Thomas

Gascoigne
Historical

and
and

Robert
Critical

Grosseteste:
Notes

SERVLIS GIEBEN

may be more than one reason why that scholarly Chancellor

of the University of Oxford, Thomas Gascoigne, had a particular
Robert Grossetestei .
devotion for his predecessor
Beryl Smalley
that
it
was
who
linked both Chancellors together
St.
Jerome
suggested
over the gap of two centuries.2 As a matter of fact, Gascoigne's program
for the University in the mid-fifteenth
century was a patristic revival
an effective and authentic
reform of the clergy.
which proposed
It was to bring them to a more learned and less scholastic, more biblical
and less financial involvement in their ministry, particularly in preaching.
of scholarship
It seemed to him that the combination
and spiritual
in
was
the ideal
of
the
Bible
found
works,
Jerome's
interpretation
that ought to be imitated. In his day Gascoigne could not find anyone
who came so close to Jerome's spirit as Grosseteste.
Odd to say, it was
the
unscholastic
strain
of
Grosseteste's
precisely
exegetical writings,
and archaic,
obsolete
that
which to his contemporaries
appeared
of
him
the
gained
grateful sympathy
Gascoigne.
These general and correct statements
may be further illustrated
various
circumstances
and
to
the
by referring
by
background.
According
to his own words Gascoigne started collecting materials for his principal
work, the Dictionarium theologicum, in 14-343. That same year he had
here

I The basicstudyon ThomasGascoigneis still WinifredA. Pronger, "ThomasGascoigne",English

LIII(1938),606-626; LIV (1939), 20-37;see also the excellententry in DNB,
HistoricalReview,
to the Universiyof
VII (tgo8), 920-923,by R. L. Poole and A. B. Emden, A Biographical
Register

Oxfordto A.D. i 500,II (Oxford, 19S8),pp. 74S-7,+8.

2 Beryl Smalley,"The BiblicalScholar",in RobertGrosseteste,
Scholarand Bishop.Essaysin Commemorationof the SeventhCentenaryof hisDeath.Editedby D. A. Callus(Oxford, 19 H) p. 96.
3 " ... quam expositionem... ego ThomasGascoigne,in Eboracensidiocesi in Anglianatus,
vidi Oxonie anno Domini i434 quandoincepi secundumformamtabule et secundumordinem
litterarum alphabetilibrum seu scriptumde veritatibuscollectisex sacrascriptura et ex scriptis
sanctorumet doctorum". ThomasGascoigne,Dictionarium
(MS Lincoln Collegelat.
theologicum
extractsof this work havebeen printed by J. E. ThoroldRogersunder the title
t i8, p. I 4a) Some
.
Locie libro Veritatum.
Passagesselected from Gascoigne'stheologicaldictionary,illustratingthe
56

in theology at Oxford'.
his mastership
Being no more an
he
ventured
to
ask
from
the Greyfriars
permission
undergraduate,
to visit the famous library of their friary. In those days there were two
that of the undergraduates
and the other of
libraries at Greyfriars:
the friary itself2. It is open to discussion whether this double library
was due to the reaction of the Friars when in i 4 2 they were no longer
allowed to use the University library3. In any case the young doctor
was anxious to see the library of the friary, for it contained the precious
had bequeathed
collection of important books that Robert Grosseteste
to the Friars 'because of his love for Friar Adam Marsh'4. Among
them were many autographs of the Lincoln Bishops, and even a pair of
his sandals were jealously preserved there as relics6. Gascoigne must
have been fascinated by this superb collection of books he needed so
much for his work. No other library was used by him more assiduously
his academic career. He explicitly mentions in his Dictiothroughout
narium that he worked there in het years 1 434,
14SS and
obtained

conditionof Church and State, ?4o3-i448 (Oxford, 1 88 I ).

