The Letters of Adam Marsh [1] 0199281793, 9780199281794

Table of contents :
CONTENTS
ABBREVIATIONS
INTRODUCTION
I: THE AUTHOR
i. Adam and Grosseteste
ii. Adam and the Franciscan Order
iii. Adam at court
II: THE LETTERS
III: MANUSCRIPTS AND EARLIER EDITION
IV: EDITORIAL CONVENTIONS
THE LETTERS
CONCORDANCE WITH BREWER EDITION
A SELECTION OF MODERN WORKS FOR FURTHER REFERENCE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX OF QUOTATIONS AND ALLUSIONS

Citation preview

OXFORD MEDIEVAL TEXTS General Editors J. W. B I N N S

W. J. B L A I R

D. D ' A V R A Y

R. C. L O V E

THE LETTERS OF ADAM MARSH

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THE L E T T E R S OF ADAM MARSH VOLUME ONE

EDITED AND TRANSLATED BY

C. H. L A W R E N C E

CLARENDON PRESS

OXFORD

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford 0x2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © C. H. Lawrence 2006 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available Typeset by Anne Joshua, Oxford Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddies Ltd., King's Lynn, Norfolk ISBN 0-19-928179-3 978-0-19-928179-4 1 3 5 7 9 1 08 6 4 2

In memoriam Helenae coniugis carissimae

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This edition has undergone a protracted and frequently interrupted gestation, in the course of which I have incurred many intellectual debts. In the first place, I should like to pay a humble tribute to the memory of Sir Maurice Powicke, who originally urged me to undertake the project of re-editing Adam Marsh's letters. Moving to more recent times, I should like here to express my warmest thanks to my friend Professor David d'Avray and to Dr J. W. Binns, who have both generously given their time to reading the work in typescript and again in proof, and have made many helpful comments and suggestions on textual points and my translations; also to Professor Michael Winterbottom, who gave magisterial advice on a difficult point of interpreting Brother Adam's idiosyncratic Latinity. Lastly, I should like to record my appreciation and gratitude for the meticulous care with which Dr Bonnie Blackburn copy-edited my manuscript; her suggestions have done much to improve the book.

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CONTENTS

ABBREVIATIONS

Xi

INTRODUCTION

xiii

I THE AUTHOR

i. Adam and Grosseteste ii. Adam and the Franciscan Order iii. Adam at court II THE LETTERS III MANUSCRIPTS AND EARLIER EDITION

xiv

xviii xxx xxxvii xliii xlvii

IV EDITORIAL CONVENTIONS

1

THE LETTERS

i

CONCORDANCE WITH BREWER EDITION

281

A SELECTION OF MODERN WORKS FOR FURTHER REFERENCE

283

BIBLIOGRAPHY

285

INDEX OF QUOTATIONS AND ALLUSIONS

288

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ABBREVIATIONS

AFH

Archivum Franciscanum Historicum

AHDL

Archives d'histoire doctrinale et litteraire du Moyen Age

ALKG

Archiv fur Litteratur und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters, ed. H. Denifle and F. Ehrle, 6 vols. (Berlin and Freiburg, 1885-92)

Ann. Mon.

Annales Monastici, ed. H. R. Luard, 4 vols. (RS, 1864-9)

BL

British Library

BLR

Bodleian Library Record

Book of Fees

The Book of Fees, commonly Called Testa de Nevill, 3 vols. (HMSO, 1920-31)

BRUO

A. B. Emden, A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to AD 1500, 3 vols. (Oxford, I9S7-9) Calendar of Charter Rolls (HMSO)

CChaR CCR

Calendar of Close Rolls (HMSO)

Chron. Maj.

Mathaei Parisiensis Chronica Majora, ed. H. R. Luard, 7 vols. (RS, 1872-9)

CLibR

Calendar of Liberate Rolls (HMSO)

Councils & Synods

Councils and Synods with other Documents Relating to the English Church, ii, ed. F. M. Powicke and C. R. Cheney (Oxford, 1964)

CPL

Calendar of Papal Letters Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, 1198-1302, ed. W. H. Bliss (HMSO, 1898)

CPR

Calendar of Patent Rolls (HMSO)

CSEL

Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum

Curia Regis Rolls

Curia Regis Rolls, 1243-45 (HMSO, 1922- )

CYS

Canterbury and York Society

Eccleston

Fratris Thomae vulgo dicti de Eccleston de Adventu Fratrum Minorum in Angliam, ed. A. G. Little (2nd edn., Manchester, 1951)

Xll

ABBREVIATIONS

Du Cange

C. du Fresne Du Cange, Glossarium Mediae et Infimae Latinitatis, 8 vols. (Graz, 1883-7)

EHR

English Historical Review

Fasti

Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-13oo, i (St Paul's London); iii (Diocese of Lincoln), ed. D. E. Greenway (London, 1968, 1977)

Grosseteste, Epistolae

Roberti Grosseteste Episcopi Lincolniensis Epistolae, ed. H. R. Luard (RS, 1861)

HUO

History of the University of Oxford, i: The Early Schools, ed. J. I. Catto (Oxford, 1984)

JEH

Journal of Ecclesiastical History Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores

MGHSS MOFPH

Monumenta Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum Historica

ODNB

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

OHS PL

Oxford Historical Society

PR PRO

Patrologiae cursus completus, Series Latina, ed. J. P. Migne (Paris, 1844-64) Pipe Rolls Public Record Office

RAL

Registrum Antiquissimum of the Cathedral Church of Lincoln, ed. C. W. Foster and K. Major (Lincoln Record Society, 1931-50)

Rotuli Grosseteste

Rotuli Roberti Grosseteste Episcopi Lincolniensis, ed. F. N. Davis (CYS, 1913)

Rotuli Gravesend

Rotuli Ricardi Gravesend Diocesis Lincolniensis, ed. F. N. Davis (CYS, 1924)

RS

Rolls Series of Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland

RTAM

Recherches de theologie ancienne et medievale

Salimbene

Cronica Fratris Salimbene de Adam, ed. O. HolderEgger (MGH SS, 1913)

SAUO

Statuta Antiqua Universitatis Oxoniensis, ed. Strickland Gibson (Oxford, 1931)

SSMHD

Scriptores Minores Historiae Danicae Medii Aevi, ed. C. Gertz, 2 vols. (Copenhagen, 1918-20)

Trivet, Annales

Nicholai Trivet Annales, ed. T. Hog (London, i84S)

INTRODUCTION

Two years before the death of St Francis, a general chapter of the Friars Minor dispatched a party of the brothers to found a new province in England. A group of nine, consisting of four clerics and five lay brothers, arrived at Dover on 10 September 1224. Four of them were Italians, including their leader, Agnellus of Pisa, and three were Englishmen; all of them were bare-footed and penniless, having been ferried across the Channel by the monks of Fecamp. They made their first settlement at Canterbury. Four of the party then proceeded to London, where a house was provided for them on Cornhill by the sheriff, John Travers. In late October two of them reached Oxford, where after a brief period as guests of the Dominicans, they acquired a house in the parish of St Ebbe's in the south-west corner of the city. Everywhere the friars made for the cities; urban populations were the chosen field for their evangelical mission. In the following years, as they attracted a stream of recruits and benefactors, they established communities in most of the major towns of England. Brother Thomas of Eccleston likened the rapid growth of the English province of the order to the grain of mustard seed in the Gospel, which became greater than all the plants of the field.1 In support of his observation, he pointed to the fact that at the time of writing his chronicle—the year 1256—only thirty-two years after their arrival, the brethren of the province numbered 1 ,242 and had made settlements in forty-nine different places. While the friars won recruits everywhere, their favoured huntinggrounds were the university towns of Europe, where they made converts in the academic community. At Oxford both the Dominicans and the Franciscans made a successful trawl in the schools for recruits. 'At the Oxford studium', wrote the Dominican MasterGeneral, Jordan of Saxony, 'the Lord has given us hope of a good catch.'2 In the winter of 1229-30 he visited the university, and his preaching catalysed an extraordinary spiritual ferment among the scholars.3 A number of them, including some bachelors and masters, 1

Eccleston, p. 9. Beati Iordani de Saxonia Epistulae, ed. Walz, pp. 19—20. The sermons he preached at Oxford were printed by Little and Douie, 'Three sermons of Friar Jordan of Saxony'. 2

3

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were moved to take the habit of the Friars Preachers; others joined the Franciscans, one of whom was Master Adam Marsh. Salimbene called Adam 'one of the greatest clerks of the world',4 an accolade he reserved for a small group of men whom he regarded as the masterminds of his time. Over the years he was to rise to eminence as a biblical theologian, a spiritual counsellor to prelates and princes, and an influential adviser to the superiors of his Order. The collection of his letters, edited here, was compiled by an unknown copyist some ten or twenty years after his death. It has long been recognized as a major historical source, not only for the early history of the Friars Minor in England, but also for the information the letters provide about the wider world of church, politics, and society in the middle decades of the thirteenth century. They are arguably the most important collection of private letters to have been produced in England before the fifteenth century. I. THE AUTHOR

Adam Marsh (de Marisco) joined the Friars Minor in 1232 or 1233.5 Matthew Paris observed that he gave up worldly position and a large income to become a friar.6 His early life is obscure, but the little we know suggests a wealthy and influential family connection, probably that of the Mariscos of Somerset, a prominent Anglo-Norman landed family distinguished in the royal service under King John.7 A letter on the Close Rolls shows that he was a nephew of Richard Marsh, lately bishop of Durham and royal chancellor, and that by the year 1226 he had incepted as a Master of Arts.8 For some years before taking the Franciscan habit he held the rich rectory of Bishop Wearmouth, which was in his uncle's gift.9 Eccleston tells us that Adam made his profession as a friar at Worcester,10 where he must have served his noviciate. The following 4

Salimbene, p. 235. According to Eccleston, pp. 17-18, he was persuaded to enter the Order by Adam of Exeter, who left England by the end of 1232 to preach to the Saracens. 6 Chron. Maj. v. 619. 7 The Dominican Nicholas Trivet says that he came from the diocese of Bath: Trivet, Annales, p. 243. For a possible reconstruction of Adam's place in the Marisco family see Lawrence, 'The letters', 224—5. Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum, ed. T. Duffus Hardy (RS 1833), ii. 136. 9 Chronicon de Lanercost, ed. Stevenson, p. 58. He was listed as rector of Wearmouth in the Liber Vitae of Durham. His name, accompanied by that of Grosseteste, then archdeacon of Leicester, in the same I3th-c. hand, must have been entered in 1229—32: Liber Vitae I0 Ecclesiae Dunelmensis, ed. Thompson, fo. 25r. Eccleston, p. 18. 5

8

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XV

years, when he was studying theology, are an opaque phase of his life. In the year 1229-30 the Oxford Franciscans gained possession of a larger property, where the Provincial Minister, Agnellus of Pisa, decided to open a school for the brothers. His decision was probably the outcome of events at both Paris and Oxford. The dispersal of the University of Paris, a famous event precipitated by a riot in 1229 and the ensuing violence of the city authorities, had forced a number of English scholars to return home; among them were friars who had entered the Order at Paris. These had to be accommodated and their theological education had to be continued. Added to them was the influx of Oxford recruits stimulated by Jordan of Saxony's mission to the university. These new arrivals offered a reservoir of educated men ready to embark upon the study of theology. In time they would supply the lectors needed to staff the friaries of the rapidly growing English province. To begin with, the friars were taught by a series of secular masters of the university. Agnellus achieved a remarkable coup by first securing for his new academic flock the services of the great Robert Grosseteste, by then a senior theologian and one of the most original of the schoolmen, who had some years earlier been head of the Oxford schools.11 Grosseteste had a profound empathy for the Mendicant ideal and, after his election to the see of Lincoln in 1235, he continued to be a powerful friend and patron of the Friars Minor. Eccleston names three other secular masters who lectured to the Oxford Franciscans in succession after the departure of Grosseteste. This arrangement was brought to an end when Adam Marsh completed his course and incepted as a master in the faculty of theology. He was the first Franciscan to do so. Thereafter the lector to the Franciscan school was always the occupant of a chair in the university. When did Adam step into this position? In the first half of the thirteenth century the course requirements for the magistracy or doctorate in theology were only gradually being formulated. The practice of Oxford closely followed that of Paris. The earliest Paris statute on the subject, which was enacted in 1215 by the cardinal legate Robert Courcon, demanded a minimum of eight years of study before inception.12 If Adam 11 Opinions differ over the date of Grosseteste's headship of the schools; see Lawrence, 'The origins of the chancellorship at Oxford'; cf. R. W. Southern in HUO, pp. 32-6. 12 Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis, ed. Denifle and Chatelain, i. 41; cf. Oxford requirements in SAUO, pp. cix—ex, 48. Adam may, of course, have embarked on the study of theology before he took the Franciscan habit.

XVI

INTRODUCTION

embarked on the course in 1234, after the year of his noviciate, he should have been ready to incept by the year 1242, or shortly after. That he did, in fact, incept about that date is strongly suggested by a letter written by Grosseteste to the English provincial minister, William of Nottingham.13 At Grosseteste's insistence, Adam had accompanied him as adviser to the papal Curia at Lyons in the autumn of 1244, and he stayed over at Lyons during the meeting of the general council the following year. On his way home in the autumn of 1245, he was detained at Nantes, nursing his socius—his companion friar—who had been taken ill. At this point, Grosseteste wrote an urgent request to William of Nottingham to send out another friar to replace Adam, explaining that he could not be safely left in France 'because many desire to keep him at Paris in view of the death of Alexander of Hales and Jean de la Rochelle, and thus both you and I would be deprived of our greatest solace'. The death of the two famous theologians that year had left the Franciscan school at Paris without a regent master of their own in the faculty of theology. Grosseteste's letter clearly implies that Adam had already established a reputation in France as well as England as a teacher of theology which caused him to be regarded as an acceptable replacement for two of the most distinguished theologians of their generation. Adam's academic career was necessarily interrupted by his departure to the Curia in the autumn of 1244. His absence at Grosseteste's behest probably explains an otherwise obscure statement by Eccleston, who lists the succession of Oxford lectors. He names as Adam's immediate successor, the second in the line of lectors, an otherwise obscure Ralph of Corbridge. He tells us that Ralph had been regent master or doctor in the theology faculty at Paris when he took the Franciscan habit; and he goes on to say that the minister general ordered the new recruit to move to Oxford to lecture as regent there; which he did, though still in the novitiate.14 This unusual arrangement becomes intelligible if it was the solution to an urgent problem caused by Adam's absence before anyone else at Oxford was ready to incept. We can therefore place Ralph's regency—for which it is hard to find any other slot—in the years 1244-5. Adam must have resumed teaching in 1246. Adam's period as the teacher of the Oxford Franciscan school 13 14

Grosseteste, Epistolae, pp. 334—5. Eccleston, p. 50; cf. notice of Corbridge in BRUO, i. 484.

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xvii

15

ended in 1250. Although his provincial minister directed him to resume teaching in 1252,16 the pressure of public duties prevented him from doing so. He continued to be based at the Oxford friary for the rest of his life, but his reputation as a theologian and spiritual counsellor made him much sought after by the outside world as well as by Grosseteste and the governors of his order. He was persuaded by the archbishop of Canterbury, Boniface of Savoy, to accompany him on his metropolitan visitations.17 The queen requested his presence at court.18 He was asked to attend parliamentary assemblies to which the clergy had been summoned.19 He was sent abroad by the king on diplomatic business in 1247; and again in 1257 he was appointed one of the delegates sent to France to negotiate a peace treaty with Louis IX.20 The Montforts, too, to whom he was a spiritual counsellor and friend, pressed him to join them in France.21 Besides his diplomatic activities, he received papal commissions to serve as a judge-delegate in a number of politically sensitive cases.22 As growing demands were made upon him from all sides, Adam became increasingly querulous about overwork and failing health. His letters become littered with lamentations for his lost peace of mind and his interrupted studies; but despite his protests, his remaining years after 1252 were absorbed by public duties. An attempt was made by the king and the archbishop to get him elected to the see of Ely in 1257 in place of Hugh of Balsham, who had been chosen by the monks.23 It is unlikely that he would have welcomed such a preferment; in any case it came to nothing. He was already old and ailing, and he died on 18 November 1259.24 Despite Adam's European reputation as a biblical scholar, the literary harvest of his teaching years at Oxford has vanished: none of 15

In a letter of Mar. 1253 to the Provincial William of Nottingham, Adam reports a meeting of congregation, observing that he had 'ceased to teach in the university three years ago, and was an outsider': Letter 190. 16 Letters 186, 188, 190. " Letters 52, 180. 18 Letters 168, 170, 172. " Letters 3, 20, 189. 20 CLibR 1245-51, p. 132; CPR 1247-58, p. 594. 21 22 Letter 186. Letters 186, 188. 23 The king's appeal against the election of Hugh of Balsham is dated 22 Nov. 1256: CCR 1256—9, pp. 108—9. Matthew Paris reports that an attempt was made to substitute Adam Marsh: Chron. Maj. v. 619—20, 635—6; the story is confirmed by Trivet, Annales, p. 243. 24 The date, excerpted from the necrology of the Franciscans of Salisbury, is cited in Itineraria Simeonis et Willelmi de Worcestre, ed. Nasmith, p. 81. In 1260 the general chapter of Narbonne ordered masses for his soul: 'Diffinitiones capituli generalis Narbonensis', ed. F. M. Delorme, in AFH iii (1910), p. 504.

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his commentaries or questiones have so far been identified.25 Wadding credited him with a commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard,26 but this is unsupported by any medieval source. It is in any case an improbable attribution, for the practice of using the Sentences as a regular vehicle of instruction in the university classrooms was only beginning at Oxford towards the end of the 124os,27 and was opposed by Grosseteste, who had been Adam's master for at least part of his theological education. A more plausible attribution appears in the great thirteenth-century library catalogue of Christ Church Canterbury, which lists a Summa de Penitentia composed by Adam.28 The Summa Confessorum—a manual of moral and pastoral theology addressed to the needs of the parish clergy—was a much favoured genre, of which many versions were produced in the decades following the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215; and it was one that would have appealed to Adam's burning concern with the care of souls, and which he was eminently equipped to write. Nevertheless, no work of his answering to this description has as yet been identified. A Franciscan manuscript of St Augustine's De Doctrina Christiana has analytical chapter headings in the margins which bear the name of Adam Marsh, and the concluding note is unmistakably in Adam's style and probably in his hand.29 Apart from these traces, his only literary remains that can be confidently identified are his letters. i. Adam and Grosseteste Sixty of the letters, the largest group in the collection, are addressed to Grosseteste. These testify to a unique association between the two men which was of much significance for the growth and organization of the Franciscan Order in England and for the problems of the medieval Church. Evidently their acquaintance had begun long 25

In an article published in 1952 Fr. Ruello suggested that Adam was the author of a commentary on the Theologia Mystica of the Pseudo-Dionysius: 'Un commentaure dionysien en quete d'auteur'. The commentary is clearly the work of an Aristotelian scholar of the I3th c., who knew the work of Thomas Gallus, but the attribution is no more than an interesting guess. 26 Wadding, Scriptores Ordinis Minorum, p. 5. 27 The earliest commentary on the Sentences by an Oxford Franciscan was that of Richard Rufus of Cornwall, which was composed c.1250; see Raedts, Richard Rufus of Cornwall. According to Roger Bacon, the practice of giving public lectures on the Sentences was introduced at Paris by Alexander of Hales: Fratris Rogeri Bacon Opera hactenus Inedita, ed. Brewer, pp. 328-9; cf. V. Doucet in Magistri Alexandri de Hales Glossa in Quatuor Libros Sententiarum, i, prolegomena. 28 James, Ancient Libraries of Canterbury and Dover, p. 71. 29 St John's College, Cambridge, MS 47, fo. iv; cited by Callus, Grosseteste, p. 125 and n.

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before Adam threw up his career as a secular clerk to join the friars, for in one of his letters he refers to Grosseteste's benevolence to him from the years of his youth (ab annis iuvenilibus).30 In 1232 Grosseteste wrote to him to say that he had been moved by conscience to resign all his benefices except his prebend in Lincoln cathedral, and that he had suffered much abuse for doing so.31 The familiar terms of his letter show that the relationship of master and pupil had by then grown into one of close friendship. It was probably Adam who, as rector of Wearmouth, had their two names entered together in the ancient commemoration book of Durham Cathedral Priory.32 Adam's allusion to their acquaintance having dated from the years of his youth gains more significance from the fact, revealed by the letters, that other members of his family enjoyed Grosseteste's patronage when he was bishop of Lincoln. One of these was Adam's brother, William Marsh, who was bailiff of Buckden (Huntingdon),33 one of the estates of the see of Lincoln and a favourite residence of Grosseteste, where Adam was from time to time a guest. Another blood relative (mihi secundum carnem propinquo) in Grosseteste's service was Thomas Marsh, a clerk who acted as the bishop's envoy and resided at the Buckden palace.34 After Adam himself, the most conspicuous member of the family who worked for Grosseteste was Master Robert Marsh, who was seemingly Adam's brother.35 Robert graduated from arts to theology in the Oxford schools, and Adam displayed constant solicitude for his progress. When the time approached for him to incept in theology in 1250, Adam wrote to Grosseteste to ask if he would preside over the rituals of his graduation.36 He also besought the bishop himself to ordain Robert to the priesthood before entrusting him with further responsibilities.37 He was already a canon of Lincoln by 1244, and Grosseteste's trust in his capabilities was demonstrated in 1245, and again in 1250, 30

3I Letter 41. Grosseteste, Epistolae, pp. 45-7. 33 See above,.9.n9 Letter 120. 34 Letters 12, 110, 111. 35 It is to be noted that, although Adam displayed much concern for Robert's career, he nowhere describes him as his brother (germanus), in contrast to his description of William Marsh. The notice of him by Major, 'The familia of Grosseteste', p. 231, errs in identifying him as the recipient of Letters 80 and 83 and as the archdeacon of Oxford named in the Rotuli Grosseteste, p. 496; in all these cases the Master 'R' concerned was Richard Gravesend, not Robert Marsh, whose chronology has required revision. 36 37 Letters 33, 34. Letter 33. 32

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when he appointed Robert his Official during the months of his absence at the papal Curia. Further preferments followed after Grosseteste's death; in 1254 he was appointed archdeacon of Oxford, following Richard Gravesend in that post, and in 1258, when Gravesend became bishop of Lincoln, Robert succeeded him again as dean of Lincoln,38 a position he held until his death in 1262.39 Like his Franciscan brother Adam, Richard Gravesend, and Grosseteste, he was one of a group of idealistic clergy who were eager to champion the cause of ecclesiastical reform and were sympathetic to the baronial movement to place restraints upon the arbitrary exercise of royal power. It was evidently for this reason that, as dean of Lincoln, he was chosen as a baronial representative to sit on a committee to arbitrate on the appointment of sheriffs, set up in December 1261 under the treaty negotiated with King Henry.40 Adam's own relationship with Grosseteste clearly underwent a change when the latter was elevated from the schools to the bishopric of Lincoln. Their early friendship, formed in the schools, was lastingly anchored in a shared ideal of the apostolic life and the imitation of Christ. Like Adam, Grosseteste too had been deeply moved by the mission of Jordan of Saxony, and had for a time contemplated abandoning his ecclesiastical career to join the friars.41 The friendship outlived Grosseteste's elevation to the hierarchy. It was cemented by shared intellectual interests and a passionate concern they held in common for the reform of the Church; but the hierocratic assumptions of the medieval Church interposed impediments to intimacy. The language with which Adam addresses his old friend in the letters is invariably formal, reverential, and obsequious. This obsequious language is in no way toned down when Adam is reprimanding the bishop for an oversight or for causing scandal by bullying the canons of his chapter.42 Sometimes expressions of personal affection break through the stilted terms of ecclesiastical protocol; but there is a residual reserve in Adam's responses to his friend's overtures, which Grosseteste strives in vain to overcome. The imbalance of the surviving correspondence between them—it contains only two letters from Grosseteste as against sixty from 38 39 40 42

Fasti, Lincoln, pp. 37, 11. He died on 24 Aug. 1262: Oseney Annals in Ann. Mon. iv. 131. 41 Southern, Grosseteste, 74. Ibid. 128-9. e.g. Letters 41, 42, 48.

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Adam—makes it difficult to place a finger on a fine line of demarcation. For Grosseteste, Adam was not only a trusted counsellor, whose advice he constantly sought, but also a spiritual friend, whose company he continually wanted, and with whom he felt able to share the secrets of his heart. He took Adam with him as his personal adviser to the papal Curia at Lyons in 1244 and kept him there for months during the Council of 1245; and he attempted, unsuccessfully, to secure his company on his difficult and delicate mission to remonstrate with the pope in 1250.43 At other times he pleaded with Adam to join him at Buckden for Christmas; but Adam held off these importunate requests by a variety of excuses, such as alternative commitments or the risks to his health from travel. On one occasion he expressed his regrets at being unable to come, but added coldly that 'nothing but a cause of great urgency' could justify making the journey.44 In one rather pathetic appeal, which is transmitted only through Adam's reply, Grosseteste confessed to loneliness: 'I am, as you know, without the presence of a friend . . . No one would choose to live without friends; either I am a man or some sort of solitary beast.'45 Here, if anywhere, was a cry for help which called for warm assurances of friendship and affection. Instead of this, Adam replies with a gently reproachful discourse on the consolation to be derived from the 'inseparable fellowship of the Son of God'. The friar, unlike the bishop, enjoyed the continuous human support of the brotherhood, even on the road. One of the bonds that bound the two men most firmly together was their pursuit of scholarship. Much has been written about Grosseteste's activity as a speculative theologian and a translator of Greek texts;46 and understanding of his mind and work has been greatly advanced within the last twenty years, thanks to scholarly editions of his writings by Richard C. Dales, Joseph Goering, Servus Gieben, Edward B. King, and Pietro Rossi. Amazingly, much of this work was accomplished during his busy years as a bishop, during which he gathered round him a group of helpers who were proficient in Greek.47 It is well known that Adam Marsh shared Grosseteste's 43

44 Letter 52. Letter 60. Letter 28; quoting Aristotle, Ethics, 8. 1. 46 Callus, Grosseteste, pp. 53—66; McEvoy, The Philosophy of Robert Grosseteste, pp. 74— 90; Southern, Grosseteste, pp. 185-6, 199-204. 47 Among these were John of Basingstoke, whom Grosseteste appointed archdeacon of Leicester (see Letter 85 and n.), and Nicholas Graecus, who served in Grosseteste's familia: Major, 'The familia of Grosseteste', p. 229. 45

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intellectual interests and worked with him as both a critic and collaborator. Roger Bacon linked their names together as the elders and wise men who worked at the languages (antiqui qui multum in linguis laboraverunt) that he insisted were needful for a real understanding of philosophy and the sacred texts.48 He also named them as examples of wise men who studied mathematics—'gate and key to the greater sciences'.49 Yet the actual contribution that Adam made to Grosseteste's scholarly work is an enigma. There can be no doubt that they studied and discussed the same books, for we know that Adam helped his friend to compile his famous tabula or subject index to the Fathers and the Aristotelian corpus; the rubric at the head of the document in the Lyons manuscript refers to additions to the list that he had made.50 But we do not know how much he contributed to the index, or which parts. Grosseteste's interest in Greek texts and his efforts to learn the language began before he became a bishop; and it is probable that Adam joined him in these studies; but it is unclear whether he played any part in Grosseteste's translations other than that of an informed critic. Three of his letters suggest tentative answers to this question. Two of them refer to a Latin version of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics made by Grosseteste. Together with an extensive commentary that he had compiled from early Byzantine sources and a gloss of his own, it was one of the most ambitious and successful translations produced by his team. In a letter addressed to him, which from internal evidence is to be dated I249,51 Adam observes—evidently on receiving a copy of the completed work—'regarding the book of the Ethics, thanks to you it has been well done, as it seems to me'. This laconic postscript, unrelated to anything else in the letter, implies that Adam possessed the linguistic competence to judge the accuracy of his friend's efforts, but suggests that he had no active part in the product. A second letter on the subject observes that a copy of the book had been made for the use of their mutual friend, the Provencal friar Hugh de Digne, and proposes arrangements for getting it delivered to Brother Hugh in Provence.52 48

498 Ibid. 97. The Opus Maius of Roger Bacon, ed. Bridges, p. 73. Lyons, Bibliotheque Municipale, MS 414, fo. :6v; see discussion of the index by Thomson, 'Grosseteste's topical concordance of the Bible and the Fathers'; Southern, Grosseteste, pp. 188—93. 51 52 Letter 25. Letter 26. 50

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A third letter brings us closer to Adam's activity as a collaborator in Grosseteste's Greek translations. It too is about books. It is addressed by Adam to Thomas Gallus, abbot of Vercelli.53 Gallus, a monk of StVictor, Paris, and abbot of Vercelli 1225-46, was the foremost Latin expositor of the writings of the Pseudo-Dionysius for the schoolmen of the thirteenth century. The author he expounded was long believed by Western scholars to be the Dionysius the Areopagite mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as a convert of St Paul; but in fact the Dionysius who was the author of four famous works of mystical theology was a writer of the sixth century, probably a Syrian, whose work was profoundly influenced by the doctrines of neoPlatonism. The transcendental character of the Pseudo-Dionysian's subject matter and the obscurity of his language presented immense difficulties to Western readers, who depended upon a Latin translation made in the twelfth century by John Sarracenus. Gallus, the Victorine abbot, addressed the problem, first by writing a simplified paraphrase of the four books of the Dionysian corpus, called an Extractio, which he completed in the years 1238-40. Following this, he composed an extended commentary—a so-called Explanatio— which expounded and attempted to elucidate the Pseudo-Dionysian's doctrine book by book.54 Since, like most Western scholars of his time, Gallus had no Greek, he used the Latin version of Sarracenus as the basis of both his paraphrase and commentary. It was during these same years that Grosseteste and his helpers were preparing a fresh translation of the Dionysian texts from Greek. Adam's letter to Gallus indicates that both he and Grosseteste were on friendly terms with the abbot. He begins by expressing the gratitude everyone felt for his labour in elucidating 'the secrets of Christian wisdom'; he then writes that he is sending the abbot commentaries (expositiones) on the Celestial Hierarchy etc., of the Pseudo-Denys in response to the abbot's demand. We may assume that the 'etc' refers to the companion Dionysian treatise on the Ecclesiastical Hierarchies. The statement is a little ambiguous: whose was the commentary the abbot had requested? At all events, there can be no doubt about the meaning of what follows: Adam asks Gallus to 53

Letter 87. On the chronology of Gallus's paraphrase and commentary see Thery, 'Chronologie des oeuvres de Thomas Gallus'; Walsh, 'The "expositions" of Thomas Gallus on the Pseudo-Dionysian Letters'; Dondaine, Le Corpus dionysien. 54

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send him his commentary 'that you have recently produced' on the Dionysian Mystical Theology, and he also requests Callus's commentary on the Divine Names, 'on which you are at present engaged'. The commentaries or expositions that Adam is requesting are clearly those of the Explanatio of Gallus. The abbot's own note at the end of the manuscript of this work states that he completed it by 27 April I242. 55

Grosseteste had acquired an interest in the writings of the PseudoDionysius while he was yet in the schools lecturing to the Franciscans at Oxford. After 1235 as bishop, he set about gathering Greek manuscripts, and he and his team of helpers embarked upon a new Latin translation, first of the two Hierarchies, and then of the remaining two books of the Dionysian corpus. The whole operation extended over the years 1239 to 1243. It is reasonable to assume that the commentary on the Hierarchies which Gallus requested from Adam was the first item of Grosseteste's new translation and commentary; and that Gallus's own commentaries on the remaining books of the Dionysian corpus—his explanatio—which Adam requested, were sought as aids to Grosseteste and his team of translators, who were wrestling to find Latin equivalents for the opaque terminology of their author. There can be no doubt that the Dionysian cosmology of spirits and analysis of the mystical apprehension of God appealed to Adam. In at least one of his letters he uses Pseudo-Dionysian language.56 But in his correspondence with the abbot of Vercelli he was acting primarily as a consultant and intermediary between Grosseteste and Gallus. How far, if at all, he actively collaborated in the process of translating the Pseudo-Areopagite from the Greek must remain a matter of surmise. Shared intellectual pursuits and research interests engendered a spiritual affinity between Adam and Grossesteste. Their reading inspired in both of them a prophetic vision of the Church and a common conviction that existing assumptions and practices were in urgent need of reform. The human predicament was one in which souls were engaged in a cosmic conflict with Satanic powers ever seeking to lure them to their eternal destruction. Both Adam and his 55

Merton College, MS 69, fo. 131r; Walsh, 'The "expositions'", p. 199. Letter 212. Ruello identified some Dionysian language also in Letter 214 (ancien 216), but the passage in question is not Adam's work, but a letter of Grosseteste's, included among Adam's letters by the copyist in error; cf. Grosseteste, Epistolae, pp. 432-7. 56

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friend believed with a passionate conviction that the function of ecclesiastical office at every level was to protect the sheep of Christ from these onslaughts and guide them to their eternal salvation through the ministry of the word and the sacraments, and that the proper performance of the pastoral ministry, the cure of souls, was the most important work of the Church; and it was a fearful responsibility, for which those entrusted with it must answer at the dread judgement of God. Grosseteste voiced this conviction in characteristically vehement language in his famous letter to Innocent IV, declining to appoint the pope's nephew to a canonry in Lincoln cathedral: 'After the sin of Lucifer, there can be no other kind of sin so abominable, so lethal to the human race, and so contrary to the teaching of the Apostles and the Gospel and to the Lord Jesus Christ himself, than defrauding the pastoral office and thus slaying the souls who should be made alive by the pastoral ministry. Failure to perform the pastoral ministry is the slaughter and perdition of the sheep of Christ.'57 In the application of this conviction both he and Adam were radicals; they rejected the administrative expedients and compromises imposed by the social arrangements and conventions of the thirteenth century. The pastoral ministry was supported by the landed endowment of churches, the offerings of the faithful, and tithes; and in tithes the Church possessed a more regular and effective source of income than was enjoyed by any medieval monarch. In a world where church and state were coterminous—were two aspects of a single body—it was inevitable that some proportion of this wealth would be diverted from the pastoral care to meet the cost of a variety of services, including many that fall to the charge of the modern state. Thus the income of parish churches was used to provide salaries of non-resident rectors, who were royal clerks and ministers, diocesan administrators, ecclesiastical lawyers, cathedral clergy, and university schoolmen. Such men were necessarily non-resident in the parishes of which they were rectors, and some of them, notably the king's clerks, were pluralists. They provided for the spiritual care of their parishioners either by installing a vicar or by hiring a chaplain, who was paid an annual wage. The Fourth Lateran Council referred to such men as 'sublime and literate persons', who might be granted dispensations from the rule banning any clerk from holding more than one church with a cure of 57

Epistolae, pp. 434-5.

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souls. Their influential patrons frequently petitioned for papal provisions to get them appointed to the richer livings. Provisions were issued in steadily increasing numbers in the thirteenth century. As well as providing royal bureaucrats and the younger sons of the nobility with parish livings, they enabled the popes to provide members of the Roman Curia with stipends from English parish churches. In effect, this redistribution of parish income created a prosperous class of benefice-holders, but left the pastoral care of the parishioners mainly in the hands of a clerical proletariat, for the most part without security of tenure, recruited locally, barely literate, poorly paid, and scarcely capable of instructing their flock. One of the commonest ways in which parish income was diverted from the pocket of the resident priest was by the appropriation of his church to a monastery, which made the monks the corporate rector of the endowment. The Fourth Lateran Council required the appropriator in these cases to allocate a fixed portion of the tithe and offerings to a perpetual vicar, who was bound to reside and perform the parish duties; but the appropriator usually got the lion's share of the endowment. The Council lamented that in some areas greedy appropriators had left parish priests with less than enough for subsistence, drawing the obvious and well-founded conclusion that 'hence in these areas there is seldom found a parish priest who possesses even a modest knowledge of letters'.58 This was the socio-economic structure of the medieval Church, with its attendant features of clerical careerism, benefice-hunting, and pluralism, that Grosseteste and Adam Marsh challenged. Their concern was that the working of patronage distributed the prizes to too many clerks who lacked either the education or the religious commitment needed to be adequate pastors of souls. 'When the world is full of the clerical profession,' observed Adam, 'what sadder prospect is there than the fact that hardly anyone is to be found whom bishops can appoint even as tolerable helpers in the work of salvation?'59 The losers were the simple lay people, 'the sheep left by negligent pastors to be devoured by the beasts of the field'. The depth of his feeling on the subject was displayed on one occasion when Boniface of Savoy, the archbishop of Canterbury, asked him to join his familia. Adam refused for a number of reasons, which concluded with an extraordinary tirade: 'If I was personally present, I should 58 59

Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, ed. Alberigo and Tanner, i. 249—50. Letter 40.

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ceaselessly witness the atrocious slaughter of souls, the dissipation of the goods of the Church, the profanation of God's sanctuary through the authority of provisions, the authority of the metropolitan, or the rights of patronage.'60 The remedy lay, as Adam frequently reminded his friend, in the hands of bishops. His bracing messages were superfluous in Grosseteste's case, for he was notorious for his stern examination of clerks presented to him for institution to livings and his ruthless rejection of unsuitable candidates. As Adam admits in one of his letters: 'It is this that makes you hateful not only to those presented to the cure of souls, but even to many of your fellow bishops, knights, and magnates who make presentations, to the lord king, and even to the Roman Curia.'61 The system was too deeply rooted in the structure of society to be unravelled; it could only be ameliorated. Grosseteste himself accepted the fact that parish income was diverted to support non-resident rectors where these were the learned clerks of his familia or the canons of Lincoln cathedral, who assisted him in the government of his diocese. This he regarded as admissible since in such cases the endowments of parishes were serving the Church's own mission. But even here, he insisted that the men concerned should be chosen with a view to their suitability or record for performing the pastoral care. Although it was unusual, it was not perhaps illogical to demand of an officer, who was not going to perform pastoral duties himself, that he should accept responsibility for the zealous performance of his proxy. It was a principle fervently approved by Adam Marsh, whom Grosseteste consulted about the suitability of candidates for a prebend in his cathedral.62 One of Grosseteste's distinguished proteges, Richard Gravesend, was sharply reminded of this by Adam after the bishop's death. Gravesend had been appointed archdeacon of Oxford by Grosseteste, and after the latter's death he was elected dean of Lincoln. He belonged to a circle of idealistic and radically minded churchmen whom Grosseteste had gathered round him, and he was well known to Adam, who was the spiritual mentor of the group. In a letter to Adam, he referred to the fact that the bishop had wished him as dean to have the prebend of Thame, adding incautiously there were reasons for accepting this 'since there is a perpetual vicar, who would for the most part exonerate me from the cure of 60

Letter 186.

6I

Letter 36.

62

Letter 34.

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souls'.63 This brought down on his head a crushing rebuke: 'From which part of a cure of souls, I ask, will a vicar exonerate a rector, since before the dread judgement-seat both of them are gravely obligated by a solemn promise and both are bound by an unchangeable decree not to a part, but to the whole? O what a detestable saying!—a saying of those who are worldly wise about the things of heaven.'64 There is a curious irony in Adam's castigation of the dean, for Gravesend had been a conscientious archdeacon and was known to share the ideals of the reformers. It was, in fact, he whom Grosseteste took with him to Lyons in 1250 to support him in his famous demarche at the papal Curia.65 One of the objects of this journey was to protest at the excessive charges (procurations) being levied upon churches by Archbishop Boniface when making a metropolitan visitation of the Canterbury province; but Grosseteste had a much wider agenda than that. He had resolved to confront Pope Innocent IV personally with a detailed remonstrance about ways in which the central government of the Church had diminished the powers of diocesan bishops, so that they were hindered in carrying out the pastoral supervision of their flocks. Among the items of which he complained were papal privileges that exempted monasteries from episcopal supervision, the proliferation of appeals from diocesan courts, unwarranted dispensations granted to pluralists, and the multiplication of papal provisions to unworthy men, who were unfitted or unminded to perform the pastoral ministry. It was Gravesend who kept the record of this extraordinary confrontation, at which he had been present, between the aged bishop and Pope Innocent.66 On 6 May he and Grosseteste appeared before the pope and cardinals in consistory. Copies of a prepared memorandum were handed to Innocent and to each of the cardinals, and the text of the document was then read to the assembly by Cardinal John of St Nicholas-in-Carcere-Tulliano. It first alluded to the fact that a large part of the world was as yet unconquered by the Christian faith, and went on to lament that the Christian part of the world was stricken with schism, advancing heresy, and most of the 64 63 Letter 75. Ibid. 65 For modern accounts of this episode see Pantin, 'Grosseteste's relations with the Papacy and the Crown'; Southern, Grosseteste, pp. 276-85; Goering, 'Robert Grosseteste at the papal Curia'. 66 The documents submitted to the Curia have been definitively edited by Gieben, 'Grosseteste at the papal Curia'.

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rest was separated from Christ and associated with the Devil by the seven capital sins. The cause of this catastrophic situation was, it stated, the multiplication of bad pastors and the 'limitation (repressio) of pastoral power' and of all this, 'the cause, the fans et origo—I dare not remain silent—is this Curia ... by its provsions, dispensations, and appointments to the pastoral care of such pastors as we have named—the destroyers of the world'.67 Adam Marsh agreed with the heads of this indictment, and it is clear from his letters that he warmly supported Grosseteste's plan to bring matters to an issue. He probably approved, possibly inspired the memorandum, for the tract De Rege et Tyrannide, which formed part of Grossteste's dossier at the Curia, had passed through his hands.68 Three of his letters, written to the bishop during his stay at Lyons, record the eagerness with which he followed the progress of the remonstrance at the Curia. The first of these, dated 3 June 1250, is a message of encouragement: 'your magnificent prowess was inspired by a heavenly inspiration ... I pray with all my might that the battle, which has not hitherto been attempted, is ending in a victory for the glory of God and the salvation of the Church. How will the good pontiff, raised by divine election, ever dare to expose the Lord's flock to the cruelty and fiendish impiety of parasites?'69 A second letter, written in August in response to one from Grosseteste, strikes a less optimistic note: 'people will be absolutely astonished by the fact, indicated at the beginning of your letter, that while a ruinous state of affairs persists, there is as yet no hope of any attempt at amendment'.70 A third letter, written in September from the episcopal palace at Buckden, is a paean of triumph over the success of Grosseteste's enterprise: 'O how marvellous . . . the intimation that you are coming back with success has affected our minds like the joy of those awakened from a deep sleep ... a victorious outome is granted to the Lord's armies.'71 Here Adam's admiration and affection for Grosseteste had clearly clouded his judgement. As Richard Southern commented on Grosseteste's verbal assault upon the practice of the papal Curia, 'practical measures could scarcely be expected from such a harangue'. Adam shared Grosseteste's prophetic vision of a Church reformed and purified of abuses, with a clergy selflessly devoted to the cure of 67 69 71

Gieben 353, 355Letter 52. Letter 49.

68 70

Letter 25. Letter 48.

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souls. The main target of his invective was the prevailing attitude among the clergy and their patrons towards the pastoral care. The language he uses in these jeremiads is strongly tinged with millennial assumptions. The constant refrain in his letters to 'these most evil times' and to 'Satan set free to rage against souls' and to 'these last days' indicates that he shared a belief, common in the middle decades of the thirteenth century, that the end of the world was imminent. This form of Weltschmerz was, in Adam's case, nourished by the apocalyptic speculations of the abbot Joachim of Fiore. It was probably during his stay at Lyons in 1245 that he had met Hugh de Digne, the famous Provencal expositor of Joachim. There were also Italian contacts through his Order. In one of his letters to Grosseteste he enclosed a little book (libellus) containing some of Joachim's writings, which had been brought him by friars from Italy.72 In it he had found confirmation of his belief that the end of the world was at hand, presaged by the final crisis when, according to Joachim, the Antichrist would be loosed upon mankind. Although Adam was attracted by the Joachite scheme of history, there is nothing to suggest that he subscribed to the wilder prophecies of Brother Gerard of Borgo San Donnino, who believed that the institutional Church was about to be superseded. On the contrary, he believed that the ecclesiastical hierarchy was divinely ordained, as he had learned from the Pseudo-Dionysius, and that only a vigorous and devoted episcopal leadership could remedy the evils of the times;73 the friars could best promote the reform of the Church by providing the bishops with helpers. He acted on this conviction himself. It was in this spirit that he gave Grosseteste constant support, advising him about candidates for benefices, reporting misconduct by parish priests, advising him on the management of the bishop's estates, and encouraging his stand against abuses. ii. Adam and the Franciscan Order After Grosseteste, the recipient of the largest batch of Adam's surviving letters—forty-one in all—was William of Nottingham, the fourth minister of the English province of the Friars Minor (1240-54). These and other letters addressed to superiors and to individual brethren of the Order have much to tell us of the 72 73

Letter 43. See e.g. his letter to William of Nottingham, Letter 207.

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Weltanschauung of a friar and the struggles of the Franciscan movement at an early stage of its development. Adam's strictures on the shortcomings of the secular clergy are recurrent throughout his letters: 'the godless people, worse than any beasts', contending for benefices, in 'these days of utter perdition';74 'in a world full of the clerical profession hardly anyone is to be found whom bishops can appoint as even tolerable helpers'.75 He is relentless in his pursuit of parish priests found guilty of concubinage, like the unfortunate vicar of Bloxham, who had two children by his hearthmate.76 In reporting the rebellion of the Pastoureaux in France and their assaults on clerks and churches, he suggested that they represented the vengeance of God visited upon the sins of the clergy.77 This disparagement of the clergy was a common enough feature of Mendicant preaching to elicit an express prohibition from Bonaventure, the Franciscan minister general.78 It goes some way to explaining the paranoid attitude of many of the secular clergy towards the friars. Zealous bishops like Grosseteste were eager to obtain the services of friars to assist them with their pastoral duties. As Grosseteste explained on his visit to the papal Curia, they were of particular help during episcopal visitations, when they could be used to hear confessions and preach to the people.79 But not all bishops were so well disposed towards the Mendicants. Many, who had at first welcomed them in their dioceses, felt misgivings as a shower of papal privileges emancipated the friars from episcopal control and they saw people drawn away from their parishes to the spacious new preacher-churches erected by the Mendicants. This rising tension between the friars and the spokesmen of the secular clergy was alluded to by Adam in a letter he addressed to William of Nottingham from the Roman Curia in January 1245. He reported to his Provincial that 'discreet brethren' at the Curia believed that prelates assembling for the forthcoming general council from many parts of Christendom would use the council to raise serious complaints (multa et grauia) against the friars;80 even their existence was under threat. On this occasion the threat was headed off; but the attack was to be resumed 74 76 78 79 80

75 Letters 14, 20. Letter 40. 77 Letters 23, 26, 27. Letter 24. S. Bonaventurae Opera Omnia, viii. 470—1; cf. Lawrence, The Friars, pp. 164—5. Gieben, 'Grosseteste', p. 376. Letter 211.

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with partial success at the Second Council of Lyons, twenty-four years after Adam's death.81 Besides facing challenges from without, the Franciscan Order experienced some internal convulsions during the thirty years following Adam's profession as a friar. The most intractable of these, and one that was to prove chronic, stemmed from the ideal of absolute poverty, corporate as well as personal, imposed on it by the founder. In the Rule, St Francis had expressly forbidden the brethren to own buildings or touch money or accumulate reserves. This ideal of sanctified destitution, which was based upon the imitation of the earthly life of Christ, posed insuperable problems when the small group of Francis's early followers expanded into an international order with an evangelical mission. How could the friars preach and administer the sacraments to the people if they possessed no churches? How could they instruct recruits to the Order if they possessed no books or buildings in which to study? Mitigations of the Rule were dictated by the practical needs of their mission. These inescapable compromises began with the privilege Quo elongati, issued in 1230 by Pope Gregory IX in response to a petition from the provincial ministers. This allowed the brethren to appoint a trustee, a 'spiritual friend', to receive and hold funds which might be used to pay for necessities such as clothing and housing. But what were 'necessities'? Concern with this vexed question caused the general chapter of 1241 to commission committees of university masters to examine the Rule and expound its meaning. Adam's high standing in the Order is evident from the fact that he was one of four magistri of the English province who were instructed, like those of other provinces, to report on ambiguities in the Rule.82 Eccleston commented on Adam's zeal for poverty,83 and the letters attest his strict adherence to the ideal of the Poverello. He writes to Giles Rufus, archdeacon of Northampton, returning 'a considerable sum of money in coins', which the archdeacon's courier had in a rather cavalier fashion tossed into his cell: 'this I ought not and was 81 The conciliar decree Religionum diversitatem suppressed all Mendicant Orders founded since 1215 unless approved by the Apostolic See. The decree excepted the Franciscans and Dominicans from its application on account of their 'evident usefulness to the Church': Lawrence, The Friars, pp. 158—9. 82 Eccleston, p. 71 and n. The response of the English committee has disappeared; that from the French province, ed. Oliger, 'Expositio quattuor magistrorum super Regulam Fratrum Minorum', 156—8, makes it clear that not all the magistri chosen for the purpose were doctors of theology. 83 Eccleston, p. 18.

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unwilling to accept, as it was contrary to the observance of our holy profession'.84 Grosseteste, who pressed him to come to Buckden for Christmas, was reminded that he needed to be sent mounts if he was to reach the bishop in time:85 Friars Minor possessed no stables, and Adam journeyed on foot unless keeping the company of prelates on visitations obliged him to use a horse. The question of poverty was a factor in a crisis of management leading to the deposition of Brother Elias of Cortona from the generalship of the Order in 1239. While in office, Elias had flouted the observance of poverty; he had also disturbed many of the brethren by his despotic and inquisitorial style of government. In the eyes of some his offence was compounded by the fact that he was not an ordained friar—he remained a lay brother. Opposition to his rule was led by a group of university graduates, the most conspicuous of whom was the English provincial minister Haymo of Faversham. Possibly Adam Marsh played a part in this crisis. The writer of the Chronicle of the XXIV Generals names him and St Antony of Padua as the two leading lights of the Order (duo luminaria ordinis) who led the attack on Elias;86 but St Antony was dead long before the events described. It is a reasonable surmise that it was Adam who informed Grosseteste of the opposition to Elias and prompted him to intervene with a letter to the cardinal protector of the Order, complaining that the unity of the Order was being endangered by the 'unbridled will of a single man'.87 The disapproval of Elias by the provincial ministers prevailed, and after a stormy meeting of the general chapter over which Pope Gregory IX presided in person, the pope deposed him. In the two decades that followed, the Franciscan Order underwent a process of development and change, of which the two most conspicuous features were the imposition of clerical as opposed to lay leadership at all levels, and the scholastic arrangements that turned it into a learned or student order. It is clear from his letters that Adam was in sympathy with the main trend of this process and that he played a significant part in it. Although the report of the English committee set up by the general chapter of 1241 is not known to survive, some of Adam's preoccupations at about this time are indicated in a letter he wrote to 84

85 Letter 78. Letter 27. Chronica XXIV Generalium Ordinis Minorum, in Analecta Franciscana, iii (Quaracchi, 1897), pp. 230—1. The writer confused Antony with Haymo of Faversham, who took the lead in denouncing Elias; see Brooke, Early Franciscan Government, pp. 157—67. 87 Grosseteste, Epistolae, pp. 181-2. 86

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William of Nottingham.88 He refers to the great multitude of postulants joining the Franciscan communities and expresses his anxiety that as novices they were not being given adequate pastoral care or instruction; they were being let loose in the world to beg when they were still young and inexperienced. He complains that more effort was being spent on the quest for alms and buildings than on developing the spiritual life and learning of the young recruits; they needed a quiet period of withdrawal in which to foster their vocation. Adam refers in his letter to the fact that William of Nottingham, the provincial minister, was about to set off somewhere, and to the need to fortify himself with a plan to reform the Order. This language suggests that William's destination was the general chapter of 1242, which met at Bologna. This assembly received the reports of the magistri who had been commissioned to interpret the Rule. The need for construction and reform was in the air following the turbulence surrounding the attack on Brother Elias.89 It seems it was this chapter that enacted the statute (re-enacted by the chapter of Narbonne in 1260) banning the admission of any postulants to the Order other than clerics properly instructed in grammar and logic or prominent laymen, whose entry was likely to provide widespread edification.90 The chapter also debarred lay brothers from holding the offices of guardian, custodian, or provincial minister. Thus leadership passed to the clerical and graduate members. The Friars Minor had fallen to a clerical takeover from within. The concern for the theological education and pastoral training of recruits, voiced by Adam, was gradually met in these years by the organization of a scholastic structure closely modelled on that of the Dominicans, which turned the Franciscans into a student order; and in the organization of this Adam played a vital part. The key to the problem was the provision of a sufficient number of lectors—the trained theologians appointed to the friaries to instruct their brethren. The education of this intellectual elite was assured by creating schools in university centres, taught initially by secular clerks who were regent masters of the university, and then before long by friars who had graduated through the schools. In the English province, the 88

Letter 200. On the legislation of this chapter see Brooke, Early Franciscan Government, pp. 243-6, whose argument I find convincing. 90 'Die altesten Redactionen der Generalconstitutionen des Franziskanerordens', ed. F Ehrle in ALKG vi. 88. 89

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Franciscan school at Oxford, and its offshoot at Cambridge,91 provided the theological education for the lectors who were sent out to staff the friaries throughout the province. Adam's letters show that this supply of trained theologians was the outcome of several years of close collaboration between himself and the provincial minister William of Nottingham. It fell to him as regent master of the Oxford Franciscan school to select and recommend the men suitable for appointment as lectors to the friaries; and in the years after 1250, when his regency ended, he continued to reside at Oxford and act as scholastic adviser to the English province. His letters to the provincial about student friars read like the reports of a modern tutor on his most hopeful charges. Besides recommending or disrecommending men for lectorships, he created a system of assignation, by which men were assigned as future lectors to particular houses while they were still studying. So each house had a lecturer and a student at university preparing to succeed him in due course, whom the house was expected to supply with the necessary books and parchment while he was at the schools.92 The brightest talents were groomed for university teaching. Thus Adam urged the provincial not to burden Brother Thomas of York prematurely with teaching responsibilities in view of his brilliant talents, but let him apply himself to further theological study and hear the lectures of the doctors; he should be assigned as future lector at Oxford.93 One of the biggest fish to swim into the Franciscan net at Oxford was Master Eustace de Normanville, a man of aristocratic family, who had been regent in the canon law schools and chancellor of the university.94 His conversion to the friars made big news, and soon after he entered the Order in 1250, the friars of Norwich made a bid to get him as their lector; but Eustace begged to be excused on grounds of unpreparedness and Adam supported his resistance to the posting.95 He had bigger things in mind for him; and within a year or two he became regent at the Oxford house, and subsequently resumed teaching at Cambridge. The only studium generale named in the Narbonne constitutions of 1260 is the school of Paris.96 This reflected the unique status of Paris 91

On the Franciscan schools see Little, 'The Franciscan school at Oxford'; Lawrence, The Friars, 127—43; id., 'The letters'; Moorman, The Grey Friars in Cambridge. 92 Letter 196; cf. Little, Franciscan Papers, p. 63. 93 Letter 196. 94 Eccleston, p. 51 and n.; BRUO ii. 1364. 96 95 Letters 176, 177. Ehrle, in ALKG vi. 107-8.

