he was a disciple of
Bonaventura. In 1284 he published a criticism of Thomas Aquinas, called
_Correctorium operum fratris Thomae_[1390], which afterwards won for him
the title of standard-bearer of the Anti-Thomists[1391]. This treatise,
which may perhaps be still extant in an Italian library, is generally
known only through the reply to it, attributed sometimes to Aegidius
Romanus, but with more probability to Richard Clapwell[1392]. ‘The serious
part of the work of William de Lamarre,’ says M. Charles, ‘seems directly
inspired by Bacon[1393].’ He had no doubt come under Roger’s influence
either at Oxford or Paris. William de Mara appears also to have written in
favour of a strict observance of the Rule of St. Francis. In a dispute on
the interpretation of the Rule in 1310, Friar Ubertino de Casali, one of
the leaders of the ‘Spiritual’ party, quoted, in support of his views,
‘the opinion of St. Francis expressed in his Rule, and of Pope
Nicholas in his Declaration, of Friar Bonaventura in his Apologia, of
Friars Alexander and Rigaldus ... and of Friar John de Peckham in his
book on Evangelical Perfection, and of Friar William de Mara, who
were all solemn masters of our Order[1394].’
From this it is clear that William died before 1310.
Some of his writings are extant in MS.
_Summa Fratris Gul. de Mara contra D. Thomam._
MS. Venice:--Bibl. S. Anton. _in Pluteo_ xix (Tomasin).
_Correctorium Fratris Gul. de Mera ... secundum dicta D. Thomae de Aquino
contra correctorium Fratris Joannis (?) de Crapuel Ordinis
Praedicatorum_--perhaps the printed _Defensorium seu Correctorium_.
MS. _ibid. in Pluteo_ xviii.
_Quaestiones de natura virtutis_, by ‘Gulielmus de le Maire, ordinis
Minorum.’
MS. Brit. Museum:--Burney 358 (sec. xiv)--mutilated at the beginning.
_Sermo Fratris Guillermi de la Mare regentis in Theologia._ (On St.
Peter.) _Inc._ ‘Precurrens ascendit in arborem sycomorum.... Fratres orate
ut sermo Dei currat et clarificetur.’
MS. Troyes, 1788 (sec. xiv).
_Expositio libri Physicorum Aristotelis_; and _Comment. in libros 1, 2, et
3, Sententiarum_[1395].
MSS. Sta. Croce, Florence 380, 381, 382, 383; mentioned in Wadding,
_Sup. ad Script._ These MSS. are now in the Laurentiana, _ex Bibl. S.
Crucis_, Plut. xxxiv. Sin. Codd. iv, v, vi, vii, but they do not seem
to contain the _Physics_.
_Quaestiones tres philosophicae per Gulielmum (de Mara?) de Anglia,
fratrem ordinis Minorum._ _Inc._ ‘Est dubitacio utrum lineam componam ex
punctis.’
MS. Bodl. Canon. Misc. 226, f. 76 (sec. xv). There seems no reason for
attributing these to W. de Mara rather than to William of Ockham, or
any English Minorite named William[1396].
=John of Oxford=, Friar Minor, was ordained priest by Peckham in
1284[1397].
=Richard de Slekeburne= (co. Durham), confessor of Devorguila, played an
important part in the foundation of Balliol College: this has already
been referred to[1398]. There is no direct proof that Friar Richard was
himself at Oxford. Several documents relating to him are preserved in the
Balliol College Archives, and described in the Reports of the Hist. MSS.
Commission[1399].
(1) A letter of Devorguila to him, in which she speaks of
‘the alms of the poor scholars of our House of Balliol now studying at
Oxford,’
and urges Friar Richard by all means in his power to promote the
perpetuation of the said house, A. D. 1284.
(2) A grant by the executors of Sir John Balliol of sums to the scholars,
with the consent of Devorguila and at the advice of Friar R. de Slekeburne
(three deeds, 1285-1286).