However, since the selectionis by
no meansexhaustiveand the edition aboundsin errors of transcription,my referensesare given
fromthe manuscripts.
I Emden,p. j46.
2 Gascoignewasthe firstto note thisfact,e.g.: "estille liber in librariaconventussed non in libraria
studentium.Due enim sunt ibidemlibrarie inter fratres minoresOxonie" (MS LincolnCollege
see also ibid. p. I I4aand MSLincolnCollegelat. i 18, p. t 6aand p. 89a.
lat. 1 1 7,p.
3 Munimenta
Academica
(ed. H. Anstey,RollsSeries,18 6 8),
p. 2 64.On the libraryof Greyfriarssee
in Oxford(Oxford Hist. Soc. XX, Oxford, 1892),pp. S7-62; R. W.
A. G. Little, TheGreyJriars
(ed. cit. pp. 12 I-I+S;N. R. Ker,
Hunt, "The Libraryof Robert Grosseteste",RobertGrosseteste
MedievalLibrariesof GreatBritain(London, 1964), p. i 4 c - i 42K.
; W. Humphreys,TheBook
Provisions
Friars,i 2 i S- c 400
(Amsterdam,1 9 64)p., 1 16.
of theMediaeval
4 "Prae ceteris etiam familiaremhabuit fratrem Adamde MariscoBathoniensisdioecesis,ordinis
Minorum,in sacratheologica doctorem eximiumet famosum;ob cujusaffectionemlibros suos
omnes conventuifratrum Minorum Oxoniae in testamento legavit". NicolausTrivet, Annales
(ed. ThomasHog,Londini,18H), p. 243. R. W. Hunthascollectedall the evidenceaboutGrosseteste's libraryin the article quoted in note 3. A copy of Peter Comestor's Historiascholastica,
given by Grosseteste to Matthew Paris, may survive in Brit. Mus. MS Royal4. D. vii. See
Paris(Cambridge,1 9 g 8),
RichardVaughan,Matthew
p. i S andi 29(note 3).
5 On Grosseteste'sautographssee R. W. Hunt, loc. cit., p. 132-IJI, i38-i4c. Someyears ago
S. H. Thomsonfounda new MSwith autographsof RobertGrossetesteviz. Vienna ,6sterreichische
Nationalbibliothek,MS lat. 1619. See his article "An Unnoticed Autographof Grosseteste",
et Humanistica,
XIV (1962), gE-6o,with one photograph.However, comparingthis
Mediaevalia
photographwith other certainlyauthentic hand-writtennotes of the Bishop,I cannot convince
myselfthat it is the samehand.
6 "Hec dominusLincolniensis... cuius sandaliaepiscopaliafacta de cirpis ego doctor Thomas
GascoigneEboracensisdioscesisvidi et sunt Oxonie inter fratres minoresin libraria conventus
sed non in librariastudentiumfratrum" (MSLincolni 18, p. 89a).
7 "VidiOxonieanno domini 1 434 (MSLincoln118, p. i4a); "vidiilla Oxonieinter fratres minoresanno domini c 4Si et postea"(MSLincoln
p. I 17b); "quodscriptumvidi anno Christi
vidi
Oxonie
anno Christi mmoCCCCmoquinquage"idem
629a);
ego
pluries
I4SS" (ibid. p.
opus
simosextoet antea"(ibid.p. 64ob).
57

but we may safely suppose that for a long time he had been an intimate
friend of the Friars, so much so that the year before his doctorate he was
with such a fine volume as Bodley i 98I . This manuscript,
presented
containing De civitate Dei of St. Augustine and Moralia in lob of St.
himself, who had made
Gregory had even belonged to Grosseteste
in
Modern
scholars use it now
notes
and
it.
subject
indexing symbols
for identifying Grosseteste's
as the touchstone
handwriting.
Evidently
with
the
books
of
the
became
Friars,
perfectly acquainted
Gascoigne
and nowadays most of our knowledge about their library stems from
passing references in his Dictionarium and from annotations jotted down
in the margins of his books.
That Gascoigne eagerly consulted the works of Grosseteste in the
friary library becomes apparent at the first glance into his Dictionarium.
were found by Winifred
A. Pronger2.
No less than 55 quotations
To a great extent these quotations are so full and copious that they
lost works,
might prove very useful in tracing some of Grosseteste's
the critical
or even in reconstructing
them, and also in preparing
edition of other writings of the Lincoln Bishop. From one of those
quotations it appears, for instance, that in 1455 a work Contra luxuriam
of Grosseteste.
was still extant at Greyfriars among the autographs
survives
in
the
Pavia
that
this
work
MS Aldini
It has been suggested
69, fol. 8rr-8-7v3. However, apart from the fact that the rubric "Sermo
beati episcopi Lincolniensis regni Anglie approbatus per ecclesiam velud
dicta beati Augustini" is not quite to the point4, Gascoigne's quotation
does not occur in this tract. The Aldini 'sermon' could be a fragment
of the Contra luxuriam, though its style seems to me different from the
of
passage quoted by Gascoigne. In order to make an identification
work easier, I give here the full text from Gascoigne:
Grosseteste's
LuxuRiA. Attendite vobis ab omni fornicatione scientes in primis quia omnis
fomicatio est crimen mortale, dicente Apostolo : 'Nolite errare, nec fornicarii
nec idolis servientes ... regnum Dei possidebunt' [I Cor. vi, 9- 1 oj.Nec dicatur,
In a note at the foot of fol. I oja, written in 1 4 3 Gascoigne
3,
explicitlysays: "istumlibrum dedit
mihi sponte sub sigillo suo conventusfratrum minorum Oxonie" (quoted from S. H. Thomson,
Grosseteste
TheWritings
[CambridgeUniv. Press,
p. 2 7).
of Robert
2 Other authors cited are: St. Jerome (2200 times), St. Augustine(5so times), Hugh of Vienna
(Soo times), Duns Scotus(110times), St. Gregory(44 times), St. Ambrose(3stimes), Thomas
Aquinas(3S times), Bonaventure(7 times). See W. A. Pronger, "ThomasGascoigne",Engl.Hist.
3 Thomson,Writings,p. I B I Hunt,
lococit. p. 1 36.
;
4 The rubric is in the upper marginof fol. 85r. The "sermon",however,is far from being what
the inscriptionsuggests,for in a tedious mannerit dealsmainlywith sodomy.
58