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as the leading theological school of the Church. Each province of the Order was entitled to send two students there, and the minister general reserved the power to decide who of the student friars was to be presented for the magisterium and who was to proceed to the grade of Bachelor to lecture on the Sentences.97 The unique pre-eminence of Paris posed a special problem for Adam and his provincial, who were working to build up the Order's schools at Oxford and Cambridge as scholastic powerhouses for the English province. There was a constant danger that the Paris studium, energetically promoted by the minister general, John of Parma, would draw off the best talents. In 1249, when John of Parma made a visitation of the English province, one of Adam's star pupils, Richard of Cornwall, seized the occasion to approach the general and get his authorization for a transfer to Paris. Adam wrote to the provincial pleading for Richard's retention in England;98 and invited the papal nuncio and Thomas of York to join a hasty conference in order to keep him at Oxford." But the intellectual pull of Paris proved to be irresistible. A year or two later, despite Adam's efforts to mobilize opposition, Richard got his way and took himself off to Paris, where he lectured as a bachelor on the Sentences.100 He was not, however, permanently lost to the English province; in 1256 he returned to Oxford to succeed Thomas of York as regent in theology. As a rule, the Franciscan doctors of theology only taught in the university for the two years of their 'necessary regency' before stepping down to make way for a successor. Adam Marsh was exceptional in that he continued to reside at Oxford as a nonregent after he finished teaching in 1250. Besides his value as an academic referee for intended lectors, there were other cogent reasons for leaving him at Oxford. He had a vital role to play in fostering the relationship between the Franciscan school and the university; also, as a close friend and collaborator of the bishop of Lincoln, he was in a unique position to serve the academic body by acting as intermediary 97

98 Ehrle, in ALKG vi. 52, 107. Letter 203. Letter 182. The previous letter refers to Richard's desire to go to Paris ob uehementiores perturbationum occasiones. Peter Raedts, in Richard Rufus of Cornwall, pp. 7-9, suggests that Richard was moved by resentment because Thomas of York had been preferred to incept as lector at Oxford before him. An alternative explanation for Richard's discontent is the opposition at Oxford from Grosseteste, and probably Adam Marsh, to the new Parisian method of using the Sentences of Lombard for the teaching of speculative theology; see Grosseteste, Epistolae, pp. 346—7; Lawrence, 'The letters', p. 237; HUO i. 101. 100a Eccleston, p. 51; Raedts, Richard Rufus, pp. 7—9. According to Eccleston, Richard lectured cursorie (i.e. as a bachelor) at Paris. 99

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between the scholars and their ecclesiastical overlord. Here his powers as diplomat and conciliator were often taxed.101 Apart from his few years as lector to the Oxford school, Adam held no office or ministry in the Franciscan Order, a fact that makes the extent of his influence with the leadership of the Order the more remarkable. As provincial minister, William of Nottingham constantly sought his advice. It scarcely comes as a surpise to learn from one of his letters that, when setting off to attend a general chapter, William consulted his opinion about the election of ministers, and then asked him to nominate friars suitable for appointment as vicars of the provincial to serve during his absence abroad.102 Adam himself, though always ready to respond to calls for assistance or advice, shrank from accepting the responsibilities of office,103 a disinclination grounded in his sedulously schooled humility and his love of learning—his heart lay in his abandoned study. Perhaps it was his known lack of personal ambition, as much as his spirituality and his reputation for practical sagacity, that made him so much sought after as a counsellor, mediator, and conciliator. His most lasting achievement was the academic organization of the newly established English province of his Order. Hi. Adam at court

In both France and England the ministrations of the friars were welcomed by the king and the royal family. Louis IX entrusted them with the education of his sons, and kept a Dominican and a Franciscan constantly in his entourage to serve him as confessors. In England Henry III showed himself to be equally devoted to the Mendicants. He ordered frequent disbursements to help finance their buildings, to subsidize meetings of their provincial chapters, and to provide their communities with new clothing. Like his French brother-in-law, Henry retained both Dominican and Franciscans at court. To ensure their constant attendance, he obtained an indult from Pope Innocent IV dispensing them from their statutes that required the brothers at all times to travel on foot, so that they could 101 See e.g. Letter 16, in which he pleads for the pardon of the university chancellor, Ralph of Sempringham, who had incurred the bishop's displeasure by using a seal of the university without the bishop's authorization. 102 Letter 196. 103 See e.g. Letter 204 for various arguments he advances against the minister general's request for his service; his language suggests it was an appointment as a special visitor that Adam was resisting.

XXXV111

INTRODUCTION

ride horses and keep up with the court as it moved about the king's dominions.104 The primary role of the friars residing at court was, of course, a pastoral one. They provided the king and the royal family with confessors and preachers, but as personal advisers they were inevitably drawn into politics and even into the apparatus of government. The Dominican John of Darlington was kept at court as King Henry's confessor. He also served on Henry's increasingly professional council in the 1250s, and he was chosen as one of the twelve representing the king's interests on the committee of twenty-four, which was set up by the crisis parliament of 1258 and which drafted the Provisions of Oxford.105 Adam's letters frequently testify to his presence at court. He would not have been alone: the Franciscan Order, like the Order of Preachers, required a friar travelling or residing outside his own house to be accompanied by a brother friar—a socius. They were assigned their own quarters in the royal palace, like the 'Friars Chamber' in the castle of Guildford.106 The queen, Eleanor of Provence, displayed a predilection for the Friars Minor, and Adam was drawn into a particularly close relationship with her as her spiritual director, and possibly her confessor. He received a touching token of her dependence on him in the summer of 1250. Archbishop Boniface had asked him to accompany him to the papal Curia to help him prosecute his case against the bishop and chapter of London. The king urged him to go with the archbishop, but on reaching the coast with his companion, brother Gregory de Bosellis, he received a message from the queen insisting that he should remain in England to be available to her, and this demand he felt bound to obey.107 The intimacy of his association with the queen is indicated by his familiarity with such members of her household as Walter de Bradele, the keeper of her wardrobe, for whom he engaged the services of a goldsmith,108 and with Peter of Provence, who was the queen's 104

Rymer, Foedera et acta publica, i. 274. Documents of the Baronial Movement of Reform and Rebellion 1258-67, ed. R. F. Treharne and I. J. Sanders, p. 100. 106 Colvin, The History of the King's Works, ii. 953. Queen Eleanor's predilection for the Franciscans is indicated by orders to the sheriff of Wiltshire in 1268 to see to the construction of a room adjoining the queen's chamber in the palace of Clarendon 'for the use of the Friars Minor serving the queen': CLibR 1267—72, p. 45. 107 Letters 52, 168. 108 Letters 108, 150. 105

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physician.109 Four of his letters are addressed to her personally. In one of these, which is a request for her ecclesiastical patronage, he adds to the valedictory clause a brief postscript in French, which abandons protocol for an address of courteous familiarity.110 The object of this intimate note is to ask her to receive her sister-in-law, the countess Eleanor de Montfort, with kindness with a view to spiritual conversation. Adam was a spiritual counsellor not only to the queen, but also to Simon de Montfort and his wife. It was an association that was in danger of involving him in the tense domestic politics of the royal family. Adam had most probably been brought into contact with the Montforts through Grosseteste, who had been their friend and counsellor since his days as archdeacon of Leicester. Adam's role as spiritual director to earl Simon and his wife is disclosed by twenty letters addressed to them. Simon represented the new type of devout layman of the thirteenth century, whose religious aspirations had been kindled by the evangelical mission of the Mendicants. Adam found in him a literate and receptive pupil, whom he could advise to seek guidance by reading the Scriptures.111 Like Grosseteste, he became a family friend to the Montforts, and his letters combine spiritual counsel with reports on family matters, such as the progress of the earl's two sons, who had been placed in Grosseteste's household to finish their education. Some of the letters112 refer, though in Adam's exasperatingly opaque and allusive language, to the earl's troubles in Gascony. The king had commissioned Montfort to govern Gascony under a contract dated 1 May 1248.113 But the thorny task of pacifying the turbulent society of the province and securing the loyalty of its aristocracy to the English crown proved beyond the resources of men and money at the earl's disposal. After some initial success, he was obliged to return to England in December 1248, a second time in May 1250, and yet again at the end of 1251, in order to seek additional finance from the king to dispense gifts and hire mercenaries. Unfortunately, his demands for help were accompanied by a growing flood of complaints reaching Henry from aggrieved landowners of the 110 Letter 26. Letter 151. Letter 138. On Montfort's religious experience see the excellent analysis of Maddicott, Simon de Montfort, pp. 77-96. 112 Letters 133, 136, 138, 141. 113 The commission, which does not appear on the chancery enrolments, was printed by Bemont, Simon de Montfort, p. 76 and n. 109

111

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INTRODUCTION

province who had been expropriated or injured by Montfort's repressive military measures. In his correspondence with Montfort Adam sought both to reassure him in his difficulties and to remind him of his Christian obligations to his enemies. At the same time, as a loyal friend, he endeavoured to use his position at court and especially his access to the queen to put the earl's side of the case. In one of his letters he reported to Montfort that he had spoken to the queen about his needs and that she had replied sensibly and kindly to everything he had said, and was hopeful that he would receive the subvention he was seeking.114 The king had also spoken to him on the subject, and seemed disposed to accept Montfort's advice. Despite Adam's efforts as a mediator, Henry's distrust of the earl and rising tension between them came to a head in May 1252, when Montfort was called before the king in council to answer for the conduct of his mission. Adam, who was at the court of Westminster, witnessed this process throughout, which lasted over a month, and wrote a detailed account of it in a letter to Grosseteste.115 This letter illustrates the difficulties that beset friars at court who wished to walk the tightrope of political neutrality. Adam's report of the proceedings before the king is fiercely partisan. Montfort was a friend, whose martial spirit he admired. He was also a spiritual protege, whom he felt anxious to protect. In his report to Grosseteste Adam dismisses the grievances of the Gascons as baseless lies, and deplores the willingness of the king to allow them a hearing. As he admits, Adam was not just a detached witness of the process; he intervened in it by taking some of the magnates aside to persuade them of the justice of Montfort's case. He cannot have known much about the political situation in Gascony, apart from what Montfort had told him. It is possible, however, that he had received information independently from his fellow Franciscan Gregory de Bosellis, who had joined the Montforts' household in Gascony in 1250.116 But had he, in his eagerness to support his friend, been economical with the truth? His picture of the earl's demeanour at the trial as a model of 'self-restraint and meekness' contrasts sharply with the testimony of Matthew Paris—our only other contemporary source for the proceedings. Matthew describes an angry altercation in which Montfort is stung to fury by the king's accusations, and calls 114 116

Letter 138. Letters 141, 142.

115

Letter 30.

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Henry a liar, asking him 'Who could believe you are a Christian? Have you been to confession?'117 This dialogue has a tempting verisimilitude, but the conflict of authorities here must be resolved in favour of Adam's account, given his wisdom and intellectual probity, and the fact that he was present where Matthew was not. It is inconceivable that he would have written a falsehood to Grosseteste. Matthew, on the other hand, had a well-recognized propensity for putting fictitious speeches in the mouths of important people. Matthew has more to say about the history of the Gascon problem; but in general his account of the trial of Montfort supports Adam's report. In one significant particular they are of the same mind: both display a low opinion of the king's political competence. Adam's conclusion that Henry's proposals for pacifying Gascony 'will obviously procure his disinheritance and the enfeebling of his kingdom' has a barely concealed undertone of personal contempt. The same verdict is echoed by Matthew's summary with which he concludes his brief history of Gascony: 'It is the king's indiscretion and unstable judgement that have produced all this.'118 It was possibly Adam's resolute support for Montfort's cause that was responsible for his fall from favour and temporary exclusion from court. The difficulty of assigning more than an approximate date to many of the letters, and the allusiveness of his own references to it, make it hard to elucidate this episode in his career. He refers to it in a letter to Montfort, apparently written late in the autumn of 1252, where he says 'I incurred the king's indignation, I think, about the feast of St Luke [18 October] on account of the words of life. Hence it is not permissible for me to have access to the presence of the king or the queen.'119 The expression 'words of life' was a favoured euphemism of his for preaching. In other words, he had preached a sermon at court which had annoyed the king. He refers again to his situation in a letter of March 1253 addressed to his provincial, William of Nottingham.120 Here he records a conversation with archbishop Boniface and his Official in January in which they tried to persuade him to join the archbishop's familia. He explains that he had refused the invitation for a number of reasons, one of which was 'a strict order of the lord 117

118 119

Chron. Maj. v. 290. 'Haec autem omnia regis indiscretio et instabilitas parturivit'; ibid. 291. 120 Letter 141. Letter 186.

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INTRODUCTION

king prohibiting the archbishop from calling me to join his company as I am a traitor and enemy'. How Adam had incurred such a fearsome censure, which would have made a lay magnate tremble for his life and property, is unclear. His advocacy of Montfort's cause at the trial must have incensed Henry. Possibly he had repeated the offence in his sermon before the court in October. Although at the conclusion of the trial in June 1252 the king had been forced by the opinion of the assembled magnates to issue a verdict in Montfort's favour, the earl's position in regard to Gascony had been left ambiguous. In his letter to Grosseteste, Adam reported that the outcome of the proceedings was still uncertain. It seems that up to the time when Henry himself set off for Gascony in August 1253, he was intending to resume the trial of Montfort.121 Until the autumn of that year, when a reconciliation was achieved, Montfort's friends, including Adam, lay under the royal displeasure. It is improbable that he lost sleep over the king's censure. Henry's vehement language was a typical effluent of his volatile personality. Archbishop Boniface, son of the count of Savoy and uncle of the queen, was no time-server. Despite the king's displeasure, he prevailed upon Adam to accompany him on his metropolitan visitation of the dioceses of London, Ely, Norwich, and Lincoln in the months between December 1252 and November 1253.122 Doubtless it was the archbishop's unshakeable confidence in his sagacity, as well as the affection of the queen, that helped to restore him to the king's favour. In the following years he does not appear to have been resident at court, but he was kept busy executing various royal and ecclesiastical commissions. One of the latter, which involved much travel and the interrogation of witnesses, was that of opening the proceedings for the canonization of Richard de Wych, the former bishop of Chichester. He was appointed by Pope Alexander IV under a mandate of 22 June 1256 to conduct the initial inquiry in the company of Walter Cantilupe, bishop of Worcester, and Simon Hinton, provincial of the Dominicans.123 In 1257 he was chosen as one of the royal delegates sent to France to negotiate a final peace treaty with Louis IX.124 His success as an irenic negotiator as well as his reputation for sanctity ensured that he would be much in demand by troubled prelates. As he wrote with lamentations to his provincial minister at the beginning of 1257, he had received a command from 121 123

Maddicott, Simon de Monfort, p. 121. CPL i. 332.

I24

I22 Letter 178. See above, n. 20.

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the archbishop to be present on the feast of St Hilary (13 January), eleven days before an assembly of prelates summoned to London, to assist in quietening 'seditions lately arisen among prelates, nobles, clergy and people of church and Kingdom . . . O Lord God! What inadequacy and for what great business!'125 It is not recorded that he played any active part in the turbulent events of the next year. It was his Dominican confrere, John of Darlington, who was called on to represent the king's interest on the committee that drew up the Provisions of Oxford. Adam's association with Montfort and the reform party would have disqualified him from that role. II. THE LETTERS

The letters cover the period of Adam's life from 1241 to his death in 1259. There is no reason to think that he himself ever contemplated issuing a compilation of his own letters for public use. He displays none of the self-conscious literary traits of a man writing for posterity. The compilation includes letters of friendship and spiritual counsel, but these are outnumbered by practical communications, requests, testimonials, and reports, concerning the affairs of the Church and the Franciscan Order. Some, as he explains, were dictated in haste or even, under intense pressure of business, at night. Second thoughts constantly occurred to him, especially when the dispatch of a letter had to wait because a carrier was not immediately available; thus several letters continue after the valedictory clause with more or less lengthy postscripts. The task of arranging and transcribing them was evidently performed by others after his death. Adam refers to a number of friars who acted as his secretaries and amanuenses.126 As he pointed out to his provincial minister, William of Nottingham, it was customary to assign a secretarial helper to a friar who was serving as a lector.127 It is probable that his secretaries to whom he dictated letters kept copies or drafts of them. These must have been kept on separate leaves or small gatherings, for the 125 Letter 189. Adam refers to the fact that the king was threatening to ban this assembly, which was meeting to discuss a further subsidy demanded to meet the cost of gaining the Sicilian crown for prince Edmund. The chronicles differ over the date of clerical assemblies in the spring of that year: Councils & Synods, ii. 524—48. 126 These include A. de Hereford and Laurence de Sutton (172); Brother G. de London and John de Kemesing (184); and William of Pocklington, a prebendary of Lincoln, who served Adam as secretary both before and after his becoming a Franciscan (33). 127 Letter 190, in a postscript requesting the provincial to supply a secretary for Brothe Richard of Cornwall.

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compiler of the collection has arranged them not in chronological order but in groups, the order of which is determined by the social precedence of the recipients, and within the bigger groups (the letters to Grosseteste and those to William of Nottingham) the letters are not in chronological order. Like most private letters of the thirteenth century, they bear no dating clause, and their date has to be reconstructed from internal evidence. Clearly, if the secretaries had entered copies of outgoing letters on a roll or register, they would have been preserved more or less in order of issue; but being preserved on separate leaves, their arrangement in chronological order presented the later compiler with a problem he could not solve. The Cotton manuscript, which alone contains the entire collection, offers no clue to its place of origin. The obvious place in which to make such a compilation would have been the Franciscan house at Oxford, which was Adam's home for the later and most active years of his life, where his literary remains would have been deposited, and where his religious brethren and former secretaries would have had the means and incentive to undertake the task. Possibly for the letters he wrote to Grosseteste the compilers had the originals at their disposal. Nicholas Trivet, who had studied and taught at Oxford thirty years after Adam's death, tells us in his chronicle that out of his affection for Adam, Grosseteste bequeathed all his books to the Oxford house of the Friars Minor.128 His statement is supported by Letter 75 of our collection. This was addressed by Adam to his old friend Richard Gravesend, the dean of Lincoln, a year or two after Grosseteste's death, and refers to the fact that the bishop's writings, including his translations, were at the disposal of the provincial minister of the Franciscans. In the fifteenth century Thomas Gascoigne attested that Grosseteste's books were indeed in the library of the Oxford friars.129 It is probable that the gift of his manuscripts included much of his personal correspondence, including Adam's letters.130 The compilation is in every way a Franciscan book: a great part of the correspondence is addressed to the general or provincial ministers of the Order or is concerned with its affairs. The compilers may have 128

Annales, p. 243. Hunt, 'The library of Robert Grosseteste'. 130 This surmise supported by the fact that a different hand from that of our copyist has erroneously added a letter of Grosseteste's as a postscript to Adam's Letter 214; cf. Grosseteste, Epistolae, pp. 432 ff. 129

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been moved to undertake the task by considerations of propaganda or by pietas towards a man who was remembered as one of the greatest luminaries of the Franciscan school. But, of course, the most obvious and normal reason for commissioning a collection of this sort would be that the compilers regarded the letters as admirable, or at least useful, models of epistolary style; also in this case providing a helpful formulary book for ministers of the English Franciscan province, in their dealings with prelates, princes, and patrons. Whatever the reason for its making, the plan proved abortive, as will be seen from the description of the manuscript below. The collection was left unfinished and apparently it was never put into circulation. A modern reader is inclined to recoil from the suggestion that Adam could be regarded as a literary model. By the thirteenth century, the art of letter-writing had become a distinct and highly artificial science with elaborate rules of its own—the ars dictaminis. An ambitious young clerk intending a career in administration after his years in the schools, such as Adam may have been before his conversion to the friars, was well advised to make a study of the dictamen. A number of formularies indicate that there were at Oxford instructors offering courses in the art in the early years of the thirteenth century.131 Whether or not Adam used their services, it is obvious from his prose that he had sampled the fare to be found in the treatises of the dictatores, like those of Guido Faba and Buoncompagno that were circulating in England. He writes in an elaborate and highly convoluted rhetorical style. Complex and rambling sentences, in which subject is separated from verb by endless parentheses, circumlocution, and allusiveness, sometimes to the point of obscurity, make the reading of his prose something of an obstacle course. Although Adam derived much of his style and language from the treatises on dictamen, he had not fully mastered their rules. The masters of the subject expounded the cursus Curie Romane, a rhythmic system of prose used by the papal chancery since the twelfth century, but its reception in England was slow and relatively late.132 Adam's prose displays a rhythmic sense, but does not adhere to the rules of the cursus systematically, as was the case with his English contemporaries. In the velox ending of a sentence, for instance, a form most favoured by the papal chancery as the epitome of stylistic elegance, 131

132

Richardson, 'Letters of the Oxford dictatores'. Denholm Young, 'The cursus in England'.

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Guido Faba insisted that the concluding word must be one of four syllables, and that the stress must fall on the penultimate syllable,133 as in the phrase negotiis implicare. Adam, however, has a fondness for ending periods with polysyllabic words of five syllables or more, sometimes less. In fact he constantly mishandles the velox ending.134 If he sits loose to the rules of the cursus, he is nevertheless indebted to the masters of the dictamen for a great deal of his vocabulary and modes of address. As Faba explains in his Summa, after the address the exordium of a letter should be designed to secure the goodwill of the recipient (beneuokntie captio) by means of a proverb or references to the recipient's noble character, accomplishments, and previous acts of kindness to the writer. Adam adheres unfailingly to this advice in the many letters he writes to supplicate favours for other people. The fulsome letter of congratulation, egged with praise and advice, that he wrote to Archbishop Boniface, probably at his enthronement, has a recognizable prototype in Buoncompagno's model for 'general letters for universal nephews, relatives, and subordinates, desiring to profess their joy on the election of a person to a prelacy'.135 Despite the artificiality of this language, Adam adapts a variety of epistolary conventions to give genuine expression to sentiments of his own. Among these are the axiomatic or moralizing phrases with which he concludes the salutation at the beginning of his letters. These are adapted to the perceived aspirations or needs of the recipient. So, in a letter to John of St Giles, archdeacon of Oxford, who was terminally ill, he concludes the address with salutem et post pacem temporis gloriam eternitatis. To Simon de Montfort, beset by political troubles in dealing with the rebellion of Gascony, his greeting ends with post gratiosa certaminum merita gloriosa triumphorum premia. The prior of Christ Church Canterbury, who seemed disposed to persist in a legal dispute with the bishop of Lincoln, was greeted with the admonitory formula salutem cum spiritu consilii salutaris. Another distinctive feature of Adam's style is the deprecatory phraseology he uses in referring to himself; the reader is never 133 'In periodo nunc datur regula singularis quia semper dicitur esse dictio quattuor sillibarum cuius penultima sit acuta': BL Add. MS 8167, fo. 42. 134 Thus in Letter 1 to archbishop Boniface, out of ninety clausulae only forty-seven are correctly formed; in Letter 4 to the same, only five out of thirteen are orthodox. 135 Rockinger, Briefsteller und Formelbucher, i. 133—8. A good copy of Buoncompagno's model letter will be found in an English manuscript of the Antiqua Rhetoric® in BL Cotton MS Vitellius C VIII, fo. n 3 Y .

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allowed to forget that the writer is a Friar Minor—by profession the poorest of the poor and the most humble. So we meet such formulas as modicitatis mee insufficientia (72), exiguitatis mee subiectio (73), meam insufficientiam (73), nostra modicitas (74 in a letter from several friars), paupertatis mee insufficientia (78). Master John of Uffington receives a promise of help over his projected benefaction to Oxford with the touching words si quid deuotio pauperis et oratio peccatoris (104)— 'whatever can avail the devotion of a poor man and the prayers of a sinner'. Circumlocutions used in addressing people with nouns denoting their qualities instead of with pronouns, a practice Adam caught from the dictatores, causes a little embarrassment to the modern translator. While endeavouring to convey the flavour of the text in acceptable English, I have generally substituted an adjective or a verb for such abstract expressions. Thus paupertatis mee nequit insufficientia is rendered 'my poverty cannot suffice'; and inolite benignitatis uestre supplico beneuolentie is translated as 'I beg of your benevolence and natural kindness'. Some words which Adam uses repeatedly to signify praiseworthy attributes of a correspondent cannot be understood in their classical sense. For instance, he constantly attributes industria to people in contexts where it means simply 'attention' or 'helpful conduct'. Similarly, the phrase prouisiue uestre pietatis industria can best be rendered as 'your perspicacious goodness'. Another word of approval he often applies to people for whom he is writing a testimonial is emulation he generally uses it to signify 'zeal' or 'enthusiasm', without any undertone of comparison, as in the phrase emulatio animarum saluandarum 'zeal for the salvation of souls'. Another favourite attribute he uses is circumspectio, meaning simply 'prudence' or 'discretion'. It is perhaps superfluous to point out that Adam's syntax, in such matters as indirect speech and the use of reflexive pronouns, follows the freer conventions of the Middle Ages, as opposed to those of classical Latin. III. MANUSCRIPTS AND EARLIER EDITION

London, British Library (A) Cotton MS Vitellius C VIII, fos. 26r-84v. This is the only manuscript containing the whole collection of Adam's surviving letters. It is a parchment codex measuring 20 x 27 cm which, like other volumes of the Cotton collection, is a composite book of

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miscellaneous items brought together under one cover by Sir Robert Cotton's librarian. The fifty-nine leaves containing the letters originally formed a distinct manuscript, the margins of which were pared to fit the codex, involving the loss of some marginalia. The topmost six lines of every page are badly shrunken by fire. The pages are ruled throughout in brown ink with (from fo. 28 onwards) 50 lines to a page. The letters are written in single column in a well-formed court hand of c. 1260-90. A different hand of the same period has written the only two items on fo. 6i Y ; these are letters to St Bonaventure, then minister general of the Friars Minor. At the foot of the second letter the same hand has written in red Hec est ultima littera quam dictauit pie recordationis Prater Adam de Marisco. Thereafter the first hand resumes and continues to the end of the manuscript. The last item of the collection, a lengthy letter of counsel to Archbishop Sewal of York, is incomplete, as two final leaves of the manuscript are missing. The full text is supplied by manuscript B listed below. There are indications that the compilation was left uncompleted. Although the copyist uses a cramped and economy-conscious letterblock in which one letter follows another without any gap, he has left a generous space—sometimes more than half a page—after each group of letters, apparently anticipating additions from elsewhere. Thus the first group of letters, those addressed to Archbishop Boniface of Canterbury, was copied on a single folio, leaving the last twelve lines of the reverse side blank. The next letters, addressed to the archbishop of Rouen and the bishop of Roskilde, are copied on the first twenty-three lines of a separate folio, leaving the remaining seventeen lines and the whole reverse side blank. Similarly, significant spaces occur on fos. 4OY, 52Y, 58', 6or, 6iv, yor, 75Y, y6r, and ygr. Throughout, a blank space has been left for the initial letter of each text in anticipation of a rubricator. The copyist does not score highly for accuracy. Frequently incoherent syntax indicates that words have been omitted. Occasionally a part or whole of a sentence has been omitted and supplied in the margin by a corrector of the same period. The addressee named in Letter 58 is clearly wrong. A bad misreading of his text in Letter 87, where the copyist failed to recognize the titles of well-known works of the Pseudo-Dionysius and thus produced a mumbo-jumbo, indicates that he was not conversant with theological discussion of his time. Possibly he was a professional lay scribe. Such men had long been

MANUSCRIPTS AND EARLIER EDITION

xlix

hired by monasteries, and after the middle years of the thirteenth century they were sometimes employed by houses of the Mendicants.136 Oxford, Bodleian Library (B) Digby MS 104, fos. 90-101; a parchment codex containing miscellaneous items of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, of which the first is a commentary on the De anima, formerly acribed to Grosseteste, whose treatise De luce is copied on fos. io9Y ff. Folios 171-4 contain a catalogue of books in Coventry Cathedral Priory, compiled £.1240 by John of Bruges, monk of Coventry.137 The manuscript has only a single letter of Adam Marsh—the long letter of counsel to Archbishop Sewal of York, with which the compilation ends. It is written on a separate gathering of twelve leaves, unrelated to any other items in the volume, in a small fine court hand of £.126090, with rubricated headings. The writer differs from the scribe of A in supplying numbers of scriptural references in the margins of the text. Vienna, Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek (C) MS 4923 (Theol. 547), fos. 4OY-42Y; a parchment codex of miscellaneous items of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, of which the first comprises excerpts from the De potestate ecclesiastica of Gerson, fos. ir-i2Y. Other items relate to the controversies over ecclesiastical government during the period of the Great Schism and the Conciliar Movement. The only letter of Adam's in the manuscript is the long letter to Archbishop Sewal, here written in single column in a court hand of £.1380-1400. It appears to be descended from the text used by the copyist of A. Brewer's edition The editio princeps and only modern edition of the letters was that published by J. S. Brewer, using manuscript A and, for the final missing folios of the Sewal letter, manuscript B. He printed them as the major item in his Monumenta Franciscana (RS 1858), i. 77-489. A pioneer in British Franciscan studies, Brewer was a careful and generally accurate scholar. I found it possible to adopt most of his 136

Pollard, 'The pecia system in medieval universities' and 'William de Brailles'; O'Carroll, A Thirteenth-Century Preacher's Handbook, pp. 113—14. It is to be noted that in Letter 109 Adam directs payment of a fee to be made to a scribe working for him in Oxford. insuficentiam(73),nostramodictas(74inalet rfomsevralfirs), For further details of the contents of the manuscript see Macray, Digby Manuscripts, pp. 118-23.

1

INTRODUCTION

emendations to the text of A. He was only very occasionally defeated by the inaccuracies and limited knowledge possessed by the scribe. He made no attempt, however, to date any of the letters. IV. EDITORIAL CONVENTIONS

In this edition I have reproduced the orthography of the texts, including that of proper names, with a single exception: out of a desire to ease the eye of the modern reader (as well as my own), I have restored the classical 't' where the text follows the late medieval convention of writing 'c' before the letter 'i', as in gracias instead of gratias. The paragraphing of the texts and the corresponding translations are entirely my own. I have also modernized the punctuation. A general index is included at the end of volume II. Scriptural quotations are rendered sometimes using the Authorized Version, but are more usually taken from the Douai-Reims version, which provides a faithful translation of the Latin Vulgate. Where the numbering of verses differs between the AV and DouaiReims, the footnote reference is to the locus in the Latin Vulgate.

THE L E T T E R S OF ADAM MARSH

I

To Boniface of Savoy, archbishop of Canterbury (1249) f. 26 Reuerendissimo in Christo patri et domino Bonifatio, Dei gratia Cantuariensi archiepiscopo,1 Prater Ada, deuotissimam subiecti famulatus obedientiam. Non tarn in facto karissimum fratrem Gregorium de Bosellis2 contingente quam in omnibus que facienda censuerit dignissima prelationis uestre dominatio, excellentie uestre suppliciter obnoxius minister fratrum in Anglia3 et uniuersi, quos eidem subiecit professio regularis, secundum quod requirit recte rationis iusta necessitas, iugi uigilantia promptam parendi gerunt in Domino uoluntatem. Ceterum clementissime sublimitatis uestre dignationi etsi non quantis uolo, cum quantis tamen ualeo, assurgo gratiarum actionibus, pro eo quod insufficientiam modicitatis mee uestre maiestatis eminentia propensiori gratia prosequi non ducit indignum, prout ex beneficiis, sermonibus, et litteris—sit liberalitati uestre sempiterna retributio—luculenter insinuatur. Liberet, si liceret, occasionem salutarem salutis dispensatori, quamquam imperito sermone tamen affectione sollicita, in tantis salutarium causarum cogentiis qualitercunque subinducere. Set quid? 'Conceptum sermonem quis tenere poterit?'4 Sit altissimo Saluatori superexaltata benedictio, qui saluandis animabus contra tarn nepharia periculosorum temporum facinora ad metropolitanam tante sedis celsitudinem sublimauit archipresulem, quern et dignitas incliti generis et pii pectoris humilitas, innocentie placida suauitas et sedulitas serena beniuolentie, sobrietatis decor eximius et insigne decus castitatis, rectitudinis emulatio et detestatio prauitatis, titulis clarissimis insignire conspiciuntur. Igitur quam lugendum fore constabit cunctis seculis si non tarn fulgens lucerna in tarn spectabili candelabro" culminis ecclesiastici diuinitus collocata, et ualida uirtute et splendida discretione, et 1

a

candelabarum MS.

1 1 Boniface's election to Canterbury was confirmed by the pope in Sept. 1243, but apart from a brief visit in 1244, when he was yet unconsecrated, he was absent from England until late 1249. The style of Adam's address here, which is both adulatory and admonitory,

I

To Boniface of Savoy, archbishop of Canterbury (1249) To the most reverend father in Christ and lord Boniface, by the grace of God archbishop of Canterbury,1 devoted obedience and humble service from Brother Adam. Both in the matter concerning our dearest brother Gregory de Bosellis2 and in everything that your esteemed lordship considers should be done, the minister of the friars in England3 and all who are his subjects by profession of their Rule are ever ready and vigilant, as is right and reasonable, to render your lordship their willing obedience in the Lord. I thank your eminence not as I would wish, but to the best of my ability for your condescension in pursuing my inadequate and poor self with more kindness and favour, as evidenced by your kind acts, words, and letters—may your generosity receive an eternal reward. I should like, if I may, to take the opportunity for offering saving advice to one who is a minister of salvation in such great and urgent matters; though the language is inept, it is given with affection and concern. Yet what am I to say? 'Who can withhold himself from speaking?'4 Blessed be our most high Saviour who, to counter the wickedness and perils of our times, has raised to the lofty eminence of the metropolitan see an archbishop conspicuous for the nobility of his distinguished family, his humble and pious heart, his unfeigned and delightful disposition and persistent and untroubled kindness, the seemliness of his sobriety and chastity, his cultivation of righteousness, and his detestation of depravity. Assuredly it will be lamentable for all time if such a shining light, placed by divine providence high upon such a lovely candlestick of ecclesiastical eminence, should fail with its effectual power and was possibly suggested by the occasion of Boniface's enthronement at Canterbury on i Nov. 1249. 2 On Gregory de Bosellis see BRUO i. 223; Eccleston, p. 42 and n. He was lector to the Leicester friary £.1240. He was attached to Archbishop Boniface 'pro predicationis officio' in late 1249 (see Letter 133), and accompanied him to the papal Curia in 1250 (Letter 169). Thence, he joined the Montforts in Gascony (Letter 205). Cf. Letters 34 n.8, 35 n. 9, 133, 168, 149. 3 4 William of Nottingham, Provincial Minister of England 1240-54. Cf. Job. 4: 2.

4

L E T T E R S OF A D A M M A R S H

feruida dilectione, luceat omnibus qui in domo Dei sunt. Quod dumtaxat fieri ualebit diuinitate propitia si specialis ille sacerdotum emulator5 cum effectu audiatur, qui primatem pontificum alloquens ait, 'de cetero oportere te esse considera formam iustitie, sanctimonie speculum, pietatis exemplar, assertorem ueritatis, fidei defensorem, doctorem gentium, amicum Sponsi, Sponse paranimphum, cleri ordinatorem, plebum pastorem, magistrum insipientium, refugium oppressorum, pauperum aduocatum, miserorum spem, tutorem pupillorum, uindicem uiduarum, oculum cecorum, linguam mutorum, baculum senum, ultorem scelerum, malorum metum, bonorum gloriam, uirgam potentium, regis patrem, sal terre, orbis lumen, sacerdotem Altissimi, uicarium Christi, christum Domini'.6 Set numquid hec sic se habere poterunt si non indefessa satagat uigilantia, ut inseparabiliter assistant et ualidi adiutores et consiliarii fideles et mundi ministeriales et iudices iusti? Proinde foras fiant necesse est pestes ecclesie pernecabiles, contra quas propheta tarn terribilia contorquet fulmina, illos condempnabiliter reprobans quos inflat pompatici fastus ambitio, quos lacerat mobilis affluentie conquisitio, quos absorbet inexplebilis concupiscentie uorago, ubi dicit Ysaia Iv.g:*7 'Omnes bestie agri, uenite ad deuorandum, uniuerse bestie saltus, speculatores eius ceci omnes nescientes uniuersi: canes muti non ualentes latrare, uidentes uana, dormientes et amantes sompnia; et canes impudentissimi nescierunt saturitatem. Ipsi pastores ignorauerunt intelligentiam; omnes in uiam (suam) declinauerunt, unusquisque ad auaritiam suam a summo usque ad nouissimum. Venite, sumamus uinum et impleamur ebrietate, et erit hodie, sic et eras, et multo amplius'; scilicet certe nichil actum esse dinoscitur, nisi ante omnia illud impleatur in opere saluifico quod sub tarn salutari oratione inpetrauit legislator sic inquiens—Num. xxvii.e—'Prouideat Dominus Deus spirituum omnis carnis hominem qui sit super multitudinem hanc; et possit exire et intrare ante eos, et educere illos et introducere, ne sit populus Domini sicut oues absque pastore.'8 Ex quibus liquet quod cum singulis ouilibus iuris dominici fuerit pastor prouidendus; oportet homo secernatur a bestia. Quis autem sit * MS Iv.g, indicating the approximate place in the chapter. 5

St Bernard of Clairvaux, author of the quotation that follows. De Consideration, iv. 7: S. Bernardi Opera, iii, ed. Leclercq and Rochais, p. 466. Significantly, Adam has altered Bernard's phrase 'regum patrem' to the singular 'regis patrem'. 6

LETTER 1

5

brilliant judgement and burning love to give light to all who are in the house of God. This, with God's help, it will have the power to do if you effectively heed that model for priests5 who, when addressing the primate of bishops, says, 'for the future, consider that you must be a model of righteousness, a mirror of holiness, an example of piety, a preacher of truth, a defender of the faith, an instructor of the pagans, the friend of the Bridegroom, the attendant of the Bride, the ruler of the clergy, the pastor of the people, a teacher of the foolish, a refuge of the oppressed, an advocate of the poor, the hope of the unfortunate, the protector of orphans, the champion of widows' rights, the eyes of the blind, the tongue of the dumb, a staff for the aged, the avenger of crime, the dread of evil men and the glory of the good, the chastisement of the powerful, the father of the king, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, the priest of the Most High, the Vicar of Christ, a christ of the Lord.'6 But can these things be without an unwearying vigilance to ensure that you have the constant assistance of effectual helpers, faithful counsellors, pure officers, and just judges? Likewise, it is necessary to expel the deadly plagues of the Church, against which the prophet Isaiah utters his fearful fulminations in condemnation of those who are puffed up by arrogance, torn by acquisitive greed, or submerged by insatiable lust, where he says (Isa. 56)7 'All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest. His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough; they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, everyone for his gain, from his quarter. Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.' That is to say, we know for sure that nothing is accomplished in the work of saving souls unless, before all else, that is fulfilled which the lawgiver requested by his prayer when he spoke thus in Num. 27: 'Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, who may go out before them, and who may go in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd.'8 From this it is apparent that for every one of the flocks that belong to the Lord a pastor must be provided. Man must be distinguished 7

Isa. 56: 9-12.

8

Num. 27: 16-17.

6

L E T T E R S OF A D A M M A R S H

homo ostendit quic dicit Taciamus hominem ad ymaginem et similitudinem nostram'.9 Igitur homo est qui non tantum naturaliter factus est ad ymaginem, sed etiam gratuito reformatus est ad Dei similitudinem, factus quidem ad ymaginem ingeniti Patris per memoriam mentis gignentem, rfad ymaginem unigeniti Filii per intelligentiam rationis genitam/ ad ymaginem procedentis Paracliti per amorem uoluntatis procedentem; reformatus uero ad Dei similitudinem cum est in mentis memoria eterna patris paritas, cum est in rationis intelligentia uera Filii claritas, cum est in uoluntatis amore sancta Paracliti tranquillitas.10 Soli ergo homini, tarn sic condito per naturam quam sic reformato per gratiam, mundi creaturis preesse iussit auctoritas diuina, cum priusquam premisit 'faciamus hominem ad ymaginem et similitudinem nostram', subiunxit consequenter 'et presit piscibus maris et uolatilibus celi et bestiis terre, uniuerseque creature'.11 Annon inexplicabiliter excellentior est uniuersitas celestis ecclesie quam uniuersitas mundialis creature? Quamobrem si homo tantum sic* per diuinum diffinitus eloquium dominari debet in regno mundi, quanto magis preter hunc talem nullatenus quis principari ualet in regno celi? Iste enim solummodo super subiectam plebium multitudinem, et per patrocinium potentie, et per consilium sapientie, et per solatium beniuolentie, lege recti regiminis esse cognoscitur, propter quod postquam monstrauit animabus preficiendum hominem, adiunxit 'qui sit super multitudinem hanc'.12 Quid autem eidem incumbat indeficienti satagere uigilantia subinfert: 'et possit exire et intrare ante eos';12 exire quidem ad ministerium predicationum, ad exempla operationum, ad dispensationem sacramentorum; intrare uero in cubiculum orationis, in secretarium meditationis, in sanctuarium contemplationis. Sequitur 'et educere illos et introducere';12 educere certe ad formam honeste uiuendi, ad censuram iuste iudicandi, ad ritum pie colendi; introducere quoque in archanum firme credulitatis, in seruatorium certe expectationis, in absconditum uiuifice dilectionis. Et ex hiis quid ' quid MS. same period. 9

e

d d This missing passage is supplied in the margin by another hand of the sit MS.

Gen. i: 26. The similitude of the powers of the soul, viz. memory, understanding, and will, to the three persons of the Trinity was a locus classicus for the schoolmen, derived from Augustine's De trinitate; cf. Aquinas, Summa Theologica, pars i a xciii. 7. 10

LETTER 1

7

from the beasts. But who is man is shown by Him who says 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.'9 Man, therefore, is one not only made by nature in the image of God, but also remade in His likeness by free grace. He was made, in fact, in the image of the unbegotten Father through memory which is fertile and creative, in the image of the only-begotten Son through his understanding born of reason, in the image of the Paraclete, who proceeds from both, through love which proceeds from the will; and indeed he was remade after the likeness of God as in his mental power of memory there is an eternal semblance to the Father, in his rational intelligence the true splendour of the Son, and in the capacity of his will for love the holy peace of the Paraclete.10 It was only man, therefore, thus created by nature and remade by grace, whom divine authority commanded to have dominion over the creatures of the world when, having first said 'Let us make man in our image and likeness', he added 'and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.'11 Is not the whole body of the heavenly Church indescribably more excellent than the whole of earthly creation? For this reason, if man alone, thus defined by the divine word, must have dominion over the kingdom of the world, how much more is it for someone in no way different from him to be able to govern in the kingdom of heaven? For the latter is recognized to be rightly and lawfully placed over the people subject to him by the power of his fatherly protection, the wisdom of his counsel, and the comforting assurance of his benevolence. Therefore, after showing that man is to be placed at the head of living things, he added 'set a man over the congregation'.12 What should be the subject of his preoccupation and constant vigilance is shown by the added words: 'which may go out before them and go in before them';12 to go out, indeed, for the ministry of preaching, to set an example of good works, to dispense the sacraments; but to go into the chamber of prayer, into the closet of meditation, into the sanctuary of contemplation. There follows: 'which may lead them out and bring them in';12 to lead them out, certainly, to an honest way of life, to making just judgements, to piety in their religious observance; to bring them in also—to the mystery of steadfast faith, into the safe haven of sure hope, into the secret place of life-giving love. 11

Gen. i: 26.

I2

Num. 27: 16-17.

8

L E T T E R S OF A D A M M A R S H

intendendum? Audiamus: 'ne sit populus Domini sicut oues absque pastore'.12 Hoc propheticus sermo alibi patenter exponit formidabili prosecutione dicens, 'Ve pastoribus Israel, qui pascebant semetipsos! Nonne greges pascuntur a pastoribus? Lac comedebatis, et lanis operiebamini, et quod crassum erat occidebatis; gregem autem meum non pascebatis; quod infirmum fuit non consolidastis, et quod egrotum non sanastis; quod fractum est non alligastis, et quod abiectum est non reduxistis; quod perierat non quesistis, set cum austeritate imperabatis eis et cum potentia. Et disperse sunt oues mee, eo quod non esset pastor, et facte sunt in deuorationem omnium bestiarum agri et disperse sunt. Errauerunt greges mei in cunctis montibus, et in uniuerso colle excelso; et super omnem faciem terre dispersi sunt greges mei, et non erat qui requireret; non erat, inquam, qui requireret.'13 Quis unquam pensando non perpendet^ quam sit incomparabilis crudelitas, quam sit incogitabilis peruersitas, quam sit inexorabilis malignitas demoniace rabiei animas hominum, pro quibus reparandis Dei Filius pio cruore saluifice crucis patibulum rubricauit, sub specie pastorum latronum peruicacie tradere dissipandas? Demum finem loquendi faciamus. Talibus studeat sanctitas archiepiscopalis uel pontificalis regendarum animarum curas committere quorum unusquisque, et pro eo qui committit, et pro se cui committuntur, in die terrifica sempiterne districtionis illam reddat rationem quam prescribit immutabilis decreti fixa sententia qua dicitur 'quod hec sola est rectoribus animarum reddenda ratio ut illorum singulus quisque ante tribunal iudiciarie maiestatis dicere ualeat confidenter, Domine, tu scis quia fleui cum dicerem et non f. 26Y audirer, tu scis quia dixi uirtutes annuntiando, tu scis quia | non tacui uicia redarguendo/ in carnis maceratione, in cordis compunctione, cum luctuosa sanctarum precum iugitate, me ipsum 'hostiam uiuam, sanctam, Deo placentem'14 pro ipsis offerendo. Vereor me piissimis auribus sermones inportunos ingessisse; set obsecro, benigna ignoscat dominatio quod deuota presumpsit affectio. Conseruetur beatitudinis uestre desiderabilis incolumitas in Christo semper et beatissima Virgine.

f perpendet: deficiet MS, which can hardly be made meaningful without straining the syntax. " At this point the copyist has repeated the previous phrase 'tu scis . . . audirer'.

LETTER 1

9

And what is the drift of this? Let us hear: 'that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd'.12 The utterance of the prophet sets this out plainly elsewhere with fearful consequence, saying, 'Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick; neither have ye bound up that which was broken; neither have ye brought again that which was driven away; neither have ye sought that which was lost, but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered because there is no shepherd, and they became meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill; yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.'13 Who, when ever reflecting on it, will not think it an act of unequalled cruelty, inconceivable perversity, malice, and diabolical madness to deliver the souls of men, for whose restoration the Son of God reddened the saving cross with his holy blood, into the hands of persistent robbers under the guise of pastors? Let us at last make an end to our discourse. May your holiness as archbishop be zealous to commit the care of governing souls to such people as will answer, both for him who commits it to them and for themselves to whom it is committed, rendering on the fearful day of judgement that account laid down by the unchangeable decree which says 'that the only account that the rectors of souls must render is to be able each to say with confidence at the tribunal of the divine majesty, O Lord, thou knowest that I wept when I spoke and was not heard; thou knowest that I preached virtue and was not silent in reproving vice, mortifying my flesh, with compunction of heart, constantly with lamentation and holy prayer offering myself "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God"14 on their behalf. I fear I have inflicted unseasonable words upon your ears. But I beseech your kind lordship to pardon a presumption prompted by devotion and love. May your beatitude be preserved in health, ever in Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

13

Ezek. 34: 2-6.

" Rom. 12: i.

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2

To Boniface of Savoy, archbishop of Canterbury (1250) Domino Bonifatio Cantuariensi archiepiscopo Prater Ada, etc. Etsi reuerende dominationis consideratio modicitatem meam ab interpellando reuocasset, eandem tamen animauit ad interpellandum benigne paternitatis dementia. Proinde cum in necessitatibus ecclesiasticis uelud ad singulare refugium ad uestre pietatis patrocinium recurrendum fore dinoscitur, ubi uirtutis auctoritate reprimuntur uiolenti, ueritatis consilio refelluntur fraudulenti, pietatis zelo confutantur maligni, uenerabilem patrem dominum Wygorniensem, quern multimoda meritorum eminentia non mediocriter reddit commendabilem, ob periclitantes ecclesie sue libertates1 ad sanctum feruorem prouidentie uestre accedentem (complectens),a cum omnimoda humilium precum instantia* reuerentie uestre rogo sanctitatem ut negotii seriem, quam memorati domini nuntius, si uestro sederit beneplacito, uobis uiua uoce manifestabit, quatinus nee a ueritate receditur sed proceditur secundum iustitiam, propensiori gratia prosequi non ducatis indignum. Conseruet Deus uestre beatitudinis incolumitatem ecclesie sue sancte per tempora longiora in Christo et beatissima Virgine.

3

To Boniface of Savoy, archbishop of Canterbury (1252, probably November or December) Domino Bonifatio Cantuariensi archiepiscopo Prater Ada, etc. Licet inexplicabiles pauende difficultatis obsistentias," quas melius putaui silentio reprimendas quam exprimendas eloquio, michi secundum utrumque hominem1 obuenire considerem, tamen ruptis 2 * This word has been supplied, as a participle of some sort appears to be required by the syntax. Alternatively, the accusative might be governed by a missing phrase such as 'uelitis adiuuare', but this sounds too brusque in the context of Adam's obsequious address. b instantiis MS. 3

" more classically 'obsistentia'.

LETTER 2

II

2

To Boniface of Savoy, archbishop of Canterbury

1250 To the Lord Boniface, archbishop of Canterbury, Brother Adam, etc. Though respect for your reverent lordship deterred my humble self from troubling you, your kind and fatherly indulgence has encouraged me to do so. Since we know that where the needs of the Church are concerned men should have recourse to your protection, a unique refuge, as it were, where men of violence are repressed by virtuous authority, the deceitful are confuted by truthful counsel, and the malicious are restrained by religious zeal, [I have embraced the cause of] the venerable father, the lord of Worcester, who is much commended by his shining merits, and who is resorting to [the help of] your fervent holiness and wisdom on account of the fact that the liberties of his church are in danger.1 I entreat your holiness with the urgent and humble request that you see fit to take up the case, the course of which the messenger of the said bishop will disclose to you by word of mouth, bestowing your favour which carries greater weight, so far as there is no departure from truth and the procedure accords with justice. May God preserve your beatitude in health for his holy Church for a long time to come, in Christ and the Blessed Virgin. 3

To Boniface of Savoy, archbishop of Canterbury 1252 (probably November or December) To the Lord Boniface, archbishop of Canterbury, Brother Adam, etc. Although I am facing complex and fearful problems which hinder me in mind as well as body,1 I thought it better to keep silent about 2 1 Walter de Cantilupe, bishop of Worcester (1236—66), was involved in a dispute with the royal sheriff over pleas of Withernam in the bishop's hundred of Oswaldslow. In 1250, following a violent incident, the bishop excommunicated William Beauchamp the sheriff, and prosecuted the case at the papal Curia: Ann. Mon. i. 139, 140, 145; iv. 439, 440. He obtained a royal licence to cross the seas on i July 1250: Close Rolls 1247—51, p. 290. Adam's letter indicates that he was hoping to enlist the archbishop in support of his case. 3 ' secundum utrumque hominem: Adam means the interior and exterior man, i.e. mind and body; cf. his use of the same expression in Letter 191.

12

L E T T E R S OF A D A M M A R S H

omnium importunitatum repaculis uita comite secundum cogentem dominationis uestre iussionem personalem exilitatis mee presentiam in congregatione pontificum Londonie ad festum beati Hylarii,2 sicut fuerit propitia diuinitas, exhibere curabo. Nempe plus expedire coniicio,* perpensis rerum grauium circumstantiis, ut prius collocutionis opportune tractatum familiarem habeam cum aliquibus presulum quam uestre celsitudini humilitatem meam representem, acceleraturus tamen quantum ualuero modo competenti. Conseruetur dignitatis uestre sospes incolumitas ecclesie sancte per tempora diutina in Christo et beatissima Virgine.

4

To Boniface of Savoy, archbishop of Canterbury (1253-1254) Domino Bonifatio Cantuariensi archiepiscopo Prater Ada supplicem deuotissimi famulatus obedientiam. Licet pacificam celsitudinis uestre clementiam, atque etiam uocis uiue uigilantia super optabili pacis reformatione inter precellentem dominum Audomar Wyntonie electum1 et uenerabilem eiusdem ecclesie conuentum per prouisiuam pietatis uestre celsitudinem, Ipso auctore qui 'pacificauit per sanguinem crucis sue siue que in celis siue que in terris'2 consummanda diuinitus imprime, interpellauerim, tamen non tarn ex indesinenti memorate reconciliationis desiderio quam ex sedula clarissimea necessitudinis instantia, sicut fieri assolet in affectualibus causarum optabilium flagrantiis in idipsum officio lingue litere ministerium adiicio apud benignam paternitatis uestre disertitudinem, accumulans uelud importunam precis replicate frequentiam, cuius audentiam* et excitat simul et animat diffidentia displicendi 4

* coniicio: conuicio MS. a b karissime MS. audientiam MS, corrected by expunction.

2 13 Jan. The reference is probably to the Hilarytide assembly of prelates in London in 1253; see Councils & Synods, ii. 467-9. The agenda of the meeting included the reconciliation of Aymer de Lusignan, bishop elect of Winchester, with Archbishop Boniface, and further discussion of the king's demand for a crusading tenth: Chron. Maj. v. 359. Adam was evidently present as he reported the proceedings of the meeting to his provincial, William of Nottingham (Letter 188), where he also reports an agreement of the bishops 'in prosecutione omnium causarum ecclesie apud summum pontificem et dominu regem'. This reinforces the statement of the chroniclers that the meeting decided to put articles of complaint in writing.

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them rather than to put them into words, and so long as life is with me, I shall surmount every obstacle and shall be at pains to be present in my miserable person at the assembly of bishops at London on the feast of St Hilary,2 in accordance with your personal and compelling command. Indeed, in view of the gravity of the circumstances, I think it would be expedient for me first to have a private discussion with some of the prelates before presenting my humble self to your highness. I shall however be as speedy as I can, while acting with propriety. May your grace be long preserved in health and safety for holy Church in Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

4

To Boniface of Savoy, archbishop of Canterbury 1253-1254 To the Lord Boniface, archbishop of Canterbury, an entreaty with obedience and devoted service from Brother Adam. Although I have especially troubled the indulgence and peacemaking powers of your highness, even disturbing you by word of mouth, about the desirability of restoring peace between the excellent lord Aymer, bishop elect of Winchester,1 and the esteemed convent of that church, through your highness's good offices, to be accomplished in the first place by the divine authorship of Him 'who made peace through the blood of his cross, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven',2 nevertheless, not so much from a continuing desire for that reconciliation as from the evident urgency of the need for it, as usually in the desirable fragrance of a longed-for outcome I am adding the humble service of a letter to the spoken word in that same cause. In heaping importunate and repeated requests upon your fatherly kindness, I am prompted, and at the same time encouraged, in this boldness by a disbelief that I can displease you and a confidence in making requests that I have been given by your 4 ' Aymer de Valence, elected to the see of Winchester on 4 Nov. 1250, had still not been consecrated bishop when he was expelled from England in 1258 by the baronial opposition. The conflict with the chapter of St Swithin's Winchester, which Adam's letter refers to, was initiated in 1253 by Aymer's deposition of the prior, William of Taunton, and his imposition of a prior of his own choosing, contrary to the wishes of the community. This led to a prolonged struggle in the course of which some of the monks fled to St Alban's: Chron. Maj. v. 468-9; Ann. Man. ii. 94-5; iv. 105-6. 2 Col. i: 20.