(3) A confirmation by Friar Richard of another grant by Sir J. Balliol’s
executors of debts due to Sir John: the confirmatory deed is dated
Coventry, 1287.
=William of Exeter= was summoned in 1289 from Oxford by Deodatus, Warden
of the Friars Minors of Exeter[1400], to assist him in choosing a new site
for the convent[1401].
=William of Leominster= is placed among the Franciscans by Pits, but it is
not certain that he belonged to this Order[1402]. He was a friar and
master of Oxford in 1290; in this year his name appears as one of the
masters who gave their consent on behalf of the University to the
compromise, effected by the intervention of the King and his council,
concerning the right of the bishop of Lincoln to confirm the
Chancellor-elect[1403]. Bale states that he had seen this friar’s
_Collationes Sententiarum_ and _Quaestiones Theologiae_, at London, ‘_in
quadam officina_’[1404].
=John Bekinkham= appears to have been an Oxford Minorite; he was one of
the friars to whom the royal alms of 25 marks was paid by the exchequer in
1289 or 1290[1405].
=John de Clara= was executor of Hugh de Cantilupe, Archdeacon of
Gloucester, in 1285; he was at this time at Oxford[1406]. In 1289 or 1290
he appears, in conjunction with John Bekinkham, as receiving the royal
grant of 25 marks in the name of the Oxford Convent[1407]. In 1299 he was
entrusted with 10 marks out of the royal exchequer for the expenses of
Hugh of Hertepol and William of Gainsborough, who were going to the
General Chapter at Lyons[1408]. In 1301 he was sent with instructions to
find the Provincial Minister with all speed, and received of the royal
bounty 24_s._ 3_d._ for his expenses[1409].
=John Russell= was private chaplain to Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, in 1293.
In a letter to Raymund, General Minister of the Friars Minors, dated Aug.
29, 1293[1410], the Earl thanks the Minister
‘pro vestris muneribus preciosis, cultellis vestris videlicet
nobilibus de corallo atque insigni vase tiriaco, que in octavis
virginis gloriose per manus dilecti et domestici nostri fratris
Johannis Rossel ... recepimus.... Dat’ in manerio nostro de B.
(Beckley?)[1411] prope Oxon’,’ &c.
Russell wrote about the same time to _dominus_ R. de M. (Roger de
Merlawe):
‘Veni ad capitulum fratrum nostrorum Oxon’, proponens vos personaliter
visitasse; sed jam istud iter impedivit debilitas corporalis[1412].’
This John Russell was contemporary, and probably identical, with the
twenty-second master of the Franciscans at Cambridge[1413].
_Postilla in Cantica Canticorum._ _Inc._ ‘Cogitanti mihi Canticum.’
MS. London:--Lambeth Palace, 180, f. 1 (sec. xv).
_Lectura super Apocalypsim._ _Inc._ ‘Statuit septem piramides.... Accedens
ad expositionem.’
MS. Oxford:--Merton Coll. 172, fol. 106 (sec. xiv), manu Will. de
Nottingham.
_De potestate imperatoris et pape._
Formerly in the King’s Library, according to Bale (MS. Seld. supra 64,
fol. 163b, 193): it is not mentioned in Casley’s Catalogue.
=Henry de Sutton= was warden of the Grey Friars, London, in 1302[1414],
and 1307, when the King (Edward I) gave him 40 marks
‘pro pitancia fratrum Minorum in capitulo suo generali celebrando apud
Tolosam in festo Pentecost proximo[1415].’
He procured a legacy of 2 marks annually from Henry Waleys, Mayor of
London, for his convent[1416]. The evidence of his connexion with Oxford
is very slight. His name occurs as the author of a sermon in a collection
of sermons which were probably delivered at Oxford at the end of the
thirteenth century[1417].
=William Mincy=, =William de Newport=, =Roger de Barton= (Cheshire),
=Robert de Gaddestyn= or =Gaddesby=, =John de Westburg=, =Robert de
Mogynton= (Derby), Franciscans at Oxford in 1300, were on the 26th of July
in that year presented at Dorchester by Hugh of Hertepol the Provincial,
and licensed by Dalderby, Bishop of Lincoln, to hear confessions, grant
absolution, and enjoin penances, in the Archdeaconry of Oxford. They were
not at this time, and probably never became, doctors of divinity[1418].