sicut quidam imperiti dicunt, quod fomicatio est res naturalis et ideo non est ,
peccatum. Scire enim debet quod coniunctio maris et femine et propagatio prolis
res est naturalis. Sed pruritus carnis, ardor et estuatio concupiscentialis et pudibundus motus membrorum genitalium contra imperium rationis, que sicut
improba pedissequa comitantur semper opus naturale quo proles solet propagari,
venerunt non de natura sed de peccato primi parentis. Si enim primus parens non
peccasset, non esset aliquis ardor concupiscentialis aut pruritus carnis aut inordinatus motus membrorum genitalium contra imperium rationis, sed sine omni
ardore concupiscentiali et carnis pruritu et inordinato et pudibundo motu per
coniunctionem maris et femine fieret propagatio prolis. Concupiscentia igitur
que comitatur opus naturalis propagationis de peccato venit et non est naturalis
sed potius corruptio nature. Ipsa damnabilis est et non ipsum opus naturale.
Et ipsa sic inficit opus naturale quod propter ipsam totum reputatur in culpam,.
damnabilem, nisi excusetur per bonum matrimonii. Et quam gravis sit culpa
fornicationis et adulterii et omnis illicitus usus illorum membrorum attendere
potest ex penis pro peccato camis humano generi inflictis, ut patet in diluvio
Noe et quando periit Pentapolis igne et sulphure etc. Vide etiam quales pedissequas habeat luxuria, ut patet in David qui propter luxuriam fidelem Uriam
interfecit, et sic in ceteris. Hec omnia et plura alia bona contra luxuriam
habet dominus Lincolniensis, doctor Grosseteste, in quodam scripto suo contra
luxuriam, quod scripsit manu sua propria. Et illud scriptum ex manu sua
propria ego Thomas Gascoigne vidi Oxonie anno Xi 14Ss, et est inter minores in libro registrato 'Episcopus Lincolniensis I.' Et dominus Lincolniensis
scripsit illum scriptum contra luxuriam manu sua propria in libro post dictum
domini Lincolniensis XXIII, et tamen illud scriptum domini Lincolniensis cum
manu sua propria contra luxuriam non est in numero dictorum suorum, sed est
opus per se distinctum, scriptum manu propria domini Lincolniensis contra
luxuriam. Et illud scriptum domini Lincolniensis doctoris Roberti Grosseteste
est inter fratres minores Oxonie in libro registrato 'Episcopus Lincolniensis I,'
folio vicesimo quinto, ut vidi anno Xi
Another work of Grosseteste
that might be identified with the
of
is
his
comment
on Boethius' De consolatione philohelp
Gascoigne,
I
would not like to repeat the old error of ascribing
sophiae. Of course
the comment of William of Conches to the Lincoln Bishop2. Nevertheless, I want to give here a passage, attributed by Gascoigne to Grossehas remained unnoticed.
It was even affirmed
teste, which hitherto
that there was no such evidence at all in Gascoigne's
Dictionarium3.
Under the same heading Luxuria Gascoigne quotes:
I MSLincolni 1 8,p. 64a-b.
2 See on this questionThomson,Writings,p. 243-244.
3 In a note on p. 243 Thomsonwrites: "Thereis somemistakein Baur's constructionof the text
of Gascoigne'sLiberVeritatum,
which neither in the edition of Thorold Rogersnor, I am kindly
informedby Miss WinifredPronger who has read the whole MS carefully,in the autographof
Gascoigneascribesthe commentaryto Grosseteste".
59