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pariter et impetrandi confidentia, quas michi prestitit gratiosa sublimitatis uestre beniuolentia. Cui sit, oro, superexuberans celestis gratie retributio. Concedat uobis Altissimus ad quietandas partium prefatarum dissensiones et in omnibus salutis operande negotiis uirtutem inuincibilem, sensum infallibilem, zelum irremissibilem, constantiam infatigabilem. 'Conseruet Altissimus uestre beatitudinis incolumitatem'7 ecclesie sue sancte per tempora longiora. In Christo, etc.

5

To Boniface of Savoy, archbishop of Canterbury (1253, after mid-August) Domino Bonifatio Cantuariensi archiepiscopo Prater Ada obedientialem famulatus supplicissimi promptitudinem cum grata deuotione pariter et honore perhenni. Cum nuper uir uenerabilis dominus A[dam] quondam abbas Oseneie fine feliciori diem clauserit extremum,1 ad affectuosam prioris et conuentus loci eiusdem instantiam presentem pietati uestre petitionem porrigere consensi, humillime supplicatione" obsecrans interuentum, quatinus de prouisiua clementissime paternitatis beniuolentia memoratis filiis uestris, quos et celestis conuersatio et communicatio liberalis ab institutione monasterii sui primaria cum iugi preconialis fame claritate tarn Deo quam hominibus reddit acceptabiles, apud regiam maiestatem gratiam propensiorem impetrare uelitis, ut ipsis eligendi sibi pastorem (licentia) sine difficultate concedatur* et secundum prouidentiam regalem auctoritas alicui committatur in Anglia commoranti uice domini regis admittendi electum,2 ne prolixior ecclesie prefate uiduatio dampnum irreparabile pariat animabus et etiam ingerat uiris placida religione probatis intollerabilia detrimentorum temporalium discrimina. Conseruet Altissimus desideratissimam beatitudinis, etc.

c c

This valedictory clause, which the syntax requires, was omitted by the copyist. k 5 * asupplicationis MS. Beside this word in the margin a different hand of the same period has written 'Libertas'.

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highness's gracious kindness. May it bring you, I pray, a superabundant reward of heavenly grace. May the Most High grant you invincible strength, unerring understanding, unremitting zeal, and unwearied constancy for the task of quietening the dissensions of the said parties and for all business involving the work of salvation. May the Most High preserve the health of your beatitude for his holy Church for a long time to come. In Christ, etc.

5

To Boniface of Savoy, archbishop of Canterbury (1253, after mid-August) To the Lord Boniface, archbishop of Canterbury, prompt obedience, service, and entreaty, likewise devotion and eternal honour, from Brother Adam. Since the venerable Adam, formerly abbot of Oseney, has recently ended his days with a happy death,11 have at the loving insistence of the prior and convent of that place consented to present you, my good lord, with this present petition. I most humbly entreat you, out of your most gracious and fatherly kindness, to mediate with the king's majesty to obtain for your sons, whom I have mentioned, a readier favour—their heavenly conversation, their generosity, and the splendour of their renown makes them pleasing both to God and to men— so that they may be granted without difficulty a licence to elect themselves a pastor; and that in his providence the king may authorize someone residing in England to admit the person elected to office in place of the lord king,2 lest a longer bereavement of the said church should cause irreparable harm to souls and occasion a risk of harm to property which would be intolerable even to peaceable men of proven piety. May the Most High preserve your beatitude's most desired, etc. 5 1 Adam de Berners, abbot of Oseney, died on 2 Aug. 1253: Annales de Oseneia in Ann. Mon. iv. 106. 2 The king and queen had been in Gascony since Aug. 1253, where they were joined by archbishop Boniface. Walter de Werth and Robert le Bel, canons of Oseney, went to Bordeaux to obtain for the chapter the licentia eligendi, which was granted on 9 Sept. 1254: CPR 1247-58, p. 328. The reason for the unusually long delay, hinted at in Adam's letter, is unclear.

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6

To Odo Rigaldi, archbishop of Rouen f. 27 Domino O[doni] Rothomagensi archiepiscopo1 Prater Ada salutem et humilem deuotionis sempiterne famulatum. Quibus ad clementissimam dominationis uestre dignationem gratiarum actionibus assurgere ualeam ignoro, pro eo quod mee modicitatis statum qualemcumque, etiam per proprium cursorem, inter tot occupationum urgentias et tarn discriminosa regiminis ecclesiastici negotia inolita benignitatis uestre suauitas sciscitari nequaquam duxit indignum. Sane cor saucium dolor anxius ecclesie coram benedicto Saluatore molestat non mediocriter nee immerito, (eo) quod desiderabilem sanctitatis uestre presentiam propter nonnullas causarum detinentias personaliter in presentiarum adire non sufficio, ut per optatum celice consolationis colloquium de sancta pii pectoris affluentia menti simplex eternitas, rationi clara ueritas, uoluntati placida tranquillitas, et efficacius et manifestius et salubrius diuinitate propitia concederetur. Sit superexaltata diuini nominis benedictio, cuius indies longe lateque diffusa fama Celebris ex superni muneris habundantia magnifice gloriam diuulgare non desistit, uniuersis annuntians quam indefessa uirtute, quam circumspecta discretione, quam salutari diligentia, archipresulatus celsitudinem digni honoris iugi ministerio satagitis insignire. Conseruet, oro, uestre dignitatis incolumitatem ecclesie sue sancte per tempora longiora pius Dei Filius ad gloriosam beate Virginis interuentionem. Amen. Vtinam inclytus comes Leycestrie,2 uestre sublimitati, sicut ueraciter comperi, in Christo deuotissimus, pium sancte familiaritatis contubernium apud uos inuenerit, iuuandus in Auctore pietatis piis orationum uestrarum suffragiis.

7 To Odo Rigaldi, archbishop of Rouen Reuerentissimo domino Odoni, Dei gratia Rothomagensi archiepiscopo, Prater Ada salutem, tranquillitatem temporis et eternitatis felicitatem. Ad fontanam pii pectoris affluentiam tanto fiducialius in causa

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6

To Odo Rigaldi, archbishop of Rouen Brother Adam to the lord Odo, by the grace of God archbishop of Rouen,1 greetings and ever humble and devoted service. I do not know how I can thank your most kind lordship for having, in the midst of so much pressing business and the critical affairs of ecclesiastical governance, condescended with your wonted kindness to enquire about the condition of my humble self, and that by your own courier. Truly, before our blessed Saviour I am afflicted by sorrow and anxiety for the Church not a little and with good cause, because owing to the hindrance of some urgent cases, I am unable at present to come and see your beatitude personally as I wish—to be granted the heavenly consolation of a much desired conversation and to gain from the sacred abundance of your breast a mind singly set upon eternity, reason made clear by truth, and with God's favour a will rendered tranquil, more effective, and more transparent. Blessed above all be the divine name whose fame spreads daily far and wide and ceases not to publish the glorious gift of God, proclaiming to all people the unwearying strength, the wise discretion, and the saving persistence with which you so actively distinguish the high office of archbishop through your constant and worthy service. May the holy Son of God at the intercession of the Blessed Virgin keep your worthy lordship in good health for his holy Church for a long time to come. Amen. I could wish that the noble earl of Leicester,2 who is very devoted to your highness in Christ, as I know to be true, might be admitted to your intimate company and in the Author of holiness be helped by your holy prayers.

7 To Odo Rigaldi, archbishop of Rouen Brother Adam to the most reverend lord Odo, by the grace of God archbishop of Rouen, greetings, peace in time, and bliss in eternity. I approach the fountain of your goodness with a request for a good 6

2

' Odo Rigaldi, archbishop of Rouen 1248-75. Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester 1231-65.

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pietatis interpellaturus accedo, quanto tarn desperationem displicendi quam impetrandi credulitatem concipere cogit ingenua sancte mentis liberalitas. Proinde cum Petrus de Pontissera, lator presentium, iuuenis moris honesti et spei laudabilis, quern modicitati mee deuinxit in Christo caritas familiarior,1 diuini famulatus pio feruens desiderio, sanctum saluifice crucis signum assumpserit, una cum eodem clementi uestre dominationis sanctitati presentem porrigo petitionem, supplicius obsecrans, quatinus iuxta benignam fauoris apostolici concessioner!!,2 eidem ad expeditionem salutis prout deuotioni sue diuinitus datur accincto, mitiorem manus munifice misericordiam ob beatam Crucifixi contemplationem aperire uelitis. Conseruet, oro, paternam uestre pietatis sollicitudinem ecclesie sue sancte per tempora longiora benedictus Dei Filius meritis beatissime Virginis.

8

To James Erlandson, bishop of Roskilde (1251) f. 28 Reuerendissimo in Christo patri et domino I[acobo], Dei gratia Roscoldensi episcopo,1 Prater Ada post pacem temporis gloriam eternitatis. Sit benedicta moderaminis superni prouisiua dispensatio, per quam eximia uestre serenitatis eminentia, saluifice emulationis et longanimitatis examinate, titulis clarioribus spectabiliter illustrata, ad sacrosanctum pontificalis excellentie fastigium, secundum arduos euangelice sanctionis ascensus2 sublimiter est euocata; presertim diebus pessimis periculosissimi temporis, cum conspiciantur, proh nefas, pene per uniuersum orbis Christiani spatium qui salutis operande celeste ministerium sunt assecuti, et altissimam dignitatem et clarissimam ueritatem et suauissimam sanctitatem in fastum pompatice potestatis, in questum euanide facultatis, in luxum sordide uoluptatis, tanto detestabilius quanto dampnabilius, heu, heu, heu, detorquere. Propter quod contra regnum Dei usquequaquam seculis omnibus inaudita, quasi abysso rupta et soluto Satana, omniformis grassatur immanitas; hinc concutientibus seuientium uiolentiis, hinc seducentibus fraudantium fallaciis, hinc dissipantibus schismaticorum 7 ' The adjective familiaris denotes 'service'—possibly that of a courier for the Oxford 2 friary. i.e. the papal grant of an indulgence to those who took the cross.

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cause all the more confidently in the knowledge that the native generosity of your holy mind makes you fearful of giving displeasure and ready to give credence to a petition. So then, Peter de Pontissera, the bearer of these letters, is a young man of honourable character and praiseworthy expectation, who is bound to my poor self by love and service in Christ;1 burning with a desire to serve God, he has taken the holy sign of the saving cross. Together with him I am presenting this petition to your lordship's holiness, humbly begging you, in accordance with the grant of apostolic favour2 and out of regard for the blessed Crucified, to open the merciful hand of your bounty to him, as with God's help in response to his devotion he has girded himself for the expedition of salvation. May the blessed Son of God by the merits of the Blessed Virgin long preserve your fatherly solicitude for his holy Church.

8

To James Erlandson, bishop of Roskilde (1251) Brother Adam to the most reverend father in Christ and lord, James, by the grace of God bishop of Roskilde,1 after the peace of time the glory of eternity. Blessed be the dispensation of divine providence by which your serene eminence, whose saving zeal, proven patience, and shining endowments are manifest, has been called from heaven up the steep ladder of canon law2 to the height of pontifical eminence; especially in very bad and dangerous times, when in almost the whole Christian world we see, for shame, those who have obtained the ministry of working for salvation turning, no less detestably than damnably, the highest office, shining truth, and the fragrance of holiness into, alas, an arrogant display of power, a quest for ephemeral wealth, and the pleasures of lust. On this account, as though the abyss is opened and Satan unbound, a monstrous and multiform strength, unheard of for centuries past, opposes itself to the kingdom of God. Hence the violent blows inflicted by savage men, the seductive fraud of deceivers, the destructive tenacity of schismatics, the cunning 8 1 James Erlandson, bishop of Roskilde (Zealand) 1249—53; translated archbishop of Lund, 1254-74. 2 Here, as elsewhere, Adam uses euangelica sanctio as a euphemism for canon law.

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pertinaciis, hinc subuertentibus hereticorum uersutiis, adeo ut quasi plus cognoscimus in horrendis rerum euidentiis quam ex oraculis uatum formidandis conicimus, et depopulationem animarum inestimabilem et inexplicabilem corporum stragem, insiccabili lacrima iugiter luget electorum pia congregatio. Annon ruinas istas in manu prelatorum sustinet ecclesia, qui non tantum 'irritam facientes legem Moysi, sine ulla miseratione moriuntur, uerum etiam deteriora merentur supplicia, concultantes Filium Dei et pollutum ducentes sanguinem testamenti in quo sanctificati sunt, et Spiritui gratie contumeliam facientes?'3 Hii sunt enim quos execrans Ysaias ait, 'Omnes bestie agri, uenite ad deuorandum, omnes bestie saltus, speculatores eius omnes ceci, nescierunt uniuersi: canes muti non ualentes latrare, uidentes uana, dormientes et amantes sompnia; et canes impudentissimi nescierunt saturitatem; ipsi pastores ignorauerunt intelligentiam; omnes in uiam suam declinauerunt, unusquisque ad auaritiam, a summo usque ad nouissimum. Venite, sumamus uinum, et impleamur ebrietate; et erit sicut hodie, sic et eras, et multo amplius.'4 Contra quos clamat Micheas, dicens, 'Audite hoc, principes domus lacob, et iudices domus Israel, qui abhominamini iudicium, et omnia recta peruertitis; qui edificatis Syon in sanguinibus, et Jerusalem in iniquitate. Principes eius in muneribus iudicabant, et sacerdotes eius in mercede docebant, et prophete eius in pecunia diuinabant; et super Dominum requiescebant, dicentes: Numquid non Dominus in medio nostrum? Non uenient super nos mala propter hoc, causa uestri? Syon quasi ager arabitur, et Jerusalem quasi aceruus lapidum erit, et mons templi in excelsa siluarum.'5 Quid igitur restat? Nisi ut inter tarn formidanda ruentis ecclesie discrimina, electionis diuine sacer pontifex beatissimum imitatus Apostolum, in purissimis orationibus, in clarissimis meditationibus, in sanctissimis contemplationibus mente quidem excedat Deo; sobrius quoque sit populo, in eloquiis uite, in exemplis innocentie, in karismatibus glorie, in illo diuina inclinans ad humana, in isto humana eleuans ad diuina; ita uidelicet ut cum diuinissimo Legislatore singular! prerogatam formam piorum presulum preferente, uices ascendendi in montem et descendendi ad planitiem indefessa frequentans iugitate, in illo sublimetur ad diuinitatis consortium, in isto humilietur ad humanitatis officium. Et cum 3

Heb. 10: 28-9.

4

Isa. 56: 9-12.

5

Mic. 3: 9-12.

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subversiveness of heretics, so much so that we seem to recognize these things from the dreadful evidence before us rather than infer their existence from the frightening oracles of the prophets; and the holy assembly of the elect constantly mourns with unstenchable weeping over the loss of innumerable souls and the inexplicable slaughter of bodies. Does not the Church suffer this ruin at the hands of prelates, who not only make void the law of Moses and die without any compunction, but deserve still worse punishments for spurning the Son of God, polluting the blood of the covenant in which they have been sanctified, and insulting the Spirit of grace?3 These are they whom Isaiah curses, saying, 'All ye beasts of the field come to devour, all ye beasts of the forest. His watchmen are all blind; they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams; and most impudent dogs, they never had enough; the shepherds themselves knew no understanding. All have turned aside into their own way, every one after his own gain, from the first even to the last. Come, let us take wine and be filled with drunkenness; and it shall be as today, so also tomorrow, and much more.'4 It is against them that Micah cries, saying, 'Hear this, ye princes of the house of Jacob and ye judges of the house of Isreal; you that abhor judgement and pervert all that is right; you that build up Sion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. Her princes have judged for bribes and her priests have taught for hire, and her prophets divined for money; and they leaned upon the Lord, saying: is not the Lord in the midst of us? No evil shall come upon us. Because of you, Sion shall be ploughed as a field and Jerusalem shall be as a heap of stones, and the mountain of the temple as the high places of the forests.'5 What else is there? Only that, in the midst of such fearful ruin threatening the Church, a holy pontiff chosen by God should imitate the blessed apostle and withdraw in his mind to God with purest prayers, most luminous meditation, and most holy contemplation. Also let him be sober before the people, with words of life, an example of innocence, gloriously charismatic, in one respect bringing the things of God down to humanity, in another raising humanity to God. So, imitating the divine Lawgiver, who offers a privileged model for pious prelates, by in turn ascending the mountain and descending to the plain constantly and untiringly, he may on the one hand be raised to consort with the godhead, and in the other be humbled for his human

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sit angelus Domini exercituum in scala lacob, nunc ascendens6 causam mundi perferens ad Altissimum, nunc descendens clementiam Altissimi referens ad mundum, in illo consideret ordinem celi, in isto ponet rationem eius in terra. Hec sunt certe, ut uestra melius nouit eruditior industria, pater serenissime, que in districtissima formidandi examinis exactione inflexibili censura requirentur ab hiis, qui ad horribilem altitudinem ecclesiastici regiminis sunt sublimati. In hiis enim dumtaxat per presides sanctuarii et discoli reuocantur ad salutem et ad beatitudinem proficiunt mansueti; quibus in presentiarum tanto uigilantius insistendum esse cognoscitur, quanto multiformius hiis diebus malignitas impiorum usquequaque" debacchari conspicitur; ut etiam quod per immanem hostium rabiem intentatur ad perditionem, ad saluationem disponatur per saluificam presulum sanctimoniam. Que tune demum impleri poterunt si consummant sibi pontifices et adiutoria ualida, et discreta consilia, et ministeria munda, et iusta iudicia, ecclesiastica nichilominus committentes gubernacula illis, quos sententia Saluatoris precipua describit diligentia, dicens, 'Date e uobis uiros sapientes et gnaros, quorum conuersatio sit probata in tribubus suis, et dabo eos uobis principes':7 sapientes ad docendam ueritatem fidei et morum honestatem, gnaros ad dispensanda sacramenta celi et seculi subsidia; conuersationem probatam in tribubus suis illam esse reor quam in carnis castigatione et compunctione cordis probabilia declarant argumenta apud singulas ecclesiasticorum graduum distinctiones. Hec perfunctorie perstrinxerim, sciens ad quern michi sermo, scilicet ad pium sacerdotem prudentem eloquii. Scio quia sufficit occasionem prestitisse sapienti. Super salutaris negotii dilatione, quod tarn uigilanti sancte sedulitatis diligentia (suscepit) de fratribus Anglicis ad suffragium operande salutis uobis adiungendis,8 cor saucium dolor angeret, si non indubitata presumptione confiderem, quod diuinitatis dementia melius aliquid disponens que pia uota nequit deserere, pro eo quod pietatis studia semper curat inspirare, ad desiderati exitus cumulatiori gratia perducet benignitate prouida consummationem. Siquidem dominus Lyncolniensis9 et uicarius ministri Anglic et frater 8

* usquequaquam MS.

7 Cf. Gen. 28: 12. Deut. i: 13. Franciscans, sent from the German province of Saxony, had arrived in Denmark in 1232; the friary of Roskilde was one of the four earliest foundations: M. C. Gertz, SSMHD ii (1922), pp. 294-6. 6

8

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task; as though he were the angel of the Lord of hosts upon Jacob's ladder,6 now ascending to plead the cause of the world to the Most High, now descending to communicate the mercy of the Most High to the world, in the one case contemplating the order of heaven, and in the other imposing it upon the earth. These are surely the things which, as your very learned person knows better than I, most serene father, will be required with unbending condemnation in the unrelenting execution of the fearful judgement of those who have been raised to the dread eminence of ecclesiastical governance. For in them, at any rate, through the guardians of the sanctuary those gone astray are recalled to salvation and the gentle advance to beatitude. We recognize that these ends must be pursued with all the more watchfulness at present, as we observe the malice, raging on all sides, of the impious taking many forms these days, so that through the saving holiness of prelates even the monstrous efforts of our enemies to destroy us may be deflected to encompass our salvation. These things can in the end be accomplished if bishops appoint for themselves sound assistants, prudent counsellors, pure ministers, and just judges, committing ecclesiastical governance, no less, to those whom the Saviour describes with excelling wisdom, saying, 'Take from among you wise and understanding men, and such whose conversation is approved among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you':7—wise to teach true faith and upright conduct; understanding to dispense the heavenly sacraments and help for the world; the 'conversation approved among your tribes' is, I think, the castigation of the flesh and the heartfelt compunction that gives credibility to churchmen of each and every rank. I have touched on these matters perfunctorily, knowing to whom I am speaking—that is to a devout priest and one prudent and learned. I know it is enough for a wise man to offer him an opportunity. I should be deeply sorry for the delay over the question you have raised with such holy concern of sending you English friars to help you in the work of salvation,8 were I not confident that the divine mercy, disposing something better, and which cannot fail you in your pious request, because He is ever caring to inspire a zeal for holiness, will bring it to a desired fulfilment. In fact, the lord bishop of Lincoln,9 the vicar of the minister of England, and Brother Thomas 9

Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln 1235-53.

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Thomas de Eboraco,10 modicitate mea ut ualuit cooperante, a die receptionis litterarum uestrarum usque ad natiuitatem Sancti | lohanf. 28Y nis Baptiste,11 contra factum memoratum, diuini honoris et uestre paternitatis contemplatione, deliberations consilii operam uigilem exhibuerunt. Cumque effectus optatus sperari poterat, obtensa corporalis ualetudinis molesta, et a nonnullis allegata in mandato ministri generalis12 remission cogentia, frater qui ad hoc maxime uidebatur ydoneus, et ad hoc non sine multarum importunitatum grauamine uocatus, nullatenus ad proficiscendum in partes Dacie, sicut nee alii, uoluit adhibere consensum. Puto autem quod, si uestro sederit beneplacito et res hoc desideret, cum minister Anglic13 redierit de general! capitulo, impetrata a superioribus auctoritate cogentiori, poterit, diuinitate propitia ad Altissimi gloriam et salutem animarum in hac parte quod uoluerit sanctitatis uestre laudanda consideratio effectui desiderato mancipare. Denique karum michi in Christo lacobum, clericum uestrum ad supradicti negotii prosecutionem transmissum, quern et laboriosior uigilantia et sollertia circumspectior, suauior beneuolentia et perseuerantia longanimior, apud dominum Lyncolniensem et ceteros cum quibus habuit uestram expedire uoluntatem multiplicius commendabilem, uestre supplico paternitati, rogans humiliter propensius in Domino recommendatum habere dignemini. Conseruetur optanda uestre beatitudinis incolumitas in Christo lesu et beatissima Virgine, cuius interuentu uobis, oro, concedat Altissimus, inter ingruentia tantarum formidinum discrimina, quo 'prudenter discernitis, geritis fortiter, temperanter cohibetis, distribuitis equaliter in cunctis, ad ilium finem referre ubi est Deus omnia in omnibus eternitate certa et pace perfecta'.14

9 To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Reuerendissimo in Christo patri et domino Roberto Dei gratia Lyncolniensi episcopo, Frater Ada. 10 Brother Thomas of York, one of Adam's most favoured pupils, incepted in theology at Oxford in 1253 (see Letters 26, 69). 11 24 June. 12 John of Parma, Minister General 1247-57. 13 William of Nottingham, 1240-54. The general chapter which he was attending was

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10

of York, with the cooperation of my humble self for what it was worth, have given the matter careful and laborious consideration since the day your letter was received until the Nativity of St John the Baptist,11 having regard to the honour of God and of your fatherly person; and when we were hopeful of being able to do what you desire, on a pretext of ill health and a lack of compulsion in the mandate of the minister general,12 the brother who seemed most suitable for this and who had been summoned to go, not without much inconvenience, would in no way consent to set off for Denmark, nor would the others. I think, however, that if it pleases you and the matter calls for it, when the minister of England returns from the general chapter,13 a more compulsive authority will be sought from our superiors and it will be possible, with divine favour, to deliver what your holiness desires, to the glory of the Most High and for the salvation of souls. Finally, I humbly request your fatherly goodness to treat our beloved in Christ, James, your clerk whom you sent to transact this business, as one we greatly commend in the Lord for his hard work and watchfulness, his prudent skill, pleasant good will, and patient perseverence in discussions with the lord bishop of Lincoln and the others to whom he had to commend your wishes. May your beatitude be preserved in health in Christ and the Blessed Virgin, by whose intercession I pray that the Most High may grant among such great and feaful perils that 'you make prudent distinctions, bear yourself steadfastly, govern with moderation and apportion all things with equity, to that end where God is all in all assuredly in eternity and perfect peace'.14

9 To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the most reverend father in Christ and lord, Robert, by the grace of God bishop of Lincoln. presumably that held at Genoa in 1251, which supplies the date of this letter. It seems that the absence of John of Parma on a mission to Byzantium from 1249 until the autumn of 1250 precluded the summons of a general chapter in 1249; see Brooke, Early Franciscan Government, p. 257 n. 14 prudenter . . . perfecta: this valedictory admonition is from Augustine, De civitate Dei, xix. 20. CSEL xl, ii. 407. Adam also uses it in Letters 73, 77, and 90.

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Laudabile uiri magistri lohannis de Schersted,1 rectoris ecclesie de Vklinton,2 et credibile non mediocriter aliorum testimonium, Willelmum de Leschelade diaconum, tarn in moribus quam in littera quam et in ecclesiastico ministerio reddidere modicitati mee.a Proinde paternitati uestre humiliter supplico, quatinus dictum diaconum ad sanctum sacerdotii gradum, quatenus aut sanctio euangelica aut canonica traditio non obsistit, ob contemplationem Saluatoris per pietatem dispensatam promouere uelitis, tanto propensiori gratia piam suscipientes petitionem quanto dictus magister super gregem dominicam iuges custodiens uigilias, ad adiutorium saluifici laboris hoc anxia deprecatur diligentia. Non possum non mirari illam patrum sapientiam, que in eligendis ad sacramentorum dispensationem celestium karismatum titulos terrestrium utilitatum hiis compendiorum preposuisse uidetur. Forte est* quod inconsiderationis temeritas suggillare presumit scita sapientum. Absit hoc a me. Sed dubitationem hebetis ingenii et minoris experientie uestre sanctitatis securior exprimit confidentia, quec quantum ad multos nequaquam, puto, satisfaciet/ Valeat uestre pietatis incolumitas in Christo semper et beatissima Virgine. IO

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1248, December) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Licet commendaticiis non indigeatur ubi meritorum loquitur euidentia, tamen cum integrioris fame relatu multiplici uestre sanctitati tenore presentium insinuandum putaui, uenerabilem uirum dominum P[etrum] de Kyllum, quern regii patronatus deuotio presentare consensit ad ecclesiam Beate Virginis Oxonie,1 'sapientem et gnarum (esse) et probate conuersationis in tribus',2 iuxta quod legis diuine canon preficiendos animabus describit. Ex certis rerum indiciis ad salutis dispensationem diuinitate propitia fore putatur ydoneus. 9 a modicitati mee: omitted by the copyist, but supplied from a duplicate copy of the letter b erroneously made by the copyist on fo. 36, but which was subsequently cancelled. estis d MS. ' cui MS. The meaning of this sentence is opaque. 9

1

Master John of Sharsted appears as a canon of Lincoln cathedral in 1267, when he

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William of Lechlade, a deacon, has been recommended to my poor self for his conduct, learning, and his ministry in the Church, by the credible testimony of Master John of Sharsted,1 rector of the church of Pocklington, and of not a few others. Therefore I humbly beseech you, father, out of consideration for the need to dispense the grace of the Saviour, to promote, if you please, the said deacon to the sacred order of the priesthood, in so far as neither evangelical ordinance nor canonical tradition present any obstacle. I believe you will receive this petition all the more readily as the said master, who keeps constant watch over the Lord's flock, anxiously requests it to help in the work of salvation. I cannot help but marvel at the wisdom of the Fathers, who in choosing those who are to dispense the sacraments seem to have placed the claims of heavenly charisms before those of worldly advantages. It may be that the thoughtless and bold presume to taunt the knowledge of the wise. Far be it from me. Trust in the sure judgement of your holiness drives any doubt from a duller mind with less experience, though I think it will not satisfy many. Wishing you health, ever in Christ and the Blessed Virgin. IO

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1248, December) To my lord of Lincoln, Brother Adam. Although there is no need of recommendations where the evidence of merit speaks for itself, nevertheless, with many reports of his high reputation I thought I should bring to the notice of your holiness by this letter that the venerable Sir Peter de Kyllum, whom the devoted royal patronage has presented to the church of Blessed Mary the Virgin at Oxford,1 is wise and well informed and of proven and upright life in three respects2 by which divine law describes those to be placed in charge of souls. It is thought that, as the facts indicated, he will with God's help be fit for the ministry of salvation. For this resigned the prebend of Aylesbury in exchange for that of Brampton: Fasti, Lincoln, PP- 49, 55- Cf. Letter 34. 2 i.e. Pocklington (Yorkshire). 10 1 Peter de Kyllum was presented to the rectory of St Mary's, Oxford, by the crown on 26 Nov. 1248: CPR 1247-58, p. 33; see BRUO ii. 1068. Cf. Letter 98. 2 Deut. i: 13.

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Quocirca scio quod ad tarn solempne, tarn spectabile, tarn salutare ministerium in tanta populorum et cleri frequentia constitutum, secundum scita canonice traditionis et sanctionis euangelice decreta, cum de persona memorata testimonia testificatis cognoueritis compensari, per emulationis paterne prouidentiam opportunitatibus adiacentibus" (eum) ordinare curabitis. Valeat uestre paternitatis pietas, etc. ii

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Sicut uestra nouit ueneranda sanctitas, illos Veritatis reprehendit sententia,1 qui post perceptam impetrati muneris gratiam ad regratiandum redire detrectarunt. Quum igitur pro gratissimis dominationis benigne beneficiis, quibus et clemens dignatio et sapiens circumspectio et liberalis affectio, tarn efficaciter, tarn prudenter, tarn diligenter, rem licet pregrandem ad supplicem precum instantiam, ob piam diuinitatis contemplationem, nuper consummare curauit, quantiscunque diffusi sermonis conatibus, ut teneor, regratiari non sufficio, quod etiam deuotis uocibus fieri nequit, saltern uotiuis affectibus supplere desidero. Succingo sermonem, ueritus ne littera prolixior piis auribus, quas iugiter pulsat sancta regiminis ecclesiastici requisitio, uideatur importuna. Quia confido quod clemens ingenue mentis liberalitas supplicem deuoti uestri petitionem, quamdiu locus est excusationi, nequaquam arguet presumptionis, ad instantiam dilecti mei N. presentem serenitati uestre porrigo petitoriam, rogans attentius quatinus eidem, perspectis sue necessitatis urgentiis, pietatis intuitu, quatenus rationi non obuenitur, de debito quo uobis tenetur, grati moderaminis inducias usque ad diem quern faciende solutioni, exclusa ulteriori prorogatione, prefigendum censueritis, concedere dignemini.

10 * opportunitatum adiacientias MS. 11 ' i.e. of Christ, referring to the ingratitude of the lepers who had been cleansed: Luke 17: 12-18.

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reason I know that when in accordance with the decrees of canonical tradition and evangelical ordinance you have weighed the references for the said person, you will be solicitous with fatherly concern to ordain him at the earliest opportunity to this solemn and admirable pastoral ministry, which is located in a place frequented by such a great concourse of people and clergy. Farewell, good father. ii

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. As your holiness knows, the judgement of the Truth1 reproves those who, after they have received a free gift they had requested, neglect to return and give thanks. Since I cannot with gushing words adequately thank your lordship for the most gracious benefits heaped upon me by your kind condescension, your wisdom and generous affection with which you have, out of devotion to God, lately been at pains to complete the favour so effectively and so prudently, huge though it was, in response to my urgent entreaties, I desire to make up at least with an avowal of affection what cannot be accomplished by words of devotion. I am cutting short my speech, fearing that a wordier letter may seem importunate to pious ears which are under perpetual pressure by the demands of ecclesiastical government. I trust that the kindness and generosity of your noble mind will not charge your devoted servant with presumption in making a petition so long as there is room to excuse him. At the request of my beloved N. I am presenting this petition to your serene lordship with an eager request that, having regard to his pressing need, you would out of consideration for his piety condescend to grant him, so far as is reasonable, a gracious easing of the debt in which he is obligated to you, until the day you decide to fix for payment, excluding any further postponement.

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12

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Nunquam, oro, suscipiatur in beatitudinis uestre consortium aliquis de litteratis secundum seculare iudicium reputabilibus, nisi is qui indubitanter esse presumitur et emulator misericordie, et ueritatis exquisitor, et defensor iusticie, et pacis amator. Sed ut eorum qui tales esse non creduntur arceatur improbitas frontosa, opus est ualida circumspectionis pietate. Nostis quo tendit quod loquor. Siquidem quantum sufficit mea exiguitas cum Dei adiutorio omnimodis conabor ne ad conuictum domesticum sanctitatis uestre benignitas intromittat ilium quern non commendat opinionis integritas. Spero quoque quod per diuinitatis f. 29 opem liberabor ab | instanti iusti metus molestia. Namque non deerit, ut uideo, Domino monstrante, quod rationabiliter obtendatur quominus eueniat in hac parte illud cuius in littera, michi nuper transmissa, meministis, de persona, nisi per illam stet uobis in Domino familior,a cui concedat utinam diuina dignatio humilem salutis scientiam. Si quo modo fieri potest, plurimum desidero ut hac uice illud impleatur, diuinitate propitia, quod frequenter locuti estis de accessu uestro ad ecclesiam Cantuariensem.1 In hoc et in multis aliis uellem ut sancta uestre considerationis industria nullius nisi benedicti Saluatoris requirat assensum. De negotio, pro quo ad mee paruitatis instantiam—sit uobis desuper eterna retributio—litteras tarn benigne conceptas uenerabili patri domino Wintoniensi2 et domino priori Sancti Swythuni,3 per Thomam de Mar[isco]4 latorem presentium nuper destinare dignum duxistis, dominationem uestram humiliter deprecor ut dictum Thomam seriem sui processus referentem clementer audire uelitis; et si placet, secundum quod uisum fuerit, ad illos sine quibus consummari nequit opportunum suo tempore facere sermonem. 12 * familiori MS. 12 1 Adam's wording suggests it was Grosseteste's intention to make a personal visit to the monks of the cathedral priory, possibly to remonstrate over their claim to sede vacante jurisdiction throughout the Canterbury province, the subject of a protest he had made some years previously; see Epistolae, p. 324.

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12

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to my lord of Lincoln. I pray that no one reputed by worldly judgement to be educated should ever be accepted into the company of your beatitude unless he has an unquestioned reputation for being one who strives to be merciful, seeks truth, defends justice, and loves peace. But strenuous watchfulness is necessary to keep at bay people unlike this, who are insolent in their depravity. You know the drift of my words. To be sure, so far as my wretched self is able, I shall, with God's help, endeavour by all means to prevent your holiness from admitting anyone to live in your household who is not reputed to be of good character. I hope, too, that with God's help I shall be free from worry and justified anxiety. For, as I see it and as the Lord shows, there will be no lack of reasonable obstacle to prevent that occurring over the person you mention in the letter you recently sent me, unless through it he should stand in a more intimate relationship to you in the Lord. Would that the divine goodness would grant him humility and the learning needful for salvation. If it is in any way possible, I very much wish that this time, with God's favour, what you have frequently spoken of about your going to the church of Canterbury may be fulfilled.1 In this, as in much else, I would wish that your holy diligence and concern should require no consent except that of our blessed Saviour. As regards the business for which you have at the urging of my little self—may heaven reward you—lately deigned to send such kindly conceived letters to the venerable father the lord of Winchester2 and the lord prior of St Swithin's,3 through Thomas Marsh,4 the bearer of this letter, I humbly beseech you to be so kind as to hear the said Thomas reporting the way the process went and, if you please, as seems good to you to have an opportune word at the right time with those without whom the matter cannot be concluded. 2

William Ralegh, bishop of Winchester 1242—50. William of Taunton, elected prior 10 Feb. 1249: Ann. Man. ii. 91, 95. 4 Apparently a younger relative of Adam's, who was allowed to reside in the bishop's house at Buckden. 3

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Nescio si in hoc facto reprehensio iusta meam arguere debeat insipientiam. Quia si cordis clarissima sic iudicet discretio, letanter in Christo present! supersedeo prosecution!. Propitius sit michi celestis consilii ducatus, ne quandoque super re temporali uestri uel cuiuscunque presumam sollicitare pietatem, nisi rationabiliter credere debeam quod per earn uere saluti seruiatur. Benedicta sit Dei miseratio, domina Juetta soror uestra, licet sensim, proficit tamen ad incolumitatem. Poteritis, si uobis non displiceat, ministerialibus precipere super Thomam de Mar[isco] dum moratur in domo uestra, parcentes ipsius uerecundie. Audiui submurmurari quod post istud instans parlamentum domini regis disposueritis partes adire septentrionales, inde nequaquam regressuri ante diutinum tractum temporis. Michi autem foret, si sic est, satis molestum nisi prius uobiscum habeam colloquium uiue uocis.

13 To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Non uideo quid cogat ut citius ueniam quam nuper petiui, nisi uestre iussionis urgentia, cum nee sit aliquatenus uerisimile quod dominus Wygorniensis1 ante instantem diem Natiuitatis Domini ad uos sit uenturus, nee sicut post frequentem sperandum est experientiam, benedicta sit gloria Domini de loco suo, in causis salutaribus propter semetipsum uobis sit defuturus spiritus consilii et fortitudinis 'cum patientia et consolatione Scripturarum'.2 Et si quid in me poterit consilii aut consolationis, quarum meministis in littera, numquid non presto sum, cum hoc aut utilitas requirit aut compellit necessitas? Si nee corporis fatigatio, nee laceratio spiritus, quas in cunctis retro diebus, ita quod uix respirare licuit, sine intermissione cum tantis anxietatis detrimentis etiam nuperrime perpessus sum, nee onus intolerabile et importabile iugum, quorum michi celeriter illud assumendum, subeundum istud, si officium eruditionis impendende post paucos dies debeam resumere,3 uacationi mee prouidere deposcant, uestre iudicet paternitatis circumspectio. O frontosam rabiem! O pestem perniciabilem! quibus, heu, heu, 13

2

' Walter Cantilupe, bishop of Worcester 1236-66. Rom. 15: 4.

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I do not know whether in this matter I ought to be justly reproved for my foolishness. For if that is the judgement of your heart and your discretion, in Christ I gladly desist from pursuing it. I hope I may be led by grace and heavenly counsel to stop me from ever presuming to trouble your goodness or others, unless I have reason to believe that by so doing the cause of salvation would really be served. Blessed be the mercy of God, the lady Juetta, your sister, is improving in health, albeit gradually. Would you, if you do not mind, instruct your servants about Thomas Marsh while he is living in your house, to save him embarassment? I have heard a rumour that after this coming parliament of the lord king, you plan to go to the northern district, and not to return for some long time. If this is so, I should be rather troubled unless I might first have a face-to-face talk with you.

13 To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. I do not see under what compulsion I should come to you sooner than I recently requested, except that of your pressing command, since it is by no means likely that the lord bishop of Worcester1 will be coming to you before next Christmas day; nor, in the light of frequent experience, is it to be expected that the spirit of counsel and fortitude, 'with patience and the consolation of the Scriptures',2 will fail you in the cause of salvation on his account, blessed be the glory of the Lord in his place. And if there is in me any of the counsel or consolation that you mention in your letter, am I not available when required to be of use or in case of necessity? I have for days past suffered such physical weariness, laceration of spirit, and anxiety, without respite, that it was hardly possible to breathe. If in addition to the intolerable burden and insupportable yoke that I have to bear, I must resume the office of teaching in a few days time,31 leave it to your fatherly circumspection to judge whether these things require that I should be provided with a rest from duty. O the insolence and madness, the pernicious sickness by which in 3 Adam's regency in theology at Oxford ended in 1250. The provincial of the Friars Minor instructed him to resume teaching in 1252 (see Letter 189); but other public engagements made it impossible for him to do so.

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diebus hiis pessimis, fas nefasque confundentibus, et Dei hereditas dissipatur et polluitur templum sanctum eius. Stupenda est beluine uoracitatis uirosa malignitas, que nee Deum timet nee hominem reueretur, 'fiduciam habens quod influat lordanis in os eius'.4 Sed una uobiscum spero de misericordia ipsius cuius est opera gratie sue non deserere quousque compleuerit, et ilia de potestate tenebrarum eripere,"5 'diuitias quas deuorauit euomet, et de uentre illius extrahet illas Deus'.6 Non cesso admirari, quamuis dudum michi non incognitam, insatiabilem atrocis fraudulentie cupiditatem, preter quam, pro nefas, nusquam acceptum aliquid, nusquam aliquid celebre conspicimus. Sed quid? Postquam effrenata tyrannide solutus Sathanas debachatur in animas, et non est qui recogitet. Puto uoces supprimendas, exprimendas lacrimas secundum illud prophetic: 'Quis dabit capiti meo aquam et oculis meis fontem lacrimarum et plorabo die et nocte interfectos filie populi mei?'7 Quod sic fiat, quia per apostolum Veritas hoc loquitur: 'Conteret Dominus Sathan sub pedibus uestris uelociter.'8 Vagatus est in incertum cordis disturbati calamus. Valeat uobis uirtutis inuicte sapientia salutaris in Christo, etc. 14

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Adam. Olivero de Lexinton'1 scolari, latori presentium, michi in Christo specialiter dilecto, cuius annos iuueniles et litterature prouectioris et conuersationis honeste titulus illustrat, non mediocriter formido, quern, ut uideo, hinc necessitudo secularis cogit ad discrimen interitus, illinc emulatio diuina trahit ad certitudinem salutis. Proinde de isto et sui similibus, cum ad uestram accesserint paternitatem, ad curas animarum quibus nullatenus sufficiunt perdita consideratione presentati, quid aliud aget pii presulatus sancta sollicitudo quam ut per sollicitam celestium eloquiorum exhortationem, anxiori diligentia, a

13 4 6 8

14

add quod MS.

Job 40: 18. Job 20: 15. Rom. 16: 20.

5

Cf. Col. i: 13. 7 Jer. 9: i.

' Alias Oliver Sutton, nephew of Henry of Lexington, bishop of Lincoln; as

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these most wicked days, alas, right and wrong are confused, God's inheritance is dissipated, and his holy temple is defiled. The voracious malice of the beast, which fears neither God nor man, is astonishing—'ever confident that Jordan flows into his mouth'.4 But like you I hope in the mercy of Him whose property it is not to abandon the work of his grace until he has completed it, and to deliver it from the power of darkness,5 and to extract from the belly of the beast the wealth he has devoured or spewed out.6 I wonder ceaselessly at the insatiable greed and fraud, though long since not unknown to me, without which nothing is accepted anywhere today, and, for shame, we see nothing honoured. But why? Now tyranny is unbridled, Satan is free to rave in souls and there is no one to regard it. Voices, I think, are to be silenced and tears wrung from us, as the prophet says, 'who shall give water to my head and a fountain of tears to my eyes' and 'I will day and night lament the slain children of the daughter of my people.'7 But so be it. For through the apostle thus speaks the truth: 'the Lord shall swiftly crush Satan beneath your feet.'8 The uncertainty of a troubled heart has made my pen wander. Farewell; may your wisdom and unconquered strength flourish in Christ, etc.

14 To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to my lord of Lincoln. I am not a little fearful for Oliver of Lexington,1 a scholar, specially dear to me in Christ, who is the bearer of these letters, whose youth is distinguished by his high literary accomplishments and his upright life. As I see it, on one side he is pressed by worldly necessity to make a decision involving his ruin, while on the other divine invitation draws him to a course that will ensure his salvation. What then is your lordship to do in regard to him and those like him when they come to you, having been presented without due consideration to a cure of souls for which they are in no way adequate? In your holy concern your lordship can do no other than exhort them with your holy eloquence and strive with anxious diligence 'to deliver them from the subdeacon and rector of Shelford (Cambridgeshire) he received a papal dispensation for plurality on 21 Dec. 1244: CPL i. 211. Subsequently dean, then bishop of Lincoln 128099: BRUOiii. 1822-3.

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satagat illos 'eripere de potestate tenebrarum mundialium et transferre in regnum Filii dilectionis eterne'.2 Absit a me pro ea quam dicunt promotione presentis presentati, aut talis cuiuscunque, in causa simili pontificis interpellere aliquatenus auctoritatem; cui certe licet super hoc sollicitatus fuissem, plane sum protestatus quod nequaquam pro eo, nee pro quoquam in hac parte petitionem porrigerem, quern non presumerem rationabiliter posse scire et uelle, secundum immutabilia salutaris euangelii decreta, operande salutis in suscipiendis animabus, iuxta pium pastoralis officii regimen, indefesso superintendere patrocinio; presertim cum in periculum mei capitis hoc facerem; et, sicut indubitanter affirmaui, uestre sanctitatis reuerentia contra causas Saluatoris eque supplicantem suscipiat et prouocantem. Verumptamen hoc satis terret, quod si iste sicut eidem suasi, a sue presentationis uocali iure recedat, cum, proh dolor, terra data sit in manus impiorum, per homines feris omnibus immaniores in animas, et insensibiliores cunctis lapidibus ad spiritualia, greges dominici uniuersis bestiis tarn agri quam saltus, exponentur ad deuorandum.3 | f. 29' Set quis unquam metus sapientes separauit a ueritate? Set, heu, in tantis abyssis teterrimarum caliginum palpat hodie zelus electorum prenesciens quo diuertat. Valeat uestra sancta uigilantia in Christo, etc.

IS To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Ad instantiam quorumdam michi in Christo karissimorum, presentem consensi dominationi uestre scribere petitionem, humili supplicans obsecratione pro honorabili matrona, domina Eua de Tracy,1 quam et morum grauitas et maturitas annorum, honestatis emulatio et claritas sanguinis, sicut audio, spectabiliter commendant; quatinus eidem paternitatis uestre prouidentia concedere dignemini ut in monasterio Godestowe2 religiosius uiuendi gratia, quamdiu uestro sederit beneplacito, cum dignis conditionibus ualeat commorari, hoc ipsum abbatissa cum suo conuentu desiderantibus, si quominus fieri debeat sanctitatis uestre circumspectio causam 2

Cf. Col. i: 13.

3

Isa: 56: 9.

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power of the world's darkness and transpose them into the eternal kingdom of his loving Son.'2 Far be it from me to petition your lordship's authority for the promotion, so called, of this presentee or of any such in a like case. Indeed, although I was solicited over this, I clearly stated that I would in no way present a petition in this case for him or anyone else unless I had good reason to believe that he intended to apply himself tirelessly to the work of protecting the souls committed to him, pursuing the regime of a good pastor, according to the changeless decrees of the gospel of salvation; especially since by this I would risk [spiritual] death; and, as I have unhesitatingly affirmed, your reverent holiness should receive in the same way a petitioner or summoner who acts against the cause of the Saviour. Yet this is quite frightening—that if he should, as I have urged him, withdraw his right of presentation by word of mouth, when, alas, the place has been given to godless people, worse than any beasts and more insensitive than stones to things of the spirit, the lord's flock will be exposed to be devoured by all the beasts of the field.3 But who has ever frightened the wise from truth? Yet, alas, today the zeal of the saints trembles in an abyss of darkness, knowing not where to turn. Farewell your holiness ever vigilant in Christ.

IS To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. At the request of persons very dear to me in Christ, I have consented to write this petition to your lordship on behalf of the honourable matron the lady Eve de Tracy,1 who, as I hear, is notably commended for her seriousness, the maturity of her years, her honourable aspirations, and the nobility of her blood, humbly beseeching you that in your fatherly providence you would grant her permission to stay with suitable conditions in the monastery of Godstow2 for the sake of living a more religious life, for as long as you please. The abbess and her convent desire this, provided that your holiness judges that there is no reasonable objection or danger to souls 15 1 Eve, daughter and heiress of Henry de Tracy, lord of Barnstaple, married to Guy de Brian of Laugharne: Sanders, English Baronies, p. 15; here presumably a widowed lady. 2 Godstow Abbey (Oxfordshire), a house of Benedictine nuns.

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rationabilem aut salutis periculum obsistere non iudicauerit, nuntium quern memorata domina pro dicto negotio ad uestram destinauerit reuerentiam consuete pietatis suscipientes affabilitate. Valeat uestre beatitudinis incolumitas, etc.

16

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (July 1251 or July 1252) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Dominationis uestre litteram, petitioni" quam uobis destinaueram uestri gratia satisfacientem, feria quarta proxima ante festum beate Margarete1 recepi, quam et magistro Roberto de Marisco,2 quoniam sic putaui expedire, communicaui. Retinui quoque cursorem uestrum quousque in die beate Margarete per magistrum lohannem, qui coram uobis magistrorum et scolarium Oxonie petitiones proposuerat, me uocato et presente, memoratis magistris et scolaribus responsio uestra et euidenter et prudenter et diligenter est recitata. Consensum est igitur ab uniuersa congregatione studentium Oxonie ut iterato iuxta uestre disertitudinis insinuationem certi suarum petitionum articuli, sub ea que fieri poterit expressionis luculentia, sine more dispendio, cum opportuna circumspectione paternitatis uestre pietati porrigantur. Nempe prefata scolarium societas semper zelo sanctiore prosequenda, sicut clementie uestre melius nouit industria, iuxta quod eidem sollicitiori* suasum est conamine, plenam in Saluatore reportat fiduciam quod per sanctitatis uestre salutarem sapientiam, saluis ecclesie cui, auctore Deo, presidetis per omnia dignitatibus, iurisdictionibus, libertatibus, ad gloriam Altissimi, ad emendationem cleri, ad salutem populi, et honori et directioni et tranquillitati totius scolastice professionis, quoad diuinitate propitia uestra supererit beatitudo, prouidebitur. Ecce coram benigna uestre dignationis excellentia et rubore uultus suffunditur et confunditur cor mestitudine, cum licet homuncionis indigni tamen deuoti seruuli qualiscumque sedulitatis instantia non 16

a

petitorie MS.

b

solliciori MS.

16 ' St Margaret, Virgin and Martyr, which occurred on 20 July; in 1251 the previous Wednesday fell on 19 July, in 1252 on 17 July.

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to prevent this being done. Would you receive with your usual goodness and affability the messenger whom the lady has dispatched to your reverence to discuss the matter? Wishing your beatitude good health. 16

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (July 1251 or July 1252) To the lord of Lincoln, Brother Adam. I received your lordship's letter, graciously acceding to the petition I sent you, on Wednesday after the feast of St Margaret,1 and I communicated it to Master Robert Marsh,2 for I thought it expedient to do so. I kept your courier until St Margaret's day, when Master John, who had presented you with the petitions of the masters and scholars of Oxford, read out your reply to the said masters and scholars—I was summoned and was present—which he did clearly, discreetly, and carefully. The entire congregation of scholars at Oxford agreed therefore, in accordance with your wise suggestion, to present again without delay, and as clearly as possible, certain articles of their petitions for the consideration of your fatherly goodness. Assuredly, the said society of scholars, ever in zealous pursuit of holiness, as your lordship knows better than I, following assiduous efforts to persuade it, has complete confidence in the Saviour that you in your wisdom will make arrangements redounding to the glory of God, ensuring the reform of the clergy, the salvation of the people, and the honour, guidance, and peace of the whole academic profession, saving in everything the dignity, jurisdiction, and liberties of the church over which, by the providence of God, you preside. You see, in the face of your surpassing kindness I blush with confusion and I am saddened at heart when—though an insignificant little man, yet still your devoted slave—my perseverance is not heeded. Forgive me, I beg you, for saying this. It is indeed my 2 Robert Marsh was a close relative, possibly a brother of Adam, cf. Letters 33 and 34. He was a canon of Lincoln by 1244, and was acting as bishop's Official by 1245; he became archdeacon of Oxford in 1254 and dean of Lincoln in 1259/60: BRUO ii. 1227; Fasti, Lincoln, p. 37; Major, 'The familia of Grosseteste', p. 231.

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curatur. Liceat, oro, cum uenia sic dixisse. Libet certe ut sicut noueritis et uolueritis agatur in omnibus. Cum quanta possum humilitatis affectione rogo ut magistro Radulpho de Simplingham,3 cui officium regende congregationis scolarium Oxonie dudum commisistis, dignitati uestre, sicut et tenetur, obedientiali deuotione subiecto, nee aliquatenus consentienti aliquid attemptare aut prosequi quod celsitudini uestre cedere ualeat in displicentiam, uestris' sine cunctatione, ut asserit, in cunctis obtemperaturo mandatis, motus animi, si ex aliquibus occasionibus contra ipsum sunt concepti, ob contemplationem celestis clementie clementer remittere dignemini. Sigillo^ illo quod dicitur uniuersitatis Oxoniensis, quo in simplicitate sua sicut et plures antecessorum suorum usus est,4 de cetero si iusseritis nequaquam usurus/ ad nutum beneplaciti uestri suo cedet officio. Siquid quoque minus rite per ipsum attemptatum esse censueritis, quod puto non fecerit nisi de multitudinis assensu, super eo uestre stabit uoluntatis arbitrio. Concedat Dominus uirtutum christo suo de uniuersis 'in tranquillitate iudicare et cum magna reuerencia disponere'5 que (ordinanda sunt/^ circa subiectos, presertim his diebus dampnatissimis per sapientiam uincendo malitiam6 in Christo semper et beatissima Virgine. Postquam confecta fuerint presentia, antequam signarentur, recepi litteram sanctitatis uestre Fratri Radulpho7 et michi directam, simul cum duarum litterarum transcriptis papalium, et litteras a uobis Eadwardo de Westmonasterio8 destinatas. Quibus inspectis, licet de horrendo animarum excidio dolor intolerabilis nimirum incuteretur, tamen eximiam gaudii salutaris exultationem attulit affluentius, quod ob singularis excellentie causam omne gaudium existimatis in uarias temptationes incidere qualiumcunque tribulationum, artiori amplectentes iocunditate illam Omnipotentis sententiam, 'Beati qui persecutionem patiuntur propter iustitiam, quoniam ipsorum est regnum celorum. Beati estis cum maledixerint uobis homines et persecuti uos fuerint et dixerint omne malum aduersus uos mentientes propter me. c d uestri MS. signo MS, possibly correctly. to complete the sense.

e

usurus add et MS.

