9 October 1253 A.D. Robert Grosseteste Passes—Bishop of Lincoln & Chancellor of Oxford University
9 October 1253 A.D. Robert Grosseteste Passes—Bishop of Lincoln & Chancellor of Oxford University
No author. “Who was Robert Grosseteste?” Electronic Grosseteste. N.d. http://www.grosseteste.com/bio.htm. Accessed 14 May 2014.
Who was Robert Grosseteste?
Robert
Grosseteste (ca. 1170-1253). Born into a humble family from Stowe, Suffolk, this English
theologian and philosopher went on to become a major leader in the English
church of the thirteenth century. The early years of Grosseteste’s life are
obscure, but it would appear that he completed the first stages of his
education at a cathedral school in England, perhaps Hereford. In 1192, Gerard
of Wales recommended Grosseteste to the bishop of Hereford, noting that he excelled
in the liberal arts, canon law and even medicine. This seems to have guaranteed
Grosseteste’s first ecclesiastical appointment as he remained part of the
household of bishop William de Vere, until his death in 1198. At this point
Grosseteste almost disappears entirely from the historical record, although
there is evidence that he acted as judge-delegate in Hereford sometime between
1213 and 1216. There is also an early thirteenth-century charter from Paris,
which names a Robert Grosseteste residing at a house in Paris; however, since
this charter concerns the property claims of his children, some historians have
suggested that this may be another Robert Grosseteste.
The next mention of Grosseteste is in the episcopal register of Hugh of Lincoln, when in 1225 Grosseteste was given a benefice with pastoral responsibilities in the diocese of Lincoln. In 1229, he was appointed archdeacon of Leicester and became a canon in the cathedral church of Lincoln. Three years later, Grosseteste was seriously ill. Taking this as divine warning against holding more than one benefice, he resigned all save his position of canon. During this period, Grosseteste also lectured in theology at Oxford. There has been some controversy as to when he became a master of theology, but the first documented evidence we have is his appointment to run the Fransciscan school at Oxford in 1229/30. The Franciscan chronicler, Thomas of Eccleston, wrote that Grosseteste’s teaching was of considerable benefit to the convent, and it explains his influence on Franciscan theology for the century. When Hugh of Lincoln died in 1235, the cathedral chapter elected Grosseteste as the next bishop. He was consecrated in March of that year, and remained bishop of the largest diocese in England for the next eighteen years. In October of 1253, Grosseteste died at the ripe old age of 83.
During his
lifetime, Grosseteste was an avid participant in European intellectual life.
His early education had given him a taste for natural philosophy. He began
producing texts on the liberal arts, and mainly on astronomy and cosmology. His
most famous scientific text, De luce (Concerning Light),
argued that light was the basis of all matter, and his account of creation
devotes a great deal of space to the the biblical text of God’s command, ‘Let
there be light.’ Light also played a significant role his epistemology, as he
followed the teachings of St. Augustine that the human intellect comes to know
truth through illumination by divine light. Grosseteste’s interest in the
natural world was further developed by his study of geometry, and he is one of
the first western thinkers to argue that natural phenomenon can be described
mathematically. He also played a pivotal role in the introduction of Aristotle
to scholastic thought, producing commentaries on a number of Aristotle’s
logical and scientific works. Later as bishop, Grosseteste translated the Nicomachean
Ethics, making this important work available to the West in its entirety
for the first time.
As important
as science was to Grosseteste, his ultimate intellectual fascination was with
theology. Before he became a professional theologian, Grosseteste produced
treatises in pastoral theology. He was primarily interested in providing texts
to educate the clergy in the sacrament of Confession. His most famous work from
this period, the Templum Dei (the Temple of God), survives in over
ninety mansucripts from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, a testament
to its enduring popularity. The work contains the standard theology of
confession, but is also adorned with useful tables and diagrams which
summarised some of the more complex theological discussions on penance. In
total, Grosseteste wrote five major works on the pastoral care throughout his
long life. All reflect the most recent theological discussions, but are
mediated with a desire to make these ideas useful and applicable for parish
priests.