... meretrices enim non amore sed spe lucri et voluptatis commiscent se cuilibet.
Hec dominus Lincolniensis super Boicium De consolatione,prosa prima, 'felix
qui potuit solvere vincula gravis terre', hec metro 1 2,id est aurum et argentum
que exeunt a terra, que ligavit mentes hominum. Unde recte appellantur vincula
terre quibus ligatus homo nec cognoscere nec diligere poterit suum creatorem.
Hec ibidem sanctus Lincolniensis super xii metro Boicii De consolatione,.
What gives relevance to this text is the fact that it does not occur
at least not in the reliable thirin William of Conches' commentary,
teenth century copy I consulted at the Vatican Library2. Of course this
of William's
passage may be found in one of the other manuscripts
in
such
that
had
been
ascribed to
comment,
perhaps
erroneously
In
that
have
been
led
Grosseteste3.
into an
case, Gascoigne might
erroneous
cannot
be
If, however,
assumption.
quotation
Gascoigne's
of Arnoul Gr6ban that he
traced, what truth lies in the affirmation
Grosseteste's
on Boethius for his own
freely excerpted
commentary
For
Pierre
bare
statement
that "the attribution
Courcelle's
purpose4?
Lincoln
Robert
of
of
a
Latin
to
commentary,
though attested since the
fifteenth century, has no foundation whatsoever"5 would then demand
It would be superfluous to say that Gascoigne's
further corroboration.
does
not
own copy of De consoquotation
originate from Grosseteste's
latione which survives in the Oxford MS Trinity College 17, fol.
this text is interesting
on account of
9or-98v6. Although
ir-42v,
the indexing symbols, subject notes and references to works of Augustine
it has no comments or exand Seneca in the Bishop's handwriting,
in
the
planations
margins.
It is especially the now lost notes of Grosseteste on the Pauline
I MS Lincoln I I8, p. 63a.
2 Vatican,BibliotecaApostolicaMSlat. ?2o!, fol. 24va- 26va,
where the twelfthmetrum of book
IV is expounded,which begins: "Felixqui potuit boni/Fontemvisere lucidum.'Felix qui potuit
solverevincula".
gravis?Terrae
3 For the MSSsee Thomson,Writings,p. 243 f. and
, P. Courcelle,"tudecritiquesur les commend'histoiredoctrinaleet littraire
mentairesde la Consolationde Boece (IXe-XVesiecles), Archives
XIV(1939), 1 2 9 - 1 3 1 .
du moyen age,
4 "Accipiteigitur scolaresgratiosiac in disciplinaepalaestramecumParisiusmilitanteshoc opusculum non magistrale,sed sociale,non ex nostri ingeniiimbecillitateformatum, sed ex diversorum
Boetiiglossatorumdictis multipliciterexcerptum,puta Lyconiensiseius commentatorisdignissimi,
fratris NicolaiTravethordinispraedicatorumqui dictum opus subtiliter utrimque,licet sub nimia
brevitate, transcurrit; ex quadam etiam glosa licet antiquissimanonnullasapplicationesutiles
elicuimus;principalitertamenRonierumde SanctoTrudonesecutisumusquemquiasuperBoetium
satisdiffusescripseratabreviavimus
et multapaucumad propositammateriamsubservientiaresecare
disposuimus"(Paris, Biblioth6queNationaleMSlat. 9323, fol. 3v; quoted by Courcelle,loc.cit.
110).
5 Courcelle,loc.cit. 9S.
6 SeeR. W. Hunt in RobertGrosseteste
(ed.cit.), p. 1 3 3 .
60

Epistles and on their Glossa ordinaria that are often quoted in Gascoigne's.
Dictionarium. However it is remarkable that not all of the Epistles are
Most of the cited passages are glosses on Romans
equally represented.
II
and I and
Corinthians.
Only a few citations of Galatians, I Timothy,
Ephesians, Titus and Hebrews have so far come to my notice and none
I and II Thessalonians
and Philemon,.
of Philippians,
Colossians,
Yet I have systematically gone through only half of the two stout volumes
main work. Nevertheless
we may question
that take up Gascoigne's
whether Grosseteste actually did comment on all the Epistles, or should
selection be so misleading?
Gascoigne's
on the ,,.
Frequent use is also made of Grosseteste's
commentary
Psalms2. Although Gascoigne explicitly states that the Bishop expounded
he
the Psalter 'from the first Psalm to the hundredth
inclusively"3,
himself prefers to quote from the later Psalms, which are explained
in a more continuous and orderly fashion. As is known, up to Psalm 80
is a rather confused selection of Dicta and sermons
the commentary
which somehow or other deal with a Psalm text. Gascoigne certainly
was aware of the disorder in the work and possibly he knew the reason.
in the library
He noted that there were two copies of the commentary
one in Robert Grosseteste's
and
the other
of Greyfriars:
handwriting
was
'in a better script'4. That means that Grosseteste's
copy
badly
written and probably was a working copy with the margins filled up
with scribbles and notes which only the author could understand.
It has been suggested that the 'better'
copy survives in MS Bologna,
This
is
indeed a beautiful book with
A.
98.36.
manuscript
Archiginnasio
I To give an idea of the proportion of quotations:against34 quotationsfrom the commenton
Romans,27 and 26 from respectivelyI and 1I Corinthians,I came upon only S quotationsfrom
Galatiansand I Timothy,two from Ephesiansand one from Titus and Hebrews.At the sametime
I cameacross;o quotationsfromthe commenton the Psalms.
2 See note 24. On this commentarysee M.R. James, "RobertGrossetesteon the Psalms",Journal
Studies,XXIII(1922), c8i-c8; Thomson,Writings,p. 7S-76; B. Smalleyin Robert
qf Theological
Grosseteste
(ed. cit.), p. 76-77.
3 "Scripsitidem doctor super psalteriumusquead psalmumcentesimuminclusive" (MS Linco.ln
i i 7, p. 6ob) ;"exponunturibi psalmiper eundemdoctorema psalmoprimo usquead psalmum
centesimuminclusive"(MS Lincoln118, p. i 6a).
4 "Et nota quod exponit psalteriumusque ad psalmumi ooinclusiveet manusua propria scripsit
et opus suum super psalteriummeliori scriptu est Oxonie inter fratres minores et registratur
;
expositumet scriptummanu
'EpiscopusLincolniensisff !" (MSLincolnI 1 8 , pI .s i b) "psalterium
sua propria registratur Oxonie inter fratres minores 'EpiscopusLincolniensisd' ; et psalterium
suum quod non scribitur manu propria domini Lincolniensisregistraturibidem 'EpiscopusLincolniensis6f*."(MS Lincolni i 8,p. 3o6a).
6 Thomson,Writings,p. 7S. The cataloguenumber of the BolognaMSis 983, not 893as Thomson
delleBiblioteche
d'
writes by mistake. For a descriptionsee G. Mazzatinti,Inventaridei Manoscritti
Italia. XXXII(Firenze,
Bologna,by A. Sorbelli,p. 1 2 3- 1 24.
6I