^ Supplied

3 Cf. Letter 118. Ralph of Sempringham was chancellor of Oxford C.I249-C.I253: BRUO iii. 1669. On this letter see HUO i. 51, 55, I01 4 This is the earliest reference to the existence of a common seal of the university. The first seal of the chancellor, which was attached to a document of 1221, made no reference to the university; it bore the legend Sigillum Cancellarii Oxonie: HUO i. 33 n. i.

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pleasure that everything should be done with your knowledge and as you wish. With all possible humility and affection I beg you, out of regard for the divine mercy, to banish your anger with Master Ralph of Sempringham,3 whom you appointed some time ago to govern the congregation of scholars at Oxford, if any feeling against him has been aroused by certain events. He is submissive to your lordship, as he is bound to be, with obedience and devotion, nor does he by any means consent to any presumptious attempt or to implementing anything that could serve to displease your highness; he is ready, as he asserts, to bow to your commands in all things without hesitation. If you so command, he will in future not use at all the seal, said to be that of the University of Oxford, which in his innocence he has used as did many of his predecessors,4 and will surrender his office at your good pleasure. If you consider that anything improper has been attempted by him, which I think he will not have done without the assent of congregation, he will accept your judgement on it. May the Lord of power grant to his anointed one in all things to 'judge with tranquillity and with great forebearance to govern'5 his subjects, especially in these most accursed days, overcoming evil by wisdom,6 in Christ always and the Blessed Virgin. After finishing these letters, before they were sealed, I received your holiness's letter addressed to Brother Ralph7 and me, together with transcripts of two papal letters and letters from you addressed to Edward of Westminster.8 On reading them, although smitten with unbearable pain over the dreadful ruin of souls, I was immensely gladdened that you think it all joy to be afflicted with various trials and tribulations in such a singularly excellent cause, embracing with cheerfulness that pronouncement of the Almighty, 'Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 6 Cf. Wisd. 12: 18. Cf. Wisd. 7: 30. Probably Brother Ralph of Corbridge, who entered the order while regent in theology at Paris. He was sent to Oxford to take Adam's place as lector to the Oxford friary: Little, 'Franciscan School'; but see Introduction, above pp. (viii—ix}. 8 Edward of Westminster, the son of Odo the Goldsmith, was a royal clerk and was Keeper of the King's Works at Westminster from (-.1242: CLibR 1240-5, 134, 206, 325, etc. Though in minor orders and a married man, he was a pluralist; see Colvin, The History of the King's Works, i. 101—3. In I2 44~ I2 45 ne was instituted to the rectory of Milton Keynes in the Lincoln diocese: Rotuli Grosseteste, p. 369. Adam's remarks here suggest he was seeking an additional benefice in the diocese, possibly by means of papal provision. 5

7

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Gaudete et exultate, quoniam merces uestra copiosa est in cells; sic enim persecuti sunt prophetas qui fuerunt ante uos.'9 Quid ergo aliud faciet apostolis substitutus quibus mundi Saluator hec locutus est? Inuictus athleta eius qui uicit mundum, quoniam ut propter summam salutis operationem 'exultet audacter, pergat in occursum armatis, contemnat pauorem, nee cedit gladio',10 et 'impiis fugientibus nemine persequente, ipse ut leo confidens sit absque terrore',11 totam fiduciam in Ipsum proiciens qui apostolis et apostolorum successoribus loquens ait, 'In mundo pressuram habebitis, in me autem pacem. Sed confidite, quia ego uici mundum.'12 O felicissimas animas quibus celitus concedetur in hac beatissima salutis causa uestre corone, calcatis terrorum fantasiis et ineptiis blandimentorum, participes fieri. Si uero Helysei ueri ministri fuerimus, uere uices illius dolentes, uereque puerilem humilitatem induentes, audiemus ab ipso 'Nolite timere, plures enim nobiscum sunt, quam cum illis'.13 Ipsoque orante, aperiet Dominus oculos nostros et uidebimus 'montes plenos equorum et curruum igneorum in circuitu'14 ipsius, f. 30 uidelicet | Filii Dei, cui fideliter assistimus. Hec dixerim sicut alias uobis non tarn trepida quam anxia mente de huiusmodi (re)f memini me scripsisse fiducialiter* aggredienda. Sic' triumphatis spiritualium nequitiarum uiciis et carnalium illecebrarum concupiscentiis, quorum continuata prelia in nobis, a nobis, contra nos sentimus insanire, contra prefatas demonialium hostilitatum peruicacias procedamus ad bellandum, Ipso prestante cuius bella geruntur, qui est benedictus in secula. Amen.

17 To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1251 x 1252) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Magnificentie reginalis officiosa deuotio, quam non sine sacre familiaritatis contubernio salutari uestre paternitati inclinauit diuina dispensatio,1 iuxta quod in michi transmissa uestre sanctitatis littera g

Supplied to complete the sense. fiducialiter add esse MS. ! si MS.

' Matt. 5: 10-12. Prov. 28: i. 13 4 Kgs. 6: 16. 11

I0

Job 39: 21-2. John 16: 33. " Ibid. 6: 17.

I2

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Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.'9 What else shall a surrogate of the apostles do, to whom the Saviour of the world spoke these words?—the unconquered athlete of Him who overcame the world, who for the high work of salvation 'rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear; neither turneth he back from the sword,'10 and 'the wicked flee when no man pursueth, but himself is bold as a lion,'11 placing all his trust in Him who spoke to the apostles saying, 'in the world you shall have tribulation, but in me peace; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.'12 O happy the souls whom heaven shall grant a share in your crown in this most blessed cause of salvation, trampling the images of fear and the follies of flattery under their feet. If we are true ministers of Elisha, really lamenting in his stead and really clothing ourselves in childlike humility, we shall hear from him the words 'Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.'13 And at his prayer, the Lord will open our eyes and we shall see 'the mountains full of horses and chariots of fire round about'14 him, namely the Son of God, on whom we faithfully wait. I have said this, as at another time I remember writing to you, not so much fearful as anxious in my mind, about the need to take the offensive confidently in a matter of this kind. Thus triumphing over spiritual vices and the enticements of carnal concupiscence, in a battle we feel constantly raging within us, fought by us, and against us, let us advance to war against the stubborn resistance of our demonic enemies, under the leadership of Him whose war it is, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

17 To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1251 x 1252) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. According to the contents of the letter your holiness sent me, divine providence, not without the help of familiar acquaintance, has disposed the devout queen's majesty well towards your fatherly goodness,1 which gives us greater confidence that your evangelical 17 ' The queen, Eleanor of Provence, also expressed her devotion towards Adam, whom she sought to have reside at court: see Letter 52 and Introduction, p. xxxviii.

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continetur, ampliorem salutis operande fiduciam per euangelicum uestre pietatis ministerium ingessit efficacius; sit superne dignationi superexaltata benedictio. Cum igitur in tanta tot discriminum angustia ad pregrandem necessitatis ecclesiastice subuentionem patefactum uobis celitus aditum aspicimus, quid esse poterit si de cetero, quod absit, propensioris uigilantie sedulam exhibitionem detrectamus? Doleo quod exclusit euentuum importunitas colloquiorum salutarium collationem habendam cum domino Wyntoniensi electo;2 sed utinam hoc, Domino melius aliquid prouidente, hac uice prorogatum esse contigerit in dies opportuniores. Super hoc quod michi uiua uoce iniunxistis et etiam precepistis per litteram de karissimis fratribus Petro de Theukesbyr'3 et Willielmo de Pokelington4 et apud ministrum nostrum et apud eosdem, hoc egi, puto, quod uoluistis, adhuc nesciens utrum affectus effectum sortiri uoluerit. Conseruetur, oro, sincere sanctitatis uestre salutaris emulatio in Christo semper, etc. Sicut alias rogaui, opto michi remitti transcripta litterarum domini regis Francie et domini Thuskolanensis,5 cum ea legi feceritis uel etiam transcribi, si placuerit. Retinui sexta feria cursorem ex causa.

18

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Licet non ambigerem opus esse prouidam circumspectionem uestre dominationis interpellarem, tamen ad urgentem necessariorum meorum instantiam uestre paternitatis beneuolentie presentem adquieui dirigere petitionem, obsecrans cum quanta ualeo precordialis affectus diligentia quatinus balliuis et hominibus domini comitis Leycestrie1 ad examen uestrum in causa molestiori uocatis sic moderari uelitis dispensationis benigne censuram, ut et dignitatis ecclesiastice intemerata iura permaneant, et dignissima incliti comitis 2 Aymer de Lusignan, elected 4 Nov. 1250; as yet unconsecrated, he was expelled from England in July 1258, at the behest of the baronage. See also Letters 56n. i, 59n. i. 3 Peter of Tewkesbury, head of the Oxford custody of the Franciscans 1236—(-.1248; provincial minister of England, 1254—8: Eccleston, pp. 34 and n., 76—7; Little, Greyfriars in Oxford, p. 127. 4 William of Pocklington, magister, was a canon of Lincoln (prebend of Langford Ecclesia) in 1244-5. He served in Grosseteste's familia before taking the Franciscan

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ministry will work more effectively in the cause of salvation. Blessed be the divine condescension. So we see that heaven has opened for you a path of access by which you can greatly aid the Church in her needs and her many and great trials and tribulations. We observe what can happen if, in future, we decline—heavens forbid—to maintain an assiduous vigilance. I am sorry that the inopportune pressure of events prevented your having a salutary conversation with my lord elect of Winchester.2 Would that, with some better occasion provided by the Lord, it will have been postponed until a more opportune time. As regards what you enjoined when we spoke, and indeed commanded by letter, concerning our dearest brothers Peter of Tewkesbury3 and William of Pocklington,4 I have, I think, acted as you wished both with our provincial minister and with the brothers themselves, not yet knowing whether the desire will issue in effect. I pray that saving grace may ever keep your holiness in Christ, etc. As I requested elsewhere, I wish the transcripts of the letters of the lord king of France and the lord of Tusculum5 to be returned to me, if you please, when you have had them read or even transcribed. I kept back the courier on Friday for a reason.

18

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln [Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln.] Although I had no doubt that I would have to impose upon your lordship's wisdom, it is nevertheless under pressure of necessity affecting myself that I have consented to send this present petition to your fatherly kindness. I beg you, with all the earnest affection I can, that you would kindly moderate the censure imposed upon the bailiffs and men of the lord earl of Leicester,1 who have been summoned to your judgement in a rather troublesome case, in such a way that both the rights of the Church may remain inviolate and the excellence of habit at Oxford in 1251: Major, 'The familia of Grossteste', p. 233; BRUO iii. 1489; even before he had made his profession he served as Adam's secretary (see Letter 33). See also Letters 27n. 7, 32n. 5, 56, toon. i. 5 The cardinal-bishop of Tusculum, Odo of Chateauroux, 1244-73. The letter is that referred to in Letter 23 below, reporting the defeat of the crusader army in Egypt. 18

' Simon de Montfort.

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excellentia in sibi a uobis exhibito fauoris beneuoli patrocinio sue necessitati sentiat subuenisse. Conseruet benedicta diuinitatis dementia uestre beatitudinis incolumitatem in Christo semper et beatissima Virgine.

19 To Robert Grossteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Ad sollicitam spiritualium amicorum instantiam dominationi uestre presentem consensi dirigere petitionem, rogans attentius quatinus de prouisiua propensioris gratie dementia domino lohanni de Stokton' canonico Huntedun',1 Osenie2 auctoritate uestra commoranti, in causa consolationis sue uobis, si placet, uiua uoce exponenda, optatam fauentis misericordie beneuolentiam impartiri non ducatis indignum. Valeat sanctitatis uestre benigna paternitas in Christo semper, etc. 20

To Robert Grossteste, bishop of Lincoln (1252, September x October) Quid sibi uelit quod occidendis animabus preter solitum per manus uestras peruicacia demonialis in presentiarum atrocius insistit, facile credo (et) disertitudinis uestra sancta pietas aduertit; quia certissimum est cunctis qui de Omnipotentis sapientie superclementia1 fidelem concepere fiduciam, quod Dei uirtus, Dei sapientia, Dei sanctificatio cito conteret Sathanam sub pedibus sanctorum, de quo planissime his diebus extreme perditionis2 impleri conspicitur. Quid enim ultra poterit debaccantis nequitie frontosissima rabies, illud (implens) Apokalipsis, 'Descendit ad uos Diabolus, habens iram magnam, sciens quia modicum tempus habet'?3 Dabo operam ueniendi Londinium ad parlamentum,4 sicut 19

2

1 A priory of Augustinian canons regular. Oseney (Oxford), an abbey of Augustinian canons regular.

20 1 Adam's fondness for such superlatives may be derived from his reading of the Pseudo-Denys. 2 i.e. the Last Days of the world, heralding the advent of the Antichrist—a hint of

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the noble earl may feel that the kind patronage and favour you have shown him has helped him in time of need. May the divine mercy preserve your beatitude always in Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

19 To Robert Grossteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. At the earnest request of spiritual friends, I have consented to direct this petition to your lordship, respectfully requesting that of your far-seeing grace and kindness you would condescend to grant to Sir John of Stockton the benevolence and consolation he desires in a case which, if you please, is to be explained to you orally. He is a canon of Huntingdon,1 residing by your authority at Oseney.2 Farewell, your fatherly holiness, ever in Christ, etc. 2O

To Robert Grossteste, bishop of Lincoln (1252, September x October) [Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln.] The lucid judgement of your holiness easily observes, I believe, what the demonic pertinacity intends when it now strives more horribly than usual to slay souls through your hands. For it is a certainty to all who have obtained faith in the wisdom of the most merciful1 Almighty that the power of God, the wisdom of God, the holiness of God, will crush Satan under the feet of the saints, which we see plainly fulfilled in these days of utter perdition.2 For what more can insolence and raving wickedness accomplish, fulfilling that saying of the Apocalypse, 'the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short'?3 I shall do my best to come to London to the parliament,4 as you Adam's millennial preoccupations, indicated by the quotation from the Apocalypse that 3 follows. Rev. 12: 12. 4 The assembly referred to was probably that of prelates that met in London on 13 Oct. 1252, or possibly the earlier meeting at Westminster in the summer of that year. At both meetings Grosseteste urged the bishops to oppose the grant of a tenth of clerical income for the benefit of the king, who had taken the cross in 1250: Chron. Maj. v. 324-6.

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iussistis. Forte obsistent fratres, quia aliud cogitauerunt de me. Propter hoc conueniens esset ut minister fratrum minorum in Anglia5 super hoc interpellaretur. Consilium et fortitudo uobis subministrentur uobis a Spiritu Sancto Patris altissimi per Christum lesum semper in patrocinio Beate Virginis. 21

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1249 x 1250) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Ad instantiam domini Symonis, filii Symonis, latoris presentium, uiri probitatis laudande, dominationi quoque uestre non tarn obedientiali reuerentia quam deuotione obsequiali, in omnibus que honorem uestrum contingunt pariter et beneplacitum, cum iugi promptitudine subiecti, petitionem presentem dignitati uestre affectione libenti scribere consensi; supplici rogans humilitate quatinus eidem in negotio suo, quod ipse, si placet, auctoritati uestre uoce uiua est expositurus, quoad et ueritati inheretur et iustitia non deseritur, opportunam fauoris beneuoli gratiam impertire non ducatis indignum; tanto ipsum in hac parte propensiori prosequentes beneuolentia quanto, sicut uidetur, indubitanter in causa pro qua laborat ipsum animat equitas, et iniquitas concitat aduersarium. Dominus lohannes de Crakhal'1 et dominus Rogerius senescallus uester,2 cum quibus et ego affui, conuenerunt Oxonie, ut quietaretur tractatu pacifico dissensio orta inter balliuos uestros et balliuos domini comitis Cornubie3 feria sexta proxima post diem cinerum. Supersedendum autem putaui scribere uobis acta dicte diei, pro eo quod memoratus dominus Symon, qui toto tractui bono modo sedulus interfuit, ea plenius intimanda uestre circumspectioni suscepit. Dominus Deus assit ecclesie sue necessitatibus diebus istis, f. 3ov quibus dolemus indesinenter | efferatiori" mendaciorum euidentium 21 ' efferiori MS. 5

i.e. the head of the English province of the Friars Minor, William of Nottingham, 1240-54. 21 ' John of Crakehall was Grosseteste's steward I235-C.I250; he was a canon of Lincoln and in 1245 received a papal indult for plurality: CPL i. 216. Major, 'The familia of

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have commanded. Perhaps the friars will object because they have other things in mind for me. For this reason it would be advisable to address the minister of the Friars Minor in England5 on this subject. May you be granted counsel and strength by the Holy Spirit, the Father most high, through Jesus Christ, ever in the patronage of the Blessed Virgin.

21

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1249 x 1250) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. Sir Symon, son of Symon, the bearer of this letter, is a man of laudable integrity and your devoted subject, ever ready to serve you with obedience and reverence in all things pertaining to your honour and good pleasure. At his request I have freely and affectionately agreed to write this petition to your lordship, humbly requesting you to grant him your gracious and opportune favour in a matter which he will explain to you viva voce, if you please, so far as truth is preserved and justice not discarded, assisting him with the weight of your benevolent patronage, all the more as he is, it seems, indubitably prompted by a concern for equity in the case for which he is working, and his adversary is actuated by iniquity. Sir John Crakehall1 and Sir Roger your steward,2 with whom I also was present, met at Oxford on the Friday next after Ash Wednesday, so as to settle by peaceful negotiation the dispute that has arisen between your bailiffs and those of the lord earl of Cornwall.3 I thought, however, that I should postpone writing to you about the doings of that day, for the reason that the said Sir Symon, who participated well in the whole of the negotiation, has undertaken to inform you more fully about it. May the Lord God protect the needs of his Church in these days, when we grieve over Grosseteste', p. 225. He accompanied Grosseteste to the papal Curia in 1250 and was an executor of his will: CCR 1254—6, p. 37. Subsequently archdeacon of Bedford, he served as treasurer under the baronial council of 1258 until his death in Sept. 1260: Ann. Man. iii. 216. 2 Roger succeeded Crakehall in 1249/50, when the latter went to Lyons with the bishop. 3 Richard of Cornwall, 1225-72, younger brother of Henry III; King of the Romans and candidate for the Empire, 1257-72.

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peruicacia impios, tantummodo de sue feritatis uehementia insanientes, conculcare iustiores se. Opportunum michi uidetur quod sine more dispendio scribatis domino comiti Cornubie deprecatorias, efficaces, rationabiles, supplices (litteras), ut ipsi placeat suspendere questionum discussiones inter uos et eundem pendentium, quousque certis die et loco ad hoc ipsum personaliter conuenire ualeatis, competenti tempore post instans Pascha, quo fiat ut omnibus super quibus per discolos excitata est controuersia diligentius examinatis, per prouisiuum uestri et illius colloquium pacifico fine conquiescant, id operante diunitatis dementia. Petitoriis plurimum est insistendum ad eos contra quos nee potentia suppetit, nee subuenit iustitia; ubi sic ius datur sceleri, ut stupenda presumptio, siue in parte actrice, siue in parte rea, sibi arrogat inuerecundius et iudicis et aduocati, et testis, et executoris officium, nichil arbitratur iustum nisi concussiones, rapinas, angarias truculentius exercere, de quibus* potissime gloriatur. Cum 'in seruitutem redigit, cum deuorat, cum accipit, cum extollitur, cum in faciem cedit'4 innoxios, petitionibus agendum in hac parte iccirco dixerim; nunquam etenim, ut reor, desperandus est usquequaquam precum obtentus quousque humanitatem penitus extinxerit immanitas. Sicut fuerit (Dei) uoluntas in celo, sic fiat (in terra). Amen. Valete in Christo, etc. 22

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1251, November-December) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Circa statum uniuersitatis Oxonie, quantum ad ordinationem regiminis prouidi et imminentium commotionum sedamina, prout diuinitus concedetur, necesse est disertitudinis uestre. Si placet, studeat circumspectio consilii maturioris adhibenda remedia, presertim in iis que, cum rediit magister Robertus de Sancta Agatha,1 uobis poterit insinuare. Molestum est michi, si presumentis insipien* que MS. 4

22

Cf. 2 Cor. n: 20.

' Master Robert of St Agatha was recipient of Letter 127 as custodian of William of

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the rage of the wicked crushing underfoot those more righteous than them. It seems to me that it would be opportune for you to write without delay to the lord earl of Cornwall prayerful and reasonable letters, begging him to be pleased to suspend discussions of the questions pending between you and him until you are able to meet personally for this at a fixed day and in a place to be found, at a suitable time after the coming Easter. There all the issues over which ill-disposed people have stirred up controversy may be examined and, by the working of divine mercy, put to rest by a prudent discussion between you and him. For petitioners it is necessary to take a forceful line with those against whom neither power suffices nor justice aids. In this way right is applied to sin, like the astonishing presumption which, whether it is on the side bringing the action or on the side of the defendant, arrogates to itself the office of judge, advocate, witness, and executor of sentence, and nothing is thought just except violence, rapine, and the imposition of servitude, of which there is much boasting. I would say that petitions are to be acted upon in the case when 'a man brings you into bondage, when a man devours you, when a man take from you, when a man be lifted up, when a man strikes the innocent on the face.'4 For we should never, I think, despair of prayer until humanity is utterly destroyed by savagery. Let it be done as the will of God shall be done in heaven. Farewell in Christ, etc. 22

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1251, November-December) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. About the condition of the university of Oxford, the help of your wisdom is necessary to obtain a prudent system of government and to settle a disturbance that is impending. Please let the circumspection of your more experienced counsel concentrate on the remedies that need to be applied, especially in those matters that Master Robert of St Agatha1 will be able to communicate to you when he returns. I shall Durham's bequest to the university; possibly he was chancellor of the university: BR UO iii. 1623. He was Official of the bishop of Lincoln by 1255: Fasti, Lincoln, p. 141.

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tie contempnenda sollicitudo meruerit, ut antequam recederetis de Banebyr', nequaquam preciperetur fieri de domo de Godestowe et aliis quibusdam que plurima suadere conatus sum instantia. Intellexi per credibilis testimonii sedulam assertionem quod omnimodis opus erit, ut cautele maturioris exquisita consideratio prouideat transferre plenam administrationem rerum uestrarum in eum qui dominum lohannem de Crakhale2 est successurus. Audiui enim dum in hac parte anceps pendet exspectatio, detrimenta non modica per aliquos qui uiolate fidei culpam non uerentur, uobis indesinenter procurari; propter quod rationibus sine more dispendio redditis, opportunum fore credo fieri quod predixi, et que uestra sunt sub certitudine mensure, numeri et ponderis custos nuper institutus suscipiat. Si honorandam censueritis uirginem filiam domini regis ad instans natalicium Regi Scotie desponsandam,3 alicuius donatiui competentis gratia, uestra rogo uiderit industria. Plurimum indigent dominus Comes et Comitissa Leycestrie inpresentiarum sanctitatis uestre salutari consilio, ita uidelicet ut quod implere nequit lingua, littera suppleat, secundum quod super rebus tantis celitus administrabitur opportunitas. Conseruetur pietatis uestre beatitudo in Christo Ihesu semper et beatissima Virgine. Misi uobis litteram per manum magistri Willelmi, cuiusdam clerici Domini Cantuariensis, in dedicatione ecclesie de Hales4 porrigendam, de qua scire uellem utrum earn receperitis. Litterarum transcripta Regis Francie et Domini Thusculanensis super excidio Egypti et statu Terre Sancte, sicut alias petiui,5 peto remitti.

2

John of Crakehall was Grosseteste's steward; cf. Letter 21. Margaret, daughter of Henry III, was married to Alexander III of Scotland at York on 26 Dec. 1251. 4 The church of Hailes abbey (Gloucestershire) was dedicated on 5 Nov. 1251; 3

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be vexed if my foolish presumption and anxiety should merit such contempt that you were to depart from Banbury without giving instructions about the house of Godstow or the other matters on which I endeavoured to use my best powers of persuasion. I understand from solicitous and trustworthy report that there is the utmost need for you, after careful consideration of your seasoned judgement, to oversee the transfer of the administration of your business affairs to the person who is to succeed Sir John de Crakhale.2 For I have heard that while uncertainty hangs over the matter you are suffering considerable damage at the hands of some persons who have no compunction in violating their fealty. Because of this, when the accounts have been rendered, as they should be without delay, I believe it would be opportune, as I have said, to let the newly appointed keeper take over your property, and measure it with accuracy, count it, and weigh it. If you consider that the virgin daughter of the lord king, who is to marry the king of Scotland this Christmas,3 should be honoured with some appropriate gift, I beseech you to give the matter your attention. The lord earl and countess of Leicester are at present much in need of your holiness's salutary advice; so a written word may make up for what the spoken word cannot accomplish, according as heaven affords opportunity in such great matters, May Christ Jesus and the Blessed Virgin keep your holiness always. I sent you a letter by the hand of Master William, a clerk of the lord of Canterbury, to be presented to you at the dedication of the church of Hailes.4 I should like to know whether you have received it. I request the return, as I requested on another occasion, of the letters of the king of France and the lord of Tusculum5 about the disaster of Egypt and the state of the Holy Land.

Grosseteste assisted and celebrated the mass at the high altar: Chron. Maj. v. 262; Ann. Man. ii. 343. 5 Cf. Letters 17 and 23.

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23

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1251) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Suggestum est michi ante dies aliquot de presbitero uobis presentato per abbatissam et conuentum de Godestowe ad uicariam de Blokkesham, quod ipse idoneus esset ad regimen animarum in eodem officio, qui inquisitionem factam super presentatione sua paternitati uestre Bannebyr', ubi et ego personaliter affui, porrexit, quam minus rite peractam uos iterato faciendam demandastis. Vnde non mediocriter gauisus sum, cum michi nuperrime per graue testimonium fuerit insinuatum memoratum presbiterum in Dei offensam et scandalum populi contubernium illicitum frequentasse mulieris cuiusdam, de qua prolem, sicut intellexi, secundam cognoscitur satis recenter suscitasse. Quod circumspectioni uestre scribere non pigebat, ne in re tanta ueritas obnubilata periculum pariat animabus. Qualitatem conuersationis patefaciet inquisitionis diligentia. Super litterature competentia uestra uobis sufficiunt experimenta. Considerate, si placet, an lubrici discursus argumentum preferat occursus faciei. Protegat, dirigat, et saluificet uestre pietatis beatitudinem per uias rectas in ostensionem regni Dei, oro, Christus Dei uirtus, Dei sapientia, Dei sanctificatio, per intercessionem Beate Virginis. Super hiis que circa uos gesta sunt post recessum meum a uobis, et super ceteris opportune signandis desiderio meo, si uestro sederit beneplacito, poterit per latorem presentium satisfieri. Mitto uobis transcripta litterarum domini regis Francie et domini cardinalis Thukalensis episcopi1 de christiani exercitus excidio in Egypto2 et statu terre promissionis euidenti diligentia conceptarum; quibus auditis, ea si placuerit michi remittere poteritis, cum ea, ut uobis ostenderentur, a ministro nostro3 acceperim.

23

2

' The cardinal-bishop of Tusculum, Odo of Chateauroux, 1244-73. The defeat of Louis IX's crusade at Damietta occurred in Apr. 1251.

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23

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1251) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. It was suggested to me some days ago that the priest presented to you by the abbess and convent of Godstow for the vicarage of Bloxham was suitable for the duty of governing souls; he handed to you at Banbury, where I was personally present, the record of the inquiry held on his presentation. You demanded that this should be done again, as it was not properly carried out. I was not a little gladdened by this, as it was recently intimated to me on serious testimony that the said priest has frequented the illicit company of a certain woman, by whom he is known to have recently had a second child, offensive to God and to the scandal of the people. I do not regret writing this to your lordship, lest in so great a matter souls should be endangered by obfuscation of the truth. A diligent inquiry will make apparent the quality of his life. As for his competence in letters your own test will suffice for you. Consider, if you please, whether the evidence of lewd conduct should be given more importance than a pleasing appearance and address. I pray that Christ, the power of God, the wisdom of God, the holiness of God, may, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, protect, sanctify, and direct your beatitude by straight paths to show forth the kingdom of God. As regards what was done at your behest after I left you, and the rest of the matters to be indicated in due time, the bearer of the present letters will be able, if you please, to satisfy my wishes. I am sending you transcripts of the letter of the lord king of France and the lord cardinal-bishop of Tusculum,1 drafted with evident care, about the destruction of the Christian army in Egypt2 and the state of the Promised Land. When you have heard them read, you can, if you would, return them to me, since I received them from our minister3 so that they might be shown to you.

3

The Provincial of the English Franciscans, William of Nottingham, 1240-54.

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24

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1251, July-August) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Mitto uobis litteras michi nuper destinatas de Francia a quodam fratre ordinis nostre1 probitatis commendande de horribili pastorum, immo uastatorum, peruicacia cum unanimi populorum conspiratione in clerum terrifice grassantium. Ex qua colligat sapientie uestre pia disertitudo districtas animaduersionis diuine censuras in perditores animarum, pastores ecclesie loquor usurpati nominis, plus protendere reos" quam efficere; quod quamuis cum ingenti stupore audimus. Dominus rex mandauit officialibus suis huiuscemodi presumptores aut exturbare aut comprehendere.2 Sed si per ipsos | f. 31 uirgam furoris sui exerceat immanissime prouocata maiestas Omnipotentis, quid ualere putabuntur incorrecta humane preuaricationis molimina? Valeat uestre beatitudinis sospes incolumitas in Christo Ihesu semper et beatissima Virgine. 2

5

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1249, January-June) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Remitto dominationi uestre abbreuiationem illam quam scripsistis de principatu regni et tyrannidis1 sicut misistis signatam signo comitis Leycestrie.2 Dominus comes Leycestrie si contingat eum maturius 24

' reor MS.

24 ' The writer of the letter referred to was the custodian of the Friars Minor at Paris. The text of the letter, addressed to Adam and the Oxford friars, describing the anarchic Pastoureaux movement and its violence against the clergy, was reproduced by the Burton annalist: Ann. Man. i. 290-3. A detailed account was given by Matthew Paris: Chron. Maj. v. 246—54. For a modern account see Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millennium, pp. 82—7. 2 Royal letters to this effect, addressed to the Keeper of the Cinq Ports and the sheriffs of England, were issued on 8 July 1251: CCS 1247—51, p. 549- According to Matthew Paris,

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24

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1251, July-August) To the lord of Lincoln, Brother Adam. I am sending you a letter, recently addressed to me from France by a trustworthy brother of our order,1 about the horrifying malice of the shepherds—ravagers would be a better name—abetted by conspiracies and riots of the whole people against the clergy. You in your wisdom may gather that the divine sentence of punishment upon the destroyers of souls—I speak of the pastors, the shepherds of the Church who usurp the name—is extending the numbers of the guilty rather than taking effect. We hear it, though with amazement. The lord King has ordered his officers to either disperse or arrest presumptious wretches of this sort.2 But if the majesty of Almighty God, which has been hugely provoked, is using them as the rod of his anger, of what avail, do you think, will be the efforts of deviant and prevaricating humanity? God keep you safe and well in Christ Jesus and the Blessed Virgin. 25

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1249, January-June) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. I am returning to your lordship the draft you wrote on the subject of Royal Principality and Tyranny1 as you sent it, sealed with the seal of the earl of Leicester. Should he return to Gascony earlier,2 the lord one of the leaders of the Pastoureaux landed at Shoreham and succeeded in raising a following. 25 1 The 'abbreuiatio' de regno et tyrannide (text ed. in Gieben, 'Grosseteste', 377—80), which was concerned with procurations exacted by Archbishop Boniface, was excerpted from Grosseteste's address to the papal Curia in May 1250. The copy that Adam is returning had evidently been sent to Simon de Montfort. 2 Simon de Montfort, who had been royal governor of Gascony since 1248, returned to England in late Dec. 1248; he returned to Gascony in early June 1249: Chron. Maj. v. 48, 76; Bemont, Simon de Montfort, p. 82 and n.

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redire in Vasconiam, deliberatione cum domina comitissa3 et mecum super hoc habita, proponit primogenitum suum Henricum4 ad uestram remittere paternitatem, ut dum etas est ei tenerior sub uestre sanctitatis patrocinio sicut hactenus, Domino dante, proficiat per tempus aliquantum, quoad fieri poterit, in doctrina litterarum et morum disciplina. Si autem dictus comes moretur in Anglia, iuxta pietatis uestre salutare consilium aliter de puero memorato disponere proponit. Dixit michi comes Leycestrie, non ferens quasi uestruma examen declinare, quod plus desiderat ut preuia ueritate et inoffensa iustitia per uestri solius ordinationem controuersia contingens homines suos de Leycestria, sicut uestre uisum fuerit disertitudini conquiescat, quam ut in hac parte ordinationi illorum trium qui nominati sunt, uidelicet domini archidiaconi Oxonie,5 domini lohannis de Crakhal',6 magistri Roberti de Wynkele,7 negotium committatur terminandum. Non bene noui utrum plus expediat. Verumptamen perspectis pluribus circumstantiis, ut uideo, securius erit quod factum memoratum dictorum sapientum, sicut prouisum est, committatur discretioni diffiniendum. Fiat super hoc ut uobis fuerit celitus inspiratum. Super eo quod contingit factum fratris R. dicti monachi acceptandum est omnino disertitudinis uestre salutare responsum. Ad cetera que mandastis dabitur opera, prout diuinitus concedetur. Locutus est michi comes Leycestrie super saluberrimo triumphalis magnificentie proposito liberandis animabus cordi uestro celitus immisso, qui supra quam a multis credi posset, illud extollit, laudat, et amplectitur, ut uideo, ardenti promptitudine grandium conceptum ad id ipsum secundum consilia celestia paratus, se cum complicibus suis, si tamen inueniantur, constanter accingere.8 Verum de persone uestre corporali imbecillitate maxime sollicitus, asserit quod non uidet qualiter tanta difficultatum discrimina personaliter aggredi ualeatis. Sed quid conuenientius quam ut Dominus Deus spirituum omnis carnis in debilitate carnali et spiritual! robore liget Beemoth ancillis suis,9 qui infirma mundi elegit ut fortia queque confundant?10 Vetus ars hec est omnipotentis 25

* uiuium expunged, usm MS. 3

Eleanor de Montfort, sister of King Henry III, married to Earl Simon since 1238. Henry de Montfort, 1238—65, had been placed in Grosseteste's household for his education the year before. 5 Richard Gravesend, archdeacon of Oxford 1249/50-4. 6 John of Crakehall. See Letter 21 n. i. 7 Robert de Wynkele, a master of the Northern Nation of Oxford University, appears attesting an arbitration between the nations in 1252: SAUO, p. 86. 4

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earl of Leicester proposes, after discussing the matter with the lady countess3 and myself, to send his eldest son Henry4 back to your fatherly care, so that while he is of a tender age he may progress in learning letters and be trained in good manners for as long as possible under the patronage of your holiness, as he has done hitherto, by the favour of the Lord. But if the earl should stay in England, he proposes to make other arrangements for the boy in accordance with your lordship's good advice. The earl of Leicester said to me that he will not tolerate your so-tospeak inquiry being set aside; he would rather accept that the dispute affecting his men of Leicester should be settled by your ordinance alone, with presumption of truth and without prejudice to justice, as it seems best to your learned self, than have the business committed in this case to be settled by the ordinance of the three persons mentioned, namely the archdeacon of Oxford,5 Sir John of Crakehall,6 and Master Robert of Wynkele.71 did not know which was the more expedient. Nevertheless, considering the many circumstances, as I see it, it will be safer for the said matter to be committed for settlement to the discretion of the three said wise men, as has been arranged. Let it be done as heavenly inspiration guides you. As regards the matter of Brother R. the said monk, your salutary reply is wholly acceptable. Work will be put in hand on the rest of the things you have commanded, so far as heaven allows. The earl of Leicester has spoken to me about the most advantageous and magnificent plan for the delivery of souls, which heaven has planted in your heart. Beyond what many could have thought possible, he exalts it, praises it, and, as it seems to me, embraces it, burning with enthusiasm and ready with grand ideas, prepared according to the counsels of heaven, to gird himself for it with his confederates, if, however, such can be found.8 But he is very worried about your bodily weakness, and says that he does not see how you have the strength to address personally so great a challenge. But what is more fitting than that God, the Lord of all spirits, He who chooses the weak of the world to shame the strong,10 should by spiritual strength in weakness of the flesh 'tie Behemoth up for thy handmaids'?9 This is the ancient art of almighty Wisdom, so that Satan's 8 The nature of Grosseteste's project which aroused Montfort's enthusiasm is a mystery. Possibly it was an armed mission to rescue Christian captives from the Mongols or those who had fallen into Muslim hands during the crusades. 9 I0 Cf. Job 40: 24. Cf. i Cor. i: 27.

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sapientie, ut inde Sathane subigatur peruicacia unde amplius se erigit ipsius insolentia. Licet per uarias causas obtenderit serenissima uestre circumspectionis industria quominus inter mortales inueniatur qui uobiscum comitetur, audiamus Ipsum, qui diuinissimo illi prophete, tamen ut reor, humanitus aliquid perpesso et relictum se solum conquerenti, 'Derelinquam, inquam, michi in Israel septem millia uirorum quorum genua non sunt incuruata ante Baal';11 quique eripiendis animabus 'contriuit portas ereas et uectes ferreos confregit'.12 Quid ergo? Numquid relinquetur locus hesitation! quin idem Ipse, contritis obsistentiis et repugnantiis confractis, quantumcunque desperabilium importunitatum, et uias patefaciet, et praua dirigat et aspera complanet13 multitudini credentium in Ipsum, quorum est cor unum et anima una, quibusque 'hec est uictoria que uincit mundum, fides nostra'?14 Per Ipsum nichil est inuincibile, ut ad coronam uite uictoriosam etiam inter mortis discrimina quanto laboriosius tanto felicius pertingatur. Subsistentem stilum attraxit materia salutaris. Allocutus fui dominum Varynum de Munchensey de nota propter quam citatus est, ut coram uobis compareat, et de coniuge sua secundum legitimas sacramenti matrimonialis exigentias,15 ut decet, tarn honeste quam honorifice deinceps tractanda; qui pollicitus est hoc se, Domino dante, de cetero facturum. Accepi autem per testimonium plurimum merito credibile cuiusdam michi spiritual! necessitudine arctius constricti,16 qui propter speciale familiaritatis contubernium ipsius domini Warini et secretam et publicam melius nouit conuersationem, sub multiplici iuramentorum assertione, licet iudicem mouere non debeat huiusmodi excusatio, eundem dominum Warinum a crimine sibi obiecto penitus esse liberum. Sed qualitercunque res se habeat, credo consultum erit, ut per prouisiuam paternitatis uestre sollicitudinem erroribus excessuum in posterum caueatur, et de consilio prudentum tanti proceris parcatur uerecundie, tarn dementi processu seruata iustitia, ut censura non frangat quod flectit dementia. Doceat uos de omnibus 'clara que nunquam marcessit sapientia'17 omnium seculorum perpeti moderamine, profugans errores et excessus emendans. Meminerit uestri in bonum qui solus est bonus, 11

I2 3 Kgs. 19: 18. Ps. 106: 16. I4 Cf. Isa. 40: 4. i John 5: 4. 15 Warin de Munchensi (or Monte Canisio) died 1255; married first to Joanna, daughter of William the Marshal, died ante 1234; secondly to Denise (Dionysia), daughter of Nicholas de Anesty: Sanders, English Baronies, pp. 144-5- He inherited by his first wife the

13

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6l

obstinate wickedness should be subjugated just where his insolence reaches its climax. Although your serene industry has been extended over various causes further than anyone else could go, let us listen to Him who said to that divine prophet when he had suffered in his humanity and complained that he was left alone: 'I will leave, I say, seven thousand men in Israel, whose knees have not bowed to Ba'al',11 and who to rescue souls 'hath broken gates of brass, and burst iron bars'.12 What then? Is there any doubt that the insolent opposition, however desperate it may be, will be crushed and resistance shattered, and that He will 'make straight the ways and will make the rough places a plain'13 for the multitude of those who believe in Him, who are of one heart and one soul, for whom 'this is the victory that overcometh the world, our faith'?14 Through Him nothing is invincible, so that we attain the victorious crown of life even in the critical moment of death, the greater the toil, the greater the happiness. The subject of salvation has attracted my halting pen. I have spoken to Sir Warin de Munchensy about the brief citing him to appear before you and about treating his wife henceforth properly and indeed honourably, as is fitting, according to the lawful demands of the sacrament of marriage.15 This he has promised to do in future with God's help. But from the credible testimony of someone closely bound to me by spiritual need,16 who being a household associate of Sir Warin, knows better both his private and public life, and who has asserted the fact with numerous oaths (though it ought not to move the judge), I have gathered that Sir Warin is utterly innocent of the offence with which he has been charged. But however the matter stands, I think it will be advisable for your fatherly solicitude to be on guard against mistakes and excesses in the future, and with the advice of prudent persons to spare the shame of such an important nobleman, justice being preserved by proceeding in so kindly a manner that censure should not break what mercy bends. In all things may 'the wisdom of all the ages, who is radiant and unfading'17 be your teacher and drive away errors and repair what is done amiss. May He who alone is good, the blessed Son of God, be honour of Swanscombe; According to Matthew Paris, he died leaving a huge fortune: Chron. Maj. v. 504. 16 Meaning presumably one of Adam's penitents, whose name he could not divulge. 17 Wisd. 6: 13.

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benedictus Dei Filius, qui dementi bonitate incarceratis, capital! dampnatione periclitantibus, perpensiori gratia prospicere uoluistis in tarn gratiosam absolute liberationis misericordiam. Conseruetur optanda uestre beatitudinis incolumitas in Christo semper et beatissima Virgine. De libro Ethicorum gratia uestri bene factum est, ut michi uidetur.18

26

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1252) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Cum uenissem Oxoniam locutus fui cum magistro lohanne le Gracius,1 uiro perspicacis ingenii et eloquii conuenientis, eminentis litterature et conuersationis honeste, secundum quod ostendunt tarn rerum euidentie quam testimonia laudabilium. Qui licet uestre dominationis dignitatem longe preferat ceteris ecclesie prelatis, ut eidem quanta subiecte deuotionis fide ualet obsequatur, tamen non consentit ob causas plurimas plurium iudicio plurimum rationabiles, cure animarum quam suscepit renuntiare nee scolastica exercitia intermittere, quousque in iure canonico uel ciuili officium eruditionis impendende assumpserit, et sibi diuinitus concessam iuris illius uel istius scientiam aliis docendo communicauerit. Dixit autem quod si f. 3i v uestro sederit | beneplacito, dum moratur studens in uniuersitate Oxonie, uobis erit intendens in negotiis uestris et ecclesie uestre per se et per suos complices, prout ualuerit, uigilanti sollicitudine, accessurus postmodum efficacius ad familiare ministerium uestrum, cum opportune ipsum uocare uolueritis, completo proposito suo in scolasticis exercitiis in quibus erit pro uobis, Domino dante, iugiter prout fieri poterit bono modo. Locutus sum etiam cum magistro Reginaldo de Stokes,2 medico, uiro maturo et honesto, in artibus et in medicina prouecto et experto, quern et conuersatio socialis et circumspecta discretio et sermo 18 On Grosseteste's translation of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics see Callus, Grosseteste, pp. 62-5; Southern, Grosseteste, pp. 287-90. Dates for the completion of the work have been suggested between 1245 and 1250. It probably took several years to complete.

26

' Probably Master John le Gras, doctor utriusque iuris, who championed the Oxford

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mindful of you, who desired in your compassionate goodness to care for those imprisoned in danger of a sentence of death, to freely grant them a merciful deliverence. May your beatitude be preserved in wished-for good health, ever in Christ and the Blessed Virgin. The book of The Ethics has been, as it seems to me, well done thanks to you.18

26

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1252) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. When I came to Oxford I talked with Master John le Gracius,1 a man shown by the facts and the testimony of praiseworthy people to be a person of eminent learning, keen intelligence, fluent speech, and honourable life. Although he esteems your lordship far above all other prelates of the Church, and is ready to obey you with as much faith and devoted service as lies within his capacity, he does not, however, consent to resign the care of souls that he has undertaken; this for many considerations that many judge to be reasonable; nor does he consent to give up his scholastic exercises until he has taken up the office of teaching canon law or civil law, and has by teaching communicated to others the learning in one law or the other which heaven has granted him. He said, however, that while he remained studying in the university of Oxford, he would, if it was your good pleasure, be attentive and vigilant in looking after your affairs and those of your church, both through his own efforts and those of his colleagues. Afterwards, he will come and serve as a minister in your household more effectively, when in due time you wish to summon him, having completed his scholastic exercises which, if the Lord grant it, will always be advantageous to you. 1 have also spoken to Master Reginald de Stokes,2 a physician, a mature and honourable man, who is an advanced and experienced scholar in arts and medicine; his sociability, discretion, maturity of Franciscans in dispute with the Dominicans in 1269; canon of York in 1266: BRUO ii. 1127; Little, Greyfrian in Oxford, pp. 331—4. 2 Reginald de Stokes was a regent master in Oxford in 1238: BRUO ii. 1784. Despite Adam's testimonial he does not appear to have become a member of Grosseteste's familia.

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maturus et timorata deuotio, iuxta fide dignorum assertionem, plurimum reddit acceptum. Iste est in quern ad seruitium uestre dominationis euocandum animus meus amplius consentit, nisi alium eidem preponendum uobis Dominus insinuauerit. Hie iussionibus uestris paratus est obtemperare, secundum consilium uobis in Domino deuotorum. Librum Ethicorum Aristotelis, quern scribi fecistis uestri gratia ad opus religiosissimi uiri fratris Hugonis de Berions,3 uobis inter mortales specialissime deuoti, si miseritis ad locum Fratrum Minorum Londini, magister Petrus rector ecclesie de Wymbledon, medicus domine regine,4 uir excellentis litterature et magne probitatis, de Prouincia oriundus, ipsum procurabit fideliter et secure transmitti ex parte uestra memorato fratri Hugoni, si uestro sederit beneplacito. Super hoc bonum erit maturare quod uestre uisum erit discretioni. Conseruetur desideranda uestre beatitudinis incolumitas in Christo lesu semper et beatissima Virgine. Super hiis omnibus uestrum, si placet, michi rogo insinuetis beneplacitum, cum sic expedire censueritis. Si maturaueritis mittere librum Ethicorum Londinium, sicut predictum est, per predictum magistrum Petrum, qui utinam uobis esset cognitus et familiaris, maturius mittetur, sicut conuenit, ut estimo, fratri Hugoni de Berions. Postquam recessi a uobis scripsi a Northamptona aliquot diebus ante Purificationem Beate Virginis5 contra presbyterum ilium pestilentem qui frontosi furoris peruicacia, obsistente sibi Saluatore animarum, conatur peruadere regimen animarum in uicaria de Blokkesham. Scripsi, inquam, contra ipsum cum Deo ut arbiter indubitanter, magistro Eustachio de Len, official! Cantuariensi,6 et pro re promouenda fratri Thomae de Eboraco,7 subiectissimo reuerencie uestre famulo, strenuo, discreto et beneuolo, et in omnibus que ad salutem spectant animarum ardenti" uigore celitus inflammato, mittens eisdem nichilominus tenorem processus habiti coram uobis in facto dicti presbyteri. Quorum frater Thomas michi rescripsit 26

* audenti MS. 3

Hugh de Barjols, otherwise the famous Provencal Franciscan Hugh de Die, a wellknown expositor of the works of Joachim of Fiore; see Salimbene pp. 226, 238; cf. Powicke, 'Robert Grosseteste and the Nicomachean Ethics'. Cf. Letter 49. Grosseteste's translation of the Nicomachean Ethics with his commentaries on it was completed (-.1245-50: Southern, Grosseteste, pp. 287-9; Mercken, The Greek Commentaries.

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speech, and God-fearing devotion, which are vouched for by many people whose statements can be trusted, make him very acceptable. This is a man whom my soul is most glad and willing to see called to your service, unless the Lord has suggested you prefer another. He is ready to obey your commands following the advice of your devoted servants in the Lord. About the book of Aristotle's Ethics which you have had written for the use of the most devout brother Hugh de Berions,3 who among all mortal men is specially devoted to you: if you send it to the place of the Friars Minor at London, Master Peter, the rector of Wimbledon, the queen's physician,4 a man of excellent learning and great integrity, a Provencal by birth, will see that it is faithfully and safely dispatched to the said brother Hugh, if it be your pleasure. It will be a good thing to make haste over this as your discretion will appreciate. May Christ Jesus and the Blessed Virgin ever keep your beatitude in health. I beg you to indicate to me your good pleasure about all these matters when you have decided to expedite them in this way. If you make haste to send the book of the Ethics to London, as was said, it will be sent sooner by Master Peter (I wish you knew him intimately) as I believe will suit brother Hugh de Berions. After leaving you, I wrote from Northampton some days before the Purification of the Blessed Virgin5 against that pestilent priest who is attempting with obstinate insolence to invade the governance of souls in the vicarage of Bloxham, despite the resistance of the Saviour of souls. I wrote against him, I say, as God is my undoubted judge, to Master Eustace of Lynn,6 the Official of Canterbury, and also, in order to push the case forward, to brother Thomas of York,7 a most devoted servant of your reverence, an active and discreet man of goodwill, who is burning with a heavenly zeal in everything concerning the salvation of souls. I sent them, notwithstanding, the gist of the process of inquiry held before you in the case of the said priest. Of the two, brother Thomas replied with a letter which I am passing on to 4 Master Peter of Provence was presented to the rectory of Wimbledon by the king on 18 July 1241: CPR 1232-47, p. 255. 5 2 Feb. 6 Eustace of Lynn appears as Archbishop Boniface's Official first in 1251; he was still acting in that office in June and July 1258: BL Add. Charter 23435; Lambeth Palace, MS 1212, fo. 50. Cf. Letters 34, 56 and n., 93, 115. 7 Thomas of York was a favoured pupil of Adam's; he incepted in theology at Oxford in 1953: Little, Greyfriars in Oxford, p. 236; Lawrence, 'The letters', 235-6.

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litteram quam uobis presentibus inclusam transmitto, maxime propter lamentabilem euentum Terram Sanctam contingentem in ilia contentum; et ut ampliori miseratione moueamini super monasterio de Beletun,8 quod est specialiori prerogatiua uestre sanctitatis nouella plantatio, colono quod plantauit rigante Domino autem, sine quo 'neque qui plantat, neque qui rigat, aliquid est incrementum dante'9 cum letiori spei expectatione habundantiores salutis fructus in Christo prolatura. Plurimum est desiderabile ut hie more dispendium non ingerat; quamuis iugiter ingruam tarn uaria occupationum turbamina, obliuionis quod absit incuria. Custodiat uos Dei uirtus, Dei sapientia, Dei sanctificatio per beatam interuentionem superdignissime genetricis sue.10 Feria secunda post Purificationem Beate Virginis uenerunt dominus rex et domina regina Oxoniam. Ubi occasione duorum clericorum pro suis delictis incarceratorum egit uniuersitas scolarium apud dominum regem, ut per Cancellarium pro quocumque excessu uel facinore clerici comprehensi et requisiti liberentur de carcere regio et reddantur Cancellario; quia dominus rex concessit eis hoc fieri in delictis illis in quibus Cancellarius uicem gerens episcopi potest exhibere iustitiam, condignas penas infligendo. In atrocibus autem criminibus, in quibus requiritur aut depositio aut degradatio, nullatenus concessit ut reddantur incarcerati clerici nisi episcopo uel eius official! uel uicario ad hoc constituto. Propter quod adhuc in confectione presentium magna fuit contentionis seditio inter iuniores et seniores uniuersitatis, illis nequaquam acceptantibus, istis uero multum approbantibus in hac parte dictam formam regie concessionis. Liberauit dominus rex prefatos clericos duos incarcerates ad petitionem scolarium absolute; et tamen cum iam cessassent magistri a lectionibus per multos dies, adhuc lectiones non resumpserunt. Feria quinta post Purificationem, licet promitteret eis dominus rex quod haberet colloquium cum prelatis et proceribus suis super dictam petitionem scolarium, et quod de eorum consilio, aut secundum formam petitam aut per aliam competentem eis prouideret, quoad fieri posset inoffensa iusticia regni et ecclesie, quod super hiis futurum est in breui postmodum scietur.11 8 Grace Dieu (Belton, Leicestershire): a priory of Augustinian canonesses, founded c. 1239 by Lady Rose de Verdon with Grosseteste's cooperation; see Thompson, Women 9 Religious, pp. 174, 220. Cf. Letters 31, 79, 80, 236. Cf. i Cor. 3: 7. 10 The original conclusion of the letter; what follows is a postscript. 11 A royal charter of 18 June 1255 authorized the chancellor of Oxford to claim delivery of a scholar accused of a felony, on the understanding that he would be subjected to the

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you enclosed in this letter, chiefly on account of what it contains about the lamentable outcome concerning the Holy Land; also so that you may be moved to greater compassion for the monastery of Belton,8 which is a new plantation with a special claim on your holiness; but for the husbandman who has planted, 'the Lord waters and gives the increase, without whom neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything'9 with joyful hope of more abundant fruit of salvation in Christ that is to come. It is very desirable that there should be no delay here. Although I am perpetually in a rush, with such a variety of troubles and preoccupations, heaven forbid that forgetfulness should cause neglect of care. May the power of God, the wisdom of God, and the grace of God keep you through the intercession of his most worthy mother.10 On the Monday after the Purification of the Blessed Virgin the lord king and the lady queen came to Oxford. Here on the occasion of the imprisonment of two clerks for their offences, the university of scholars pleaded with the lord king that clerks arrested for some misdeed or crime and requested through the chancellor, should be delivered from the royal prison and handed over to the chancellor, for the lord king has granted them that this should be done in respect to those offences for which the chancellor, as deputy of the bishop, can act as judge and inflict appropriate punishment. But in the case of dreadful crimes involving deposition or degradation, he by no means allowed that imprisoned clerks should be released to anyone except the bishop or his Official or deputy appointed for this purpose. On account of this, while I am composing this letter, there has been a great insurrection and discord between the juniors and seniors of the university, the former in no way accepting the form of the king's grant, but the latter fully approving it. The lord king has freed the two clerks unconditionally at the petition of the scholars; yet the masters have suspended lectures for many days now and have still not resumed lecturing. On Thursday after the Purification, although the lord king promised them that he would discuss the scholars' petition with the prelates and his nobles and that with their counsel he would provide for them either in the form requested or in another appropriate form, so long as it could be done without harm to the jurisdiction of the kingdom and the Church, what will come of this will shortly be known.11 judgement of the bishop: CPR 1247—57, P- 4 Z 3- In ^act the chancellor was already acting in this role at the eyre of 1241: Lawrence in HUO i. 107 and n.