=John de Stapleton=, A. D. 1300, was similarly presented by the
Provincial, but rejected by the Bishop. The Register of the Friars Minors
at London says:
‘Friar John de Stapilton, heir to great wealth and lordship, spurning
wife and heritage, became a Friar Minor.’
It is doubtful whether this refers to the same person[1419].
=Adam de Corf=, =Peter de Todworth=, =Walter Bosevile=, and =Roger de
Alnewyck=, were in like manner presented by the Provincial and rejected by
the Bishop, A. D. 1300. They were not at this time D.D’s. Nothing further
is known of them, unless Roger de Alnewyck is to be identified with
William of Alnwick, 42nd reader at Oxford[1420].
=John Duns Scotus=[1421] was a Franciscan at Oxford in 1300. In the list
of friars presented to the Bishop of Lincoln he appears as ‘Johannes
Douns’[1422]; the Bishop refused to grant him license to hear confessions.
Soon afterwards Duns lectured on the four books of the _Sentences_ as B.D.
at Oxford[1423]. At the end of 1304 he was called to Paris to incept as
D.D. The letter of the General Minister recommending this choice is given
by Wadding[1424], who however has misunderstood it. For this reason, and
because it illustrates some points in the educational system of the
Minorites, the letter may be quoted in full[1425].
In Christo sibi carissimis Patribus, Guillelmo Guardiano Parisiis, vel
ejus Vicario et Magistris, Frater Gondisalvus gaudens in Domino.
Ad expeditionem dilecti in Christo Patris Aegidii de Legnaco, de quo
per litteras vestras certificatus existo, cum de alio (ut moris est)
eodem calculo praesentando providere oporteat, et cum, secundum
statuta Ordinis, et secundum statuta vestri Conventus, Baccalaureus
hujusmodi praesentandus ad praesens debeat esse de aliqua provincia
aliarum a Provincia Franciae, dilectum in Christo Patrem Joannem
Scotum, de cujus vita laudabili, scientia excellenti, ingenioque
subtilissimo, aliisque insignibus conditionibus suis, partim
experientia longa, partim fama, quae ubique divulgata est, informatus
sum ad plenum, dilectioni vestrae assigno, post dictum patrem
Aegidium, principaliter et ordinarie praesentandum. Injungo
nihilominus vobis ad meritum salutaris obedientiae, quatenus
praesentationem hujusmodi cum solemnitate solita sine multo dispendio
facere debeatis; si tamen constiterit vobis, quod dominus Cancellarius
velit duos simul licentiare de nostris, volo et placet mihi, quod
frater Albertus Methensis, si ad Conventum redire poterit, cum
praefato fratre Joanne debeat expediri. In quo casu mando et ordino,
quod dictus frater Albertus antiquitatis merito prius incipere debeat,
dicto fratre Joanne sub eo postmodum incepturo. Valete in Domino et
orate pro me. Datum in loco Esculi provinciae Marchiae Anconitanae,
XIV Kal. Dec. anno MCCCIV.
Duns probably taught at Paris till 1307. Wadding, indeed, asserts that he
was sent to Cologne by the General Minister in 1305[1426]; but this is
almost impossible, and the description which Wadding gives of the scene is
derived from later and unhistorical tradition. The statement, however,
that he was appointed Regent by the friars in the General Chapter at
Toulouse in 1307 sounds more plausible[1427]; he may have been made the
first Regent at Paris, or he may have been sent at this time as lector or
Regent of the Franciscan schools at Cologne. At any rate there seems no
reason to distrust the notice of his death which Wadding quotes from the
list of friars who died at Cologne[1428].
‘D. P. frater Joannes Scotus, sacrae Theologiae Professor, Doctor
Subtilis nominatus, quondam lector Coloniae, qui obiit anno MCCCVIII,
VI Idus Novembris.’