red and blue coloured initials and a decorated front page. It is written
in a good English hand from the beginning of the fourteenth
century.
that
was
we
are
assured
the
text
from
its
the
colophon
reproduced
By
of
doubtless
that
of
in
the
From
Oxford,
library
Greyfriars.I
original
about I 508- I S i 2, at least, the book was in Italy in the library of the
friary of St. Dominic at Bologna2, but this does not present difficulties,
for it arrived there not earlier than 1 3 863. So it remains quite possible
that Gascoigne should have seen it at Oxford. However, it may be objectwith which the
ed that no trace has been found of the pressmark
their
Franciscans
used
to
books.
sign
According to Gascoigne
English
Lincolniensis
ff'4. But the Bologna MS
it was
marked 'Episcopus
displays only an old number 16. II. 17, which may refer to the shelves
of St. Dominic's library at Bologna.5 In my opinion, also the colophon
makes it rather doubtful that the book should have belonged to the
Greyfriars of Oxford. An Oxford Friar Minor copying the work for
his own use would probably not have said that the book was made
In one way or another
'secundum exemplar librorum librarie Oxonie'.
he would have noted that the original was in his own library, not in
the library of Oxford. The text rather suggests that the book was copied
on behalf of a man who did not belong to the Oxford community.
But
there are other indications which lead one to understand that the MS
written'
of Bologna can hardly be identified with the 'better
copy
in
the
of
We
find
that
saw
Oxford
the
library
Greyfriars.
Gascoigne
two
redactions
of
had
before
him
Grosseteste's
comment
Bologna copyist
on Psalms 80 and 8 i, and he transcribed both of them, the one after
several even longer inthe other6. The second redaction
represents
I "ExplicitLincolniensissuper psalteriumquantumreperitur ipsum fecissesecundumexemplar
librorum librarie Oxonie. Amen" (MSBologna983, fol. I j 3vb).
2 Fabio Vigilimentionsthis MSin his findinglist of the conventof St. Dominicwith the words
"Linconiensis
episcopiexpositiosuper Psalterium."This list was madeafter so8 and beforeApril
de Bologne
au dibutdu xyle sided'aprgsle
IS 12.See M.-H. Laurent,FabioVigiliet lesBibliothiques
MS.Barb.lat. 318S (Studie Testi, CV, Citta del Vaticano,1 943),p. xxii and IS.
3 It does not occur in the old catalogue,madebefore 1386, of the convent,which was edited by
M.-H. Laurent,FabioVigili,p. 23-2H.
4 Seeabovenote 27. On the pressmarkusedby Franciscanconventscf. N.R. Ker, Medieval
Libraries
of GreatBritain(ed. cit.), p. xix.
5 G. Mazzatinti,loc. cit. p. 123.
6 The firstexpositionof Psalm80 is on fol. 6Iva-63vb;that of Psalm8 followson fol. 63vb-6Srb.
The secondredactioncan be read on fol. 66rb-68vband 68vb-7ova.Betweenthem lies, among
other comments,the first part of the treatise or sermon Decon Jessi (Inc.:
one "Quoniamcogitacio
hominis..."; see Thomson,Writings,p. 125and 172).That in the secondredactiona studentor a
secretaryis at work may appearfrom such an expressionas "in precedentipsalmodicebat" (fol.
68vb).
62