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Perseuerat domina regina, benedictio sit Altissimo, in salutari proposito suo super presentatione illorum quos ad salutis ministerium euocauit, constanter, sapienter et diligenter, ut res expostulat, satagens in hac parte conceptam Dei uoluntatem adimplere, pro qua, si placet, quod et semper facitis, Saluatorem uigilantius interpelletis. Conseruet uos in difficillimo salutis ministerio hiis diebus dampnatissimis sapientia Altissimi, 'attingens a fine usque ad finem fortiter et disponens omnia suauiter'.12 Singulos articulos eorum que prescripta sunt, licet michi non satis uacaret, uobis ex singulis singulorum causis insinuaui. 27

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1251-1252) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Vehemens inundatio anxiorum negotiorum, cuius primitus in littera meministis, pietati fidelium consternationis horrorem incuteret, si non insuperabilem fidei subleuate fiduciam afferet, quam apostolice strenuitatis pauida solicitudo salubriter excitat, quasi sopiti Saluatoris retentam sententiam, per quam omnipotenti summe maiestatis imperio reprimuntur uenti demonialium nequitiarum et mare malignitatis humane perdomatur,1 ut fiat ordinis reformati £32 beata | tranquillitas. Numquid aliquando et non perenniter, 'ecce,' inquit, 'uobiscum sum usque ad consummationem seculi'?2 Sit clementissimo Dei Filio superseculariter altissima benedictio. Concessit diuinitas propitia per sedulam sanctitatis uestre pietatem sedari commotionum turbines in uniuersitate Oxonie, ad honorem Dei et utilitatem studentium. Plurimum credo fore salutiferam uisitationem quam in domo (de) Godstowe fieri fecistis. Paternitatis uestre solicitudinem largitio diuina remuneret. Vos melius nostis qualia frequentius reportantur de inquisitionibus factis per capitula ruralia super presentationibus (quibus)cumque.a Videtur autem michi bene processum esse in facto sacerdotis presentati ad uicariam de Blokkesham, qui ut ex probabili assertione * . . cumque MS, which has a small hole at this point.

27 12

Wisd. 8: i.

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Blessed be the most High, the lady queen perseveres in her pious intention regarding the presentation of those called to the ministry of salvation, with constancy, wisely and diligently taking pains, which the matter calls for, to fulfil what she thinks to be the will of God. Please petition the Saviour for her, as you always do. May the wisdom of the most High, 'which reaches mightily from end to end, ordering all things sweetly',12 preserve you in the most difficult ministry of salvation in these very evil days. I have inserted particular articles of previous writings for you, although I had not enough time, taking them from particular cases. 27

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1251-1252) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. The pious faithful would be stricken with consternation at the huge deluge of anxious business first mentioned in your letter were it not for the trust and indomitable faith inspired by your apostolic care and tireless activity; like the decision held in reserve by the Saviour as he slept, through which the winds of demonic wickedness are repressed by the command of the Almighty and the sea of human malice is tamed,1 so that order returns and a blessed peace is restored. Is it only occasionally, and not perpetually, that He says 'Behold I am with you until the end of the world'?2 Blessed be the most compassionate Son of God for all time. Through the assiduous efforts of your holiness, merciful God has granted that the disturbances in the university of Oxford are set to rest, for the honour of God and the advantage of the students. I believe that the visitation of the house of Godstow that you have had made will be salutary. May the divine generosity reward your fatherly care. You well know the things that frequently emanate from inquiries made by rural chapters relating to presentations [to benefices]. But it seems to me that the procedure has gone well in the case of the priest presented to the vicarage of Bloxham, who, as I have learnt from a 27

2

' Cf. Mark 4: 37-9. Matt. 28: 20.

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accepi, in Hybernia sacerdos ordinatus est, non plus circiter decem annis postmodum elapsis. Et ideo ipsum ad uestram requisitionem factam in iure super sua ordinatione constat mentitum esse, utpote plane dicentem se ordinatum fuisse in sacerdotem a domino Sarum tempore antecessoris uestri. Consulo uero ut nisi renuntiare uelit iuri quod habere uidetur, omnimodis prorogetur negotium eius usque post instans Natale Domini, aut in omne tempus per exceptiones3 que abundare cognoscuntur. Spero enim quod Dominus dabit opportunitates congruas repellendi pestilentem, quominus irrumpat sanctuarium Dei. Insinuatum est michi quod fornicationis prolem suscitauerit in uilla que dicitur Hereford4 prope Blokkesham, cum ibidem diunia ministraret, infamem obscene conuersationis uitam agens ante pauca tempora. Id quod auditum est de uicario ecclesie Sancti Egidii multos misit in admirationem. Item scripsi non sine dampnis imminentibus ancipitem pendere expectationem in administratione plena rerum uestrarum senescallo uestro committenda, quia sicut express! in littera, nondum rationibus auditis balliuorum uestrorum, idem senescallus uester res uestras in singulis maneriis sub certis mensura, numero et pretio, quod satis importunum esse iudico, recepit; et idcirco aliqui quasi nacti opportunitatem, in locis pluribus dissipation! inseruiebant et, ut timetur, inseruiunt. In rotulis quos penes uos habetis de temporalibus uestris prouidum factum esse gaudeo, desiderans omnino ut unus per sollicitudinem fidelium et prudentium conficiatur super omnibus seruitiis, consuetudinibus, homagiis, iuribus, terris, redditibus et quibuscumque prouentibus temporalia uestra respicientibus, sicut nonnumquam super hoc uobiscum habitus est sermo. Utinam dominus lohannes de Crakhale5 et Robertus de Hesthale6 quod inceperunt de ratiociniis perfecissent sine more dispendio. Ab eo quod uisum est de honoratione uirginis desponsande discretis quos consulistis ego non recedo. Michi consultum foret, sicut uideo, ad quietem corporalem et mentalem uacationem ut in instanti Natalitio Domini in partibus Oxonie remanerem. Quod si fieri dominationi uestre non displiceret, optarem illud michi insinuare; sin autem, indigeo mitti euectiones ut 3

i.e. the recognized essoins or legal grounds on which a legal action may be postponed. Probably Barford St Michael (Oxfordshire). John of Crakehall, a canon of Lincoln and Grosseteste's steward, 1235—50: Major, 'The familia of Grosseteste', p. 225. See Letter 21. 6 Robert of Esthall (PAsthall, Oxfordshire) was instituted subdeacon to North Luffenham in 1235-6: Rotuli Grosseteste, p. 162; to North Stoke, 28 May 1237: ibid. 456. He was 4

5

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reliable assertion, was ordained a priest in Ireland not more than ten years ago. It is therefore established that he lied at your legal inquiry into his ordination, when he plainly said that he was ordained to the priesthood by the lord bishop of Salisbury in the time of your predecessor. My advice is that, unless he is willing to renounce the right he seems to have, his affair should in all respects be postponed until after the coming feast of the Lord's Nativity or indefinitely, through the legal exceptions,3 which are known to be plentiful; for I hope that the Lord will provide appropriate opportunities for repelling the pestilential man to prevent him invading the sanctuary of God. It has been indicated to me that he has raised offspring of fornication in the vill called Hereford4 near Bloxham, when he was performing his sacred ministry there, living a life of infamous obscenity a short time before. What has been heard about the vicar of the church of St Giles has caused amazement to many people. In the same way I have written that a doubtful outcome is pending from the administration of your estates that are to be committed to your steward, to say nothing of imminent losses. For, as I have pointed out in the letter, when the accounts of your bailiffs had not yet been heard, your same steward received your goods on individual manors using a fixed measurement and number and at a fixed price, which I consider to be unsuitable. So in many places some people have seized the opportunity and devoted their efforts to dissipating your property and, it is feared, are now doing so. I am glad that in the rolls you have with you prudent provision was made in regard to your temporalities. It is my whole desire that by the solicitude of faithful and prudent people one person be appointed to supervise all services, customs, homages, rights, lands, rents, and whatever profits relating to your temporalities, as we at some time had a discussion about this. Would that Sir John of Crakhale5 and Robert of Easthale6 had completed without delay the computation they began. I do not dissent from the opinion of the discreet persons whom you consulted about the adornment of a virgin who is to be betrothed. As I see it, it would be advisable for me, for physical rest and peace of mind, to stay in the Oxford region over the coming Nativity of the Lord. If it would not displease your lordship, that is what I would desire; but if not, I need to be sent mounts so as to be able to embark canon of Lincoln (prebend of Banbury) by 1261; Fasti, Lincoln, p. 51. Here he appears acting as the bishop's estates steward; cf. Letters 106, 114.

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feria quinta proxima ante diem Natiuitatis uersus uos iter arripere ualeam. Bonum est quod litteram meam per manum magistri Willelmi, clerici domini Cantuariensis, recepistis. Nollem enim ut aliqua ipsius contenta ad aliorum peruenirent notitiam. Absit ut in eternum fratres uobis non sint deuotissime subiecti, qui solatium fratris Willelmi de Pokeligtun7 uobis non denegarunt sed distulerunt personalem eius accessum ad uos propter sue religionis incrementum, qui nuper Oxonie primo professionis sue uocem, ut moris est, solempniter emisit. Non sine magno periculo, si secus fieri posset, domui de Beletun8 non est prouisum. Consultissimum foret ut is sub quo dissipata dicitur esse religio inde celeriter amoueretur. Utinam magister Thomas de Verdun,9 que Dei sunt in hiis que memoratam domum contingunt, et ceteris omnibus ecclesiastice necessitati cedentibus, consilium et auxilium diligenter impendat; ad quod forte expediret ut ipse per uos bono modo inducetur. Mitto uobis cartulam abscissam de littera michi nuper transmissa a quodam michi familiari et uobis deuotissimo Londini commoranti, de uerbis habitis in consistorio10 coram Official! domini Cantuariensis sedente pro tribunal!, ut uideat uestre sanctitatis prouida disertitudo quid ob huiuscemodi occasionem agi debeat. Valeat desideranda uestre beatitudinis incolumitas in Christo, etc. Detinui cursorem ex causa per unum diem. 28

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1251, May-June) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Mitissimi cordis propensiori gratie, cuia exilitatis mee qualiscunque deuotio non sufficit, satisfaciat, oro, inestimabilis clementie sempiterna retributio. Contristauit me sermo sapientialis, quern carte michi transmisse censuistis inserendum, cum eo quod subiunxit non tarn conceptus ueritatis quam humilitatis affectus; premisistis enim, 'Si uerum est, quod nemo eligeret uiuere sine amicis',1 adicientes 'cum 28 " quod MS. 7 8 9

William of Pocklington; see Letter 17 n. 4. Belton, i.e. Grace Dieu. See above, Letter 26 n. 8. Master Thomas of Verdon, as a relative of the foundress, the patron of the nunnery.

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on the journey to you on the Thursday before Christmas day. It is good that you received my letter by the hand of Master William, the clerk of the lord of Canterbury, as I did not wish anything in it to reach the notice of others. Heaven forbid that the friars should not for ever be your devoted servants; they have not denied you the solace of brother William of Pocklington,7 but postponed his personal access to you for the increase of his religion—he has recently taken his first solemn vows, as is the custom, at Oxford. It is very dangerous that no provision has been made for Belton,8 if it could otherwise have been done. It would be most advisable to remove speedily the person under whom religion there is said to have been dissipated. Would that Master Thomas of Verdon9 would give advice and attentive assistance in the things of God affecting the house and all the remaining matters respecting the need of the church. May he be persuaded by you to undertake this with vigour. I am sending you a charter cut out of a letter recently sent me by a familiar friend, one devoted to you, staying in London, about words spoken in the consistory court10 before the Official of the lord of Canterbury, so that your holiness may with your prudence and command of language see what ought to be done on an occasion of this kind. May your beatitude enjoy sound health in Christ. I have for a reason kept back the courier for one day. 28

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1251, May-June) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. No devotion of my poor self can satisfy a more gracious and most gentle heart, but I pray that it may be sated by the eternal recompense of boundless love. I was saddened by the words of wisdom which you thought fit to insert in the document transmitted to me, and by what you added, which was less the expression of a truth than of humility, where you said at the beginning 'if it is true that no one would choose to live without friends',1 adding 'since I am, as you know, without the 10

28

i.e. the diocesan court of Canterbury. ' Aristotle, Ethics, viii. i.

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ego, ut scis, sine amici presentia sim, aut homo non sum, sed brutum aliquod soliuagum, quod solitudo delectat aut tedet animam meam vite mee'.2 Certe uerum est quod nemo eligeret uiuere sine amicis. Nempe quicumque secluditur ab amicitie contubernio, que est mutua beneuolentia in contrapassis, se ipsos uidelicet a se inuicem uera iocunditate suscipientibus, sui ipsius secundum optimum sui detrimento inexplicabili cognoscitur cruciari; et plus agere animam quam anima uiuere conuincitur, qui de amici uitali presentia non letatur. Sed numquid putabimus hominem, idcirco sic dictum quia secundum intellectualem subsistentiam creatum, secundum decoram ymaginem formatum, secundum sanctam similitudinem renouatum,* amicorum carere solatio, quern conciliat cum uiuentis Dei Filio indiuiduum uite consortium? qui secundum scripturam 'permanens in se omnia innouat, et per nationes in animas sanctas se transfert, amicos Dei et prophetas constituit'.3 Interpellat quoque Patrem, 'Pater sancte', inquiens, 'serua eos in nomine tuo quos dedisti michi, ut sint unum sicut et nos.'4 Exauditus quoque pro sua reuerentia subiunxit dicens, 'Et ego claritatem quam tu dedisti f. 32Y michi dedi eis, ut sint | unum sicut et nos uni sumus; Pater, quos dedisti michi uolo ut ubi sum ego et illi sint mecum; ut uideant claritatem meam, quam dedisti michi, quia dilexisti me ante constitutionem mundi.'5 Respiciunt hec proprie ad electas animas. Ad celestes animos congrue refertur illud, 'Ubicunque fuerit corpus ibi congregabuntur aquile'6 et alibi, 'Millia millium ministrabant ei et decies millies centena millia assistebant ei'.7 Num igitur, queso, dici poterit ueri nominis homo, quern et perhenne desiderium et studium celeste non tarn electis animabus quam celestibus animis in Dei Filio et consociat et adunat, amicorum superfelici destitutus presentia, ut iuxta superiorem sententie uestre seriem, aut soliuagium bruti fateamur aut queramur anime tedium? Ceterum cedat interim, obsecro, dilectio rationi, et concedat prouisiua dispensationis uestre dignatio ut, proficiscentibus uobis in salutis operationem ad partes septentrionis, exiguitatis mee, prout fuerit propitia diuinitas, ad profectum interioris hominis homo uacet exterior, et a placida dominationis uestre pietate hoc pro precipuo muneris eximii beneficio suscipiam. Aspirante quippe Spiritu Sancto, presentiam spiritualem corporalis absentia nunquam ualebit * reuocatum MS. 2 5

Job 10: i. John 17: 22, 24.

3

Wisd. 7: 27. 6 Matt. 24: 28.

4

John 17: n. Dan. 7: 10.

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presence of a friend, either I am not a man but some sort of solitary beast which is pleased with solitude, or my life wearies my soul'.2 Certainly it is true that no one would choose to live without friends. To be sure, anyone who is excluded from the intercourse of friendship, which means mutual goodwill in adversity and the joy in one another's company, is recognized to be inexplicably tormenting himself, and someone who does not rejoice in the living presence of a friend appears to be taxing his spirit rather than being spiritually alive. But shall we think that man, who is so called because he is created with an intellectual subsistence, formed in a beautiful image, and restored to a holy likeness, lacks the consolation of friends, when he is joined in an inseparable fellowship with the Son of the living God?— He who according to Scripture 'while remaining in Himself renews all things, and in every generation passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God and prophets'.3 Also He addresses the Father saying, 'Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one'.4 Also when heard for his reverence He added, 'the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one. Father, I desire that they also, whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world'.5 These words relate personally to chosen souls. The words 'wherever the body is there the eagles will be gathered together'6 are appropriately said of the heavenly souls, and so also are the words 'a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him'.7 I ask you, therefore, can a man truly of that name be said to be denied the happiness of present friends, when perpetual desire and a heavenly zeal unite him in the Son of God to the fellowship not only to chosen souls but also to the souls in heaven? So according to your statement above, must we either confess the solitary wandering of a beast or lament the weariness of the soul? But in the meantime I beg you to let love yield to reason. For I should accept it as a particular gift from your good lordship if, when you set out for the northern region on the business of salvation, you would allow my miserable self the leisure for the exterior man to improve the interior spiritual man. Surely through the breath of the Holy Spirit bodily absence will never have the power to exclude a presence in spirit. I have in mind transferring myself to some

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excludere. Cogito me in locum aliquem opportune tranquillitatis transferre, quousque firmi moderaminis sospes prosperitas uos reduxerit ibidem8 mansurum. Non pigeat, precor, super hiis quec uestro sederit beneplacito ut noueritis et uolueritis insinuare. Quam periculosum erit, ni fallor, si non ad honorem diuini nominis et humane salutis incrementum, articulos illos personam uestram, ecclesiam uestram, domum uestram, populum uestrum contingentes, super quibus nuper habitum est colloquium, uestre disertitudinis ualide uirtutis auctoritate ad salutaris exitus consummationem, sine cuiuslibet more dispendio, perducere uigilantissime satagatis. Prestat, oro, uobis altissimi^ Dei patrocinium, presidium angelorum, sanctorum adiutorium, suffragium sacramentorum, contra seuientia formidande malignitatis molimina, ad ilium finem uniuersa sanctitatis opera referre, ubi est Deus omnia in omnibus eternitate certa et pace perfecta. Quid sibi uolunt pastorum cunei cum conspiratione populorum clerum, ut audimus, in regno Francie effrenata rabie peruadentes,9 non sine stupore cogitari potest sicut reor. De quibus expresse non scribo, coniciens quod ad auditum uestrum relatio tarn horrenda peruenerit.

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To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Ad deuotam magnorum multorum instantiam Oxonie studentium, sub ea qua possumus humilitatis affectione, sanctitatis uestre pie paternitati obnixius supplico, quatinus Margarete virgini, nepti magistri Reginald! de Bathonia,1 sub regular! institutione in domo de Godestowe Deo famulari cupienti, quam a diebus multis ad hoc ipsum religiosius educatam, nonnullorum laudabile testimonium reddit commendabilem, ob contemplationem Saluatoris in emulando sue salutis negotio, fauorem benevolum de consueta benigne miserationis subuentione exhibere uelitis opportunius, ut in memorato monasterio in societatem sanctitatis suscipi ualeat, et ibidem pio ' quod MS. 8

d

altissimus MS.

Adam's meaning here is unclear; that place (ibidem) appears to refer to the peaceful retreat to which Adam himself was proposing to withdraw. Possibly the name of the place was omitted by the copyist. 9 This reference to the Pastoureaux rising in France in Apr. 1251 was evidently written before Adam had received details from the Franciscans at Paris; cf. Letter 24 n. i.

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convenient place of quiet, until the establishment of stable government brings you back there to stay.8 May it not displease you, I pray, to indicate what will suit your good pleasure with regard to these matters so far as you know your wishes. Unless I am mistaken, it will be most dangerous if you do not apply with vigilance and without delay your efforts to secure a safe outcome of those questions touching your person, your church, your house, and your people, which were raised in a discussion held recently; your action will be to the honour of the divine name and the increase of human salvation. I pray that you may be granted the patronage of the Most High, the protection of the angels, the help of the saints, and the suffrage of the sacraments on your behalf against the rage and fearful efforts of malice, to accomplish the end of universal holiness, where God is all in all in an eternity of perfect peace. It is impossible to contemplate without astonishment the meaning of the embattled ranks of shepherds in the French kingdom who in conspiracy with the people are, as we hear, attacking the clergy with unbridled fury. 9 I am not writing about them expressly, as I suppose the frightful report has reached your ears.

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To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. At the devout request of many great persons studying at Oxford, I have with all humility and affection to make a pressing supplication to your fatherly holiness for Margaret, a virgin, a niece of Master Reginald of Bath,1 desirous of serving God under an institutional rule in the house of Godstow, who has been educated for this for some time and is recommended by the testimony and praise of some persons. I beg to ask your kind favour and your usual compassion so that, striving to imitate the Saviour in the work of her salvation, she may be received into the holy society of the said monastery and be united to the pious association in that place since, as I understand, the 29 ' Master Reginald of Bath, presumably an Oxford graduate, gave the university a tenement in St Edward's parish: Medieval Archives of the University of Oxford, ed. Salter, i. 275. As rector of Paxton in 1250, he received a papal dispensation for plurality: CPL i. 264-5; BRUO i. 131. Adam wrote to him about a lawsuit with Master Robert de Northun; see below Letter 112.

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iungi collegio; cum, ut intellexi, domina abbatissa et eiusdem loci conuentus, quantum in se est, ad ipsius susceptionem promptam gerant in Domino uoluntatem. Valeat uestre beatitudinis incolumitas in Christo Ihesu semper et beatissima Virgine. Mitto uobis cartulas nuper michi a lanua et Londinio transmissas si forte in illis aliquid reperiatur unde certificari uelitis. 30

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (15 June 1252) Quod uolui iamdudum sed nunc demum ualeo longanimi uestre sanctitatis expectationi, processum habitum hiis diebus in curia domini regis super negotiis Vasconie, inclitum comitem Leycestrie contingentibus, tenore presentium summatim innotescere. Siquidem circa festum Ascensionis Domini1 accesserunt ad presentiam domini regis in multitudine numerosa Vascones tarn clerici quam laici, coram domino rege, prelatis et baronibus, maliciosis mendaciorum compositionibus dictum comitem effrenatius impetentes super uexationibus, spoliationibus, fraudationibus oppressionibus, et fere usque ad festum Beati Barnabe2 hoc modo nequitiarum suarum molimina, die ac nocte, occulte ac publice, impudentiori rabie continuantes; quibus fauor et audientia solempniter et priuate, non sine suggestionibus iniquitatis, iugiter sunt concessi, stupentibus uniuersis precipue iustitiam et equitatem emulantibus. Insuper et idem comes conuicia et contumelias a domino rege coram multis et magnis immoderatiori uociferatione frequenter interim est perpessus, per omnia moderantiam mansuetudinis cum magnanimitatis maturitate, et ad suum dominum et ad aduersarios suos, obseruans. Nescio si a longissimis retro temporibus cum aliquo procerum uel priuatorum tarn manifesta sit actum peruicacia. Paucissimis preter dominum Wygorniensem,3 dominum Petrum de Sabaudia,4 et dominum Petrum de Monteforti,5 inter tanta fastidia 30 ' 9 May 1252. An account of the events described in this letter is given by Matthew Paris in Chron. Maj. v. 287—96. For the political background and comment on the letter see Maddicott, Simon de Montfort, pp. 106—20; and above, pp. xl—xli. 2 n June. 3 Walter de Cantilupe, bishop of Worcester 1237—66, who remained an adherent and friend of Montfort during the period of civil war. 4 Peter, count of Savoy and earl of Richmond, and uncle of Queen Eleanor; one of king Henry's most trusted advisers.

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lady abbess and the convent of the place are willing and ready in the Lord to receive her, so far as it lies within their competence. Farewell your beatitude ever in Christ and the Blessed Virgin. I am sending you papers recently sent me from Genoa and London, in case you may find something in them of which you wish to be informed. 30

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (15 June 1252) [Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln.] Now at last, as I have long desired, I am able to satisfy your holiness's patient expectation and in this letter to give you a summary account of the process that has been conducted these past days in the court of the lord king over the affairs of Gascony touching the earl of Leicester. In fact, about the feast of the Lord's Ascension1 a numerous crowd of Gascons, comprising clerks as well as laymen, came before the lord king, prelates, and barons, and furiously assailed the earl with a pack of malicious lies about his alleged harassment, pillaging, fraud, and oppression, and persisted thus in their iniquitous efforts day and night, both secretly and publicly, until nearly the feast of St Barnabas.2 To everyone's amazement, especially the astonishment of those who care about justice and equity, they were continually granted (not without suspicions of corruption) the favour of both a solemn public audience and a private one. Moreover, the earl in the meantime frequently suffered reproaches and vociferous abuse from the lord king in front of many great persons, while himself maintaining self-restraint and meekness and a mature magnanimity towards both his lord and his adversaries. It must be a long time since any nobleman or private individual has been so harshly and insensitively treated. A very few, other than the lord bishop of Worcester,3 Sir Peter of Savoy,4 and Sir Peter de Montfort,5 offered the earl loyal protection in the midst of so much 5 Peter de Montfort, who was unrelated to earl Simon, but had accompanied him in Gascony and remained his staunch supporter during the civil war; see D. A. Carpenter, 'Peter de Montfort', in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography vol. 38, pp. 800-1.

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et discrimina presidium fidele ferentibus, cum tamen pontifices tune presentes, et dominus comes Cornubie,6 et ceteri fratres domini regis, et maiores de consilio, barones quoque regni, comitis Leycestrie magnificam virtutem, fidem intemerabilem, triumphalem strenuitatem, iustam intentionem eminenti extollerent preconio; auxilium quoque et consilium ad conseruandum eundem comitem sine periculo, iactura et dedecore, etiam meipso qualicunque nonnullos de maioribus eorum super predictis alloquente, spondere non omitterent. Verum in tarn frequenti uocali beneuolentia semper experiebatur per raram realem amicitiam. Quid intendat" magistratuum nostrorum* execranda seculis omnibus ignauia, uestra scio melius estimat prouida consideratio. Quid, inquam, nisi subligationis' insperate formidandum excidium? Cum autem post diuturnas impiorum concrepationes, uix extortum esset laboriosis instantiis ut comes Leycestrie et uiri plures persona ualidi et fidelitate firmi, eloquio rationabiles et perseuerantia indefessi, f. 33 opulentia prediti, in negotiis consulti, in difficultatibus | animosi, sicut hac uice series causarum potissime declarauit, qui ex aduerso sicut et prefati eorum aduersarii, ad mandatum domini regis, sub saluo conductu de Vasconia uenerant, sicut ratio cogebat, audirentur; memoratus comes Leycestrie luculente rationis clara prosecutione, ab initio sui ingressus in Vasconiam usque ad presentem diem processus sui ordinem, tarn in pacifico moderamine quam in labore bellico, pro ecclesiastica dignitate et maiestate regia, necnon tarn cleri quam populi securitate pariter et salute, undique ueraci testimonio subnixus, coram domino rege et suis magnatibus demonstrauit, et singula reputatione digna ab emulis denuntiata singulis ueritatis probate responsis confutauit. Insuper etiam uiri predicti, tarn milites quam ciues, qui domino regi et comiti Leycestrie, tarn bello quam pace, uigenter et strenue seruierant, muniti litteris patentibus communitatis Burdegalensis, in qua quasi totum robur Vasconie ad distringendum hostiles et fideles protegendum consistere dinoscitur, ex scriptis autenticis per sermones disertos manifeste monstrarunt, quam potenti strenuitate, quam prudenti circumspectione, quam iusto moderamine, quam perseueranti longanimitate, dictus comes terram Vasconie ad domini regis et b 30 a protendat MS. uestrorum MS. ' subitationis MS, possibly for subiectionis; but subligatio, i.e. the bond of fealty, appears to be Adam's meaning here. 6 Richard earl of Cornwall, 1209-72, younger brother of Henry III, and King of the Romans and Emperor elect, 1257-72.

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obloquy and danger. But then the prelates who were present and the lord earl of Cornwall,6 the other brothers of the lord king, the seniors of the council, and also the barons of the kingdom, declared and extolled the splendid virtues of the earl of Leicester, his fearless loyalty, his victorious energy, and the justice of his purpose; and when even I had addressed some of the greater among them myself about these matters, they did not hesitate to promise help and advice to protect the earl from danger, loss, or disgrace. Really, in such constant expressions of goodwill he experienced very rare and genuine friendship. With your foresight and understanding you, I know, will be best able to judge the significance of our officers' cowardice, which deserves to be execrated for all time. What does it mean, I ask, except an unlooked-for and dreadful ruin of liege loyalty? However, following the prolonged and noisy protestations of the wicked, after laborious perseverance it was only just possible to extract a concession allowing the earl of Leicester to be heard, as reason dictated; and the same was allowed to the many worthy men who were firm in their loyalty, reasonable in their discourse, and untiring in their constancy, men of wealth, experienced in affairs, and bold in the face of opposition, as has been shown by the present series of pleas, and who on the other side had, like their aforementioned adversaries, come from Gascony at the command of the lord king and under his safe conduct. Then in the presence of the lord king and the magnates, the earl of Leicester, with the support of testimony from all sides, stated the order of his proceedings from the start of his arrival in Gascony until the present day, which were as peaceable in government as in military action, were conducted for the dignity of the Church and the royal majesty, and were no less for the security and safety of both clergy and people; and he refuted with proven truth every one of the charges made by his adversaries that was worthy of report. Moreover, the aforesaid men, both knights and citizens, who had actively and vigorously served the lord king and the earl of Leicester in both war and peace, were supported by letters patent from the commune of Bordeaux, which is known to constitute as it were the whole strength of Gascony for restraining hostile elements and protecting loyalists, and they clearly showed by words from authenticated written documents how the said earl had governed the land of Gascony until the present time actively and vigorously, with

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heredum suorum profectum et honorem, ad subleuationem deuotorum, ad castigationem rebellium, ad uniuersorum salutarem reformationem, non sine nimiis personarum periculis et profusis pecuniarum sumptibus, et maximarum difficultatum aggressionibus, acerrimarum molestiarum sustinentiis, usque in presens gubernauit. Efficacioribus etiam documentorum euidentium persuasionibus cunctis ostendentes, contra comitem Symonem non ob aliud concitatam esse predictorum conspirationem nisi quia sacrilegia, homicidia, concussiones, captiuationes, angarias,7 rapinas, fraudes, sordes, quas efferatissima malignitate, nee Deum timentes, nee hominem reuerentes, sine rege sine lege agentes, federa uiolantes, affectionem non curantes, iugiter exercebant, idem comes studiis quibus ualuit cohercere curabat; nunc terroribus pulsando, nunc blandimentis demulcendo, nunc legibus dirigendo, et ad formam honeste uiuendi, ad censuram recte iudicandi, ad ritum pie colendi, uniuersos incessanter reuocare satagebat. Obtulerunt nichilominus, licet tarn scripta quam lingua assertionum suarum firmam fidem fecerint, qui steterunt in parte comitis, quod uel corporali duello quotcunque personarum, uel quibuscunque modis aliis quos curia decerneret, indubitata certitudine fixe firmitudinis, astruerent uniuersos suarum propositionum articulos. Ad hoc petentes constantiori instantia, ut tarn eis quam aduersariis per regiam prouidentiam necessitas imponeretur, sub quarumcunque cautionum securitate, in quibuscunque causis quis quern impeteret uel defenderet, ad parendum iuri et pro se iudicata suscipere et contra se iudicata sustinere, siue coram domino rege in regno Anglic siue coram iudicibus ab eo destinatis in terram Vasconie, et propter hoc ipsum conductui suo renunciaturi si hostes sui in hoc idem consentirent. Sane dictus comes cum dicta parte sua dum dicto modo ista transigerentur ab initio usque in finem, quoniam sic estimabatur in pauescendis tarn grandium causarum discriminibus circumspectius posse prouideri, et contra rancores odiorum et contra conpugnantias hostilitatum et contra dissidentias iurgiorum indesinenter supplici flagitabat industria, ut per prouisiuum regie celsitudinis imperium forma pacis inter ipsum cum suis consentaneis et aduersarios cum suis complicibus iam ante annum inita, necnon tarn baronum quam pontificum instrumentis publicis ac tarn magistratuum quam optimatuum iuramentis solempnibus firmissime uallata, inuiolabili federe 7 Angarias. The word's use in a medieval text to signify servile services is notified by Du Cange, i. 249; Adam uses the word below, apparently to mean anxiety or pain.

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prudence and caution, justice, and patient perseverance, to the advancement of the honour of the lord king and his heirs, to the encouragement of the loyal, the castigation of rebels, and the salutary reformation of all, this not without much personal danger, generous expenditure, the greatest hindrances, and the endurance of the bitterest vexations. By the evidence of even more persuasive documents, they showed that the conspiracy of the aforesaid persons against Earl Simon was moved for no other reason than the fact that he took pains with all possible zeal to repress sacrilege, homicides, extortions, the taking of captives, forced services,7 rapine, fraud, and corruption, which they had constantly practised with unrestrained malice, fearing neither God nor man, acting without king or law, violating treaties and heedless of sentiment; whereas he laboured ceaselessly, now striking fear into them, now sweetening them with blandishments, now directing them with laws, to recall everyone to a form of honest living, to the duty of administering true justice, and the observance of religion. Although they would have firmly pledged their faith in their statements both in writing and orally, those of the earl's side nevertheless offered to underpin their statements at all points either by bodily duel with any number of persons or in any other way that the court decided. What is more, they petitioned with steady pressure that the king's providence should impose upon both them and their adversaries a necessary requirement, under whatever pledge of security, that anyone bringing a charge or defending himself should obey the law, should receive judgements given for him and accept judgements against himself, whether before the lord king in the English kingdom or before judges sent by him to the land of Gascony. For this they were prepared to renounce their proceedings if their enemies agreed to do the same. Well, throughout, while these negotiations were taking place, because it was thought possible to make more prudent arrangements for major and critical cases to obviate rancour, hostile opposition, and strife, the earl with his party was ceaselessly entreating that by prudent command of the king's highness the form of peace entered into a year before between him with his supporters and their adversaries and abettors, which had been firmly ratified by the public instruments of barons and prelates and by the solemn oaths of both officers and nobles, should thenceforward be observed by all

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deinceps ab uniuersis seruaretur, ipsius certe uiolatoribus animaduersione debita plectendis. Quibus omnibus rationabili diffusione distinctius emensis, et licet cum multorum nostre nationis displicentia communiter intellectis, pars contraria comiti, immo magis domino regi, nichil horum facere ualuit uel uoluit, quia onus probandi denuntiationes suas subire, et super quibuscunque impetitionibus aut defensionibus, coram quocunque uel in regno isto uel in terra sua, iuri parere et etiam desiderabilem pacis inite reformationem custodire, cum impudentiori diffugio feralis insanie penitus recusarunt; ad hoc tantum agentes, ut in tanta rerum tarn magnarum grauitate mendacissimis suarum dilationum confictionibus indubitata fides adhiberetur, et in quibuscunque articulis causam presentem contingentibus iudiciarium examen declinaretur, et comes Symon a custodia Vasconie, contra domini regis olim consultam dispositionem,8 de piano amoueretur. Igitur a domino rege et magnatibus hinc inde plenius auditis et perpensis euidenter causarum meritis, dominus rex publice super altercationum nunc dictarum controuersiis pronuntians, ipsa ueritatis manifestatione fateri compulsus est pro parte comitis et suorum non esse locum inficiationi, quin ipsorum tarn rationabilia proposita aduersariorum commenta fallacia super mendaciorum fraudulentiis conuicissent, asserens illis condignam, istis uero nullam adhibendam esse credulitatem, hoc ipsum comite Ricardo et ceteris, tarn prelatis ecclesie quam proceribus regni, quam etiam consiliariis principis, unanimi protestatione acclamantibus. Quamuis autem post hec nichil restare dinosceretur, nisi ueritas defensa premiaretur et puniretur conuicta falsitas, tamen post noctis unius interuallum reditur, ruptis loris equitatis et iustitie, contra comitem Leycestrie ad minarum seuitias, ad proteruias exprobrationum, ad obiurgationum acrimonias, ad indecentias despectionum, tumultuante regis iracundia, et sibilante perniciosorum fraudulentia. Confunditur fasque nefasque, et dehinc continue per totos dies aliquot et noctes in prolixum tenditur intolerabilis agonie uexatio. Comes uero sicut fieri ualuit, inter tarn horrenda commotionum turbamina, ad hoc modis qui congruere credebantur apud dominum regem diligentius agebat, ut de ipsius beneplacito et prouisione, 8 The king's commission to Montfort for the government of Gascony for the duration of seven years was issued on i May 1248; for the letter patent, which does not appear on the chancery enrolments, see Bemont, Simon de Montfort, p. 76 and n.

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as an inviolable treaty, and that any of those who violated it should be visited with condign punishment. When all these conditions had been worked out and clarified by reasonable discussion and had been generally understood, though many of our nation were not pleased with them, the party opposing the earl, or rather opposing the lord king, was unable or unwilling to do any of these things; shameless in their evasion and dismal folly, they utterly refused to undertake the burden of proving their declarations, or to submit to the law in any prosecutions or defensive actions before whomsoever either in this kingdom or in its territory, or even to keep a renewed form of the peace. This was the sole object for which they were striving: that in grave cases involving such great matters, while they fabricated mendacious grounds for postponement, a pledge of faith should be accepted unquestioningly, and that for any particulars of the present case investigation by judges should be avoided, and that Earl Simon should, contrary to the former considered decision of the king,8 be wholly removed from the keepership of Gascony. Therefore, when the lord king and the magnates had fully heard and pondered the merits of the case, the lord king made a public pronouncement on the matters of strife and contention, confessing that manifest truth compelled him to find for the earl and his supporters and to say that without a shadow of doubt the reasonable case they had set out had vanquished the fallacious and fraudulent lies of their adversaries, declaring that the former deserved to be believed and that the latter did not. This judgement was unanimously acclaimed by Earl Richard and equally by the remaining prelates of the Church and by the nobles of the kingdom, and even by the prince's councillors. Although after this everyone knew that nothing remained except to reward the defence of truth and to punish those convicted of falsehood, after a night's interval, the bonds of equity and justice were broken, the king's wrath boils over, and we return to savage threats against the earl of Leicester, bitter reproaches, indecent contumely, and malicious people whispering fraudulent accusations. Right and wrong are confused, and the intolerable agony and vexation is drawn out for entire days and nights. In the midst of such frightful confusion and commotion, the earl, as vigorous as ever, assiduously urged the lord king in ways thought appropriate that, once the differences between the parties had been

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pacificatis prius partium discidiis et illarum utraque comiti conciliata, per regiam auctoritatem proficisceretur in terram Vasconie, acturus eiusdem custodiam in iustitia et iudicio, misericordia et miserationibus, et cum omnibus quod in se foret pacem habiturus, ad saluandam f. 33Y eidem | domino regi et heredibus suis, iuxta quod sibi desuper annueretur, in posterum, stabili securitate pacatam, dominationem terre Vasconie. Quod si dissentionum excluderet placationem pertinacium improbitas, obtulit se nichilominus dictus comes, ut de domini regis prouisiua dispensatione, cum expeditione militum et armorum apparatu ad tantum negotium necessariis, reuertetur in Vasconiam, sui ipsius et amicorum suorum personas, sudores, uigilantias et facultates, pro ipsius domini regis et heredum suorum indempnitate pariter et profectu, ad humiliationem rebellium et subditorum exaltationem, tarn libenter quam constanter expositurus. Si autem neutrum horum dominus rex eligere consentiret, supplicauit dictus comes, dum tamen prelati, proceres, et consiliarii concordarent, ut custodie terre Vasconie modis omnibus renuntiaret, per regie potestatis clementem prouisionem/ (dum) in tribus conditionum necessariarum articulis sibi secura consulte deliberationis diffinitione caueretur; uidelicet ne importabilia dampna sumptuum incurreret, et magis ne dedecoris probrosam ignominiam incideret, et summe ne illi qui se et sua intemerate fidei strenuitate perualida pro domino rege et suis heredibus, inter hostilitatum discrimina et moderamina gubernationum ipsi comiti non cessarunt adherere, periculis personarum aut rerum detrimentis aliquatenus exponerentur. Verumptamen cum nichil horum peruenire potuisset ad effectum, tandem dominus rex pro sue uoluntatis arbitrio, ceteris omnibus pusillanimi silentio torpentibus, ordinationes quasdam proprio motu conceptas redigi fecit in scripta sigillo suo signata; uidelicet de treuga firmiter tenenda inter partes dissidentes et inter comitem et aduersarios suos usque ad Purificationem Beate Virginis9 proxime'' futuram, et de sua profectione uel primogeniti sui in Vasconiam ad idem tempus, ut tune omnes controuersie, siue litium siue bellorum, per seipsum uel per suum primogenitum in eadem terra sopiantur; et de premittendo baiulum in Vasconiam, qui uice regis interim certa quedam negotia emersa et emersura ibidem expediat, et de castris quibusdam et de captiuis tune existentibus in manu comitis restituendis et * prospectionem MS. 9

2 Feb.

' proximo MS.

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settled and each of them had been reconciled to the earl, he should of his good pleasure provide for him to set out for the land of Gascony, to act as its keeper for the purposes of justice and judgement, mercy and compassion, to maintain a general peace, and to save the lordship of Gascony, pacified, stable, and secure, for the lord king and his heirs in future, in accordance with the terms granted him above. But if the pertinacity and dishonesty of the dissidents prevented a peaceful settlement, the earl offered, if the prudence of the lord king so directed, to return to Gascony with an expeditionary force of knights and men-at-arms needful for such a big undertaking. He was ready freely to expend himself, the persons of his friends, their sweat, their watchfulness, and their resources, to secure the lord king and his heirs from loss and to procure their advancement, to humble rebels, and to exalt the king's subjects. If, however, the lord king should agree to choose neither of these courses, the earl requested that, provided the prelates, nobles, and councillors agreed, he should renounce the keepership of Gascony in all respects through the gracious stipulation of the king's power, subject to three conditions necessary for his protection and security, namely that he would not incur insupportable expenses, more important, that he would not incur the stigma of infamy or disgrace, and above all that those who had kept their fealty to the king and his heirs intact and had not ceased to support the earl amidst the attacks of his enemies and in his conduct of government, would not be in any way exposed to personal danger or harm to their property. Since, however, none of these things could be effectively achieved, while the rest maintained a pusillanimous silence, the lord king made his own free decision and had certain ordinances conceived by himself set down in writing and sealed with his seal. These ordained that the truce between the dissident parties and between the earl and his adversaries should be firmly maintained until the next feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin;9 that at the same time he or his eldest son would set off for Gascony and would then settle all litigious disputes or wars in that land; and that a bailiff would be sent ahead to Gascony to act in the meantime in place of the king to expedite particular business that has arisen or will arise, to restore and replevin castles and captives that were then in the earl's hands, and to remedy many other inept acts which, without divine intervention, are likely to

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replegiandis, et de aliis pluribus ineptiis, nisi diuinitas subueniat, plurimum nocituris; per omnia manifestissime sui exheredationem et regni infirmationem, et comitis confusionem et populi perturbationem, ex sententia sine intermissione procurans. Hiis autem omnibus sic excursis, recessit comes Leycestrie a domino rege sub obscura dimissus licentia; qui post recessum suum litteris patentibus significauit domino regi se paratum esse parere ipsius beneplacito pro uiribus, quatenus domini regis dumtaxat consulitur profectui pariter et honori. Deinde diuini nominis timore solidatus, et animatus amore, omnem spem suam in Ipsum proiciens qui non deserit sperantes in se,10 ex hiis quoque que passus est ad obedientiam disciplinatus, gaudens et confidens in protectione Altissimi, feria quinta proxima post festum Beati Barnabe,11 mari transito, sospes et hilaris cum Henrico primogenito suo, acceptissimo uestre sanctitatis alumpno, et cum amabili comitiue^ sue frequentia.12 Bolonie circiter horam sextam applicuit, postmodum sine more dispendio, cum accesserit opportunitas, in Vasconiam profecturus et, sicut fuerit uoluntas in celo, dispensaturus rerum moderamina. Vasconie siquidem partes memorate superius postea a domino rege recesserunt, odiorum discordias et fomites preliorum in cordibus non mediocriter offensis secum reportantes, ut putatur, contra se inuicem et contra suum dominatorem solito amplius prouocati/ de proceribus regni et consiliariis regis exilia satis et sinistra sentientes et manifeste diuulgantes, super profectione comitis in Vasconiam parte ipsius potissime letificata, parte uero aduersa summe consternata. Anceps expectatur euentus a motu regio, presertim cum ignoratur si quid contra eundem comitem ipse rex ob quamcunque causam, Domino permittente, sit attemptaturus, an non, Domino prohibente. Conseruetur optanda uestre beatitudinis incolumitas in Christo lesu semper et beatissima Virgine. Scio opus non esse recommendaticia pro inclito comite, pietati uestre inter mortales deuotissimo, necnon de sanctitatis uestre meritis et orationis uestre suffragiis spiritualem pro uiuersis in Dei Filio fiduciam reportante. Presentat se domina comitissa Leycestrie illustris dignissime dominationi uestre per presentem scripturam, cum supplicissimis gratiarum actionibus et f

comitiue sic in MS, possibly in error for comitisse (as emended by Brewer). Bemont suggested emending 'amabili' instead. My translation 'in the loving company of his consort' K endeavours to meet the difficulty. prouocare MS. 10 11

Cf. Judith 13: 17. 13 June 1252.

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cause harm. Through all this, acting on his own judgement without intermediary, he will obviously procure his disinheritance, the enfeebling of the kingdom, the confusion of the earl, and the disturbance of the people. When, however, all these provisions had been rushed out, the earl of Leicester withdrew from the lord king, having been dismissed with a permit that was unclear. After his departure he signified to the lord king in letters patent that he was ready to obey his good pleasure with all his strength, so long as it is in the interest of the king's profit and honour. Then, grounded in the fear of the divine name and given courage by the love of God, and also schooled in obedience by what he had suffered, he placed all his hope in Him who does not abandon those who hope in Him.10 Joyfully trusting in the protection of the Most High, he crossed the sea on the Thursday after the feast of St Barnabas,11 safe and cheerful, with Henry, his eldest son—your holiness's most welcome pupil—and in the loving company of his consort.12 He landed at Boulogne about the sixth hour. Afterwards, he made ready to set out for Gascony without delay, when opportunity should occur, to discharge the tasks of government, as heaven shall determine. Well, afterwards when the parties named above left the king, they took with them, as it is thought, hearts full of hatred and discord, fuelled for battle and roused against one another as well as, more unusually, against their overlord; and they felt and openly spread abroad their rather poor opinion of the nobles of the kingdom and the king's councillors. The news that the earl was setting off for Gascony gave the greatest joy to his own party and the greatest consternation to the opposing party. The outcome of the royal move is awaited with uncertainty, especially as it is not known whether the king will attempt to bring some charge against the earl, or not, as the Lord permits. May your beatitude be preserved in health in Christ Jesus and the Blessed Virgin. I know there is no need to commend the noble earl, the most devoted of mortals to your good self, who carries a lively trust in the merits of your holiness and in the efficacy of your prayers for all people in the Son of God. The illustrious lady countess sends her greetings to your lordship by this letter, with respectful thanks, and embracing the feet of your fatherly goodness 12 Countess Eleanor de Montfort, m. 1238, d. 1275, sister of Henry III. Cf. Letters 134, 142, 155-62.

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humillimis pietatis* obsecrationibus paternitatis uestre pedes complexa, dominum suum seque, cum liberis suis et domo sua et cunctis contingentibus ipsam, inter tanta discriminum formidamina, uobis in benedicto Dei Filio per sanctam Dei Genetricem recommendans. Datum Suttun' in Kantia, sabbato proximo post festum Beati Barnabe.13 Detinuit comes, et ego post recessum comitis, cursorem uestrum, quia non tarn de die in diem quam de hora in horam, sub uelocissime uarietatis euentu dubio hactenus continue pendebat omnis signande certitudinis effectus.

3i To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Licet ueritus fuerim, inter tarn uarias uestre sanctitatis occupationes, quamuis piarum aurium clementie suauiori tantas precum inculcare frequentias, tamen in desiderabili cause salutaris executione periculosissima tractioris more dispendia nullatenus sustinere potui, quominus supplicem presentis instantie petitionem" dominationis uestre benigne paternitati conscriberem. Igitur auctoritatis uestre beneuole disertitudini humiliter supplico, rogans attentius quatinus uestri presulatus opera salutaria perseueratim prosequentes diligentia, edificium celeste per prouisiuam uestre circumspectionis sollicitudinem et erectum pridem, et nuper reparatum; ubi quod constructum magnifice laudauimus, doluimus repente collapsum; uenerandum loquor collegium in monasterio de Beletun1 uirginum Dei Filio famulantium, tarn patrocinio potestatis defendere quam doctrina ueritatis emendare, quam etiam disciplina sanctitatis adornare, ob illius considerationem qui gratie sue dona non deserens, nunquam desistit quousque compleuerit, indeficienti curetis superintentione, potissime diebus istis, iuxta quod presentium necessitatum urgentiores articuli pietati uestre, si placet, plenius insinuandi cogentius requirere perhibentur. Conseruetur diuinitus beatitudinis uestre sospes incolumitas in Christo lesu semper et beatissima Virgine.

* pietatum MS. 31 * petitoriam MS.

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in humble supplication, in this time of fear and danger, she commends to you in the blessed Son of God through the Mother of God, her lord, herself, with her children and her house and all those connected with it. Given at Sutton in Kent, on the Saturday next after the feast of St Barnabas.13 The earl held back your courier, and I too have held him back following the earl's departure, because the outcome of the very rapid changes was uncertain and until now the result to be communicated hung in doubt.

31 To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln [Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln.] Although fearful of imposing such constant requests on the ears of your holiness despite your kindness and the variety of your preoccupations, I simply could not endure the danger of further delay in writing a humble appeal to your lordship's fatherly kindness concerning the desirability of effective action in a matter of salvation. I therefore humbly beseech you in your wisdom to continue with perseverance the saving work of your episcopal authority; we have been grieved by the sudden collapse of the heavenly edifice erected and recently restored by your care and circumspection—a wonderful construction praised by us; I speak of the venerable college of virgins serving God in the monastery of Belton.1 We implore you to care for it, above all in these days, to protect it with your powerful patronage, also to correct it by teaching it truth, and to decorate it with instruction in holiness, out of regard for Him who does not abandon the gifts of his grace and never ceases until he has completed them, according as its present needs are shown to require, particulars of which are, if you please, to be more fully indicated to your good lordship. May heaven preserve your beatitude in health and safety ever in Christ Jesus and the Blessed Virgin.

13

31

15 June 1252. ' Belton, i.e. the priory of Grace Dieu; see above, Letter 26n. 8.

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32

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (June 1250) f. 34

Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Quod non ualet languens anima lingua proficere, littera supplet saltern ut ualet, uidelicet uestram alloqui singulariter desiderabilem sanctimoniam.1 Siquidem cum reuerendissimus pater dominus Cantuariensis, propter causam motam inter ipsum et ecclesiam Londiniensem2 sedem apostolicam aditurus, Angliam exisset,3 ego plurimis cogentiis, quibus contraire nequiui, quominus cum ipso proficiscerer sum detentus, auido semper pectore prestolans status uestri (et) cause uestre felices euentus, diuinitate propitia, michi signari. Rogo igitur, nullo piarum precum genere pretermisso, ut supra memoratum dominum, cum ea que decet reuerentia suscipientes, et efficaciam auxilii, et consilii disertitudinem, et directionem propositi, et negotii promotionem, quoad secundum Deum faciendum censueritis, eidem exhibere non ducatis indignum. Si inueni gratiam in oculis sancte benignitatis uestre, presentem exaudite petitionem pro predicto domino, qui secundum quod oculata fide conspexi, et uigente uigilantia, et districtione circumspecta, et benigna emulatione, et longanimi perseuerantia, tarn in Cantuariensi quam in Roffensi diocesi uisitationis officium Domino propitio consummauit.4 Conseruetur, oro, uestre sanctitatis incolumitas in Christo lesu semper et beatissima Virgine ecclesie sancte per tempora longiora.

32 1 Grosseteste was abroad on a visit to the papal Curia at Lyons; he was absent from England from Feb. to late Sept. 1250. On 13 May he addressed the pope and cardinals on the subject of abuses in the Church; see Gieben, 'Grosseteste'. 2 On 12 May 1250 archbishop Boniface endeavoured to make a visitation of St Paul's cathedral and the chapter of London, which was resisted by the bishop, Fulk Basset, and the chapter, who were accordingly excommunicated by the archbishop. They appealed to the pope against this sentence: Chron. Maj. v. 120; vi. 190, 198-9.

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To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (June 1250) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. A letter at least supplies my weary spirit with the ability to talk to your holiness alone as I desire, something which I lack the ability to accomplish with my tongue.1 When the most reverend father, the lord of Canterbury, left England to go to the Apostolic See3 for the case initiated between him and the church of London,21 was detained from setting off with him by many pressing claims which I could not refuse; I was eagerly waiting for the chance to be informed of your situation and to hear, with divine approval, of a happy outcome of your cause. I beseech you, therefore, with every kind of prayer, to be good enough to receive the said lord with suitable reverence, to give him effectual assistance, wise advice, and guidance in his undertaking, and to promote his business in so far as you consider it to be according to the will of God. If I have found grace in your holiness's eyes, graciously hear this petition of mine on behalf of his lordship, who has, as I have seen with my own eyes, completed an energetic visitation of both the dioceses of Canterbury and Rochester, with vigilance, strictness, and patient perserverance.4 I pray that your holiness may be preserved safe and sound for holy Church for a long time to come in Christ Jesus and the Blessed Virgin.

3 Archbishop Boniface set off for Lyons to prosecute his case against the bishop of London at the end of May or the beginning of June. 4 Boniface visited the diocese of Canterbury in Apr. 1250: Dover Annals in BL Cotton MS Julius D V fo. 120.

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33

To Robert Grossteste, bishop of Lincoln (1249-1250) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Sit benigne dignationi uestre, que michi parcere consensit, sempiterna retributio. Graue erit multum magistro Roberto de Marisco, sicut uos melius nostis, uenire Lincolniam in instanti solempnitate natalis Domini sed tamen, sicut dignum est, uestro parebit beneplacito; quern uellem plurimum per manuum uestrarum impositionem ad sanctum sacerdotium promoveri, priusquam illud fieret quod facere disposuistis. Cuicumque commiseritis illud, quod memorato magistro Roberto committere proposuistis,1 omnino consul turn erit, ne quantumcumque laudabiles eidem collegas et compares assignetis, sed tamen subditos et coadiutores: uerendum semper est, ubi unicus autentica non presidet potestate, in rebus administrandis ordinis tranquillitatem fore turbandam. Superuacuum est ad sapientem considerationem sollertis experientie in hac parte conari suasoriis. Forte tempus inceptionis prefati magistri ultra diem quam designastis, si fieri commode possit, prorogari conueniret.2 Fiet tamen, Domino dante, ut uolueritis. Si ratio non obsisteret et exhiberi ualeret dominationis uestre desiderata presentia, uellem ulterius differri dictam inceptionem aliquot diebus. Causa subest, puto, nonnulla. Desiderat, secundum quod datum est michi intelligere, uenerabilis pater dominus I[ohannes] de Sancto Egidio,3 de cuius exitu de die in diem metuitur, cum et uiribus corporis et sensuum uiuacitate prorsus sit destitutus, quod per paternitatis uestre prouidentiam, assignata sibi certa sustentatione de prebenda Lectun'4 quoad in carne superstes fuerit, prefate prebende sine more dispendio renuntiare. Cuius, ut audio, possessiones dissipantur et perduntur anime, cum curam administret presbyter quidam Junior etate et penitus, sicut reor, moribus, nuper in iudicio uestro super fornicatione in eadem parochia perpetrata conuictus et punitus. Qui etiam facinorosum alium 33 1 The office that Grosseteste was proposing to confer on Robert Marsh was probably that of Official and vicar-general during the bishop's absence; see Rotuli Grosseteste, pp. 330, 498—9. The supposition that he was appointed archdeacon in 1250 (Major, in Callus, Grosseteste, p. 231) is based on a misunderstanding of Letters 80—3, which were addressed to Richard Gravesend, then archdeacon, not to Robert. Similarly the entry in Rotuli Grosseteste, p. 496 refers to Richard, not to Robert.