This entry, though certainly not contemporary, was probably derived from
some authentic record. Duns’ title of _Doctor Subtilis_, though it does
not seem to have been given him in his lifetime, is of considerable
antiquity. It is mentioned by Bartholomew of Pisa at the end of the
fourteenth century[1429], and by the MS. Catalogue at Assisi, written in
1381[1430].
A collected edition of his works was printed at Lyons in 1639. Many of the
works included in these twelve folio volumes are considered doubtful by
the editors[1431].
Some few treatises not included in this edition are assigned to him.
_Johannis Scoti super Apocalypsin notulae._ _Inc. liber_: ‘Liber iste
principaliter dividitur in tres partes.’ (Doubtful.)
MS. Bodl.:--Laud. Misc. 434, f. 1 (sec. xiv).
_[Ejusdem?] super S. Matthaei Evangelium notae._ _Inc._ ‘Liber
generacionis,’ &c.: ‘Sicut fluvius de loco voluptatis egrediens.’
(Doubtful.)
MS. _ibid._ f. 75.
‘_Utrum pluralitas formalitatum possit stare cum simplicitate divine
essencie._’
MS. Bodl.: Digby 54, f. 123 (sec. xv).
_De perfectione statuum_[1432]. _Inc._ ‘Quod status prelatorum sc.
pastorum ecclesie.’
MSS. Oxford:--Merton Coll. 65, f. 119 (A. D. 1456).
Cambridge:--Public Library Dd. III. 47 (sec. xv); Corpus Christi Coll.
107, fol. 77-93a (sec. xv).
Florence:--Laurentiana, _ex Bibl. S. Crucis_, Plut. xxxvi, Dext. Cod.
xii, p. 101 (sec. xiv _exeuntis_).
_Opusculum Doctoris Subtilis super aliquos canones Arzachel._ (Doubtful.)
MS. Cambridge:--Public Library 1017, f. 14-15 (sec. xv). Cf. Tanner,
_Bibl._ p. 689, _sub_ ‘Stantonus.’
_Tractatus Johannis Dons Scoti de lapide philosophorum._ (Apocryphal.)
MS. Paris:--Bibl. Nat. 14008, f. 156.
=Robert Cowton=, or =de Couton= (co. York), according to W. Woodford,
entered the Order when young[1433]. He was at Oxford in 1300, when the
Provincial asked the Bishop of Lincoln to license him, among others, to
hear confessions, but Robert was among the rejected[1434]. At this time he
was not a doctor. According to Bale and Pits he studied philosophy at
Oxford and theology at Paris: there can be little doubt that he obtained
the degree of D.D. in the latter University. His title of ‘the pleasant
doctor[1435]’ is not vouched for by any early authority.
If we may draw any inference from the number of MSS. preserved, few works
by any Franciscan were more in demand in England[1436] in the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries than the _Commentaries_ of Robert Cowton _on the
Sentences_. The following MSS. contain them, or parts of them.
London:--Brit. Mus. Royal 11 B. i. 11 B. iv.--Gray’s Inn, 20.
Oxford:--Univ. Coll. 76, f. 455--Balliol 192, 199, 200, 201--Merton
91, 92, 93--New College 290--Exeter 43--Lincoln 36.
Cambridge:--Caius Coll. 281, 324--Peterhouse 73, 75--Pembroke 107.
=Malachias of Ireland= is said by Wadding to have been a Franciscan and
B.D. of Oxford, c. 1310. According to the same writer, he preached before
Edward II, and was not afraid to rebuke the King to his face[1437].
_Libellus septem peccatorum mortalium_, or, _Tractatus de Veneno_ (often
wrongly ascribed to Grostete.)
MS. Brit. Mus.: Cott. Vitell. C. xiv, § 6.
Printed at Paris 1518.