sertions, especially in the notes on Psalm 8 i , but on the whole its

references to the sources are less accurate and less elaborate than in
Since it is hard to believe that Grosseteste would
the first transcript.
in his own copy, we must assume that
have written both redactions
more than one book in
of Archiginnasio A. 983 collated
the transcriber
the library of Greyfriars. With these facts in mind it is now easier to
the full sense of the colophon of the Bologna MS. We
understand
need no longer be puzzled by those enigmatic words 'librorum librarie'
the Bologna copy was made according to the books in
as tautology,ffor
the Oxford library, insofar as they proved to contain Grosseteste's s
on the Psalms:
Lincolniensis
comment
super psalterium
"Explicit
"
secundum
fecisse
exemplar librorum librarie
ipsum
quantum reperitur
to
Oxonie. Amen "I . It is tempting,
though little less than arbitrary,
fol.
as
a
the
Vatican
MS
Ottobon.
lat.
new
t
96ra-2
i
Svb
propose
candidate for the 'better written'
copy noted by Gascoigne2. Though
commenthe fragment of 20 folios, bound together with Bonaventure's
in
a
of
the
is
written
beautiful
Sentences,
English
tary on the fourth book
bookhand from the middle of the thirteenth century, we can produce no
further evidence than that its text is notably different from the Bologna
collation. This could be a hint that it might be a direct copy from
Grosseteste's autograph.
of Gascoigne and Grosseteste has recently
The close relationship
In i 9 S4 the Bodleian Library acquired a
received a new confirmation.
that probably once belonged to the library of the
little manuscript
It is a notebook of Thomas GasFranciscan Mission of Abergavenny.
relative
to his Dictionarium theologicum3.
'drafts
containing
coigne,
of the
By no means do I intend to give here an exhaustive description
its exact relation to the Dictionarium. I just
book nor to investigate
wish to say a word on the place that Grosseteste occupied in this work
We are not surprised to find that here, again,
also of Gascoigne's.
is
one
of
favorite authors. He is quoted no
Grosseteste
Gascoigne's
used are his comments on the Psalms
less than Eo times. Frequently
and
on
II
and 14 times).
I
and
Corinthians
times)
(1 7
(respectively 7
I MSBologna983, fol. 173vb.The italicsare mine. Thomson,Writings,p.
erroneouslyreads
quemfor quantum.
2 Vatican,BibliotecaApostolicaMS Ottobon. lat. t 8S, fol. ig6ra-21svb. This manuscriptwas
sur les Sentences",Archivum
Franciscanum
firstnotedby VictorinDoucet, "Commentaires
Historicum,
XLVII(19H), 103.
3 Bodl.Libr. MSLat. th. e. 3 3 See
Guideto an Exhibition
heldin 19 5(Oxford,
. NotableAccessions.
1 9 5 8p.) 14.
,
63

works are: comments on II Timothy

references to Grosseteste's
Galatians
(twice), Ephesians an I Timothy
(4 times), Romans (3 times),
sermon Natis et educatis2 (once). Once
(once),
PropositumI (once),
more we meet those emphatic,
clumsy, egotistic assertions to the
A typical
effect that he himself had seen Grosseteste's
handwriting.
in
was
the
to
a
a
Bodleian
exof
which
plate
reproduced
guide
page,
a
text
of
be
transcribed
here.
Grossehibition, might
Having quoted
teste, Gascoigne gives the reference:
Other

Lincolniensis doctor Robertus Grosseteste, super psalterium David, super psalmum 68, in expositione sua propria et propria manu sua scripta. Et sic scripsit
super psalterium usque ad psalmum i oo inclusive. Et hoc opus suum sic scriptum
manu sua propria vidi ego Thomas Gascoigne, filius et heres Ricardi Gascoigne,
domini quondam mandrii de Hunsslet, Eboracensis diocesis. Et hoc opus domini
Lincolniensis, quod propria manu sua scripsit, est Oxonie inter fratres minores,
et registratur in libraria conventus 'opus Lincolniensis d'. Et anno Christi
hoc opus vidi et hoc tunc scripsi.3
in this
The theme of preaching and pastoral care is omnipresent
from
a
man
who
was
be
as
could
notebook,
profoundly conexpected
And
vinced that preaching was panacea for all evils4.
again Grosseteste
recommends
the
useful
texts.
The
notebook
example of St.
provided
of
Robert
Grosseteste.
These
and
that
men,
taking the Gospels
Gregory
from the beas their subject, expound all its contents,
proceeding
one
after
the
other.
and
They were alive
explaining
passage
ginning
to the true purport of a text. When, for instance, the text was dealing
I This Propositum
or Propositio
forms part of the documentsissued by Grossetesteat the Papal
Curia in t2?o. See Thomson, Writings,p. 1+1-1+7.The passagequoted by Gascoignebecame
almost proverbial: "Cum facta est ecclesiarumappropriatio,facta est in ecclesiaDei omnium
malorumperpetuatio"(MSLat. th. e. 33, p. 60). It occurs in Grosseteste'smemorandumwhich
wasread aloudby CardinalJohn of St. Nicholas,but in a more specificsense: "Cumveroreligiosis
sit ecclesiarumparochialiumappropriatio,pretactorummalorumfirmataest perpetuatio" (Brit.
Mus.MSRoyal6.E.v, fol. 1 2 jra) .
2 See Thomson, Writings,p. 117.
3 Bodl.Libr. MSLat. th.e. 33, p. 41. Cf. also: "et iste doctor scripsitdiversaopera in 7 scientiis
liberalibuset in tribus philosophiiset in sacratheologia; que operaexceduntin quantitatevoluminis
totum opus doctoris de Lira super vetus et novumtestamentumut ego iudico qui vidi illa opera
quandofui cancellariusOxoniepost tertiam elecscriptamanupropriaipsiusdominiLincolniensis
tionem meam ad illud ofhciumanno domini 14++"(p. 29); "et idem doctor Grossetestehabet
idem et probat istam veritatemin sermonesuo de cura pastoraliqui incipit 'Natis et educatis',
quem sermonemvidi scriptum manu et scriptuma propria ipsius domini Lincolniensis,scilicet
doctoris Roberti Grosseteste,qui natus fuit in Angliaet, ut dicitur, in Northfolchia."(p.60).
Note that Grosseteste'snative place is usuallydescribedas "in the county of Suffolk",whereas
here it is statedto be in Norfolk.
4 W. A. Pronger, "ThomasGascoigne",Engl. Hist. Rev.,Llll (1 938), 61 7 LIV
; (1939), 30-31.
64