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To Robert Grossteste, bishop of Lincoln (1249-1250) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. May you receive eternal recompense for your kindness in agreeing to spare me. It will be very burdensome, as you well know, for Master Robert Marsh to come to Lincoln on the coming solemnity of the Lord's birth. He will, however, bow to your good pleasure, as is proper. I should very much like him to be promoted to the sacred priesthood by the laying on of your hands before what you have decided for him should take place. Whoever you appoint to the office to which you propose to appoint Master Robert,1 it will be very prudent to assign him not colleagues or equals, however praiseworthy, but subordinates and assistants: it is always to be feared that there will be trouble and disorder in administration where there is not a single person in command with genuine power and authority. In this matter it is superfluous to try to persuade by argument one who has the wisdom and skill of experience. It would perhaps be appropriate to postpone the inception of the said master beyond the day you have designated, if it could be conveniently done.2 But, as the Lord grants, it shall be as you wish. If there were to be no objection and your lordship's desired presence were possible, I would wish to postpone the inception some days further. Some reason for this is, I think, indicated below. As I have been given to understand, the venerable father Sir John of St Giles,3 whose death is daily feared as he is deprived of bodily strength and sensation, desires to renounce without delay the prebend of Leighton4 which was assigned to him by your fatherly providence for his support as long as he lived. Its possessions are, as I hear, dissipated and souls are being lost, since their care is in the hands of a priest young in age and utterly unworthy in behaviour, who was recently convicted in your court and punished for fornication 2 For Adam's desire that Grosseteste should preside at Robert's inception in theology at Oxford cf. Letter 34. 3 John of St Giles was archdeacon of Oxford from 1240 until he was succeeded by Richard Gravesend in 1249-50: Fasti, Lincoln, p. 37. 4 He was granted the prebend of Leighton Buzzard before 10 Dec. 1238: RAL ii, no. 648.

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presbyterum, (qui) in examine uestro pro enormium fornicationum uitio est, ut fertur, sententialiter condemnatus, in adiutorium penitus subuertende salutis euocauit. Plurimum admirandum est si clamor tarn horribilium abominationum ad audientiam pietatis uestre adhuc non peruenerit. Scio et indubitanter scio, quam intolerabile sit sancte emulationi uestre tales pestes ecclesiarum custodias administrare, ne dicam prophanare, uel per momentum. Miseremini igitur sanctuario Dei, miseremini filio spiritual!, miseremini proprie plebi; et pericula causarum tam grauium prospiciat auctoritatis uestre indefessa uigilantia, ut etiam greges Domini, si fieri potest, Ipso patrocinante, a rictibus eripiantur canum impudentissimorum nescientium satietatem. Michi insinuatum est quod memoratus dominus lohannes sub custodia, cura et consolatione domini archidiaconi Bedeford', dies qui sibi supersunt agere, per uestre discretionis ordinationem, si hoc diuinitus concedatur, exoptat. Suppliciter obsecro ut que uiua uoce per deuotissimum filium uestrum et secretarium meum amicissimum, Magistrum Willielmum de Pokeligtun,5 uestre significauero reuerentie, uelitis, si iuste uobis displicere non debeant, acceptare cum effectu. Cause dilecti mei in Christo domini Willielmi de Middiltun,6 uiri honesti et discreti, quondam capellani archdiaconi Oxoniensis, cum ipsa, si placet, uobis insinuabitur, ueritate preuia (probata)" et inoffensa iustitia, rogo fauorabiliter intendere dignemini. Conseruet Dominus uestre beatitudinis incolumitatem in Christo semper et beatissima Virgine.

34

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1249, October) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Pro eo quod tam diligenter de mittendo in Vasconiam me certificare uoluistis, dignationi uestre cum supplicibus assurgo gratiarum actionibus. Verum quoniam litteras domino comiti Leycestrie et domine comitisse transmittendas sic expedire nequeo ut habeantur 33

a

probaba inserted as suggested by syntax.

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committed in the same parish. He has even called to help him in utterly sabotaging the work of salvation another vicious priest who has been condemned and sentenced in your court, it is said, on account of a monstrous vice of fornication. It is astonishing that the outcry at such dreadful abominations has not yet come to your ears. I know indeed how intolerable it is to your devoted spirit that such pestilential men should take charge of churches, not to say profane them, even for a brief time. Pity, therefore, the sanctuary of God, pity a spiritual son, pity his people; and let your authority watch out with tireless vigilance for the dangers inherent in such grave cases, so that if possible the flocks of the Lord may by His help be snatched from the maw of impudent dogs whose hunger is never sated. It has been suggested to me that the said Sir John greatly desires to spend his remaining days in the care and with the consolation of the lord archdeacon of Bedford, if God should allow, by an ordinance of your discretion. I humbly beseech you to accept with effect the things that I indicated to your reverence orally through your most devoted son, my beloved secretary, Master William of Pocklington.51 request that you would deign to give favourable consideration to the case of Sir William of Middleton,6 after it has been put to you, with your permission an honorable man, formerly chaplain of the archdeacon of Oxford, the truth of it having been proven and justice not prejudiced. May the Lord preserve your beatitude in good health ever in Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

34

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1249, October) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. Thanks, with a humble request, to your reverence for having been so good as to notify me about sending [a courier] to Gascony. As I am unable to dispatch letters to be transmitted to the earl and countess of Leicester in time for them to reach Buckden1 by Thursday, the feast 5 On William of Pocklington see Letter 17 n. 4. Adam's style of reference here suggests that William had not yet joined the Friars Minor. 6 Possibly the William of Middleton, DCL, who became archdeacon of Oxford in 1272 and bishop of Norwich 1278-88; see BRUO ii. 1278-9.

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Bugden'1 feria quinta, die uidelicet Sanctorum Symonis et lude,2 sicut mandastis, humiliter rogo, ueniam deprecans impotentie, ut nuntium a uobis in Vasconiam profecturum per me facere transitum iubeatis, qui ad memoratos comitem et comitissam litteras deferat eisdem a me, Domino dante, destinandas. Ex eis que eruperunt de corde illius per quern negotium quod nostis expediendum, si fieri potuisset, censuistis, in audientia domine regine me coram posito, coniici possunt motus uix mitigabiles, ex variis occasionibus concepti erga germanum suum.3 Fides tamen credo quod non uioletur, nisi, quod absit, ad intolerabiles dissensionum fomites exasperate mentes, causis excrescentibus, inflammentur. Nondum plene contuli cum Magistro Roberto de Marisco de personis aptis ad curam prebendalem, de quibus sermonem deliberatorium nobis imposuistis. Verumptamen sicut nunc uideo, hue occurrunt Magister Salomon de Douoria,4 ad sacerdotium per uos Y f. 34 promotus, qui fertur laudabiliter egisse | in ecclesia, quam de manu uestra regendam suscepit prope Northamptonam; Magister Petrus de Aldam diaconus,5 propositum, ut reor, habens personaliter uigilandi super gregem quern curandum suscepit; Magister Ricardus Cornubie subdiaconus,6 uestre paternitati non incognitus, idiomatis Anglici carens promptitudine, omnino uiri conuersationis honeste, integre opinionis, litteris quoque humanis et diuinis eruditi. Desiderabile erit si specialiter filii uestri Magistri Roberti de Marisco inceptioni, post Purificationem Beate Virginis7 officium eruditionis impendende in diuinis eloquiis diunitate propitia suscepturi, personaliter presidentes adesse censueritis. Rogo significatis quid super hoc fieri censueritis. Morabuntur secundum quod ordinatum est, puto, cum domino Cantuariensi frater Gregorius8 pro predicationis officio, Magister Eustachius de Len pro officio cancellarie.9 Erit igitur opere pretium ut secundum quod dabitur opportunitas utrisque salutiferas exhortationes, tarn per scripturam quam eloquium, diligenter exhibere studeatis, prout emulationis feruide circumspecta discretio uobis suggesserit. 34 ' Buckden (Huntingdon), a manor of the bishopric of Lincoln, and one of Grosseteste's favoured residences. 28 Oct. 3 germanum suum'. the suum is ambiguous; I have guessed that the brother of the queen is meant. 4 Master Solomon of Dover was instituted to Holderby (Northamptonshire) in 1237/8 as a subdeacon: Rotuli Grosseteste, p. 171. He appears as a canon of Lincoln and a member of Grosseteste's familia on 12 May 1251: Major, 'The familia of Grosseteste', p. 226. Cf. Letter 79n. i.

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of Saints Simon and Jude, as you enjoined, I humbly beg pardon for my inability and ask you to order your messenger, who is setting out for Gascony, to call on me en route to take letters from me addressed to the earl and countess. From a passionate outburst, in the audience of the lady queen where I was present, coming from the man whom you considered apt to expedite the business of which you know, it can be concluded that feelings by no means kindly, aroused by various occurences, are entertained towards her brother. 3 1 do not think, however, that fealty will be violated unless, which God forbid, causes of growing disagreement should inflame minds already exasperated. I have not yet had a full conference with Master Robert Marsh about persons suitable for the prebendal care, whose claims you required us to discuss. Nevertheless, as I now see it, in the running so far are Master Solomon of Dover,4 who was raised to the priesthood by you, who is said to have performed praiseworthily in the church near Northampton which he received to govern from your hand; Master Peter of Alham,5 a deacon who has, I think, the intention of personally watching over the flock whose care he has received; Master Richard of Cornwall,6 a subdeacon, not unknown to you, who lacks fluency in the English language, a man of entirely honourable life and mature judgement and also learned in both humane letters and divinity. It will fulfil a dearest wish if you would be personally present and specially preside at the inception of your son Master Robert Marsh who, with God's favour, will, after the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin,7 receive the office of teaching in sacred theology. I beg you to signify what you propose to do about this. According to what has been decreed, brother Gregory8 will, I think, stay with the lord of Canterbury to serve as a preacher, and Master Eustace de Len to serve as chancellor.9 It will be worth while, therefore, for you to tender each of them salutary exhortation both by writing and verbal communication, as opportunity allows and your fervent devotion and discretion suggest to you. 5

Master Peter of Aldeham appears as a canon of Lincoln in 1250: Rotuli Grosseteste, p. iiy,BRUOi. 19-20. 6 Master Richard of Cornwall was rector of Scremby (Lincolnshire) in 1239/40: Rotuli Grosseteste, p. 43; he was canon of Lincoln and prebendary of St Martin's (-.1250: BRUO i. 7 490. 2 Feb. 8 Brother Gregory de Bosellis; cf. Letter i n. 2. He accompanied the archbishop to the papal Curia in 1250; cf. Letter 170. 9 Eustace de Lynn was Official to archbishop Boniface.

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Valeat uestre beatitudinis incolumitas in Christo semper et beatissima Virgine. Magister lohannes de Schersted, rector ecclesie de Pukeligton,10 personaliter superintended ouili dominico sibi commisso, uir ut estimo zelans animas, 'sapiens et gnarus, cuius conuersatio probata est in tribubus suis',11 creditur fore idoneus ad onera ecclesiastica quecunque eidem imponenda et per omnia sedulus in operatione salutis. Solidos illos .xiii. quos uestri gratia precepistis de elemosyna uestra deferri Oxoniam ad opus pauperum scolarium,12 ipsi nondum perceperunt; quod forte per obliuionem est omissum. Karissimus frater lohannes de Standford13 in proximo, Domino duce, ad uos ueniet Bugeden', celica consolationum solatia piis conceptibus sanctitatis uestre communicaturus. Sit uobis profectus iugiter per pacem in terris et gloriam in excelsis.

35

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1249, November) Domino Lyncolniensi Frater Ada. Numquid legislator liberandum populi Dei de dira seruitute fornacis ferree1 diuina iussione suscepit, nisi prius concussionem Aegyptii atroci morte multasset (et) repressisset castigatione seuera fratris calumniam?2 Annon prius auctoritas prophetalis pauperum reuelauit inediam quam a tumide tyrannidis perdente perfida oppressas animas temptasset eximere? Hester pro gentis sue salute efferatum mitigatura supplicationibus imperium, 'corpus suum humiliauit ieiuniis, omniaque loca in quibus letari ante consueuerat crinium laceratione compleuit, et deprecabatur Deum Israel. ludith contra ingruentes uastissime hostilitatis depopulationes uirtute uirili fidelem fiduciam accingens, ingressa est oratorium suum, et induens se cilicio 10

Master John of Sharsted; cf. Letter 9, n. i. Deut. i: 13. Grosseteste had on n Mar. 1240 set up a loan chest, in the care of the prior of St Frideswide's, for the benefit of poor scholars: SAUO, pp. 74—6. 13 Brother John of Stamford was custodian of Oxford in 1253, and provincial minister of the English province 1259-^.1264: Little, Franciscan Papers, p. 191. 11

12

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Wishing your beatitude health as always in Christ and the Blessed Virgin. Master John of Sharsted, rector of the church of Pocklington,10 who personally supervises the Lord's flock committed to him, is, in my opinion, a man of proven good life, zealous for souls, 'wise and knowledgeable, whose conversation is approved among his tribes'.11 He is thought to be suitable for any ecclesiastical burden placed on him, and is in all respects devoted to the work of salvation. The 13 shillings from your treasury that of your grace you commanded should be dispatched to Oxford for the use of poor scholars12 has not yet been received by them, perhaps omitted by forgetfulness. Our very dear brother John of Stamford13 will very shortly, with the Lord's guidance, come to you at Buckden, to communicate to your holiness's pious thoughts solace and consolation. May you enjoy continual increase through peace on earth and glory in the highest.

35

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1249, November) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. Did the lawgiver undertake by divine command to deliver the people of God from their dreadful bondage to the iron kiln1 only after he had first punished the oppression of the Egyptian by a fearful death and had put down a brother's deceit by severe chastisement?2 Did not the authority of the prophet first relieve the hunger of the people before he endeavoured to release souls oppressed by a perfidious and arrogant tyrant? Esther, to appease a proud empire with supplications for her people's salvation, 'humbled her body with fasting, tore her hair in every place where she had been wont to rejoice, and implored the Lord God of Israel. Judith, girding herself with manly strength and faith against the incursion and pillage of a vast enemy force, went into her oratory, put on a hair shirt, placed 35 1 The iron kiln refers to the labour of brick-making imposed on the Israelites in Egypt; see 3 Kgs. 8: 51. 2 Gen. 27: 12-44.

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posuit cinerem super capud suum, et prosternens se coram Domino clamauit ad Dominum'3 dicens, 'Memento, Domine, testament! tui, et da uerbum in ore meo, et in corde meo consilium corrobora, ut domus tua in tua sanctificatione permaneat, et omnes gentes agnoscant quia Tu es Deus, et non est alius preter Te.'4 Sed quorsum hec? Num mouere conabor ad res saluificas sollertem emulationis celice pietatem, cui non est ambigendum quin persuaserit in causa salutis sapientia salutaris, 'attingens a fine usque ad finem fortiter et disponens omnia suauiter'?5 Sed ecce, ni fallor omnino, coram benigno pii pectoris iudice anxiam merentis anime sollicitudinem licet hinc timor compescuit, illinc tamen amor coegit. Concedat beatus Saluator, ut non id agentibus peccatorum meorum excessibus, cassi conatus in uentum uerba proferantur. Nunquam, oro, sanctissimis sensibus sibilos serpentinos fraudulenta malignantium blandimenta cum effectu se gaudeant ingessisse. Pro fratre Adam de Hekeshouere, si sic uideatur, super corporis uestri ualetudine consulendo, bonum erit, puto, mittere ad ministrum nostrum, ante paucos dies Couentriam uenturum, quern opto per paternitatis uestre litteram exoratum sine more dispendio, si fieri ualeat, uestrem personaliter adire presentiam. De factis contingentibus Magistrum Robertum de Marisco et quibusdam aliis, quod michi uisum est uobis insinuendum uiua uoce Magistro Willielmo de Poklyngtun commisi diligentius. Pro duobus scolaribus dominationi uestre lege propinquitatis attinentibus, quos et placida conuersatio et ingenium docile, studiosa iuuentus et spes laudabilis, secundum quod eisdem acceptum perhibetur testimonium, reddit commendabiles, pro quibus etiam nonnunquam uestre liberalitatis interpellaui beneuolentiam, obsecro suppliciter ut ob contemplationem eius qui per prophetam suum enumeratis operibus pietatis prerogatiuam ipsorum consummationem adnectit dicens, 'Carnem tuam ne despexeris, tune crumpet quasi mane lumen tuum et sanitas tua citius orietur';6 quique per apostolum suum huius rei curam tarn efficaciter commendans ait, 'Si quis suorum et maxime domesticorum curam non habet, fidem negauit, et est infideli deterior';7 in subsidium necessarie sustentationis, et eruditionis continuende, munifice dignationis manum beneficam aperire uelitis. Mirandum prorsus erit si, quod absit, ipsis apud 3 4 5

Esther 14: 2-3. Judith 9: i, 18-19 (Vulgate version only). Wisd. 8: i.

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ashes on her head, and, prostrating herself before the Lord, cried to Him,3 saying, 'Remember, O Lord, thy covenant, and place words in my mouth, and strengthen the resolution in my heart, that thy house may remain sanctified, and all nations acknowledge that thou art God and there is no other besides Thee.'4 But where does this lead us? Shall I try to stir your sagacity and pious devotion to undertake saving works when you should have no doubt that in a case of salvation you are persuaded not to waver by that saving Wisdom which 'reacheth from end to end mightily ordering all things sweetly'?5 But see; unless I am wholly mistaken, in the presence of a kind-hearted judge, though fear constrains the anxiety and solicitude of a grieving spirit, love has driven it in a different direction. May our blessed Saviour grant that my sins may not cause my efforts to be in vain like words carried away by the wind. Never, I beg you, allow malicious people the pleasure of whispering poison into your holy ears by deceitful flattery. As regards consulting brother Adam of Hekeshovere about your physical health, if so it seems, it will be best, I think, to send to our Minister, who will be coming to Coventry in a few days. I wish him to go, as requested by your letter, to you himself without delay, if it can be done. Concerning the matters touching Master Robert Marsh and certain others, I have carefully commissioned Master William of Pocklington to convey to you orally what it seemed to me you should know. I have sometimes appealed to your generosity on behalf of two scholars, relatives of your lordship, who are commended as the generally accepted report of them has it by their quiet lives, their talent for learning, their studious youth and praiseworthy promise. I now humbly beg your lordship to open your munificent hand to assist them with the necessities to support them while they continue with their studies, out of regard for Him who through his prophet added to his innumerable works of goodness one last, saying, 'despise not thine own flesh; then shall thy light break forth as the morning and thy health shall spring forth speedily';6 and who by his apostle so effectually commended attentive care for this provision, saying, 'If any provide not for his own, and especially those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel'.7 I shall be surprised if they fail, heaven forbid, to gain the patronage of your 6

Isa. 58: 7-8.

7

i Tim. 5: 8.

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uestre sanctitatis arbitrium non suffragetur diuinarum sententiarum8 patrocinium. Fateor quod memoratis scolaribus in suarum necessitatum articulo, cum nonnullis quod dignum est emulantibus, ego qualiscunque plurimum compatior. Intercedens amplius institi, eo quod instantiam meam frequenter factam in hac parte modicum sensi profecisse. Willielmum de Lyncolnia marescallum uestrum, cuius strenuitatem, fidem ac diligentiam, ministeriis uestris esse reor opportunam, si bono modo retinere consentiatis, habito super hoc cum opus fuerit prouidentie deliberatioris arbitrio, dominationis uestre, ut uidetur, utilitati" conueniet pariter et honori. Transcriptum presentis littere michi in nomine carissimi fratris Gregorii de Bosellis9 transmisse a (familiari)* domini Cantuariensis, in solempnitate Omnium Sanctorum10 Cantuarie celebrata, sic etiamc expedire censui, presentibus inclusum uobis destinaui. Valeat uestre beatitudinis incolumitas, etc.

36

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln f. 35

Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Non ignorauit mea (exilitas) quod, sicut scripsistis, collegium non possit suam uoluntatem renuntiare post presentationem alicuius ad beneficium ecclesiasticum, nisi forte de uoluntate presentati. Sed intellexi per priorem de Neuham1 quod et ipse, et suum collegium, et suus presentatus, non obstante eorum presentatione, uestre starent ordinationi de ecclesia quam presentarunt per uestram, si placeret, auctoritatem faciende. Formidans igitur precipitium animarum in quas totus Satanas effrenata rabie hiis sceleratissimis diebus debacchari conspicitur, clementissimi pectoris uirtutem, licet sermonibus ineptis, sollicitare studui ad succurrendum, si fieri posset, tarn horrendorum scelerum periculum. Sed esto; gratiam institutionis memoratus presentatus secundum formam canonum assequatur; de beneficio per ipsius institutionem b 35 a utilitati: substituted in the MS for auctoritati, expuncted. festo MS. familiari is conjectural; cursore would fit the context equally well. ' enim MS. 8 i.e. The Sentences of Peter Lombard. Their use as the major text for teaching theology at Oxford was opposed by Grosseteste. See HUO i. 101 n.

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8

holiness to study the divine Sentences. I confess that in a way I very much sympathize with these scholars and some of their emulators in their needy circumstances. I have persisted further with my intervention because I have felt that my frequent intercession in this cause has achieved a modicum of success. It will be, it seems, to your lordship's profit and honour if, after any needful deliberation, you agree with good grace to retain William of Lincoln, your marshal, whose active vigour, loyalty, and diligence I consider to be serviceable to your administration. This letter in the name of our dear brother Gregory de Bosellis,9 of which I send a transcript, was passed to me by a member of the familia of the lord of Canterbury on the solemnity of All Saints10 celebrated at Canterbury. I thought it best to send it to you thus enclosed with this letter. Wishing your beatitude good health.

36

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. Simple as I am, I was not ignorant of the fact that, as you wrote, a collegiate body cannot revoke its will after presenting someone to an ecclesiastical benefice except with the consent of the presentee. But I understood from the prior of Newnham1 that, notwithstanding their presentation, he and his college and the person presented would abide by an ordinance to be made by your authority, if you please, for the church to which they made presentation. Therefore, fearing the loss of souls, against whom we see Satan fiercely raving in these most wicked times, I was eager, albeit with ill-chosen words, to stir your compassionate breast to come to the rescue in the face of such a calamitous danger, if it can be done. But let it be; let the said presentee obtain the grace of institution according to the canonical form; your provident dispensation will be 9 Gregory de Bosellis (possibly Bossall, Yorks.) was vicar of the provincial William of Nottingham, whom he accompanied to the general chapter at Genoa in 1249: Fasti, Lincoln, p. 42 n. He accompanied archbishop Boniface to the Curia at Lyons in June 1250, and from there proceeded to Gascony to join Simon de Montfort: see Letters 141, 168. 10 i Nov.

36

' Newnham Priory of Augustinian canons (Bedfordshire); cf. Letter 44.

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uacaturo, si fides est apud homines in celestia federa coniuratos, poterit ordinare salubriter uestre dispensationis prouidentia. Quod nisi solito sollicius in hoc casu et similibus argumentosa pietas de cetero uigilandum censeat, quid dicam nescio. Utinam omnibus iis qui aduersantur regno Dei, atrocia dire crudelitatis tormenta contra celestes acies exercentibus, triumphalis dux castrorum inuicibilium, si sententiis diuinis non obsistit in hac parte qualiscunque peccatoris suasioni consentiens, Ei adhereat perenniter 'qui attingit a fine usque ad finem fortiter et disponit omnia suauiter'.2 Forsan assumetur non indigne contra presumptam exhortationem amplexanda cunctis ilia Beati Hieronymi sententia qua dicitur 'Delicata doctrina est pugnanti ictus dictare de muro, et cum ipse sis unguentis optimis delibutus, cruentum militem accusare formidinis.'3 Si hoc contra me dixeritis, uerissime sicut est dicetis. Verumtamen, numquid rogo hoc, uel tolerabiliter cogitabitur contra uulnera martyrum, contra sudores apostolorum, demum contra benedictum Dei Filium, quern 'desideramus, despectum et nouissimum uirorum, uirum dolorum et scientem infirmitatem',4 qui 'non nisi in sanguine testamenti eduxit uinctos de lacu',5 et factus in agonia etiam pio cruore uictoriosum rubricauit crucis patibulum, cuius certissimas uoces qualibuscumque labiis balbutientis imperitie fari gestio. O quam feliciter amplectendum uideo illud littere uestre, uidelicet quod uestra (prouidentia) in hac parte, hoc est in liberandis animabus, non solum reddit uos religiosis et presentatis ad curam animarum (et) admissis, sed etiam pluribus coepiscopis uestris, militibus et magnatibus presentantibus, et domino regi, et etiam Curie Romane odiosum. Quod non iactastis insipienter, sed humiliter insinuastis. Quid enim? An non istud est quo nichil pium presulem honorat excellentius, ueracius illustrat, delectat iocundius, et habundantius dilatat? Qualiter autem id, pro quo specialiter nunc totiens rescribitur, difficile putabitur ualide circumspectioni, circa (illos) quos memorabis 'sagitte paruulorum facte sunt plage ipsorum';6 ut nequaquam, cum opportunitas accesserit, cum presentaturis ad curas animarum agat indefessa digni pontificis diligentia, sancta celestium consiliorum calliditate, quatinus ad gloriam Dei et salutem hominum et sui coronam personas idoneas, per exactissimam uestre requisitionis industriam Spiritu 2 4

5

Wisd. 8: i. Isa. 53: 3.

Ps. 63: 8.

3

Ephtolae xlviii: PL xxii. 501. 5 Zech. 9: n.

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able to make a salutary ordinance for the benefice which will be vacated through his institution, if there is faith among men vowed to the religious life. I do not know what to say, if your proven zeal for religion does not see the way in future to exercising more than usual vigilance in this and similar cases. While all those who are adversaries of the kingdom of God inflict cruel torment upon the warriors of heaven, our triumphant leader has armies that are invincible if he does not resist the judgement of God by yielding in this matter to the persuasion of a sinner; would that he would cling to Him who 'from end to end orders all things sweetly.'2 Perhaps against my presumptious exhortation you will make your own that universally applicable sentence of the Blessed Jerome in which he says: 'It is all very well to tell a warrior to strike blows from behind the security of a wall, and when you yourself have been salved with the best ointments, to accuse a blood-stained soldier of timidity.'3 If you say this against me you will be saying something that is very true. But yet I ask whether this thought could be applicable to the wounds of the martyrs, the sweat of the apostles, or lastly to the blessed Son of God, whom 'we desire, despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief'4 who 'only in the blood of the covenant delivered the vanquished from the lake',5 and when in agony stained the victorious cross with his precious blood; his are the sure words I strive to utter, albeit with stammering and inadequate lips. O how happy I am to make my own that part of your letter that concerns your providence in the delivery of souls. It is this that makes you hateful not only to those in religion and to those presented and admitted to the cure of souls, but even to many of your fellow bishops, to knights and magnates who make presentations, to the lord king, and even to the Roman Curia; a fact of which you have not foolishly boasted, but have humbly suggested. Why then? Is it not this that, more than any excellence, honours a good prelate, more truly gives him distinction, gives more joy, and more richly enlarges his stature? How then will you in your wisdom think it difficult to deal with the particular requests that are so often written to you about those of whom you will recall 'the arrows of children are their wounds';6 so that when occasion arises, when a worthy bishop applies his tireless attention to the candidates for presentation to the cure of souls, with holy wisdom and heavenly counsel, for the glory of God and the salvation of men, and for a crown to himself, they will in no way consent to present for the work of salvation persons found to be

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Sancto monstrante repertas, in salutis operationem presentare consentiant? Fateor quod non uideo quid hie causari ualeat etiam coactio figmentalis nisi despicabiles stultorum, quibus est odibilis omnis sapientia, oblatrationes. Nescio quid est quod concepta breuitas presentis cartule prius calamum non compescuit; sed certus sum quia clemens ueniam non negabit deuoto. Conseruetur oro uestre beatitudinis incolumitas.

37 To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Etsi dominationis uestre littera succinctior responsalem non requisierit, tamen allocutionis iocunde iuge desiderium, cum cursoris opportunitas interuenerit, quod personalis negat absentia presentia litteralis, sicut ualet, supplere curat. Ceterum exquisite conuiuii pancarpioris" delicie nuper plurimis magnatum ex led* cordis magnificentia Londini celebrati,1 quod fama uulgante latius innotuit, utinam etsi caritati conciliande profuerit, nequaquam nocuerit emulando moderamini. Facti circumstantias ignoro, propter quod obloquentium causas pensare nescio per equitatis stateram. Scio namque quod obtrectantium secum dissidens uirosa malignitas ex oppositis papulam'7 elicit impietatem/ Quam circumspecta consideratione opus sit in hac parte inter perditissimos mores effeminate dissolutionis, ubi \\\\e 'quorum Deus venter est',2 stercoribus congerendis inseruntur, et decus frugalitatis execrantes et ignominiam ingurgitationis consectantes. Quamuis scriptum sit 'Splendidum in panibus benedicent populi';3 tamen legimus 'Epulabatur quotidie splendide' et 'sepultus est in inferno'.4 Audio sacerdotibus Dei et ministris altaris diuinitus esse commendatam hylarem mense liberalis communicationem; et nichilominus terribiliter condempnatam profusam ipsorum immoderantiam in epularum affluentiis. Superuacuum uidetur hue eloquiorum occurrentium ubique super hiis afferre testimonia, presertim cum medita37 pancoris MS: meaning of many kinds of fruits'. lati MS. 'papulum MS d but perhaps populum. impietatis MS. ' illi: qui MS. 37

' Possibly the banquet referred to was held on the feast of the translation of Edward

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suitable as shown by the Holy Spirit through your very searching investigation? I confess I do not see what grounds there are here for valid complaint, even that of feigned compulsion, except by the contemptible yapping of fools, to whom all wisdom is hateful. I don't know why it is that my intention to be brief in this letter has failed to curb my pen. But I am sure your kindness will not fail to pardon your devoted servant. I pray that your beatitude may be preserved in good health.

37 To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. Although your lordship's short letter demands no reply, yet when a messenger chances to be available, a personal letter can satisfy one's constant desire for the pleasure of conversation which absence denies. Well, news has been widely broadcast of a delightful banquet of many exquisite dishes recently celebrated at London by many magnates with magnificence and much rejoicing.1 Let us hope that even if it furthers charity and peace, it will not in any way be to the detriment of reducing rivalry. I do not know the circumstances of the case, so that I cannot fairly assess the objections that have been raised. For I know that the malice of traducers elicits in opposition the pustule of impiety. What careful reflection is needed in this matter in the midst of the most abandoned customs of dissipation, where those 'whose God is their belly'2 are mired in dung heaps, while execrating comely frugality in pursuit of ignominious gluttony. Although it is written that 'the lips of many shall bless him that is liberal of his bread',3 we read nevertheless that 'he feasted sumptuously every day' and 'was buried in hell'.4 1 hear that priests of God and ministers of the altar were encouraged from above to participate in the cheerful feast, but they were nevertheless fearfully censured for their lack of restraint in partaking of the copious dishes. It seems wholly pointless to report evidence of common gossip on the subject, especially as I knew these the Confessor, 13 Oct. It was Henry Ill's practice to summon the magnates to attend an assembly and join him in feasting on this day. 2 3 4 Phil. 3: 19. Eccl. 31: 28. Luke 16: 19, 22.

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tionis timore sollicito ipsa nunquam excidisse cognoui, quia^ circa ea que nunc memoraui michi specialiter et generaliter uniuersis iam a longissimis annorum tractatibus incurrere non cessastis. Circa hec quid oporteat, quid liceat, quid deceat, quid expediat, insplendeat, oro, mundi cordis pio pectori emanatio ilia Omnipotentis Dei sincera, decussa contagiorum caligine, 'candorque lucis eterne, speculum sine macula'.5 Valeat etc. Presentem cartulam, quam ratio negauit, extorsit affectio, in nocte conscriptam, quia michi per diem non uacauit.

38

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Multum metuendas aspicio minaces seuitiarum terrores, et satis amplius seductiuas uersutiarum calliditates, et super omnia maxime effeminantes blandimentorum mollities. Sed quid? Cuncta vastatum iri formidantur cum clangat ubique lamentum inconsolabile factos (esse) principes ecclesiarum 'uelud arietes non inuenientes pascua, et abeuntes absque ulla fortitudine ante faciem non huius sed cunctorum subsequentium'.1 Quis enim non hiis diebus dampnatissimis gratis triumphat (in) duces castrorum Domini? Ubi non indefesse | f. 3sv traduntur in direptionem acies lesu Christi? Quis uidelicet ueri losue uocem audivit? Quibus per mundi clamorem aures non obsurduerunt clamantis ad Altissimum continue, proh dolor, 'Mi domine Deus, quid dicam uidens Jerusalem" hostibus suis terga uertentem?'2 Erumpentium sermonum licet densatas angustias putaui compescendas. Vereor enim in uentum uerba proferre; sed suppressis eloquiis quis dabit exprimere lacrimas? Iam a diebus aliquot amplius solito super hiis que tarn uestre sanctitatis quam exilitatis mee contingunt professionem, ecce coram christo Domini,3 quid fieri opus sit prorsus nescio. Verum desiderarem plurimum, si diuinitus daretur, uiue uocis uestre in Domino frui directione pariter et solatio, sicut reor non mediocriter in presentiarum hoc rebus moderandis fore opportunum. quia: quern MS. 38 * sic in MS; but the text of Josh. 7: 8 has 'Israel'. f

5

Wisd. 7: 26.

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things had never ceased to be of concern to you and that you have censured them for years past in addressing me in particular and all in general. What it is proper to do in these circumstances, what is permissible, what is seemly, what is expedient, I pray that a genuine message from Almighty God may tell us, illumining a pure heart in a pious breast, piercing the darkness of contagion—'the clarity of eternal light, a mirror without blemish'.5 Farewell. Affection wrested this letter from me, though reason denied it was necessary. It was written at night because I had no leisure during the day.

38

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. I consider threats of violence as something to be feared, and rather more the seductive cleverness of the cunning, but most above all the weakening effect of blandishments. But why? I fear that everything will be ruined when we hear on every side an inconsolable lament that 'the princes' of churches 'are become like rams that find no pasture and flee without any courage before the pursuers.'1 For who in these most wicked times does not freely triumph over the captains of the Lord's armies? Is there any place where the tireless soldiers of Jesus Christ are not delivered up to plunder? Who has heard the voice of a true Joshua? Whose ears are not deafened by the noise of the world to one constantly crying out to the Most High, alas, 'My lord God, what shall I say, seeing Jerusalem turning its back to its enemies'?2 I thought I had better repress the swelling words of my complaints, many as they are, for I fear casting my words into the wind. But if we do not speak, who will express our grief? For some days past, more than usually, I know not what should be done about these things which affect the profession of both your holiness and my wretched self, this in the presence of the Lord's anointed.3 Truly I could very much wish that, if heaven granted it, I might enjoy the guidance and solace of your living voice, as I think it would be not a little helpful in keeping things in bounds. 38

2 3

' Lam. i: 6. Cf. Josh. 7: 8. 'before the anointed of the Lord', i.e. the bishop.

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Locutus sum cum domino rege et consiliariis suis, transitum facientibus per Oxoniam, et in medium deducentibus nescio quas querimoniarum fictiones uobis, sicuti didici per dominum regem, non incognitas. Sed scio quia si constanter insistatur, defensioni ueritatis prebebit Dominus uerus 'equo fortitudinem et circumdabit collo eius hinnitum, et suscitabit eum sicut locustas, ut contempnat pauorem nee cedat gladio; procul odoretur bellum, exhortationes ducum et ululatum exercitus'.4 Conicio ex hiis que audiui ex ore regis quod, nisi uim pateretur dementia regalis ab improbitate contrastantium, satis in Christo foret serena (dominatio uestra).*

39 To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (January 1250) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Neque est fortitudo lapidis fortitudo uestra, neque 'caro uestra caro enea'.1 Numquid non est ergo labor temperandus litteralis studii, quod indubitanter nostis quia uitales spiritus exhaurit et attenuat corporis habitudinem, exasperat affectionem et rationem obnubilat? Si tamen ardoris fumosi flammans incendium sancta discretio non castiget, istud puto non segniter est mente pertractandum: 'Quid uino salubrius temperate bibito; quidque perniciosius si bibentem non frenet lex moderaminis'?2 Utinam accenderet sublimis Sapientia susurrum humilem.a Anxium est cor meum quod hac uice nequeo in pluribus salutis negotiis, que premunt animum, per uestra subleuari consilia. Sed huius rei unicum est remedium, ut cum urgentia dilationem non sustinebit, sicut fieri ualet, per calamum suppleatur id quod lingua non sufficit. Non sine causa, secundum quod supra tetigi, uereor quod inter tarn magnas, inter tarn multiplices, inter tarn salutares, inter tarn laboriosas, inter tarn sollicitas, inter tarn anxias occupationum uestrarum causas, non minus insollerter quam insipienter, quam etiam impudenter, piis auribus, quasi sub specie sedulitatis, nimis* importunas ingeram uociferationes. Utinam ante recessum uestrum spiritum meum littera paruula consoletur.3 * Supplied as suggested by the syntax. 39

* susurrium humilis MS. 4

Cf. Job 39: 19, 22, 25.

k

minus MS.

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I spoke with the lord king and his councillors as they were passing through Oxford; and they brought up I know not what fictitious complaints, which, as I learned from the lord king, were not unknown to you. But I know that if the truth is firmly maintained, the true Lord will 'give the horse his might and will clothe his neck with strength, and make him leap like locusts, to laugh at fear and not to turn back from the sword; he will smell the battle from afar, the exhortation of the captains and the shouting of armies.'41 gather from what I heard from the king's mouth that, unless the royal clemency is pressurized by your dishonest opponents, your lordship will have peace in Christ.

39

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (January 1250) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. Your strength is not that of stone, 'nor is your flesh made of brass.'1 Should you not therefore moderate your studious literary labours? As of course you know, they exhaust your vitality, weaken your bodily condition, exacerbate your affliction, and cloud your reason. But if in your holy discretion you do not restrain your burning enthusiasm, I think you should turn over in your mind that dictum, 'what is more healthful than wine drunk in moderation; but what is more harmful if the drinker is not restrained by the law of moderation?'2 Would that sublime Wisdom would enlighten my humble burbling. My heart is troubled by the fact that this time I am unable to have the support of your advice in many affairs of salvation, which oppresses my spirit. But for this there is a single remedy: when the urgency of the business will not brook delay, the pen must supply, as it is able, what the tongue cannot do. I am fearful, not without cause as I have mentioned above, that in the midst of so numerous, such salutary, laborious, and anxious concerns that occupy you, I am being clumsy and foolish and even shameless by inflicting my excessively importunate and clamorous voice on your kind ears. How I wish that my spirit might be consoled by a little letter before your departure.3 39

' Job 6: 12. Source of the statement unknown; possibly suggested by i Tim. 5: 23. 3 Grosseteste departed from England to visit the papal Curia at Lyons towards the end of Jan. 1250. Adam's plea suggests the date of this letter. 2

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40

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Fateor quod uestre pietatis littere anxia grauamina super spinarum sarcinas cordi pauido imposuerunt, unde et noctem lugubrem et diem amariorem agebat mesti spiritus agonia. Quid tristius hiis diebus" pessimis aspicitur quam quod, cum mundus plenus sit clericalis professionis, hominibus post disquisitiones quantumcunque sollicitas diutissime quesitis, uix reperitur quern pontifices utcumque tolerabilem ad adiutorium operande salutis ualeant assumere? Sed contra hanc immanem perfidie pestem, iam nunc latissime peruagatam, scio quia unicum occurrit remedium quod docet is qui uenit salutem operari in medio terre: 'Messis', inquit, 'multa', etc.1 'Rogate', etc. Quibus euocandis quid rectius attenditur quam quod altissima Sapientia eum, qui 'super pauca fuit fidelis, super multa constituit',2 defmiens* etiam quod qui in modico est infidelis, utique etiam in magno infidelis erit. Quod et uestram sanctitatem tarn frequenter ad informandam pie circumspectionis cautelam recitasse cognoui. Sed de hiis hactenus quorum amarissimi planctus iustitie uoces premunt et exprimunt lacrimas. Det uobis, oro, inter tantarum rerum discrimina Christus, Dei uirtus et Dei sapientia, spiritum consilii ad electionis3 industriam, spiritumque fortitudinis ad executionis potestatem.

41 To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada, salutem in terris et gloriam in excelsis. Cum super electione nuper celebrata de magistro N.1 et assensus | Y f. 3S regius et gratia confirmationis adhuc in ambiguo pendeat euentu, si 40 ' duobus MS.

* diffiniens MS.

2 ' Matt. 9: 38; Luke 10: 2. Matt. 25: 21; Luke 16: 10. The choice referred to is evidently that of someone to an ecclesiastical benefice, possibly to a canonry, on which Grosseteste often sought Adam's advice; cf. Letters 10, 14, 34, 66, 75.

40

3

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40

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln I confess that the mass of perplexities mentioned in your holiness's letter have troubled my faint heart with much anxiety, so that my sad and suffering spirit has given me a gloomy night and a bitter day. What sadder prospect have these most wicked days to offer than the fact that, when the world is full of the clerical profession, and men are sought by however long and careful inquiry, hardly anyone is to be found whom bishops can appoint as even tolerable helpers in the work of salvation? But I know that against this monstrous plague of faithlessness, which is now widespread, there exists a sole remedy, which is taught by Him who came to bring salvation into the world: 'the harvest, He says, 'is great', etc. 'Pray you therefore', etc.1 When we recall this, what can we more properly have in mind than the thought that the most high Wisdom 'placed over many things him who had been faithful over a few things'2 declaring that he who is unfaithful in small matters will be unfaithful in great ones? I know that your holiness has frequently quoted this as a warning to be watchful. But these complaints to which righteousness has given voice till now are also expressed by tears of lamentation. In the midst of such great and critical matters, I pray that Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, may grant you a spirit of counsel to make you diligent in making your choice,3 and a spirit of fortitude to empower you to act.

41 To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. Greetings on earth and glory in high heaven. As the royal assent and the grace of confirmation to the recent election of Master N.1 are still in doubt, if my lowly self were to write 41 1 The name omitted by the copyist was possibly that of Master Laurence of St Martin, a canonist and prebendary of Chichester, who acted as King's proctor in contested election cases at the papal Curia; he was elected bishop of Rochester on 19 Oct. 1250, and consecrated by the pope at Lyons on 9 Apr. 1251: BRUO iii. 2211.

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dicto N pro uestra reuerentia mea modicitas, secundum quod insinuastis, scriberet petitorias, posset, ut uideo, non irrationabiliter impingi et uobis impudens ambitio, et michi preceps inconsideratio, et utrique imposterata presumptio. Non igitur, rogo, displiceat circumspecte pietatis uestre discretioni si ad presens interpellation!, iudicio meo non mediocriter reprehendente, ipsa rerum euidentia dissentire compellat. Ceterum non sine stupore doleo, si mansuete mentis11 sollers industria, quam erga meam paruitatem pluribus indiciis, ab annis iuuvenilibus, uestri gratia perpendi (beneuolentem) fuisse, serenitatem (amisit);* presertim accedentibus maturioris etatis diebus, quando per sanctam quietioris uite tranquillitatem pie mentes pacatos affectus ad pacis Auctorem, qui pacificos Dei filiatione beatificans, 'Beati', inquit, 'pacifici',2 etc., tota salutiferi conatus intentione iugiter deducere student, ubi uacetur et audiatur quam suauis est Dominus, et illud prelibetur in tempore quo satiabimur in eternitate; si, inquam, de cetero conditionibus quibuscumque consentiat pugnantibus litigatorie perturbationis discordiis insistere;' sane post tot spirituum angustias, post tot uexationes corporum, post tot sumptuum effusiones, post tot iacturas temporum, post tot dissensionum molimina, post tot altercationes iurgiorum, et ut sit ad unum dicere, post tot dampna bonorum omnium, quale hoc erit si fidelis anima, que in diuinis eloquiis studiose (uiuere) maluit, immortalium litium rediuiuam perniciem, quibus nullus adhuc patet exitus etiam finis ambigui, amplius aliquo modo uelit protrahere, et, quod absit, non nisi cum uiuendi termino rixas terminare?3 Credo quia crebro consideraueritis celestium scripturarum uehementias contra rixatorias pestes litium, de quibus est illud Prouerbium xviii, 'Labia stulti miscent se rixis',4 etc., et iterum ii Thi. ii: 'Seruum Domini non oportet litigare',5 et iterum i Cor. vi,6 et donum ex ore Altissimi, quo nichil salubrius amplectitur uir ecclesiasticus, f. 36 'Qui uult tecum contendere in | iudicio', etc. M. v.7 Sed quorsum ista? Si, amantissime domine, illuc hec uniuersa tendunt ut, sopitis b 41 a menti MS. This verb supplied in the interest of intelligibility; the incoherence of this sentence suggests something has been omitted by the copyist. ' The subject of this sentence is presumably the 'mens' referred to above; the syntax is unclear. 2

Matt. 5: 9. Adam is referring to Grosseteste's prolonged dispute with the chapter of Lincoln over his right to make a visitation, as against the chapter's claim to independence. The dispute, which began in 1236, was, after much litigation, terminated by a judgement of Pope 3

L E T T E R 41

Iiy

to the said N., as you suggested, with a petition on behalf of your reverence, it could, it seems to me, not unreasonably be attributed to shameless solicitation on your part, to thoughtless haste on mine, and to deceitful presumption on the part of both of us. I therefore appeal to your pious discretion and ask you not to take it amiss if for the present the state of things and my own judgement compel me to dissent from your proposal. But I am sorry and surprised if the sagacity and diligence of a mind, which I judged by many indications to have been kindly disposed towards my little self from the years of my youth, has lost its serenity; especially on coming to a riper age, when pious minds constantly strive with all their salvific intent in peace and tranquillity to focus their quietened affections upon the Author of peace, who beatifies peacemakers by making them his sons, saying 'Blessed are the peacemakers', etc.,2 where one may be still and hear how sweet is the Lord, and foretaste in time that which will sate us in eternity; if, I say, for the future in whatever circumstances your mind should consent to abandon itself to the strife and discord of litigation, indeed after so much anguish of spirit, so much physical vexation, so much expense, so much loss of time, so much dissension, strife, and altercation, in a word, so much universal damage, how will it be if your faithful spirit, which has preferred to live studying the word of God, should wish further to prolong in some way or to revive the disaster of endless litigation, from which there is still no apparent exit, even in final compromise, and, which heaven forbid, to maintain quarrels to the end of life?3 I believe you have frequently considered the vehement reproofs of the holy Scriptures directed against quarrelsome litigants, about whom there is that passage of Proverbs 18, 'A fool's lips enter into contention',4 and again that of 2 Timothy 2: 'the servant of the Lord must not wrangle', etc.,5 and again i Corinthians 6;6 and the utterance from the mouth of the Most High, than which nothing is more salutary for a churchman to embrace: 'if a man will contend with thee in judgement', etc.7 But where does this take us? Yes, my dearest lord, the purport of all these is to let strife and controversy sleep, as Innocent IV on 25 Aug. 1245: CPL i. 219. See Srawley, 'Grosseteste's administration of the diocese of Lincoln'. The papal rescript left the right of visiting and correcting the chapter to the dean. Adam's letter indicates that Grosseteste contemplated reopening the question. 4 5 Prov. 18: 6. 2 Tim. 2: 24. 6 7 i Cor. 6: 1-7. Matt. 5: 40.

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pernecabilis controuersie proeliis, Illo prestante qui ait, 'In mundo pressuram', etc.,8 'pax Dei, que exsuperat omnem sensum, custodiat corda uestra et intelligentias uestras', etc.9

42

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (?i245) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Aduerto quod sermo Saluatoris contra eum qui fugit lupo ueniente1 in hanc quam uobis in Christo suadeo fugam nullatenus, si acquieueritis, reprehensibilem reddet uestre pietatis prouidentiam. Nempe non ad personales iniurias sed ad fidei persecutionem est referenda, sicut uestram non puto dubitare peritiam. Denique egre ferunt nonnulli, nee immerito, tarn horrendam inter uos et subditos uestros dissensionem.2 Scitis quia distinguit* diuina preceptio dominos ut multo amplius studeant a suis amari quam timeri; et intelligant ecclesiastice persone se plus patres pauperum quam principes populorum. Opus esset hie sermo longior et interpretabilior, sed importunitas occupationum prolixiorem excludit epistolam.

43 To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Quum ad presentiam uestram, quod plurimum doleo, michi personaliter accedere negatur, paucas particulas de uariis expositionibus abbatis loachim, que ante dies aliquot per quendam fratrem uenientem de partibus transmontanis michi sunt allate,1 uobis inspiciendas transmitto, ut ex interpretationibus sancti uiri, qui non immerito creditur diuinitus spiritum intellectus in misteriis propheticis assecutus, pie coniciat pontificalis animus, prudens eloquii 42 a sic in MS; docet might be better, but Adam is attempting to suggest that the divine command here makes love a distinguishing mark of an ecclesiastical superior. 88

42

John 16: 33.

' Phil. 4: 7.

' Cf. John 10: 12. In his dispute with the chapter of Lincoln (cf. Letter 41) Grosseteste had deposed the dean. The judgement of Innocent IV, dated 25 Aug. 1245, rehabilitated the dean. Adam's letter implies that Grosseteste was disinclined to accept the papal settlement. 2

L E T T E R 41

IIQ

He showed us who says 'In the world you shall have distress', etc.;8 'May the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds', etc.9

42

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (?i245) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. I observe that the saying of the Saviour against one who flees at the coming of the wolf1 will in no way render your providence reprehensible if you consent to the flight in Christ that I urge upon you. Certainly the saying is not to be referred to personal wrongs, but to persecution of the faith, as I think you in your learning do not doubt. In a word, some people are troubled, not without cause, at such a horrendous dispute between you and your subordinates.2 You know that a divine precept instructs lords to study much more to be loved by their people than to be feared, and prelates should understand that they are fathers of the poor rather than princes of the people. This speech needed to be longer and more explicable, but pressure of business ruled out a more diffuse letter.

43

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. Since I am prevented from coming to see you personally, which I much regret, I am sending on for your inspection a few pieces from various expository treatises of Abbot Joachim, which were brought me some days ago by a brother friar coming from beyond the Alps;1 so your lordship's spirit, well versed in mystical language, may discern from the commentaries of this holy man, who is thought not without cause to have been divinely inspired to understand the 43 1 Salimbene reports that the convent of the Friars Minor at Pisa received a complete set of the biblical commentaries of Joachim of Fiore brought by an abbot from southern Italy. The Franciscans played a leading role in circulating Joachim's works: Salimbene, p. 236.

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mistici, utrum instent immutabilis prouidentie dies formidandi, qui non tarn per prophetas, uerum etiam per auctorem prophetarum, tarn terribiliter sunt prenuntiati contra prelatos et clerum, principes et populum, propter tarn execratissimam tarn flagitiorum quam facinorum immanitatem hiis diebus sceleratissimis, proh nefas, inundantem; et fieri incipientibus districtionis diuine iudiciis quibus bona probat, mala reprobat, uniuersa ordinat, iuxta diuinitatis imperium, (ut) 'respiciant et leuent capita sua, quoniam appropinquat redemptio sua'.2 Si placet, legatur libellus in cubiculo presentibus secretariis, et cum ipsum transcribi feceritis eum michi remittatis. Valeat uestre beatitudinis incolumitas in Christo semper et beatissima Virgine.

44 (XLV)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Sollicitudo timoris non permisit me quiescere nisi pietati uestre scriberem pro eo quod locutus fui cum priori de (Newnham),1 qui michi prompta deuotione respondit quod de animabus illis quarum adhuc pendet prouisio de pastore, omnino iuxta uestre paternitatis ordinationem facere paratus est, quod et adhuc bene potest. Scripsi ergo si forte rictibus demoniorum adimantur per uestre sanctitatis sollicitudinem anime" pro quibus Filius Dei mortuus est. Nullatenus uidere ualeo nisi mundane fictionis ineptias, pro quibus in hac parte conniuentia putari possit excusabilis (sine (me)* stupore cogitare quid sit' quod inter tot molimina perditionis auctoritatis uestre sustineat^ beatitudo) quin arguendo, obsecrando, increpando, festinando, discurrendo, suscitando ad tarn districtam operande salutis cogentiam, etiam terrificas mortis acies omnimodis satagat dissipare. An non inuictus dux castrorum celestium ualidissimas illas amplexabitur sententias: 'terram ungula fodit, exultat audacter, pergit in occursum armatis'; et post pauca, 'feruens et fremens sorbet k 44 * add uestre MS. Inserted to improve sense. The confused syntax of this sentence d makes Adam's meaning rather opaque. ' est MS. sustiney MS. 2 Luke 21: 28. Adam's thoughts about the imminence of the Last Judgement are evidently prompted by Joachim's prophecies of an era when the Antichrist would be loosed upon the world before the dawning of the Age of the Spirit; on Joachim's prophecies, see Reeves, Joachim of Fiore.

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mysteries of prophecy, whether the dread days of immutable providence are at hand—the days of retribution so fearfully foretold by the prophets and even by the author of the prophets, against prelates and clergy, princes and peoples, on account of the monstrous swamp of their execrable and shameful misdeeds in these, alas, most wicked days; and that the time of God's stern judgement is beginning, in which the good is examined, evil reproved, and all things ordered, following the divine command to 'look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption is close at hand'.2 If you please, let the booklet be read in your chamber with secretaries present, and when you have had it copied, send it back to me. May your beatitude be kept in good health, ever in Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

44 (XLV)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. Concern and anxiety would not let me rest unless I wrote to your good lordship, for I have spoken with the prior of [Newnham].1 He promptly and devoutly answered that he was wholly prepared to implement your fatherly ordinance regarding those souls for whom provision of a pastor is still pending, and he can still do so. I have therefore written in the hope that the souls for whom the Son of God died may be saved from the clutches of demons by the solicitude of your holiness. I can see no way of opposing the follies of worldly fashion, on account of which complaisance can be thought excusable, except by accusing, pleading, chiding, hastening, arousing people to the severe demands of salvation, and by every means acting to scatter the dread armies of death. (I wonder in amazement at what your beatitude endures in his authority in the midst of so many attempts to encompass perdition.) Shall not the leader of the heavenly forces make his own those powerful sayings—'he breaketh the earth with his hoof; he pranceth boldly, he goeth forth to meet armed men', and a little further on, 'raging he swalloweth the ground, neither doth he 44 ' The prior's name is left blank in the MS. The case evidently refers to the presentation to a church in the priory's patronage, which is the subject of Letter 36.