=Walter Brinkley= or =Brinkel= (co. Cambridge), called by Willot ‘the Good
Doctor,’ ‘the ancient Doctor and Sophist[1438],’ is said by Bale to have
been a doctor of Oxford and to have flourished A. D. 1310. Bale and Pits
give a list of his works, but nothing of a trustworthy nature appears to
be known about him[1439].
=John of Winchelsea=, S.T.P. and Canon of Salisbury, a fellow of Merton in
the reigns of Henry III (?) and Edward I, entered the Minorite Order in
his old age at Salisbury, and died during the year of his noviciate, A. D.
1326[1440].
=John Canon= is said to have flourished c. 1320, and to have attended the
lectures of Duns Scotus at Oxford and Paris[1441]. Wood, referring to the
_regestrum Oriell_, says that his
‘philosophicall treatises were soe much esteemed among the students of
this University that they were read to them by their tutors and by
logick lecturers in each society[1442].’
_Comment. in libros octo Physicorum Aristotelis._ _Inc. prol._ ‘Venite ad
me omnes qui laboratis.’ _Inc. opus._ ‘Utrum substancia finita.’
Of the MSS. of the work, which are very numerous, the oldest appears
to be Lambeth MS. 100, f. 103, which Todd refers to the thirteenth
century.
Printed at Padua 1475[1443], St. Albans 1481, Venice 1481, 1487, 1492,
&c.
=John Stanle=, friar, was appointed to receive at the Exchequer the royal
grant of 25 marks payable at Easter 1323 to the Friars Minors at
Oxford[1444].
‘=Philippus a Castellione Aretino=’ (Castello near Arezzo) in the Tuscan
province, is described by Wadding as, ‘_in theologia magister insignis
apud Oxonienses_.’ He flourished 1316, and wrote treatises on the poverty
of Christ[1445].
=William of Ockham=, ‘Auctor nominalium,’ ‘Doctor singularis,’ ‘Doctor
invincibilis[1446],’ was born probably towards the end of the thirteenth
century. Whether he was a pupil of Duns Scotus is doubtful. He studied at
Oxford in the early years of the fourteenth century, and became B.D.
there[1447]. After this he was called to Paris, where he incepted as D.D.
Here he became acquainted with Marsiglio of Padua, over whom, according to
Pope Clement VI, he exercised a powerful influence[1448]. It is probable
that he was present at the famous Chapter of Perugia (1322), though he was
not (as is usually asserted) Provincial of England[1449]. From the first
he took a prominent part in the struggle against the Pope[1450]. He was
imprisoned at Avignon about the end of 1327, and a process was instituted
against him in the Curia
‘because of many erroneous and heretical opinions which he had
written[1451].’
He remained in custody for seventeen weeks, and refused to modify his
opinions. It is said that a ‘rich and noble lady,’ in admiring recognition
of his staunch defence of ‘Evangelical Poverty,’ gave him 70
florins[1452]. On May 25, 1328, he fled from Avignon with Cesena, the
General Minister, and Bonagratia, joined the Emperor in Italy, and was
excommunicated[1453]. In Feb., 1330, he accompanied Louis to Bavaria, and
lived henceforth for the most part in the Franciscan Convent at
Munich[1454]. His literary activity was enormous, as may be seen from the
list of his works. He took a direct part in the affairs of state, being
present at the Councils of Rense and Frankfurt in 1338[1455]. From this
time his writings, hitherto largely theological, became more distinctly
political[1456]. In spite of excommunication, he continued to support the
Emperor’s cause till Louis’ death in 1347, and even later[1457]. But now
few only of the rebel friars were left: Cesena died in 1342, Bonagratia in
1347; and in 1349 Ockham sent back the seal of the Order to the orthodox
General Minister, and professed his desire to be reconciled to the
Church[1458]. Clement VI authorized the General Minister to absolve Ockham
and his associates on their confessing in set form their errors and
heresies, and promising to obey the Pope and his successors. Whether
Ockham subscribed the papal formula, nothing remains to show. The date of
his death is uncertain; it may however be concluded that he died at Munich
not before 1349[1459].
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 = *NE*. 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 20_s._ 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.