with prayer, they were careful to define what prayer is, which prayer
finds acceptance
what
by God and which not, on which conditions,
when a prayer is acceptable
to God, why
results can be expected
God sometimes does not grant a petition,
why he prohibits prayer for
certain sinners and why we direct vocal prayers to God though He
knows the inmost secrets of our heartsl. It is obvious that Gascoigne
wanted his preachers humbly to instruct the people in the evangelical
any kind of oratorical
way of life and that he would not appreciate
fireworks or scholastic quibbling.
with a verse of Romans xv, where St. Paul professes
In connection
the preaching of the Gospel from Jerusalem as far
to have completed
abroad as Illyricum,
Gascoigne makes a personal confession that deserves to be quoted for its historical interest:
... hoc dicit Apostolus, ut audientes hec laudent Deum et optent quod omnis
spiritus laudet Deum semper [cf. Ps. cl. 6]. Et etiam dicit hoc, ut alii homines
imitentur eum in hoc opere predicandi secundum gradum vocationis sue per
Deum. Ego enim miser Thomas Gascoigne Eboracensis diocesis, filius et heres
Ricardi Gascoigne de Hunsslet, vocatus doctor theologie olim et cancellarius
Oxonie, offero me misericordie Dei ineffabili ut mei misereatur et deleat iniquitates meas. Credo enim quod non predicavi tot bona - [utinam] predicassem nec totiens predicavi ut debui, nec modo orandi et flendi. Laus enim Deo semper
quod aliquando predicavi Eboraci et aliquando Londoniis in diversis ecclesiis,
et in omnibus ecclesiis Oxonie, et in comitatu Oxonie in diversis locis, et in
Pontefracto et Doncastrie et in villa de Ledys et in Coventria et in Notyngham
et in villa Eveshamet in Southsex et in villa de Scheen, non longe a monasterio
Syon, et in aliis locis hic non nominatis. Omnis spiritus laudet Deum semper.
Amen2.
There is another remark in the notebook to which I would like to
As is well known,
call attention.
Gascoigne several times affirmed
I "Solebantenim episcopiet rectores predicaresuis populiseis subditisomniaquatuor evangelia,
incipiendoa principio, et sic postillaretextum, id est textum post textum exponendoinferre. Et
quandotextum declarabantpopulo,declarabantilla que pertinebantad materiascontentasin eodem
textu. Exemplum;quandoenim tractabantde oratione, tractabantet declarabantarticulos concernentesmateriamorationis,scilicet quid est oratio. Item que oratio placetDeoet quenon. Item
que essent conditionesorationis. Item effectus consequentesorationem Deo placentem. Item
quare dominusaliquandonon conceditpetita. Item quaredominusprecipitaliquandonon orandum
pro certis peccatoribussalvandisquamdiupermanentin statu eodem peccati, sicut Jeremie 7
dixit dominus'noli orare pro populohoc', scilicet lerusalem,id est noli orare ut pena eis debita
ulterius differatur,quia sententiamea divina contra eos consummataest. Item declarabantquare
vocaliteroramusad Deum ex quo novit occulta cordis sine voce. Sic enim declaravitmaterias
"
quando predicavitGregoriusdoctor et episcopusLincolniensismagisterRobertus Grostet ...
(MSLat.th.e. ;;, p. 2 8) .
2 MSLat.th.e. 3 3,p. 68.
65