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terram, nee reputat tube sonare clangorem'?2 Siccine fugiendum est ouibus dominicis designare pastorem presuli, qui sub summo summe districtionis discrimine a superior! loco regiminis curam diunitus suscepit superintend! pastoribus? Quid est quod aspicio, istis contentiunculis'' litigatoruir/ dissensionum tot laboribus, tot sumptibus, tantis dampnis temporum, tantis detrimentis mentium, gratia, odio et timore postpositis, iugiter insudari, si in hac causa et sui, si libet, in quibus solis intente salutis operatio consistit, propter quasdam fictas occasiones subsistitur?g Preueniat, oro, uos in rebus spiritualibus spiritus consilii; subsequatur quoque spiritus fortitudinis. Torquent cor mestum cogitationes plurime, in quibus quorsumcumque uertatur consideratio, uix aliquid letum inuenio. Valeat, etc.

45 (XLVI) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Ex assertione plurium, quibus puto fidem adhibendam esse indubitatam, accepi quod Anora de Beskereuile, monialis de Aunestone,1 diutina ualetudine corporis grauata, nee in arctioribus discipline regularis institutis salutis exemplum prebere ualeat, nee laboriosam religiosi regiminis censuram aliquatenus exercere. Alias autem, ut audio, administrandi res pro sustentatione collegii necessarias scientiam aut experientiam nullatenus habere cognoscitur. Quam ob rem ad multiplicem tarn religiosarum quam secularium personarum instantiam, presentem sancte discertioni uestre litteram destinare consensi, rogans humiliter ut, cum dicta domina Anora una sit de tribus monialibus conuentus de Aunestoun quarum aliquam per abbatisse sue discretionem in episcopatum Wygornie prioratui de ***2 preficjenclam mittere censuistis, perspectis memoratorum impef. 36' dimentorum obstaculis, | per piam pastoralis diligentie sollicitudinem, s contentiunculis: apparently a neologism of Adam's; the diminutive suggests 'little strains'. g ligatoriarum MS. occasiones: meaning here openings for litigation or legal exceptions invoked to delay cases. 2

Job 39: 21, 24.

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take account when the trumpet soundeth'? So is it for a prelate, who has received under strict judgement from on high the care of overseeing pastors, to flee from his duty of designating a shepherd for the Lord's sheep? Why is it that I observe such continual effort, free from the compulsion of favour, hatred, or fear, so much labour expended on these trivial legal contests, with so much expense and waste of time, and so much distraction of mind, if in this case and yours—the only ones on which the work of salvation depends— comes to a halt on account of some spurious legal pretext? I pray that in spiritual matters the spirit of counsel may go before you and that the spirit of fortitude may follow you. I am sad at heart and tormented by many thoughts in which, wherever my mind turns, I find hardly any joy. Farewell, etc.

45 (XLVI) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. I have gathered from the declarations of numerous people, whose opinions are undoubtedly trustworthy, that Anora de Baskerville, a nun of Elstow,1 has long been afflicted with bodily infirmity, and is unable to provide an example of religion in matters of regular discipline or to perform the laborious office of governing a religious congregation. Also, as I hear, it is recognized that she does not at all possess the knowledge or experience required to administer the properties needed to support a collegiate body. For this reason, at numerous requests from both religious and lay people, I consented to dispatch this letter to your prudent holiness with a humble petition: the said lady Anora is one of three nuns of the convent of Elstow of whom you considered sending one to the diocese of Worcester, to be appointed, at their abbess's discretion, to be head of the priory of *** 2 j humbly beg you, after you have examined the obstacles and impediments I have mentioned, to consider with pastoral solicitude 1 Elstow (Bedfordshire), an abbey of Benedictine nuns. The name of the priory, presumably a dependency of Elstow, is omitted from the MS. Despite Anora de Baskerville's alleged inadequacy to serve as a prioress, she was elected abbess of Elstow in 1258 (CPR 1247—58, pp. 48, 630). She died in 1281 after a regime that had attracted serious criticism; see O'Carroll, A Thirteenth-Century Preacher's Handbook, p. 142.

45

2

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pensare uelitis quid secundum Dominum in hac parte profectus animarum agi requirat. Valeat uestre sanctitatis incolumitas in Christo semper et beatissima Virgine.

46 (XLVII) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (July 1248) Pro lohanne, latore presentium, qui aliquando in cubiculario ministerio apud pie recordationis dominum meum Ricardum, Dunelmensem episcopum,1 satis acceptus habebatur, et post decessum ipsius in seruitio seculari uires absumsit iuueniles; de cetero quoque desiderat, si hoc ei diuinitus concedatur, conuersationem suam honestius componere et in domo religiosa Deo deseruire; cui etiam ad instantiam meam uestri gratia nuper elemosine uestre benedictionem imperticipastis, paternitatis uestre humiliter rogo pietatem, quatinus secundum quod dictus lohannes desiderat et intuitu Saluatoris suppliciter obsecrat, domino abbati et conuentui de Torntun,2 ubi ipse non penitus est ignotus, scribere uelitis petitorias, ut primum probandi gratia ilium admittere uelint ad tempus, et deinde cum experientiam de ipso sumpserint, si sic eis secundum Dominum uideatur, in fratrem recolligere, ob solam eterne remunerationis contemplationem.3 Parcatis, oro, improbitati quam urgebat pauperis compassio. Valeat pietatis uestre incolumitas in Christo semper et beatissima Virgine. Postquam recessi a uobis porrecte sunt michi littere continentes anxiam precum urgentiam domini electi Meneuensis,4 ad hoc tendentem, ut omnimodis personalem presentiam meam consentiam exhibere in die sue consecrationis.5 Satis fuit michi molestus affectuosus tenor litterarum suarum. Sed necesse habeo ut sancta circumspectio uestra, secundum quod michi uestri gratia locuti estis, pro me in hac parte coarctato satisfaciat.6 Iterum in eternum ualete. 46 1 Richard Marsh, bishop of Durham 1217—26. Adam's expression dominum meum refers to the fact that before becoming a Franciscan he held the rectory of Bishop Wearmouth in Richard's diocese; he was Richard's nephew. 2 Thornton abbey (Lincolnshire), a house of Augustinian canons regular. 3 i.e. they could not expect John to bring with him a gift or endowment, which was customarily offered to support a recruit to monastic life. 4 Thomas Wallensis, canon and archdeacon of Lincoln, bishop of St David's 1248-55.

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what, according to the Lord, needs to be done in this matter for the advantage of souls. Wishing your holiness health always in Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

46 (XLVII) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (July 1248) [Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln.] I am writing on behalf of John, the bearer of this letter, who at some time was well regarded in the service of the chamber to my lord Richard, bishop of Durham, of holy memory,1 and who after the latter's death spent the years of his youth in secular service. For the rest, he desires, if God grants it to him, to order his life more honourably and to serve God in a religious house. At my request you recently bestowed on him of your grace the blessing of your alms. I humbly ask your fatherly goodness if, in accordance with the desire of the said John and his humble request out of regard for the Saviour, you would write a letter of supplication to the abbot and convent of Thornton,2 where he is not wholly unknown, to ask if they would admit him for a time for a trial in the first place, and thereafter when they have got to know him, would, if it seems good to them and according to the will of the Lord, take him in as a brother, solely out of regard for an eternal recompense.3 Pardon, I beg you, the presumptuous request, which is driven by compassion for a poor man. After I left you, a letter was delivered to me containing a pressing request for prayers from the lord bishop elect of St David's,4 the gist of which was that I should by all means agree to be personally present on the day of his consecration.5 I was rather troubled by the affectionate tone of his letter. But I think your holy wisdom must needs satisfy him on my behalf, as you were good enough to say to me, as I am much pressed.6 Again and for ever farewell. Prior to his election to St David's he lectured in theology to the Franciscan school at Oxford, where Adam must have been one of his pupils: Little, 'Franciscan School'; Lawrence, 'The letters'. 5 Thomas was consecrated bishop at Canterbury on 26 July 1248: Ann. Man. (Oseney), iv. 97. 6 This circumlocution appears to mean that Grosseteste's presence at the consecration, in place of Adam's, must satisfy the request of the bishop elect.

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47 (XLVIII) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (7 March 1252) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Littera quam nostri gratia michi misistis solatium plurimum prestitit, licet, sicut scripsistis, quedam contineret inconsolabili digna fletu. Nempe melius silentio lugemus quam explicamus eloquio, hiis diebus dampnatissimis, 'abominationem desolationis stantem in loco sancto',1 que secundum incommutabilem ueritatis sententiam orbi uniuerso imminere prenuntiat, quod tamen deridet usquequaque lugenda reproborum perfidia, 'tribulationem magnam, qualis non fuit ab initio mundi usque modo, neque fiet'.2 Scio quam magnifice pensetis cordis discreti circumspecta sanctitate rerum ruentium stupenda precipitia, in quibus apud exilitatem meam obmutescit consternata mens causarum immanitate profundius obruta. Verum fateor quia cum presentia conficerem, quibus uerbis conceptum spiritum 'uasti horroris'3 exprimerem, penitus ignoraui. Quid sibi uelit inauditum retro seculis portentum hiis diebus fame uiolentia uulgatum, quis coniectatorum pensare ualebit? uidelicet quod apud insulam de Gerneshey,a utrique regnorum Francie et Anglic quasi conterminam, flammarum globi de gurgite marino frequentius in terrarum eminentias exilire cernuntur, etiam moles saxeas cum ceteris materiis irrepressibili conflagratione deuorantes; et abactis habitatoribus, post finitas incinerationes, loco incendii armatorum cunei* congressibus bellicis atrocius confligentes, et cessante conflictu ad ignotos secessus sese conferentes. Numquid igitur aliud agendum esse putabimus, nisi ut, dum insaniunt reprobi, electi lugeant, orantes hec et alia seculo insueta, per superni clementem Domini seculorum prouidentiam monstrata, in bonum converti? Non huius tarn mirande nouitatis me auctorem exhibeo, sed recito quod me audiente retulit exceptione magna maius testimonium. Benignissime paternitati olim conceptam molestiam, quam ulterius tenere nequiui, aperio, scilicet pauido pectori mestitiam iugem 47 47

* Here MS repeats quod.

3

' Matt. 24: 15. Cf. Deut. 32: 10.

* cuneos MS. 2

Matt. 24: 21.

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47 (XLVIII) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (7 March 1252) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. The letter you were kind enough to send me gave me much consolation, although, as you have written, it contained some things fit to make one weep inconsolably. To be sure, better we mourn in silence than expatiate in words upon 'the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place',1 in these most wicked days, which foretells the changeless judgement of truth coming upon the whole world, which, though, has hitherto been ridiculed by the unbelief of the reprobate—'a great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor shall be'.2 I know how in the greatness of your wise and holy heart you ponder upon the world's astonishing and headlong descent into ruin. My poor mind is overwhelmed and rendered dumb by the immensity of this catastrophe. Truly I confess that when I was finishing this letter, I was utterly at a loss for words to express my understanding of the 'vast horror'.3 What is the meaning of the portent, unheard of for centuries past, which is now being noised abroad, and which of the soothsayers will be able to interpret it? Namely that on the island of Guernsey, on the frontier, as it were, of both France and England, balls of flame are frequently seen leaping out of a whirlpool in the sea on to high places on land, devouring even masses of stone with other material in an unquenchable conflagration; and when the inhabitants have been driven away, after the conflagration has ended, in the place of the fire regiments of armed men fiercely engage in battle, who when the conflict is over remove themselves to unknown places of retreat. Therefore surely we should think that there is nothing else to be done, than that, while the reprobate behave like lunatics, the elect should grieve, as they pray for these and other unaccustomed events to be converted to good, by the merciful providence of the Lord above. I am not claiming my own authority for this marvellous new phenomenon, but repeating what has been conveyed to me, with great reservation, by a greater testimony. I am disclosing to you, most kind father, a thought that has long since troubled me, but which I can

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incumbere, utpote uerenti admodum ne uiam eminentiorem speculatiue felicitatis maturior exitus fatiscentis etatis frustrate desiderio, inter uaria uite turbamina michi, quod absit, absit, absit, intercipiat. Prospiciat nobis propter semetipsum ea celeritate/ quam Ipse nouit qui est uia per quam itur, ueritas ad quam uenitur, uita in qua permanetur.4 Amen, Amen. Amen. Ad uehementem domine regine instantiam, in crastino beati Mathie5 ab Oxonia profectus sum Rading'; ubi tractatibus habitis de negotiis dominum regem et suos heredes contingentibus, feria sexta proxima sequente propter eadem negotia transtuli me Odingham,6 licet quam plurimum hoc esset michi molestum. Ibique mora facta, usque ad feriam secundam proximo sequentem, redii Rading'; et feria quinta tertie septimane in quadragesima accessi Brumhale,7 in occursu comitis et comitisse Leycestrie, quia comes et dominus Petrus de Sabaldia8 feria quinta eadem Wyndeshoure uenerunt ad dominam reginam. Sicut euidenter liquet, continue et intolerabiliter crucior labore corporis et sollicitudine mentis, adeo ut nimirum tedeat me uiuere. Retribuat uobis superna benignitas pro eo quod michi benignius parcere uoluistis quominus ad instans Pascha Lincolniam accedam. Reprimat Omnipotens, oro, inprouisam procellam cuius in littera meministis, que hoc aliquatenus extorquere ualeat/ De magistro Reginaldo de Stokes medico, fiet Domino dante ut mandaueritis michi; nihil* enim de eo adhuc fixe determinatum est, sed pendet factum ad uestre uoluntatis sententiam. De aliis clericis uobiscum moraturis spero Dominus implebit quod cogitastis. Propono, cum in breu/ Domino propitio Oxoniam rediero, uelocius, si hoc res expostulat, que signanda iudicauero uestre scribere dominationi. Conseruet Altissimus uestre beatitudinis incolumitatem in Christo lesu semper et beatissima Virgine. Recessi de Rading iter arripiens uersus Bromhale, que distat a Wyndeshoure per quatuor miliaria, die qua presentem litteram tradidi cursori, uidelicet vii° die Martii. In eternum ualete.

d ' sceleritate MS. This phrase is unintelligible as it stands; it probably refers to something which the copyist has omitted. ' 'n' MS. f breuem MS. 4

Cf. John 14: 6.

5

25 Feb.

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contain no longer; that is a perpetual sadness weighing upon me, a fear that amidst the various turmoils of life my desire for the higher way and happiness of speculative philosophy may be frustrated and stolen from me at the end by the weakness of old age. May it not be. May it not be. May He provide for us for his sake as soon as may be, who is the way by which we travel, the truth at which we arrive, the life in which we for ever remain.4 Amen. Amen. At the pressing request of the lady queen, I set out on the morrow of St Mathias's day5 for Reading, where discussions were held concerning the business of the lord king and his heirs; and on the following Friday I transferred myself to Odiham6 on the same business, though it was exceedingly troublesome for me. There I stayed until the following Monday, when I returned to Reading; and on the Thursday of the third week of Lent I went to Bromhall7 to meet the earl and countess of Leicester, for the earl and lord Peter of Savoy8 came to the lady queen at Windsor on the same Thursday. As is apparent, I am continually and intolerably afflicted by physical toil and mental anxiety, so much that I am weary of life. May heaven reward you for your kindness in being willing to spare me from coming to Lincoln for the coming Easter. I pray that the Almighty may quell the unforeseen storm that you mention in your letter, which may avail to blow this away. As regards Master Reginald of Stokes, the physician, it will be done, God willing, as you commanded me; for nothing has yet been firmly decided, but the fact depends upon your will and judgement. As to the other clerks to stay with you, I hope the Lord will fulfil what you have in mind. When shortly, with the help of the Lord, I return to Oxford, I propose to write—sooner if the matter demands it—to your lordship to say what I consider worthy of remark. May the Most High preserve you in health ever in Christ Jesus and the Blessed Virgin. I returned from Reading on the way towards Bromhall, which is four miles from Windsor, on the day I handed this letter to the courier, that is on the yth of March. For ever farewell. 6 The castle of Odiham (Hampshire) was a possession and favoured residence of the Countess Eleanor de Montfort. 7 Bromhall (Berkshire), a priory of Benedictine nuns. 8 Peter of Savoy, uncle of Queen Eleanor and holder of the honour and earldom of Richmond since 1241, was a member of King Henry's council, and a supporter of Montfort; cf. Letter 30.

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48 (XLIX) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (15 August 1250) f. 37 Summe stupendum fore quod, sicut in initio littere uestre insinuastis, factis in statu perditionis perseuerantibus, non est spes alicuius emendationis per aduc attemptata. Quid enim restat postquam per ministerium uerbi Dei diuinitus exercitatum Is, 'qui attingit a fine usque ad finem fortiter et disponit omnia suauiter',1 'intonuit de celo, et Altissimus dedit uocem suam',2 adeo ut impletum esse conspiciatur per christum Domini, in hoc tanti discriminis congressu,3 quod ait Dei sapientia, 'Dum medium silentium contineret omnia, et nox in suo cursu medium iter haberet, omnipotens sermo tuus, Domine, exiliens de celo a regalibus sedibus, uenit durus debellator in mediam exterminii terram prosiliuit, gladius acutus insimulatum imperium tuum portans, et stans, repleuit omnia morte, et usque ad celum attingebat stans in terra. Tune continuo uisus somniorum malorum turbauerunt illos, et timores superuenerunt insperati; et alius alibi proiectus semiuiuus, propter quam moriebatur causam demonstrabat mortis. Visiones enim que illos turbauerunt hec premonebant, ne inscii quare mala patiebantur perirent?'4 Quid amplius fieri poterit post Domini exercituum tarn ualidam 'lucem sagittarum',5 tarn terrificum 'splendorem fulgurantis haste',5 nisi ut dirumpat celos et ueniat et, si fieri potest, montes a facie eius diffluant? 6 Numquid adhuc dici poterit id quod in epistola subiunxistis, quod mala consueta fiant quasi licita et nemo obloquitur, et quod mala sunt manifesta sed omnium silentio magis approbari uidentur? An forte, sicut scripsistis, in tarn desperabili tante difficultatis negotio plures uobis aggregari prouidit diuina dispensatio; aut, quod absit, hoc futurum formidabitur quod tarn formidabiliter comminatur diuina districtio, 'et non audierunt eum', inquiens, 'eo quia uoluit Dominus eos occidere'.7 Quod profecto 48

' Wisd. 8: i. Ps. 17: 14. The assembly or 'congress' to which Adam refers is probably the meeting of pope and cardinals which Grosseteste addressed at the Curia on 13 May 1250, when he denounced abuses in the Church; see Gieben, 'Robert Grosseteste at the papal Curia'; Southern, Grosseteste, 276—85. Adam's letter is a response to Grosseteste's letter reporting the proceedings. 2

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48 (XLIX) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (15 August 1250) [Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln.] I think that people will be absolutely astonished by the fact, indicated at the beginning of your letter, that while a ruinous state of affairs persists, there is as yet no hope of any attempt at amendment. For what remains to be said after He who 'reaches from end to end mightily and ordereth all things sweetly'1 has 'thundered from heaven' through the divinely activated ministry of God's word, 'and the highest gave his voice'2 so that we perceive in this crisis assembly3 the fulfilment through the Lord's anointed of that which the wisdom of God says: 'while all things were in quiet silence and the night was in the midst of her course, thy almighty word leapt down from heaven from thy royal throne, as a fierce conqueror into the midst of the land of destruction, with a sharp sword carrying thy unfeigned commandment; and he stood and filled all things with death, and standing on the earth reached even to heaven. Then suddenly visions of evil dreams troubled them and fears unlooked for came upon them; and one of them here and another there, half dead, showed the cause of his death. For the visions that troubled them foreshadowed these things, lest they should suffer these evils'?4 What more can come about after the strong 'light of his arrows',5 the 'brightness of his glittering spear'5 of the Lord of hosts, unless He should break through the heavens and come, if it may be, and melt the mountains?6 Is it still possible to say, as you added in your letter, that evils which are habitual become as it were legitimized and nobody objects, and that evils are manifest, but that everyone's silence appears to give them approval? or perhaps, as you have written, in such a desperately difficult business, divine providence has brought many people to your side; but we fear that that will come about which is threatened by divine judgement, saying 'and they heard not the voice because the Lord would slay them',7 which we 4 6

Wisd. 18: 14-19. Cf. Isa. 64: i.

5 7

Hab. 3: n. i Kgs. 2: 25.

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per rerum ruinas plus in foribus imminere coniicimus" quam longe positum, et aliquando futurum per prophetarum prenuntiationes expectamus. Sed inter omnia sit clementissime paternitati uestre sempiterna retributio, quod ad tarn desiderabilem tante salutis agonem, tarn potenti uirtute, tarn circumspecta discretione, tarn diligibili emulatione, indignam qualiscunque peccatoris modicitatem inuitare uoluistis, quatinus aucto numero pie certantium diuinitate propitia hostiles dextre darentur. Aut certe me non redarguat ilia sententie celestis uehementia qua dicitur quod 'si speculator uiderit gladium uenientem, et non insonuerit buccina, et populus non custodierit se, ueneritque gladius et tulerit de eis animam, ille quidem in iniquitate sua captus est, sanguinem autem eius de manu speculatoris requiram', non populus terre, sed ego.8 Sed ecce dum attendo inattemptati certaminis permaximum discrimen, occurrunt legislator uir Dei, propheta Helyas, lohannes Baptista, Paulus apostolus, Stephanus protomartyr, Hyllarius Pictauensis, Athanasius Alexandrinus, Augustinus Yponensis, zelo zelantes pro domo Dei contra Pharaonem, Jeroboam, Achab, impium Herodem, nefarium sacerdotem, superstitionem ludaicum, Liberium, Arium, Faustum, qui subuersores regni Dei clementiam regiminis in tyrannidis atrocitatem peruerterunt.* Nequaquam prius cognoscuntur9 fuisse aggressi quam, castigatis passionum immoderantiis, non illecti per blanditias, per fallacias non decepti, non peruersi per nequitias, per uiolentias non oppressi, in purissimos, in clarissimos, in sanctissimos celestium karismatum ascendissent excessus, et excellentissime transcensis tarn uoluptatis foede lasciuiis quam facultatis uane uesaniis, quam et dignitatis caduce preeminentiis, ab altissimis euocassent et diuina patrocinia et angelica presidia et humana consortia. Nimirum non est propugnatoribus celi 'colluctatio contra carnem et sanguinem, sed aduersus potestates et principatus, contra mundi rectores tenebrarum harum, contra spiritualia nequitie' in celestibus'.10 Proinde cum mei ipsius infirmitatem, cum mei ipsius insipientiam, cum mei ipsius immunditiam trepide considero, ad tantarum rerum immensitatem uix anhelans, inter spem et desperationem pene deficio. Quid ergo opus facto sit hesitarem, nisi audirem 48 * conuicimus MS. 8

Ezek. 33: 6.

k

peruertentes MS.

' nequitia MS.

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surmise by the ruinous situation to be actually imminent and on the doorstep rather than far off, and we wait for it to happen as the prophets foretold. But in the midst of all this, I pray your fatherly kindness may receive an eternal reward for your willingness to invite a humble little sinner to the saving struggle that is so desirable and is conducted with such power and virtue, with such prudence and discretion and so much loving contention, so that the number of those in the good fight may be increased and that by the favour of God their right hands may be given strength for the fight. But I am surely not gainsaid by that mighty judgement of heaven which says that 'if the watchman see the sword coming and sound not the trumpet, and the people look not to themselves, and a sword come and cut off a soul from among them, he indeed is taken in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman',8 not the people of the land, but I. But look, while I am considering the supreme crisis of the struggle, there come to support us the lawgiver and man of God, the prophet Elias, John the Baptist, the apostle Paul, Stephen the protomartyr, Hilary of Poitiers, Athanasius the Alexandrian, Augustine of Hippo, men zealous for the house of God against Pharoah, Jeroboam, Achab, the perfidious Herod, the impious priest, Jewish superstition, Liberius, Arius and Faustus, saboteurs of the kingdom of God, who converted His kindly government into an atrocious tyranny. They9 were not recognized to be supporters until they had castigated their unruly passions; they were not seduced by blandishments nor deceived by fallacious arguments, not perverted by wickedness nor oppressed by violence, before they had risen to receive the holiest of heavenly charismata, and having risen above the enticements of foul pleasure and the vain madness of wealth, they called from heaven divine patronage, the protection of angels, and human fellowship. Truly for the champions of heaven, the 'struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.'10 So when I consider with trembling my own infirmity, my own foolishness, my own impurity, almost breathless at the immensity of such great matters, I almost faint between hope and despair. I would doubt what needed to be done, if I had not heard that saying Here Adam switches abruptly to enumerating the virtues of the saints in his earlier list. The discontinuity suggests that the copyist has omitted a sentence at this point. 10 Eph. 6: 12. 9

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illud per quod etiam excitantur emortui: 'Si Dominus pro nobis, quis contra nos?'11 et illud: 'omnia possum in eo qui me confortat',12 Christus; et illud: 'in mundo pressuram habebitis, in me autem pacem; sed confidite, quia ego uici mundum'.13 Concedat igitur, oro, Ille, ob cuius tarn perseueranter decertatis contemplationem, ut non obsistentibus precaminum meorum offensis, merear et ego fieri assecla qualiscunque agonis tarn magnifici, cuius meministis, et felicis brauii, uel pio affectu, uel effectu ualido, uel quod michi potissimum est in desiderio, affectu pariter et effectu^ in Christo lesu Domino meo. Vere doleo plusquam explicare ualeam pro eo quod, sicut constitutus coram amabili presentie uestre reuerentia super litus maris Douor', in tanta tarn mesti cordis angaria cum lacrimarum profluuio obnixius rogaui, ut a sede apostolica impetraretur auctoritas, per quam uia michi panderetur contra importunas uariarum difficultatum detinentias, ut filiali deuotione paternitati uestre in diuinis operibus14 expedita libertate ualerem obtemperare. Quod qualiter fieri ualeat, Domino propitio, nullatenus uideo, nisi ad hoc illud sanctitatis uestre laboret sedula discretio, propter inexorabiles domini regis, domine regine, ordinis nostri, et aliorum plurium detinentias. Quod si Fratrum Minorum minister generalis ad curiam de Grecia15 remeauerit, per ilium de adiutorio Saluatoris melius poterit in hac parte prouideri. Nescio quomodo pastor notam effugeret mercenarii16 si sub duro principatu et malitia temporis ouile dominicum fugiens desereret. Quam ob rem corde letifico libens inspexi quod pagine michi transmisse inseruistis, illud uidelicet, 'Non propono nunc cedere, sed per uiam pretactam cum Dei adiutorio procedere.' Sit benedictio diuini timoris Omnipotentie qui sibi obsequentium fideliter nunquam poterit persecutores quantumcunque seuientes non reprimere. Ita grauor ut non remaneat in me spiritus, cum frequenter recogito pestes illas que uestram sunt comitate dignitatem, uilis uite spurcitiis et f. 37Y ignominiis opprobrii lupanaris spectabilem | uestre domus opinionem intolerabili maculantes infamia. Illos loquor solo nomine clericos stultos, ni fallor, et penitus inexpertes in rebus tanti pontificis administrandis, secundum quod per indubitatum michi testimonium d 11 13

effectum MS. Rom. 8: 31. John 16: 33.

I2

Phil. 4: 13.

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which arouses even the dead: 'If the Lord is for us, who is against us'?11 and those words, 'I can do all things in Him who strengthens me',12 Christ, and those words 'in the world you shall have distress; but have confidence; I have overcome the world'.13 I pray that He, out of regard for whom you strive with such constancy, may grant that I also, notwithstanding my blundering prayers, may deserve to be a participant in that glorious struggle to which you refer, and in its happy reward, either by holy desire or by effective action or—which I long for above all—by both desire and action in Christ Jesus my Lord. Truly I am more sorry than I can show for having importuned you with so much agony and floods of tears when I was in your amiable presence on the shore at Dover, to obtain a privilege from the Apostolic See allowing me the freedom to serve you with filial devotion in pastoral work,14 without the hindrance of the various difficult factors that detain me. I cannot see in any way how this can be brought about unless, with the favour of the Lord, your holiness works for it with discretion and persistence, given the obstacle posed by the inexorable demands of the lord king, the lady queen, our order, and numerous others. But if the minister general of the Friars Minor is back at the Curia from Greece,15 it can be better obtained from him with the Saviour's help. I do not know how a pastor would escape branding as a hireling16 if he were to flee and desert the Lord's flock under a harsh government and in evil times. So it was with a glad heart that I read what you had written on the page you sent me, namely 'I do not propose to give up now, but with God's help to proceed along the road I have previously followed'. Blessed be Almighty God, fear of whom can never fail to curb those, however savage, who persecute his faithful followers. I am so worried that my spirit fails me when I often think of those pestilential people who have accompanied you, who besmirch the fair name of your house with the filthiness of their lives and give it the ill repute of a brothel. I am speaking of those foolish men, clerks only in name if I am not mistaken, who, as I am informed by reliable testimony, are utterly incompetent to administer the affairs of such a 14 The Latin diuinis operibus is ambiguous; Adam may intend by it other forms of collaboration besides pastoral work. 15 John of Parma, Minister General of the Friars Minor 1247—57, headed an embassy dispatched by Innocent IV to the Eastern Emperor at Nicaea in 1249; he returned to Italy in I6 autumn 1250. Cf. John 10: 12.

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innotuit. Absit ut super his corrigendis uestra torpeat benedicta circumspectio. Si contingat uos more diutioris extra regnum Anglic tractus agere, erit bonum ut uideo, dominum regem, dominam reginam, comitem Ricardum, et si quos alios decreueritis, litteris beneuolentie conciliaturis uisitare. De facto, quantum ad meam pertinet modicitatem, super quo tanta uigilatis sollicitudine, cuncta forent peruia si auctoritas, cui in hac parte non resistitur, impetrata fuisset. De quo sic agatur ut uobis celitus inspirabitur. Cum diutius expectassem nuntium uestrum, W. de luneue, secundum quod cum eo condixi, presentem litteram per quam carissimum fratrem Radulphum monachum uobis in Christo fidelissimum portandam destinaui, quam succinctius breuiaui pro eo quod eidem fratri personam uestram et meam exilitatem contingentia commisi consilia. Valeat uestre beatitudinis optabilis incolumitas in Christo lesu semper et beatissima Virgine. Per importunam uehementiam, proficiscente domino archiepiscopo ad curiam Romanam,17 a mari sum reuocatus ut in Anglia remanerem. Datum Midelton' in assumptione Beate Virginis.18 Vulgatum est per nonnullos in Anglia quod maturius disponitis a curia remeare.

49 (L)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (15 September 1250) Dei uirtuti, Dei sapientie, Dei sanctificationi, eterno Dei Filio sit indeficiens gratiarum actio, per quern in manu uestre pietatis et magnanimiter est attemptatum et prudenter est processum, et salubriter est perseueratum in opere Dei, cunctorum iudicio tarn formidabili, tarn desperabili, sed reuera tarn emulabili, tarn acceptabili.1 Numquid non illud tantum esse conspicitur quantum nullatenus aggredi sufficit nisi apostolica sanctitudo et inspiratio prophetica? Quid enim aliud in uniuerso regno caritatis ad tarn horrendas 17 Archbishop Boniface set out for the Roman Curia at Lyons about the beginning of June 1250, to pursue his case against the bishop of London; Adam had planned to accompany him. 18 IS Aug.

49 ' This letter, like Letter 48, was written to Grosseteste when he was attending the papal Curia at Lyons. The 'work of God' to which Adam refers here is evidently the

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great bishop. Heaven forbid that you, who are blessed with circumspection, should be remiss in correcting them. If it should happen that you have business involving a longer delay outside the kingdom of England, it will be a good thing, as it seems to me, for you to 'visit' the lord king, the lady queen, earl Richard, and any others you decide, with letters to secure their goodwill. As regards the matter concerning my humble self, on which you are bestowing so much care, everything would go through if the privilege, which in this case has no opposition, had been sought. On this let it be done as heaven inspires you. Since I waited longer for your messenger, W. of Geneva, as I agreed with him, I have dispatched this letter to be carried by our dear brother, Ralph, a monk, and I have drafted it with greater brevity as I have committed to the same brother advice concerning your person and my humble self. Wishing your beatitude good health ever in Christ Jesus and the Blessed Virgin. When the archbishop set off to the Roman Curia,17 I was sharply and importunately called back from putting to sea and told to remain in England. Given at Middleton on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin.18 Some people are putting it about that you are planning to return to England from the Curia earlier.

49 (L)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (15 September 1250) [Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln.] Endless thanks be to the sanctifying power and wisdom of God, to the eternal Son of God, for the furtherance of the work of God essayed with greatness of spirit by your faithful hand, for its prudent advancement steadfastly and perseveringly pursued, a thing which everyone else judged to be so daunting and so hopeless, but was in truth both desirable and accessible.1 Is it not regarded as a task so great that it can in no way be undertaken except by apostolic holiness and prophetic inspiration? For what else in the whole realm of charity remonstrance over abuses in the Church which Grosseteste delivered to a meeting of the pope and cardinals; see Letter 48n. 3.

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principum maiestates, ad tarn pauendos presidum magistrates, totum regnum cupiditatis tanta tante diuturnitatis peruicacia constipantes, non resiliret? O quam mirabilis, O quam spectabilis, O quam amabilis fructus laboris, per quern licet obsistentibus mundi peccatis principalis ad breue tempus frustretur intentio, tamen in tempus omne castrorum dominicorum propugnatoribus, diruptis capitalis oppugnantie resistentiis, triumphalis egressus incunctati uigoris leuigatur. Sit nomen Domini exercituum, Dei Israel, benedictum in secula. Accessit mentibus quasi de somno graui euigilantibus ad eximiam gaudii suauitatem, per diuinum ducatum, uestri regressus insinuata prosperitas, ut fieri ualet inter tetras atrocium procellarum caligines, in perurgenti seculi pereuntis excidio;2 super quibus, nescio quare, nihil michi signauerit hactenus sanctitatis uestre clementissima dignatio. Scripsi dominationi uestre in uigilia Assumptionis3 litteram per fratrem Radulphum monachum paternitati uestre destinatam,4 dolens plurimum quod ipsam, sicut intellexi, celeriter non acceperitis. Amantissimos fratres Arnulfum et Arnaldum missos a fratre Hugone de Barioc'5 excellentie uestre et mee exilitati cum litteris et clenodiis dulcedinis" refertis, suscipiat, teneat, et dimittat, ut nouerit et uoluerit consuete liberalitatis uestre indeficiens affluentia. Rescribite michi si placet, obsecro, ubi et quando debeam uobis occurrere, cum Angliam diuinitate propitia intrabitis, ut detinentiarum importunitates ad hoc ex eo commodius explicare ualeam. Valeat desideratissima uestre beatitudinis incolumitas in Christo semper et beatissima Virgine. Datum Bukedon'6 in octauis natiuitatis Beate Virginis.7

49 a dulcedine MS; clenodiis is strange; presumably Adam means it in a metaphorical sense, i.e. jewels of expression or sentiment.

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would not shrink from it in face of the dread majesty of princes and the fearsome governance of our superiors, surrounded by the stubborn tenacity of greed? 0 how marvellous, how beautiful, and how lovely is the fruit of that labour by which, though its chief purpose be for a time frustrated by the sins of the world, yet a victorious outcome is granted for all time to the champions of the Lord's armies, and the resistance of the opposition is broken. Blessed be the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, for ever. The intimation that through divine guidance you are coming back with success has affected our minds like the sweet joy of those awakened from a deep sleep, as it can come about amidst the dark storms and impending ruin of the age; as regards these things your holiness has not hitherto been kind enough, I know not why, to give me any indication.2 1 wrote your lordship a letter on the vigil of the Assumption,3 which I forwarded to you through brother Ralph, a monk.4 I am extremely sorry that, as I understand, you have not received it quickly. Please receive our very dear brothers Arnulf and Arnold, who have been sent to your excellency and to my humble self by brother Hugh de Barioc'5 with letters filled with jewels of delight, and be so good as to keep them and dimiss them as you wish, with your customary generosity. I beg of you to write back to me to inform me where and when I should meet you when, with divine favour, you enter England, so that for this purpose I may be able to extricate myself more opportunely from business that detains me. I wish your much longed-for beatitude good health ever in Christ and the Blessed Virgin. Given at Buckden6 on the octave of the nativity of the Blessed Virgin.7

2 In this highly rhetorical passage Adam's reference to 'dark storms', regarding which he was awaiting Grosseteste's instructions, is obscure; possibly he is referring to political troubles in England. 3 4 14 Aug. Cf. Letter 48. 5 Hugh de Barjols; see above, Letter 26, n. 3. 6 7 Buckden; see above, Letter 34 n. i. 15 Sept. 2

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50 (LI)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (?I2 5 2)

Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Vos optime nostis quare inualescente etate et debilitate pregrauante, inter iugitates occupationum importabilium corpore tarn multipliciter iactato, et anxiata tarn inexplicabiliter anima, uix respirat pectus anhelum, propter quod et irreparabilia dierum dampna inseccabili lacrima desperata deplorat anxietas. Utinam mendaci figmento tanta malorum incommoda, que nescit peccator indignus quo planctu digne prosequatur, nunquam ascribere uelit dignissime fidei benigna compassio. Quia si sic necesse est fieri de hoc quod in littera tetigistis, uidelicet ut ad instans Saluatoris natalitium adeam personaliter dominationis uestre presentiam, ut uultis facite. Scitis qualiter hoc agi conueniat. Ecce coram paternitatis uestre pietate; ad hoc nullam ualeo uidere rationis exigentiam. lussionibus uestris quibus obuenire non audeo," sicut nee licet, magistro Roberto de Marisco1 in hac parte quam sit opportunum* obtemperare, perpensis negotiorum grauium circumstantiis, patenter elucebo/ Forsan sufficiet in regressu uestro ordinationum uestrarum seriem eidem iniungere. Super prescriptis quod sanctitatis uestre sederit beneplacito, si commode fieri poterit, sine more dispendio michi rogo signari; quoniam plurimum uereor non absque coniectura cogenti quod ista religiosorum uocatio, quam intentio salutaris excitauit, et cupiditati seruiet et roborabit impietatem. Studeat, obsecro, mansuetudinis uestre diligentia ut uniuersis appareat quod in hoc facto dirigat censuram salutarem sancta dilectionis emulatio, et propitia diuinitas ad laudabilem exitum pertingere concedat. Valeat uestre beatitudinis incolumitas, etc.

50

a

audet MS.

b importunum MS.

c

elucet MS.

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50 (LI)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (?I2 5 2)

Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. You best know how, with the growing weight of age and infirmity, the constant and insupportable pressure of business so afflicts the body and torments the spirit that one can scarcely breathe. Because of this one is incessantly weeping with anxiety over loss of time. I hope that your kind sympathy and trust would never be willing to ascribe the many troubles that hinder me to untruthfulness or pretence on my part, ills which an unworthy sinner does not know how to deal with properly. For if what you mentioned in your letter must needs be, namely that I should personally join your lordship at the coming Christmas, do as you wish. You know how this can be conveniently done. Behold, I am in your fatherly presence; though I cannot see any reasonable exigency that requires this. I do not dare to obstruct your commands, nor is it permissible; I shall explain clearly to Master Robert Marsh1 how fitting it would be to obey them in this matter, when weight is given to the circumstances and gravity of the negotiations. Perhaps it will be enough if on your return you transmit to him the list of your ordinances. I beg you to indicate to me without delay, if it can be conveniently done, what is your holiness's pleasure regarding the supplications previously written. For I am very much afraid, after intensive thought, that this call of monks, which was stirred by noble intentions, will serve to increase cupidity and will strengthen impiety. I beg you to ensure with kindness and care that it is made obvious to all that your salutary censure over this matter is directed by holy love, and I pray that divine favour may bring a praiseworthy outcome. Wishing your beatitude good health, etc.

50

' Cf. Letters 25, 33, 34.

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Si (LH)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Licet opus esset littera prolixiori, earn tamen excluserunt et cursoris uestri pro causis uestris profectio acceleratior et importunitas angustior occupationum mearum, me miserum, indies ad uexationem intolerabilem utriusque hominis1 succrescentium immaniter. Illam uestram piorum uiscerum anxietatem, cuius in littera meministis, que licet telo compassionis humane sauciet, tamen sanat diuine consolaf. 38 tionis remedio Ille cuius amor uehementius ipsam excitat | ad crucis mortificationem; clementius, oro, suscipiat, per sanctum sui sacerdotis officium, 'in hostiam uiuam, sanctam, Domino placentem',2 et pro sanctuario suo 'hostiam pacificam'.3 Huius rei perualidam prestat fiduciam Christus, Dei uirtus, Dei sapientia, Dei iustitia, Dei sanctificatio, et per eloquiorum testimonia, et per rationum argumenta, et per sanctorum exempla, et per sacramentorum charismata. Contra octo grauissimorum dampnorum pauendissima discrimina littere uestre succincta breuitate comprehensa, quorum sunt duo prima, uidelicet apud cor maestum luctus pius imperfectionis, (et) domus uestre dilata ordinatio, presulatus uestri dignitatem proprie respicientia; sex uero consequentia, uidelicet protectio malitie, persecutio iustitie, natiue libertatis ancillatio,4 ouium dominicarum trucidatio, ruina Jerusalem euidens et immensa,5 casus inde in quo electio involuntaria" planctum aggrauat lamentationis communiter ad catholicam ecclesiam pertinentia, tanto uigentius, tanto prospectius, tanto diligentius, tanto perseuerentius necesse erit (ut), per superne dispensationis consilium, sanctitis uestre studeat feruens emulatio indefessa sollicitudine se accingere in Filio Altissimi, qui per suam sapientiam 'attingit a fine usque ad finem fortiter et disponit omnia suauiter',6 mala reprobans, bona probans, uniuersa ordinans. Quanto, proh nefas, diebus hiis dampnatissimis ubique cernimus illos immanius contra Dei regnum deseuire, qui eidem defendendo arctiori solemnium sponsionum protestatione coram throno maiestatis coniurauerunt. a

51 51

uoluntaria MS.

' Literally 'of either man' (utriusque hominis), meaning body and spirit. 3 Rom. 12: i. Cf. Exod. 32: 6; Num. 6: 17. 4 The Latin is ambiguous: in the I3th c. 'nativus' generally meant 'a villein', but here it is used adjectivally to qualify 'freedom'. Adam presumably means the enslavement of peasants born free. 2

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Si (LH)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. Although there was need of a longer letter, it was made impossible by the hasty departure of your courier in pursuit of your affairs and by the pressure and constraint of my own business, which grows daily, alas, to the point of causing me insupportable vexation of spirit and body.1 That heartache which you mention in your letter, though the wound is inflicted by human compassion, is healed through the remedy of divine consolation by Him whose ardent love summons us to undergo the mortification of the cross. I pray that he may mercifully support you in the holy office of his priesthood, to be a 'living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God',2 and a 'peace offering'3 for his sanctuary. We are given assured trust in this by Christ, the power of God, the wisdom of God, the justice of God, the sanctifying action of God, by the witness of words and the arguments of reason, by the example of the saints and by the grace of the sacraments. As for the eight dreaded dangers and harmful things which you briefly summarize in your letter, of which the first two are a holy sorrow and heartfelt sadness for your own imperfection, and delay in putting your own house in order, which touches the dignity of your own prelacy; and the six that follow, namely the protection of malice, the persecution of righteousness, the enslavement of those born free,4 the slaughter of the Lord's sheep, the huge and visible downfall of Jerusalem,5 and thereto the case in which unfree election affecting the Catholic Church in common causes mounting complaint and lamentation; against these your holiness will need to act with much vigour, much foresight, much diligence and perseverance, through heavenly counsel, with tireless solicitude, to gird yourself with the Son of the Most High, who through his wisdom 'reacheth from end to end mightily and ordereth all things sweetly',6 reproving evil, approving the good, regulating everything. How much we see in these most wicked days those raging against the kingdom of God—how iniquitous!—who have solemnly sworn in their espousal before the throne of majesty to defend it. 5 Adam was well aware of the collapse of the seventh crusade in Apr. 1250; here the following clause indicates that he is using the allegorical sense of Jerusalem, meaning the 6 Church. Wisd. 8: i.

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52 (LIII) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (3 June 1250) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada Benedicta sit indeficiens dispensationis diuine dementia que nunquam deserit de ipsa presumentium expectationem, sed semper in assumptis salutis operande negotiis, quanto terribiliora cernuntur imminere discrimina, tanto letiora curat prestare solamina, non tarn pauentis animi refocillando languores quam diffidentis ignauie animando torpores. Hec idcirco dixerim, quoniam, sit uestre dignationi sempiterna retributio, littera suspense menti nuper transmissa diutine prestolationis ancipitem sollicitudinem non mediocri subleuauit exultatione. Quid ergo in tarn saluifico totius regni Dei negotio, quod illuminationes superne tarn magnifice uirtuti celitus inspirarunt, fore consultum arbitrabimur, nisi ut apostolici operis beatitudinem apostolica prosequentes constantia penitus in Ilium referatis qui diuinissimos apostolos triumphales certaminis huius primicerios inuictissimo confirmans uigore: 'Dum steteris', inquit, 'ante reges et presides, nolite cogitare quid aut quomodo loquamini. Dabitur enim uobis in ilia hora quid loquamini. Non enim uos estis qui loquimini sed Spiritus Patris uestri qui loquitur in uobis.'1 Sed quid? In hac parte opere pretium fore nunquam ambigitur magis pietas orationis quam peritia dictionis. Scio quod sancte recordationi, sicut summe opus est, excidit nequaquam illud euangelice iugiter amplectendum, 'deridetur iusti simplicitas, lampas contempta apud cogitationes diuitum'.2 'Sufficit enim discipulo si sit sicut magister, et seruo sicut dominus eius'.3 Quante foret perfidie si diuina patrocinia, si angelorum presidia, si sanctorum adiutoria, si electorum precamina, causam suam fideliter agentibus unquam defore putaretur. Licet aliud cuperem, tamen sermoni finem facio, orans ut ualeo omnis consummationis finem ad sui gloriam et ecclesie salutem hactenus inattemptatum finire certamen. Qualiter audebit pius pontifex,4 quern diuina sublimauit electio, et superna directio non deseruit, quasi sub specie consulte pietatis grassantibus demonialium

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52 (LIII) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (3 June 1250) Brother Adam to the Lord of Lincoln. Blessed be the unfailing mercy of God's providence, which never fails the hope of those who rely upon it and which confers joy and consolation upon those engaged in the work of salvation, all the more when fearful dangers appear to threaten them; it both refreshes weary and quaking spirits and rouses the faint-hearted from torpidity. I say this because the letter sent me when my mind was wavering— may your reverence receive an eternal reward—brought no small relief to my daily uncertainty and anxiety. So, in a business of such saving significance for the whole kingdom of God, in which your magnificent prowess was inspired by a heavenly illumination, what counsel shall we think to offer except that you pursue the blessed and apostolic work with steadfastness, referring it utterly to Him, who strengthened the most holy apostles, the first victorious champions of this battle, with invincible power? 'When you stand before kings and governors,' He says, 'take no thought how or what to speak; for it shall be given you in that hour what to speak. For it is not you that speak, but the spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.'1 But why? In this matter there is never any doubt that the holy intention of a prayer avails more than the skill of its language. I know that your holiness will never forget to embrace, as is most needful, that evangelical advice: 'the simplicity of the just man is laughed to scorn, the lamp despised in the thoughts of the rich'.2 For 'it is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord'.3 What a lack of faith it would be ever to think that divine patronage, the protection of the angels, the help of the saints, or the prayers of the elect would ever be wanting to those who faithfully work for God's cause. Although I should like to say more, I am stopping now. I pray with all my might that the battle, which has not hitherto been attempted, is ending in a victory for the glory of God and the salvation of the Church. How will the good pontiff,4 raised by divine election and not wanting for heavenly guidance, ever dare to 52

3

' Matt. 10: 19-20. Matt. 10: 25.

4

2 Job 12: 4-5. Pope Innocent IV.

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crudelitatum impietatibus, desertum pii Saluatoris gregem, quod absit, eternaliter exponere? Postquam uobis ad eximium opus Dei proficiscentibus, peccatis meis ut uereor exigentibus, licet iusto merore confectus, in Anglia sum detentus cum uenerabili patre domino Cantuariensi, primo in sua, deinde in Roffensi diocesi uisitationis officium agente, secundum quod modicitati mee uisum est laudabiliter, prout ualui eidem in memorato officio astiti usque ad festum Pentecostes,5 quibus cordis angustiis et laboribus corporis explicare non ualens. Cumque ad Londoniensem ecclesiam secundum canonicas sanctiones uisitaturus accessisset, persona Londoniensis episcopi uisitata, quominus aut capitulum Londoniense aut aliquod collegium sibi subditum uisitaret, episcopus Londoniensis6 cum suo capitulo et quibusdam aliis ad sedem apostolicam appelarunt. Quos uidelicet, tarn episcopum quam subditos sibi obsistentes, sententiis excommunicationis innodauit.7 Qua de causa non parua commotio facta est, diuulgatis mendacissimis obtrectationibus per prouinciam tarn in clero quam in populo. Institit autem predictus dominus archiepiscopus, hoc ipsum domino rege iubente, ut secum propter memoratam causam celeriter proficiscente ad curiam Romanum iter agerem, plurimum renitente domina regina, et ut me detineret obnixius" laborante. Verum in confectione presentium quid super hoc futurum esset* ignoraui. Puto quia et spiritualia et temporalia episcopatus uestri per fideles uiros uigilanter administrantur. Statum regni Anglic uestra melius nouit sapientia, qui ut melioretur, sicut puto, fideliter laboratum est hiis diebus, et maior solito super hoc licet tremula concepta est fiducia. Eueniet autem quod uoluerit propitia diuinitas. Non quiescit anima quousque secundum quod uoluerit uoluntas in celo desiderandus omnibus seculis felix exitus cause uestre michi significetur. Utinam liberi domini comitis Leycestrie H[enricus] et A[lmericus], prestante domino securitatem, sine more dispendio ad uos redeant. Valeat uobis et uirtus inuincibilis et sapientia infallibilis et emulatio irremissibilis in Christo lesu semper et beatissima Virgine. Scripta breuiaui et scribenda pretermisi tristis et inuitus obuenientibus 52 * obnoxius MS. 5

b

erat MS.

6 15 May 1250. Fulk Basset, 1244-59. Archbishop Boniface endeavoured to make a visitation of the chapter of St Paul's on 13 May 1250, but was resisted by the bishop and canons, who appealed to the pope against this unwonted exercise of metropolitan jurisdiction. Boniface accordingly excommunicated the 7

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expose the good Lord's deserted flock to the cruelty and fiendish impiety of parasites? After you had set out on your excellent work for God, I was detained in England, for my sins, I fear, though I was truly sad for them, with the venerable lord of Canterbury, while he carried out a visitation, first in his own diocese and then in that of Rochester, which he conducted, as it seemed to my humble self, in a praiseworthy manner. I accompanied him on this task until the feast of Pentecost,5 with untold heartache and physical labour. When he came to London to visit the church in accordance with the canonical rules, the bishop of London6 with his chapter and certain others appealed to the Apostolic See to prevent him visiting either the chapter of London or any other collegiate church subject to him; and the archbishop imposed a sentence of excommunication upon both the bishop and his subjects who had resisted him.7 On account of this there was no small uproar, with untruthful and disparaging stories circulating among both clergy and laity throughout the province. The lord archbishop urged me to go with him to the Roman Curia when he set off in haste to prosecute the case, with the commendation of the lord king, but the lady queen strongly resisted it and strove hard to retain me. Really, when I was composing this letter I did not know what was to happen. I think that both the temporalities and the spiritualities of your bishopric are being well and carefully administered by your faithful servants. You in your wisdom know better than I the condition of England. There have been, I think, loyal efforts to improve things these days, inspiring more confidence than usual, though it is still fragile. The outcome will be as the divine mercy wills. I shall not rest in my mind until I have an indication that your cause has had a happy outcome in accordance with the will of Him who is the desired of all the ages. I hope that the lord earl of Leicester's children, Henry and Amaury, God granting them safety, will return to you without delay. Wishing you healthy invincible strength, infallible wisdom, and unremitting zeal, ever in Christ Jesus and the Blessed Virgin. I have shortened the letter and sadly and unwillingly under the pressure of various demands on me, I have left out things that should have been dean and others: Matthew Paris, Chron. Maj. v. 120—7. He set out for the papal Curia to prosecute the case at the end of May. The dean and chapter obtained papal letters quashing the archbishop's sentence on 27 Sept. 1250: CPL i. 262-3.

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importunitatum uariarum grauitatibus. Datum Sutthon' in Kantia, feria vi, post octabas Sancte Trinitatis.8

53 (LIV)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Rogo paternitatis uestre sanctitatem ut per latorem presentium placeat uobis significare quid uestre sedeat circumspectioni super | f. 38Y celebratione missarum de Virgine ad deuotam instantiam domine Juette1 religiose recordationis, sororis uestre, in oratorio suo de Cofle2 per uestram prouidentiam inchoata. Manet enim expectans euentum mandati uestri dominus G., sacerdos ad prefatum officium assignatus exequendum, ad cuius petitionem presentem litteram scripsi, cum nullus super re tarn salubriter concepta et aliquamdiu laudabiliter continuata eidem uestram insinuauerit uoluntatem. Valeat, etc.

54 (LV)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Almam uirginem natam N. de Carru,1 quam nobilitas clari stemmatis (et) sanguis egregrius (insigniunt), que quoque ob indiuiduum Sponsi Viuifici consortium declinato prepollentis mariti connubio, recusans affluentium opum oblationem, et aspernans carnalium necessitudinum suasionem, et firmans celibis uite propositum, et desiderans institutionis religiose fastigium, et complectens euangelice sanctionis consilium,2 spiritu feruido salubriter attendit quod continentis anime nulla sit estimatio, scio quod ad sanctitatis uestre patrocinium, refugium pudicitie uirginalis, fiduciali deuotione recurrentem, in emulando pudoris niuei negotio nullatenus repellere sustinebit emulationis caste dementia. Quod et ego suppliciter obsecro utinam condigna sedulitatis instantia. 8

3 June 1250.

53 1 Cf. Letter 12. Juetta was a nun when Grosseteste wrote to her in c. 1231 about surrendering his benefices: Grosseteste Epistolae, pp. 45-7. 2 Possibly the Gilbertine priory of Catley (Lincolnshire).

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written. Given at Sutton in Kent, on Friday after the octave of Holy Trinity.8

53 (LIV)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln [Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln.] I beseech your fatherly holiness to signify through the bearer of this letter what you have decided regarding the celebration of masses of the Virgin, which you providentially instituted at the devout request of your sister, the lady Juetta of pious memory,1 in her oratory of Cofle.2 Sir G., the priest appointed to perform the said office, at whose request I have written this letter, hopefully awaits your command, for no one has indicated to him your wishes concerning this service so advantageously conceived, which has been continued in an admirable manner for some time.