that Grosseteste was 'doctor sacre theologie de Oxonia'I. Father Daniel

A. Callus pointed out that this expression does not necessarily imply
It may simply
at Oxford.
obtained his mastership
that Grosseteste
in
a fact
mean that he was for some time Regent-master
Oxford,
which has hever been disputed2. However,
Gascoigne might have intended to say that he obtained his degree at Oxford. In our notebook
is stressed by the
'doctor sacre theologie Oxoniensis'
the statement
missis
Oxonie
Clementi iiii
in
litteris
Universitatis
'ut
words
patet
also
in
the hand of
A similar text,
pape pro eius canonizatione'3.
Gascoigne, occurs at the end of the treatise De cura pastorali in MS
fuit doctor sacre theologie
Bodley 312: "Iste dominus Lincolniensis
eius
in
litera
testimoniali
ut
Oxoniensis,
quam post mortem
patet
canonizatione
fienda"
iv
eius
Clementi
Oxonie
pape pro
scripsit clerus
(fol. i 84v). According to Gascoigne, a copy of this letter was preserved
at the Augustinian Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Osney (OxfordTanner
shire)4. From a Barlow MS with the letters of Grosseteste
was
"doctor
SS.
Theol.
note
that
Grosseteste
the
Oxoniensis,
copied
ut patet in litera univ. Oxon. missa Clementi iv papae, cujus copia
in abbatia de Osney, in quodam nigro libro "5.
est prope Oxoniam
I do not know if there is any possibility that this 'black book' survives
Could the letter
among the books that once belonged to Osney Abbey.
have been included in the Chronicles which now are among the Cotton
manuscripts6 ?
At the same time one more point ought to be emphasized regarding
the texts we have just mentioned.
Describing the various stages of the
Eric W. Kemp surprisingof
Robert
canonization
Grosseteste,
attempted
under Alexander IV
first
for
canonization
after
the
states
that
request
ly
no further move was made for some twenty-five years.
He wondered
why the University of Oxford should not have given
any answer when during the autumn and winter of 1286/7 the Bishop,
Dean and Chapter of Lincoln sought support for their petition7. Now
I So in a note in MSBalliolCollege2 3 5,fol. 1 8 1 The
v. expression"doctorsacretheologieOxoniensis"is founde.g. in MS LincolnCollegeg4, fol. t 7ra; MSLincolnCollege I 17, p. 30a and
95b; MSLincolnCollege 1 1 8,p. 3o6a.
2 D. A. Callus,"RobertGrossetesteas Scholar",RobertGrosseteste
(ed. cit.), p. S-6.
3 MS Lat.th.e. 33, p. 28.
4 "Et est copia huius litere in monasteriocanonicorumde Osney" (MS Bodley 312, fol. 184v).
Britannica-Hibernica
This text is referred by T. Tanner, Bibliotheca
(London,1 748),p. 347, note .
5 Tanner,Bibliotheca,
p. 348,note g.
6 See N. R. Ker, Medieval
Libraries,p. 1+0-1+1.
7 E. W. Kemp, "The AttemptedCanonizationof Robert Grosseteste",RobertGrosseteste
(ed. cit.),
P.
66

it is evident from the texts quoted above, that the University of Oxford
and its clergy had already presented their plea to Rome nearly twenty
of Clement
IV
during the pontificate
years earlier,
The 'litera testimonialis'
the
they sent to the Pope thus constitutes
link between the first mission of Nicholas Grecus during the papacy of
Alexander IV and that of Canon Simon de Worth promoted by Bishop
Oliver Sutton soon after his election in i 280.
It is my conviction that upon several other questions concerning
Robert Grosseteste new light may be thrown by a further examination
works. The new edition of Gascoigne's
Dictionarium
of Gascoigne's
which
is
for
the
Historical
Oxford
theologicum,
being prepared
Society',
will therefore be welcomed by students of the Lincoln Bishop. On the
other hand, any outline of Gascoigne's personality will remain defective
unless full justice is done to the amount of ideas and inspiration Gascoigne
I am aware of the difficulties which will
derived from Grosseteste.
of the doctrinal and intellectual
bonds that
attend the investigation
In such an essentially eclectic work as Gaslinked both Chancellors.
dictionary it is all but easy to segregate his real
coigne's theological
tenets from mere borrowings
or simply mentioned
opinions. Furtherfrom
Grosseteste's
works
the
more,
quotations
apparently are deterto
mined by the Chancellor's
pastoral anxiety
provide materials for
of his clergy rather than selected on account of his own
the instruction
the historical and cricical notes to
doctrinal
concern.
Nevertheless,
which we limited ourselves in this paper may have sufficiently proved
who in Dean's Register of Oriel was
that the fate of the Chancellor,
described as 'one of the most honoured names in the long roll of Oxford
who in his
is inevitably linked up with- his predecessor,
University'2,
in
of
the
was
considered
even
the
Salimbene,
century,
eyes
foreigner
'unus de maioribus clericis de mundo'.

Rome
Istituto Storico dei Cappuccini

I Informationgivenby A. B. Emden,A Biographical

to A.D. iSoo,
Register
of the Universit-V
of Oxford
Il (Oxford,r9S8),p. 747.
2 Ibid.,p. 746.
67