54 (LV)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. I know that your benign feelings for the ideal of chastity will not allow you in any way to repel the gracious virgin N. de Carru,1 who in trust and devotion is seeking recourse to your holiness's patronage as a refuge for her virginal chastity. She is of noble descent and distinguished blood, and in order to be an undivided consort of the Spouse who confers life she has declined a distinguished marriage alliance and rejected the offer of wealth, despising the urge of carnal need and affirming her plan to live a celibate life. She desires the high calling of a religious institute, embracing the evangelical counsel2 and in her fervour of spirit considering continence of the soul to be beyond price. I too add my humble request to hers, hoping it will receive the pressing attention it deserves.

54 1 Carru (Carro, Carew), a family holding lands in Yorkshire as baronial tenants of the bishopric of Durham: PR 12 John, p. 160. Cf. Letter 106. 2 The 'evangelical counsels' are poverty, chastity, and obedience.

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Conseruet optabilem beatitudinis uestre sospitem Rex uirginum per Virginem Matrem in sempiternum. Amen.

55 (LVI)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1249) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Magistrum Adam de Bokefeld1 latorem presentium, quern tarn diuinorum eloquiorum quam litterarum humanarum professio reddit commendabilem, cui quoque super morum honestate laudabile plurimorum perhibetur testimonium, ad ecclesiam de Euere,2 sicut fatentur canonici de Oseneya, per decessum Gregorii de Crescentia uacantem, ut dicitur, canonice presentatum, et curandis animabus iuxta quod diuinitus dabitur asserentem se deuotum gerere propositum; humiliter supplico quatenus cum ad uestre dominationis sanctitatem accesserit, uelitis et familiariter suscipere, et salutaribus ad ecclesiasticam salutem exhortationibus animare, presertim si ipsum ad prefatam ecclesiam admitti contigerit. Valeat uestre paternitatis incolumitas in Christo, etc. Cum et fraudes uulpium et luporum uoracitates et seuitie" leonum immanius grassari conspiciantur, scio quod longanimis pontificalis excellentie constantia eo confidentius pergit in Ipsum, qui uirtutem in se solo roborans apostolicam, ait, 'In mundo pressuram, in me autem pacem habebitis; sed confidite quia ego uici mundum.' 3 Fateor si consternationem uis rationis excluderet, multum quidem per omnem modum letificaret quod perniciosius solito debacchari uideo castra malignantium. Plures enim sunt nobiscum quam contra nos. Sed quid? Sic rebus poterit esse consultum si uideamus, uigilemus, et oremus in benedicto Dei Filio dicente, 'ecce ego uobiscum sum usque ad consummationem seculi';4 'Si enim Ipse pro nobis quis contra nos?'5 'Data est michi', inquit, 'omnis potestas in celo et in terra.'6 Sit uobis uirtus, sapientia, sanctificatio, Christus Dei uirtus, Dei sapientia, Dei sanctificatio. Mundanos incursus superabimus si subigamus 55 * seuicias MS. 55 ' Adam of Buckfield was MA of Oxford by 1243 and taught in the Arts faculty through the 12405; he was the earliest of the Oxford masters whose commentaries on the libri naturales of Aristotle are still extant: J. A. Weisheipl in HUO i. 462-4; he was a canon of Lincoln in 1264 or 1265: BRUO i. 297.

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May the King of Virgins, through his Virgin Mother, for ever keep your beatitude in health.

55 (LVI)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1249) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. For Master Adam of Buckfield,1 bearer of this letter, who is commendable for his learning in both holy Scripture and humane letters, and whose upright life is praised by many people. He has, as the canons of Oseney declare, been canonically presented to the church of Tver,2 made vacant by the decease of Gregory de Crescentia, as is said; he declares his intention to devote himself to the cure of souls, as God gives him strength. I humbly beg you to receive him kindly when he comes to your lordship and to animate him with salutary exhortation to work for the salvation of the Church, especially in the event of his being admitted to the aforementioned church. Wishing your fatherly eminence health in Christ. At a time when we see the cunning of foxes, and rapacity of wolves, and the savagery of lions on the rampage, I know that your pontifical excellence turns with yet greater faith and confidence to Him who is the only source of apostolic strength, as He said: 'In the world you shall have distress; but have confidence; I have overcome the world.'3 I confess that if reason overpowered anxiety, I would in every way rejoice at the spectacle of more than customary raving in the camps of the wicked; for there are more with us than there are against us. Why? These things will be more advantageous for us if we watch, and pray with the blessed Son of God, saying 'Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world;'4 for 'if He is with us, who is against us?'5 'All power', He says, 'is given unto me in heaven and in earth.'6 May you possess strength, wisdom, holiness—Christ, the strength of God, the wisdom of God, the holiness of God. We shall overcome the onslaughts of the world if we subjugate the impulses of nature. I know 2 Iver (Buckinghamshire). Adam was instituted to the living in 1249—50: Rotuli Grosseteste, p. 379. 3 4 John 16: 33. Matt. 28: 20. 5 6 Rom. 8: 31. Matt. 28: 18.

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impetus animales. Noui quia nostis quid loquor. Nichil michi isto de uobis sub celo desiderabilius, sine quo nichil ualidum, nichil uerum, nichil uiuum bonumque expectabitur.

56 (LVII) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (December 1252-January 1253) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Ut arbitror ob nonnullas causas, tarn rationabiles quam salutares, rescripsistis domino Cantuariensi quod executio sententie excommunicationis ferende pro iniuria Cantuariensis ecclesie nuper in manerio de Lamee illata,1 que sermone multiplici longe lateque populum et clerum fama laborante repleuit, sine displicentia eiusdem domini dilationem suscipiat, quousque ad instans festum Sancti Hylarii2 Londinii pariter cum aliis episcopis presentiam ipsius personaliter adeatis. Quocirca hoc rogo humiliter supplicans, quod scio postpositis metu seuientium et blandentium illectu emulationis uestre uirtus circumspecta facere non cunctabitur, ut perpensis causarum meritis et Dei honorem et salutem ecclesie potissime respicientium, ad iteratam metropolitane auctoritatis obsecrationem sicut expedire censueritis, periculosa rerum magnarum negotia per processum commendabilem ad salutarem exitum promouere sanctitatis uestre curet studiosa sollicitudo. Valeat uestre pietatis optabilis incolumitas, etc. Mitto uobis litteram super re memorata a domino Cantuariensi michi transmissa; cuius occasione scripsi presentia. Sicut sepe scribo, ut ualueritis, uideritis, uolueritis.

56 1 In Nov. 1252, following a dispute over patronage between Aymer de Lusignan, bishop elect of Winchester and half-brother of the king, and Eustace of Lynn, Official of Archbishop Boniface, Aymer sent an armed party which broke into the archbishop's manor

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that you know of what I am speaking. I desire nothing more for you under heaven than this, without which we can look for nothing that is strong, nothing true, nothing living or good.

56 (LVII) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (December 1252-January 1253) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. On grounds I consider to be reasonable and salutary, you have written to the lord archbishop of Canterbury requesting that, without displeasing him, execution of the sentence of excommunication to be imposed on account of the damage recently done to the church of Canterbury on the manor of Lambeth,1 which has been much talked about by people and clergy everywhere, should be delayed until the feast of St Hilary,2 when you go with other bishops to meet him personally at London. Regarding this, knowing that your circumspection and zeal will not hesitate to act without fear of ferocious opposition or blandishments, I humbly beg your holiness to consider with care the merits of the case, the honour of God, and above all the safety of the Church, and to repeat your appeal to the authority of the metropolitan, as you think expedient, and to apply your holiness's zeal and solicitude to promote a sound process leading to a safe outcome from a dangerous affair. Wishing your good self the health you desire. I am sending you the letter on this subject which was passed to me by the lord archbishop of Canterbury, on occasion of which I have written the present letter. As I often write, be it as you are able, as you see fit, as you wish.

house at Lambeth and forcibly abducted Master Eustace: Chron. Maj. v. 348—52. The archbishop excommunicated all those responsible for this outrage. 2 13 Jan. On 13 Jan. 1253 bishops of the Canterbury province met in council at London with the purpose of reconciling Aymer de Lusignan: Councils & Synods, ii. 467-9.

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57 (LVIII) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Ut pacis bonum desiderabile inter inclitum uirum dominum *** etc.," Domino largiente, per sedulitatis uestre prudentiam reformandum laudabili mancipetur effectui, quia nullatenus iudicari debet alienum redemptis quod Redemptoris est proprium qui, ut ait apostolus, 'pacificauit per sanguinem crucis, siue que in celis sunt, siue que in terris',1 uobis inolitam rogo beneuolentiam, quatinus ob Illius contemplationem qui cunctis ad regnum suum pertinentibus tanta districtione pacis precepit unanimitatem inquirere, ad unitatis concordiam tarn odibile discrimen inter prefatas partes per uarias occasiones exortum, cum diuino patrocinio, reducere studeatis, secundum concessam uobis celitus sapientiam. Hec itaque dixerim non ut inflecterem animi rigorem, sed ut placide menti prestem occasionem. Si autem, quod absit, nequeatis opportune memorate paci consummande, ad quam laudabili laborastis circumspectione, personaliter adesse, nostrum erit, ut uideo, quietandis prouidere discordiis, ut pius pacificate compromissionis exitus propter presentiam spiritus corporali absentia nequaquam impediatur.*

58 (LIX)

To an anonymous clerk Domino" cum spiritu salutaris consilii spiritum valide fortitudinis. Aspiciamus Scripturam tarn succincto quam luculento sermone quales sint ad animarum regimen assumendi defmientem, ubi ait, 'Date e uobis uiros sapientes et gnaros quorum conuersatio sit probata in tribubus suis et dabo uobis eos principes.'1 Quid ergo? Numquid putabimus quod hos insinuet Dei eloquium quos etas iuuenilior per f. 39 fumosos libidinum estus, per inexpertas | fatuitatum caligines, per temeraria presumptionum precipitia horribiliter uexatos exagitat, et 57 * sic in MS. The copyist omitted the names of the parties concerned, possibly for diplomatic reasons. He evidently thought that the omission did not detract from the value of the letter as a b formula for peacemakers. impediat MS. The copyist omitted the valedictory clause here. 58 a Domino Lyncoln' MS. The copyist has headed this letter to Domino Lyncolniensi, overlooking the fact that it is obviously addressed to somebody else.

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57 (LVIII) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. I refer to the desirable good of restoring peace between the noble lord ***, etc. through your prudent efforts, for that should in no way be beyond the reach of the redeemed which is a property of the Redeemer, who, as the apostle says, 'made peace through the blood of his cross, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven'.1 I beg you of your natural benevolence, out of regard for Him who so sternly bade all who pertain to his kingdom to seek unanimity and peace, that you should take pains, according to the wisdom heaven has granted you, to reduce the hateful discord between the said parties arising from various occurences and with God's help restore unity and concord between them. I have said this not to lessen your strictness, but to serve your quietness of mind. If, however, you are unable to be personally present without inconvenience to complete the peacemaking for which you have laboured with such circumspection, which I hope will not be the case, then it will be for us, as I see it, to provide for the calming of discord, so that with your spiritual presence the happy outcome of a peaceful concord should in no way be hindered by your physical absence.

58 (LIX)

To an anonymous clerk Brother Adam to Sir *** wishing him a spirit of saving counsel and a spirit of true fortitude. Let us look at Scripture, which defines with illuminating words the kind of men who should be appointed to the governance of souls, where it says: 'Take you wise and understanding men, such whose conversation is approved among your tribes, and I will appoint them rulers over you.'1 What then? Shall we think that the word of God designates those of younger age, terribly agitated by the heat of lust, inclined by inexperience to folly, and given to rashness and pre57 ' Col. i: 20. 58 ' Deut. i: 13.

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non magis maturitatem prouectiorem quam purior honestas, quam exercitatior industria, quam confirmatior uirtus, honorabilior compositio pacificat? Propter quod si Scripturarum non obsistitur iussionibus, si rationum non contradicitur efficaciis, si sanctorum non obuenitur exemplis, nullatenus uideo qualiter uel fictum inueniri queat diffugium, quominus Christo uocanti per pium presulem in causa salutis nisi dampnabiliter obtemperetis. Quamobrem ergo propter animarum emulationem moneo, per beatissime Virginis honorem adiuro, per rubricatum saluifico cruore patibulum, quatinus superne dispensationi fiducialiter adquiescentes, omnes cuiuscunque uani pauoris ineptias penitus exterminetis, et nequaquam mundane musitationis disquisitionibus hereatis infirmiter, sed celestis operationis animos assumatis alacriter. Numquid manus Domini abbreuiata est ut saluare nequeat qui ait, 'Sine me nichil potestis facere'?2 an non 'qui sperant in Domino', etc.?3 Quis fore poterit locus diffidentie si attendamus apostolum dicentem, 'Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat, Christus'?4 Etsi sint uobis amici plurimi, puto consultissimum esse ut sit nobis in hac parte consiliarius unus e mille. Denique quia mee modicitatis poposcitis consilium, consulo in Domino quod sub ea qua potestis maturitate accedatis iuxta mandati sui tenorem ad reuerendissimum patrem dominum Lyncolniensem5 facturi secundum quod ipse disposuerit, qui, ut credo, spiritum Dei habet, et Ipsius uoluntatem sinceriter intendit, requisitus in negotiis salutaribus. Valeat uestre pietatis discretio in Christo semper et beatissima Geni trice.

59 (LX) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1250 ante November) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Est quidam uir uenerabilis eminentis litterature et honestioris uite, rectam et timoratam de curis animarum habens sententiam, sicut frequenter audiui per habitum cum eodem de talibus colloquium, magister Vincentius nomine, precipuus in societate domini Aedemari fratris domini regis,1 de quo magistro desiderarem quam plurimum 2

John 15: 5.

3

Isa 40: 31.

4

Phil. 4: 13.

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sumption, or not rather those of greater maturity, who are at peace with themselves and integrated, more pure, active, and hard-working and stronger in virtue? If we do not, therefore, resist the commands of Scripture, if we do not contradict the conclusions of reason, if we do not oppose the example of the saints, I fail to see how you can find any pretext to avoid without damnation obeying the call of Christ in the cause of salvation transmitted to you through a religious superior. For this reason, for the good of souls, I warn you for the honour of the Blessed Virgin, I adjure you by the Cross reddened by the saving blood, trustfully to acquiesce in what heaven has ordained, totally to expel all vain fear, and in no way to cling to the feeble whisperings of the world, but to take up the work of heaven with a prompt spirit. Is the reach of the Lord so short that he cannot save, who says 'without me you can do nothing'?2 or does He not say 'they that hope in the Lord, etc.'?3 What place can there be for lack of faith if we hear the apostle saying 'I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me'?4 Although you have very many friends, I think it is wisest in this matter to have one friend in a thousand. Lastly, as you have sought advice from my humble self, I counsel you in the Lord to go to the most reverent lord bishop of Lincoln in accordance with his mandate and to do as he determines;5 for he has, as I believe the spirit of God, and sincerely intends to do His will, when called upon to act in matters of salvation. Wishing your wisdom health ever in Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

59 (LX) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1250 ante November) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. There is a venerable man, an eminent scholar of honourable life, named Master Vincent, whom I should very much wish to enjoy a close association with you. He is a prominent person in the company of the lord Aymer, the brother of the lord king.1 He holds a right and 5 This advice suggests that this letter was possibly addressed to the prior of Newnham; cf. Letters 36 and 44.

59 ' Aymer de Lusignan, half-brother of Henry III, elected bishop of Winchester 4 Nov. 1250; expelled from England in 1258; consecrated 16 May 1260.

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quod haberet uobiscum familiare contubernium. Cui, nacta opportunitate, uellem ut aut scriptura aut colloquio preberetis huius rei fiduciam. Si credimus in lucrandis animabus celestibus insistendum (esse) uestigiis, considerari potest prouisiua apostolica regiminis sollicitudo, quam sedula circumspectione tumores prius lenitatis unguento" deliniuit, quos postmodum correptionis ferro transfigendos iudicauit discretus* doctor gentium: 'Argue', premisit, 'predica uerbum, insta opportune importune';2 et nequaquam increpationem commendauit, nisi prius precepisset obsecrationem, et denique consummationem faciens, subiungit, 'in omm patientia et doctrma'.3 Ea recito que nescio si quis te melius nouerit. Notam improbe presumptionis apud clementem animum spero non incurret deuota sollicitudo/

60 (LXI)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. luxta tenorem iussionis uestre egi apud dominam comitissam Leycestrie1 ut non molestaretur pro eo quod non misistis eidem lohannem de Leycestria, defuncto magistro H. coquo uestro, cui Deus remittat. Ipsa autem non tantum de beneplacito uestro non est molestata; immo sicut firmiter asseruit, si essent ei ministrorum optimi et quantumcunque necessarii, pleno promptitudinis gaudio dominationi uestre ministraturos eosdam concederet. Risum dolori miscuit carta michi transmissa, cuius caracteres propria manu uestri gratia conscripsistis, sic inchoata: 'Scripsissem tibi aliqua de delectabilibus et de anxiis, sed circumstantia anxietatis" et breuitas temporis non permiserunt.' Quarumuis etenim anxietatum usquequaque superuberent inundationes, ut* sit 'omne caput languidum et omne cor moerens, a planta pedis usque ad uerticem capitis non sit sanitas'?2 de delectabilium tamen inuentione tarn rara certitudinem ingessit insinuationis uestre discretio. Igitur ampliorem ingerit letitiam quod tetigistis; licet quid illud sit ignorem. Sicut iam tertio scripsisse me memini, doleo non mediocriter quoniam non uideo qualiter ante protensiora temporum interualla desideratiori 59

b

* unguendo MS.

60

' anxie MS. 2

2 Tim. 4: 2.

b

durus MS.

' The copyist has omitted the valedictory clause.

cum MS. 3

Ibid.

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God-fearing view of the cure of souls, as I have frequently gathered from conversation with him on such matters. When you have an opportunity, I should like you to show him, either in writing or conversation, that you trust him in these matters. If we believe that in order to win souls we must tread in the footsteps of heavenly teachers, you in your apostolic care and governance will be able to mark how the doctor of the Gentiles first treated tumours with the ointment of gentleness before he judged it necessary to pierce them with the iron of correction: 'Reprove,' he said first, 'preach the word, be instant in season and out of season';2 and he by no means commended rebuke unless he had first prescribed entreaty, and lastly, coming to the end, he adds 'with all long patience and doctrine'.3 I am rehearsing these things which no one knows better than you. I hope your kindness will not attribute my devotion and solicitude to shameless presumption.

60 (LXI)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. In accordance with the tenor of your bidding, I have represented to the lady countess of Leicester1 that she should not take it amiss that you have not sent her John of Leicester following the death of your cook H. (God grant him remission of sins). She, however, is not only not troubled about your goodwill, but indeed, as she firmly asserted, if she had the best of servants, however indispensable they might be to her, she would joyfully and promptly grant them to you to minister to your lordship. The letter sent me kindly written in your own hand produced in me a mixture of amusement and sorrow. It begins thus: 'I would have written to you something about my pleasures and anxieties, but the circumstances of my anxiety and lack of time did not permit.' Even if the floods of all sorts of anxieties have overflowed, so that 'the whole head is sick and the whole heart is sad, from the sole of the foot unto the top of the head',2 nevertheless your discreet hint assures me that something delightful has come your way, rarely though that happens. As I remember having written three times before, I am very sorry that I do not see how I shall be able for some time longer to enjoy a much 60

' Eleanor de Montfort, Countess of Leicester, 1238-75.

2

Isa. i: 5-6.

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paternitatis uestre frui ualeam colloquio non sine grandi causarum urgentia. Valeat uestre sanctitatis incolumitas, etc.

61 (LXII) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Pia uota carissimi in Christo *** rectoris ecclesie de Tingehurst1 ad uestre pietatis patrocinium obtinendi fauoris gratia suppliciter accedentis, rogo quatinus de consueta paterne prouisionis dementia prosequi non ducatis indignum. Licet ratio scribere non cogeret, tamen ut scriberem petentis induxit affectio. Valeat uestre beatitudinis pietas, etc.

62 (LXIII) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Ad instantiam honorabilis uiri Willelmi de Ludelawe1 in anxio sollicite compassionis dolore constituti, propter flebilem Hugonis de Mandeuile discipuli sui perturbationem, quam idem magister paternitati uestre si placet uoce tenus est expositurus, presentem domination! uestre scripsi petitionem, rogans humiliter ut de consueta prouide discretionis pietate, secundum rei exigentiam, Saluatoris intuitu salutare remedium in instanti necessitatis articulo uelitis impendere. Valete.

61 ' Fingest (Buckinghamshire). There is no record of a rector in Grosseteste's rolls; Roger of Stachesdene was rector in 1271: Rotuli Gravesend, p. 46.

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desired conversation with your fatherly person, unless there is some great and urgent cause. Wishing health to your holiness, etc.

61 (LXII) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. I ask that you would with your customary kindness deign to pursue the pious requests of our very dear rector of the church of Fingest,1 who humbly seeks your patronage to obtain a favour. Although reason did not compel me to write, however, affection for the petitioner led me to do so. Farewell, your beatitude.

62 (LXIII) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. I have written this request to your lordship at the instance of the honourable William of Ludlow.1 He feels sorrow, sympathy, and anxiety for the troubles of his pupil Hugh de Mandeville, which the said master will explain to you, if you please, by word of mouth. I humbly ask if, with your customary foresight and wisdom, you would be so good as, out of regard for our Saviour, to provide him with the saving remedy the case demands in his pressing need. Farewell.

62 1 Master William of Ludlow represented the Northern Nation of Oxford University in 1252: SAUO, p. 86; Chancellor of the University on 6 Apr. 1255: BRUO ii. 1172; canon of Hereford in May 1250: Oseney Cartulary, An. Man. v. 334.

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63 (LXIV) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1249 x 1250) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Quia uirum uenerabilem dominum lohannem archidiaconum Oxonie1 in regressu meo a uobis et uirium uigore et uiuacitate sensuum ex cronice ualetudinis uehementia, quod (est) non mediocriter plangendum, pene destitutum inueni, propter quod de cetero nisi cum euidenti animarum detrimento et dissipatione rerum familiarium, in iugi spiritus perturbatione, cure pastoralis officium nequaquam ualet administrare. Paternitatis uestre prouidentiam ex amici communis digna compassione compulsus sum interpellare tenore presentium. Igitur quia scio quod eum quern dilexistis in finem diligitis,2 omni precum instantia supplico sollicitius insistens, quatinus per circumspectam pie paternitatis sanctitatem deinceps memorati archidiaconi necessitatibus extremis, sine more dispendio, sic intercedere dignemini, ut amotis omnibus ecclesiastici regiminis | f. 39Y offendiculis, ad quod sine discrimine formidandi examinis ulterius sufficere manifeste desperatur, per residuum temporis nihil aliquatenus cogitetur, nisi qualiter libero tramite spiritus reuertatur ad Eum qui dedit ilium. Faucis litteram expediui quoniam pluribus non uacauit; et noui quod satis est fideliter amanti succinctius insinuasse. Siquidem occurrunt beate sorores,3 precipua regni celestis exemplaria,a Saluatori nuntiantes sub tarn perstricta breuitate quod tarn sollicite metuebant, aiendo, 'Ecce quern amas infirmatur.'3 Conuenientissimum puto fore et Domino acceptabile* archidiaconi Bedford'4 in hac parte consilium. Valeat, etc.

63 " ex'ria MS.

b

accepti MS.

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63 (LXIV) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1249 x 1250) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. On my return from you, I found the venerable lord John, the archdeacon of Oxford,1 almost destitute of strength and the use of his senses through the onset of chronic illness, which is much to be lamented. On this account he is in constant distress and is unable from now on to perform the duties of the pastoral care without evident detriment to souls and dissipation of his household property. Compassion for our common friend compels me to appeal to your fatherly providence in this letter. Because I know that he whom you have loved you love to the end, 2 1 beg your holiness with all urgency to arrange without delay for the archdeacon's last needs in such a way that, being relieved of the worries of ecclesiastical government which there is no longer any hope of his performing without danger of the dread judgement, for the time left to him there should be no thought except how his spirit may return with unhindered passage to Him who gave it. I have written in a few words because there was not time for more, because I had not time to write to many people; and I knew that to a faithful lover a very brief indication is enough. The example of the blessed sisters,3 conspicuous exemplars of the heavenly kingdom, occurs to me: they informed the Saviour of their anxiety and fears with such brevity, saying 'Behold he whom thou lovest is sick.'3 I think in this case the advice of the archdeacon of Bedford4 will be most appropriate and acceptable to the Lord. Farewell.

63

2 3

4

' John of St Giles; see Letter 33 n. 3. Cf. John 13: i. Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus: John 11:3. John of Dyham, archdeacon of Bedford c. 1246-60: Fasti, Lincoln, p. 43.

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64 (LXV)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Ad cogentem fraterne pietatis instantiam dominationi uestre presentem consensi scribere petitionem pro dominis P. et Ioh[anne] militibus, supplici rogans deuotione quatinus eisdem in perplexo sue necessitatis negotio" de consueta circumspectionis uestre dementia, si quo modo secundum Deum fieri ualeat, sic ad salutem consulatur eternam ut contra temporale prospiciatur detrimentum. Vereor ne sit importuna coacte sedulitatis interuentio, presertim cum hoc petatur ad quod assidue flagrat pii pectoris patrocinium, licet, ni fallor, obtinere non desiderem interpellando propter quod aut honor uioletur ecclesiasticus, aut delictis ministretur incentiuum. Valeat uestre sanctitatis, etc.

65 (LXVI) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Dominum Petrum de Stanford' custodem hospitalis de Lutrewrthe,1 uirum iuxta quod experimentorum docuit euidentia, et sapientem, et gnarum, et conuersatione laudabilem, pium in pauperes, in predicationibus uigilem, animarum sicut creditur zelo feruentem, quern nobilis uir dominus G[alfridus] Dispensator2 ad ecclesiam de Soleby,3 paternitati uestre presentandum censuit, ob Saluatoris contemplationem humiliter deprecor, cum ea qua possum affectione supplicans obnixius, quatinus uelitis in Christo, non sine sanctis sapientie salutaris exhortationibus, ad ecclesie memorate regimen admittere, eatenus qua uel sanctiones euangelice uel traditiones canonice non obsistere cognoueritis. Valeat uestre beatitudinis pia sanctitas in Christo semper et beatissima Virgine. 64

a

written above articulo expuncted.

65 ' Peter of Stamford was instituted as warden of Lutterworth Hospital in 1242-3: Rotuli Grosseteste, p. 419, where he is described as chaplain. Possibly the same Peter of Stamford who was instituted to the vicarage of All Saints, Stamford, in 1238—9: ibid. 36, 39. He was a clerk in Grosseteste's familia and witnessed several of his acta: Major, 'The familia of Grosseteste', p. 238.

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64 (LXV)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. Under the pressure of brotherly loyalty I have agreed to write to your lordship a petition on behalf of the lords P. and John, knights, humbly and devoutly requesting that with your usual kindness and prudence you would provide them with such support in the intricate negotiation of their debt as may avail to their eternal salvation without detriment to their worldly prospects, if this may be achieved in a manner acceptable to God. I fear that the intervention I have been pressed to make may be importunate, especially as the patronage sought is one that your kind heart burns to give, though, unless I am deceived, I would not desire to obtain by my request anything by which the honour of the Church would be besmirched or an incentive provided for wrongdoing. Farewell, your holiness.

65 (LXVI) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. The noble lord Geoffrey Despencer2 has decided to present to your fatherly goodness for the church of Sulby3 Sir Peter of Stamford,1 the warden of Lutterworth Hospital. He is a man shown by trial to be wise, understanding, and of praiseworthy life, one who is devoted to the poor, vigilant in preaching, and believed to be fervent in his zeal for souls. I humbly beseech you in all affection out of regard for the Saviour to admit him to the said church, not without wise and holy exhortation, so far as to your knowledge the precepts of the Gospel and canonical tradition present no obstacle to his appointment. Ever wishing your beatitude health in Christ and the Blessed Virgin. 2 Geoffrey Despencer was one of the literate knights of the royal household; he was a member of the king's council in the 12403. As such he was granted a number of wardships. He held fees in Northamptonshire and elsewhere in the Midlands: Book of Fees, pp. 843, 845, 851, etc. Mattew Paris noted his death in 1251: Chron. Maj. v. 245. Following his death a mandate to survey his lands was issued on 24 May 1251: CPR 1247-58, p. 100. 3 Sulby (Northamptonshire). His institution is not recorded.

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66 (LXVII) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Scio quia paternitatis uestre melius nouit prouida consideratio quam pie uigilare debeat salutaris diligentie sollicitudo, meritis pensatis, et deliberatis et in maturitate morum, et in eminentia litterarum, et in operationis integritate, et in honestatis emulatione, cum ad impendendam eruditionem scolastici regiminis (turn) propter ydoneam iuvenilis pietatis institutionem, super quam ecclesiastici culminis structura celestis erigenda, gubernanda, consummanda fore cognoscitur. Proinde licet in confectione presentium calamus tremuisset, ad instantiam tarn excellentis testimonii sanctitatem uestram interpellare consensi pro uiro laudabili magistro Willielmo de Grimele, in quern presignate, sicut reor, ad officium huiuscemodi concurrunt circumstantie, quatinus uenerabili uiro magistro N[icolao], Lincolniensis ecclesie cancellario,1 pro memorato magistro Willielmo, si pietatis uestre sederit beneplacito, petitoriam dirigere de consueta dignationis dementia non ducatis indignum, ut eundem iam per dies multos Oxonie liberalibus rudimentis2 laudabiliter insudantem ad gubernaculum scolarum Lincolniensium si eas, ut dicitur, uacare contigerit, ad festum Sancti Michaelis3 proximo futuri uelit admittere. Valeat, etc.

67 (LXVIII) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1252) Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Ex salutis desiderio ob diuinitatis honorem, sicut reor, frequentius actum est et consultius deliberatum ut dominus Aimarus, frater domini regis,1 uobiscum haberet examinatum in Christo de statu suo colloquium. Quid igitur vultis agam? Quanta possum supplico cordis instantia ut placeat piissime paternitati uestre, ad Ipsum in omnibus iugiter anelanti 'qui vult omnes homines saluos fieri',2 michi 66

' Nicholas of Wadingham, chancellor of Lincoln (-.1238-64/5: Fasti, Lincoln, p. 17.

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66 (LXVII) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. I know that your fatherly thoughtfulness is well aware of the anxious care needed with long and careful thought, with respect to maturity of behaviour, scholarly achievement, and integrity of life, both for that part of school education which consists in imparting knowledge, and for that appropriate fostering of piety in the young on which the structure of the Church's heavenly governance is known to be erected, directed, and brought to completion. So, although my pen trembled as I wrote this letter, I was persuaded by such an excellent report and agreed to solicit your holiness on behalf of the admirable Master William of Grimele, in whom, as I think, the qualifications for an office of this kind are combined. I ask that you would, if you please, with your customary kindness be so good as to address a request to Master Nicholas, Chancellor of the church of Lincoln,1 to admit the said Master William, who has for many days now toiled over teaching the rudiments2 of the liberal arts at Oxford, to govern the schools of Lincoln on the next feast of St Michael,3 if it is the case that they are vacant, as they are said to be.

67 (LXVIII) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (1252) Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. Out of desire for his salvation, and I think for the honour of God, there have been frequent moves and deliberations to secure that the lord Aymer, the king's brother,1 should have a searching discussion with you in Christ about his position. So what do you wish me to do? As you constantly yearn for Him 'who will have all men to be saved',2 2 3

'rudiments of the liberal arts' suggests the subjects of the trivium. 29 Sept.

67 ' Aymer de Lusignan, bishop-elect of Winchester since 4 Nov. 1250, half-brother of 2 King Henry. i Tim. 2: 4.

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rescribere sine more dispendio quando et ubi quibusque opportunitatibus fieri ualeat, quod dictus dominus Aimarus iam diu optatam dominationis uestre presentiam commodius adire ualeat,a maturius a diuinitus uobis inspirata sapientia superne propitiationis consilium inter tanta perditionis discrimina propitia diuinitate suscepturus.3 Desiderat quoque memoratus dominus Aimarus, ut et ego una cum ipso uestre me presentarem pietati. Quod qualiter hoc opportune fieri ualeat, sicut uos melius nostis, scire nequeo, propter occupationum mearum detinentias. Vtinam et de corporis incolumitate, et tranquillitate mentis, et ecclesiastici moderaminis profectu, ad uestram pertinentibus sanctitatem potissimum in Domino affectata consolatio, michi per latorem presentium, si tamen uestre sederit dignationi, insinuetur. Tremuit enim anceps sollicitudo pro eo quod dudum super hiis nichil acceperim nisi quod incertum fame relatu diuulgatur. Valeat, etc.

68 (LXIX) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Magistrum Henricum de Thorney,1 uirum quern censeo uita honestum, circumspectum discretione, litteratura prouectum et ydoneum elocutione, cum discipulo suo Ricardo de Patesille, sicut audio, iuuene moris mansueti et bone spei, pro sui status emendatione, ut decet, ad pietatem uestre paternitatis accedentem supplico humiliter quatinus consueta sanctitatis dementia suscipiatis, eisdem secundum quod diuino servietur honori et saluti prouidebitur animarum, patrocinium fauoris prouisiui exhibentes. Valeat uestre beatitudinis incolumitas, etc.

67 * The copyist has omitted something here, as is indicated also by the anacoluthon of the following sentence. 3 The reference to Aymer's dangerous position probably relates to his dispute with the Official of Archbishop Boniface, in pursuance of which he had ordered an armed body of men to break into the archbishop's manor house at Lambeth to kidnap the offending

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I beg you, good father, with all my heart, to write back to me without delay to say when and where there may be opportunity for the said lord Aymer conveniently to meet your lordship, as he has long desired, and with heaven's blessing to receive the wise advice that God inspires you to give him, as he stands in such great risk of damnation.3 The lord Aymer also desires that I too should come with him to meet you. I do not know how this can be done, in view of the business which detains me, as you well know. I could wish that you would through the bearer of this letter send me some much desired information about your holiness's physical health and peace of mind and about the progress of church governance. I am troubled by doubt and anxiety because I have not for a long time received any information about these things other than what is communicated by fickle rumour. Farewell.

68 (LXIX) To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. I humbly beg your holiness to receive with your customary kindness Master Henry of Thorney, a man I judge to be honourable, discreet, well learned, and suitably articulate, with his pupil, Richard de Pateshull, who, as I hear, is a young man of gentle character and good promise, who is approaching your fatherly goodness for the improvement of his status, as is fitting. I beg you to extend to them your prudent favour and patronage in so far as it will serve the honour of God and the salvation of souls. Wishing health to your beatitude.

Official. The archbishop together with the bishops of Chichester and Hereford had in Nov. 1252 excommunicated all those responsible for the outrage: Chron. Maj. v. 348—52. Aymer was granted absolution by a synod of the Canterbury province on 13 Jan. 1253: ibid. 359; Councils & Synods, ii. 467—9. 68

' BRUO iii. 1866.

lyo

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69 (LXX)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Domino Lyncolniensi Prater Ada. Scripsi fratri Thome de Eboraco,1 subiectissimo reuerentie uestre famulo, discreto et beneuolo, et in omnibus que ad salutem spectant animarum ardenti uigore celitus inflammato, etc." Et ut ampliori miseratione moueamini super monasterio de Beletun,2 quod est specialiori prerogatiua uestre sanctitatis licet nouella plantatio, colono quod plantauit rigante, Domino autem, sine quo neque qui plantat neque qui rigat aliquid est, incrementum dante,3 cum letiori spei expectatione habundantiores salutis fructus in Christo prolatura, plurimum est desiderabile ut hie more dispendium non ingerat, quamuis iugiter ingruant* tarn uaria occupationum turbamina, obliuionis que absit iniuria.

70 (LXXI) To Walter Cantilupe, bishop of Worcester f. 40 Domino Wigorniensi1 Prater Ada, et a Dei Filio cum spiritu scientie spiritum pietatis. Tanto confidentius ad serenissimam dominationis uestre excellentiam in causa salutis supplicaturus accedo, quanto feruentius supereffluentem pii pectoris clementiam saluandis animabus anelare conspicio. Proinde cum nuper repperi" Robertum clericum latorem presentium, qui sicut asserit in monasterio *** ordinis Cisterciensis per sedulum uestre sanctitatis patrocinium castris dominicis fuerat associatus, licet ante* professionem emissam religionis tamen habitum per iuuenilem inspientiam exuerit, tactus compassione cordis intrinsecus eidem nichil consultius fore putaui quam, ut pro sue salutis reparatione ad benignum sue conuersionis patronum sine more dispendio recurreret. Nouit namque uestre paternitatis inolita 69 70

" sic in MS. * repperivi MS.

b

ingruat MS. k autem MS.

69 ' Thomas of York had joined the Friars Minor not later than 1245; he incepted in theology at Oxford in 1253, after opposition from the university on the grounds that he

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69 (LXX)

To Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln Brother Adam to the lord of Lincoln. I have written to brother Thomas of York,1 your reverence's most obedient servant, who is energetic, discreet, and well disposed, and fired by heaven with a burning ardour for all things pertaining to the salvation of souls, etc. And, in order that you would be moved to more extensive compassion for the monastery of Belton,2 which is in your holiness's special care, which though a new plantation—watered by the husbandman who planted it, but the Lord, without whom neither he who plants nor he who waters it is anything, giving the increase3—it is deeply desirable that, though you are constantly assailed by a variety of troubles, forgetfulness, heaven forbid, should not here do damage by causing wasteful delay with the joyful hope of bearing more abundant fruit in Christ.

70 (LXXI) To Walter Cantilupe, bishop of Worcester Brother Adam to the lord of Worcester,1 from the Son of God the spirit of knowledge with the spirit of piety. When making a supplication concerning a matter of salvation, I approach your most serene lordship all the more trustingly as I observe the abundant goodness and fervour with which you pursue the salvation of souls. I recently met the bearer of this letter, a clerk named Robert, who had, as he asserts, through the care and patronage of your holiness been made a member of the Lord's army in a monastery of the Cistercian Order. Although before making his profession he had in the foolishness of his youth discarded the habit of religion, I felt sympathy for him and thought he would be best advised to restore himself to grace by returning without delay to the kind patron who was the agent of his conversion. For in your had not previously incepted in arts; it fell to Adam to press his case; cf. Letters 26, 192; BRUO iii. 2139-40; Little, 'Franciscan School'; Lawrence, 'The letters'. 2 3 Belton = Grace Dieu; see above, Letter 26n. 8. Cf. i Cor. 3: 6—7. 70

' Walter Cantilupe, bishop of Worcester 1236—66.

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benignitas, quia indefessa studii salutaris pietate pium patrem satagit emulari, qui filium de regione dissimilitudinis reuertentem non tantumc in gradum paterne dilectionis restituit, uerum etiam propensiori gratia magnifici honoris ampliauit.2 Quid ergo? Scio quia non est necessaria petitorie^ persuasio littere prolixioris ubi liberalitas latissimi cordis beneuolentis uel leuiter insinuatam paterna sollicitudine filialem necessitatem in se transferre non desistit, aiens cum apostolo, 'Quis infirmatur', etc.3 Quamobrem sciens cui loquor, succingo sermonem, cum prefato sanctitatis uestre filio piam paternitatem uestram pronus obsecrans, quatinus ob Ipsius contemplationem, qui post quantoscunque excessus quotiescunque iteratos regredientem animam intra superbenignos sinus clementer admissurus, 'Tu autem', inquit, 'fornicata es cum amatoribus multis; tamen reuertere ad me, dicit Dominus, et ego suscipiam te',4 deuotam euangelice prolis penitentiam et misericorditer suscipere et sapienter dirigere et dignanter reconciliare uelitis. Custodiat uobis oro, pater desideratissime, et uirtutem inuictam et indeceptam prudentiam et irremisibilem diligentiam, ad beatam salutis operationem, benedictus Saluator ecclesie sue sancte per tempora longiora meritis beatissime Virginis.

71 (LXXII) To Walter Cantilupe, bishop of Worcester (1252) Domino Wigorniensi Prater Ada. Ex felici caritatis communione beatam ueritatis uisionem. Quam sereno de excelso respicit altissimus Amator uniuersorum indefessam lati cordis amicitiam, quam nunquam experitur fatiscere amorum saltern intellecta necessitas. Indicium est profecto quod in mentis habitu iugiter ilia uiuat, de qua loquens singularis Ille amicus fidelium, 'maiorem', inquit, 'caritatem nemo habet', etc.1 Benedicta diuinitatis eterna miseratio, suboriri uidetur apud dominum regem quasi noua lux dispensationis celice in negotiis comitis Leycestrie.2 c

tamen MS. 2 3

d

petitoria MS.

The reference is to the prodigal son, Luke 15: 13-24. 4 2 Cor n: 29. Jer. 3: i.

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untiring zeal to save, your fatherly kindness tries with all his might to emulate the good father who, when his son returned from a far country, not only restored him to his place in his father's love, but even heaped greater honour upon him.2 What therefore? I know a petition has no need of the persuasion of a longer letter, where a wide and generous heart does not hesitate to make its own the need of a son, even though lightly hinted at, saying with the Apostle, 'Who is weak?', etc.3 Therefore knowing to whom I am speaking, I cut short my words, and with your holiness's aforementioned son I humbly beseech you to have pity on him out of regard for Him who admits to his most gracious bosom the soul returning after how many and how often repeated transgressions, saying 'Thou hast prostituted thyself to many lovers; nevertheless return to me, says the Lord, and I will receive thee.'4 And I ask that you would mercifully receive the repentance of your evangelical child and would direct him wisely and worthily reconcile him. May the blessed Saviour long preserve, I pray, your unconquered strength, your undeceived prudence, and your unremitting diligence for the blessed work of salvation and his Holy Church, through the merits of the Blessed Virgin.

71 (LXXII) To Walter Cantilupe, bishop of Worcester (1252) Brother Adam to the lord of Worcester. A happy communion in charity confers the blessed vision of truth. How serenely the Most High lover of all things looks down from above upon the tireless friendship of a generous heart, which never knows love to fail in face of a need that is understood. It is truly a sign that that love lives in our minds constantly, of which that special friend of the faithful speaks, saying 'greater love hath no man', etc.1 Blessed be the eternal mercy of God, a kind of new light of heavenly origin seems to have arisen to affect the lord king in his dealings with the earl of Leicester.2 71

' John 15: 13. Cf. Letter 30; the reference is apparently to the trial of Montfort, at which Cantilup had initially been present and supported the earl, to whom he remained a loyal friend during the ensuing troubles. 2

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Prestet perhenniter uobis, oro, Altissimus largitio et spiritum salutaris consilii et spiritum inuicte fortitudinis ad Dei gloriam et salutem hominum in Christo lesu, etc.

72 (LXIII) To Richard de Wych, bishop of Chichester Reuerendissimo in Christo patri et domino, Ricardo, Dei gratia Cicestrensi episcopo,1 Prater Ada dictus de Marisco salutem et subiunctum sincere deuotionis famulatum. Litteram dominationis uestre, que sanctam emulationem saluandarum animarum euidenti preferebat diligentia, cum ea que decuit ueneratione modicitatis mee quantum ualuit humiliter suscepit insufficientia, promptam gerens uoluntatem ut tarn in hac parte quam in omnibus quantumcunque michi dignum duxerit precipienda uestre sanctitatis pia discretio, quatinus diuinitus concedetur, paternitatis uestre cum effectu, sicut dignum est, obtemperetur iussionibus. Proinde apud uenerabilem patrem ministrum nostrum,2 sicut ualuero, laborare curabo, ut in eo quod mandastis uestre sanctitatis beneplacitum impleatur. Conseruet benedictus Dei Filius per interuentum beatissime Virginis uestre beatitudinis incolumitatem ecclesie sue sancte per tempora longiora.

73 (LXXIV) To Walter Cantilupe, bishop of Worcester (1253) Domino Wigorniensi Prater Ada, et post pacem temporis gloriam eternitatis. Pro eo quod desiderabilem dominationis uestre serenitatem, cui per deuotam exiguitatis mee subiectionem super qualemcunque mei spiritus exhibet presentiam, hac uice personaliter adire nequiui, quamuis dolor anxiet, tamen sperans expectatio letificat, quoniam implendum, diuinitate propitia, confido, quod nunc dilatum queror, nee immerito, cum per Saluatoris gratiam expeditis ecclesie uestre negotiis ad partes uestras cum salute uos redire contigerit. Parcat

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I beg that the Most High may grant you generously the spirit of saving counsel and a spirit of unvanquished fortitude, for the glory of God and the salvation of men in Christ Jesus.

72 (LXIII) To Richard de Wych, bishop of Chichester Brother Adam, called Marsh, to the most reverend father in Christ and lord, Richard, by the grace of God bishop of Chichester,1 greetings and thereto sincere and devoted service. Your lordship's letter, displaying a holy zeal for the salvation of souls, was received by my humble and ineffectual self with the veneration due to it; with the assurance of my ready will to comply effectively with your paternal commands, so far as heaven allows, both in this matter and in anything whatsoever that your holiness thinks fit to bid me. Accordingly I shall take pains to work with the venerable father, our minister,2 to ensure that your holiness's wishes may be fulfilled in accordance with your injunctions. May the blessed Son of God preserve your beatitude for his holy church through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin for a long time to come.

73 (LXXIV) To Walter Cantilupe, bishop of Worcester (1253) Brother Adam to the lord of Worcester. After the peace of time the glory of eternity. I offer your serene lordship the humble devotion of my spirit. The fact that on this occasion I am unable to come to you in my person pains me; however, I rejoice in hopeful expectation, for I am confident that, with divine favour, the pleasure whose postponement I now lament will be fulfilled. It will be deserved, when it comes about that, thanks to our Saviour, you have safely returned to your district with the affairs of your church settled. I pray that the Lord 72

2

' Richard de Wych, bishop of Chichester 1245-53. William of Nottingham, Provincial Minister 1240-54.

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michi Dominus, oro, ne cum detrimento tranquille uacationis ad parleamentum1 occupationis inquiete aliquatenus cogar accedere. Spero siquidem quod per clementiam diuine dispensationis illi salutarium necessitatum articuli, de quibus est indefessa sancte paternitatis uestre sedulitas, ad gloriam diuini nominis et salutem fidelis populi laudabiliter perducentur.2 Si apud meam insufficientiam aliquid consilii per illuminationem celice dignationis queat inueniri, uestra nouit benigna sublimitas illud sibi, sicut dignissimum est, supplicissime seruiturum. Concedat utinam, oro, 'Christus pontifex futurorum bonorum'3 uestri presulatus beatitudini sic iugiter administrare quod regendum suscepit diuinitus, ut quod prudenter discernitis, cohibetis temperanter, agitis fortiter, iusteque distribuitis, per sanctam superne sapientie moderantiam ad ilium finem dirigatis in quo Deus erit omnia in omnibus, eternitate certe et pace perfecta.4 Valeat uestre celsitudinis incolumitas, etc.

74 (LXXV) To Fulk Basset, bishop of London £41 Reuerendissimo in Christo patri et domino, F[ulconi], Dei gratia Londiniensi episcopo, Fratres W. prior Fratrum Predicatorum Londiniensium, A. gardianus Fratrum Minorum Londiniensium, et Thomas de Hales, supplicissimum digne deuotionis famulatum.1 Scimus, domine uerandissime, quod et melius nouit clara uestre pietatis industria, Christum Dei Filium, Dei uirtutem, Dei sapientiam, Dei iustitiam, Dei sanctificationem, Amatorem animarum, non nisi ad sui ipsius diuinissimam comparationem ex Euangelio sub inexplicabili districtione celestes eminentias eorum, qui pascendis animabus sunt euocandi, exquisitissima prefinirea diligentia; certe ut is dumtaxat ad sanctam saluifice pastionis curam, ceteris omnibus districtius arcendis, ecclesiastico regimini preficiendum assumatur qui summa satagit uigilantia, primitus ut non intret nisi per ostium; secundo, ut proprias oues uocet nominatim; tertio, ut emittat eas ad 74

a

prefinientem MS.

73 ' Probably the assembly of bishops and lay magnates that met 4-13 May 1253, in response to the king's request for a subsidy: Chron. Maj. v. 373—4, 377, at which the clergy presented a list of complaints over the infringement of ecclesiastical liberties. 2 The articuli, which Cantilupe may have drafted, were the gravamina presented by the clergy in 1253, printed from the Burton Annals in Councils & Synods, ii. 469-72.

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will spare me from being compelled to attend the parliament1 with all its disturbing business, to the loss of peace and leisure. I hope indeed that, by God's kind dispensation, those salutary and necessary articles2 for which your holiness has worked with untiring solicitude will be praised and carried out, to the glory of the divine name and the salvation of the faithful people. If by the light of God's condescension my inadequate self can offer any counsel, it will be, as is most fitting, at your humble service as your gracious highness knows. I pray that 'Christ, the high priest of good things to come'3 may grant your beatitude so to govern what heaven has appointed you to rule that you direct your subjects with prudence, discernment, gentle compulsion, vigorous action, and fair distribution, under the rule of heavenly wisdom, to that end in which God shall be all in all, in eternity and perfect peace.4 Wishing your highness health.

74 (LXXXV) To Fulk Basset, bishop of London Brother W. prior of the Friars Preachers of London, Brother A. warden of the Friars Minor of London, and Thomas Hales, to the most reverend father in Christ and lord Fulk, by the grace of God bishop of London,1 most humble and devoted service. We know, most venerable lord, as is better known to your renowned goodness and application to duty, that Christ the Son of God, the power of God, the wisdom of God, the justice of God, and sanctification of God, the lover of souls, preordains with exquisite care those who are to be called to be pastors of souls with a heavenly eminence comparable only to that of his divine self; surely this is so that all others are to be rejected, and he alone is to be appointed to the holy and saving office of pastor who strives with the utmost vigilance firstly, not to enter except by the door, secondly, to call his own sheep by their names, thirdly, to send them out to pasture, 3

Heb. 9: ii.

4

Augustine; see Letter 8n. 14.

74 1 This letter relates to patronage in the diocese of London. Although Adam's name does not appear in the address, it is clear from the syntax, vocabulary, sentiments, and quotations that the letter was composed by him, presumably at the request of the London friars.

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pascua; quarto, ut ante eas uadat; quinto, ut uocem eius audiri ab eis efficiat; sexto, ut animam suam pro illis ponat.2 Quid est autem intrare per hostium nisi per Christum introire? Ipso dicente, 'Ego sum hostium',3 quod est in introitu Christo conformari in miti humilitate, in tenui paupertate, in salutari acerbitate. Quid uero est proprias oues uocare nominatim, nisi singulos subditorum per motus suarum affectionum, per studia suarum occupationum, per discrepantias suarum fortunarum cum benigno subuentionis desiderio distinctius designare? Quid etiam est eas emittere ad pascua, nisi de excessibus culpe, de erroribus ignorantie, de defectibus impotentie ipsas per pie sollicitudinis adiutorium uitalibus reficiendas alimentis educere? Quid est insuper ante eas ire, nisi per formam iuste uiuendi, per censuram iuste iudicandi, per ritum pie colendi, ipsis se imitandum exhibere? Quid est adhuc ut uocem eius audiant efficere, nisi ad hoc idem et Dei patrocinium et angelorum presidium et sanctorum suffragium per indefessam orationis piissime obtinere?* Quid est denique animam suam pro illis ponere, nisi per carnis castigationem, per cordis compunctionem, per libidinum abdicationem, presentis uite iocunditatem penitus interimere, sicque seipsum pro eisdem 'hostiam uiuam, sanctam, Deo placentem'4 perseueranter immolare? Cum ergo hec sit senaria supernorum karismatum perfectio, que ad curam celici pastionis agendam secundum immutabilia pastoris eterni decreta, sicut ex hiis sanctionis diuine sententiis liquet, exigitur, quam detestandum seculis omnibus censebitur esse piaculum pestibus nephariis, aut auctoritatis officio, aut consilio cooperationis, sanctuarium Saluatoris aperire. Illos loquimur qui, per regiminis ecclesiastici officium pastorale, et peruicacius arrogantes honorem et onus declinantes omnimodis, tarn fastum caduce potestatis, quam questum mobilis affluentie, quam etiam luxum fluentis lasciuie, frontosissime uoracitatis auiditate insatiabili sibi suisque necessaria' procurare non formidant, celestia detractando ministeria, et ineptias sectando mundiales; quos, sicut regni Dei hostes atrocissimos scriptura diuinitatis pronuntiat filios Belial, nescientes Dominum neque officium sacerdotum ad populum; et alibi 'canes mutos non ualentes latrare' appellat.5 Canes, inquam, impudentissimos, nescientes saturitatem. Hii sunt quos hiis diebus dampnatissimis ubique cernimus, proh * optimate MS.

' necessariis MS.

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fourthly, to lead them, fifthly, to make them hear his voice, sixthly to lay down his life for them.2 But what is it to 'enter by the door' except to enter through Christ? as He himself says, 'I am the door';3 that is to say, on entering to be conformed to Christ in gentleness and humility, in meagre poverty, in salutary severity. What is it to 'call one's sheep by their names' except to distinguish one's subjects clearly by their affections, their occupations and their differing fortunes, with a kind desire to provide them with support? And what is it to 'send them out to pasture' except to help them with pious solicitude to draw them away from the excesses of sin, the errors of ignorance and their failing powers, to be refreshed by the food of life? Above all, what is it to 'lead them' except to offer himself as an example for them to imitate, by a righteous way of life, by the practice of judging with justice, by pious performance of religious observances? What is it to 'make them hear his voice' except to obtain for them by constant and tireless prayer the favour of God, the protection of angels, and the intercession of the saints? Finally, what is it to 'lay down his life for them' except by the castigation of his flesh, the compunction of his heart, and the renunciation of lust, utterly to destroy the pleasures of the present life, and to persevere in offering himself as 'a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God'?4 Since, therefore, this sixfold perfection of celestial charisms is demanded for the performance of the pastoral office, according to the changeless decrees of the eternal Pastor, as is apparent from these divine judgements, what a detestable sin will it be considered for all ages to open the sanctuary of the Saviour to nefarious pests either by an exercise of authority or by advice and cooperation. We are speaking of those who obstinately use the pastoral office of ecclesiastical government to arrogate the honour to themselves and in every way avoid the burden, and have no fear in procuring the pride of transitory power and the quest for wealth, and even in indulging the excesses of fleeting lust and procuring for themselves with an insolent and insatiable greed, dishonouring the sacred ministry and pursuing worldly follies. Scripture calls them sons of Belial, as being dreadful enemies of the kingdom of God, ignorant of the Lord or of the priestly duty to the people; and elsewhere it calls them dumb dogs, unable to bark5—most shameless dogs, I say, which know no satiety. We see these people everywhere, alas, in these most damnable 2 4

Cf. John 10: 2-4, n. Rom. 12: i.

3 5

Ibid. 10: 7. Isa.