At Oxford,
Grosseteste lectured on Scripture, disputed theological questions and preached
university sermons—the three main duties of a scholastic theologian. Even after
he became bishop of Lincoln, he retained links with theological discourse. He
kept a watchful eye over the University of Oxford, as it was within his
diocese, and ensured that the theology faculty was following in the footsteps
of the faculty of theology at Paris. Around 1239-1241, he began to employ his
knowledge of Greek (which he had acquired during his tenure at Oxford) to
render a new translation of the works of the Byzantine theologian, John
Damascene. This was soon followed by a sophisticated translation of the entire
corpus of Ps-Dionysius the Areopagite, a set of writings that would have
tremendous influence on mystical thought in the later Middle Ages. He also
translated from the Greek the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, a text
which Grosseteste considered to be further proof that Jesus was the promised
Messiah.
During his
eighteen years as bishop, Grosseteste became known as a brilliant, but highly
demanding, church leader. He insisted that all his clergy be literate and
receive some training in theology. His high standards for Christian practice
and ministry landed him in a number of disputes with various parts of his
dioceses, especially monasteries, and most notably his own cathedral chapter.
When the cathedral chapter refused to allow an episcopal inspection in 1239, a
long court case began which was eventually resolved in Grosseteste’s favour in
1245. During this dispute, Grosseteste produced a treatise on his
conception of church leadership, now part of his letter collection, and is one
of the most comprehensive discussions of ministry and authority in the medieval
church. Further disputes over the activities of the archbishop of Canterbury in
the 1240’s led to Grosseteste’s appearance at the papal court in 1250, residing
at the time in Lyons. He lectured the pope on the major problems of the
contemporary church, indicting the papacy as a principal cause for the current
malaise. While Grosseteste’s practical demands were eventually met, in 1253 he
once again clashed with the papal court over the appointment of an non-English
speaking cleric in the Lincoln diocese. Grosseteste’s last
letter is to the papal notary, outlining the theological and canonical reasons
why he must resist this appointment. This letter is one of the main reasons why
some sixteenth century thinkers considered Grosseteste a hero for the
antipapists, and John Foxe went so far as to describe him as a martyr.
In more
recent years, scholars have rejected the image of Grosseteste as a
proto-protestant, and have attempted to place him within the intellectual and
institutional context of the thirteenth century. His thought had a significant
impact on Oxford theology, and his influence can be visibly seen in the
writings of John Wyclif. Of the 120 works he penned, a great number still
survive only in manuscript form, but most of his major philosophical and
theological works have been recently published in modern critical editions. His
life and thought provide an important insight into the intellectual development
of scholasticism and medieval science, as well as the theoretical and practical
aspects of church ministry.
Much of
Grosseteste’s work still remains unedited, but in the last thirty years some of
his major philosophical and theological works have received critical attention.
His Oxford writings have been published in the British Academy’s Auctores
Britannici Medii Aevi series: Hexaëmeron (1982), with a recent
translation by C.F.J. Martin (1996); De cessatione legalium (1986); De
decem mandatis (1987). A new sub-series in the Corpus Christianorum,
Continuatio Mediaevalis dedicated to new editions has recently begun, with
Grosseteste’s Expositio super epistolam s. Pauli ad Galatas, Glossarum
in s. Pauli epistolas and Tabula (Turnhout, 1995). The editorial
team of J.W. Goering and F.A.C Mantello have edited many of Grosseteste’s
smaller pastoral works, published in various scholarly journals, as well as the
Templum Dei (Toronto, 1984). Critical editions of Grosseteste’s
commentary on the Psalms, the Dicta, and his translation of
and commentary on the Ps-Dionysian corpus are all underway. Some of his sermons
have also been edited by J. McEvoy and S. Gieben. Grosseteste’s Epistolae were printed in the Rolls
Series, vol. 25 (1861). A comprehensive survey of Grosseteste’s writings was
completed by S.H. Thomson, The Writings of Robert Grosseteste (Cambridge,
1940).
For his
philosophical and scientific works, see the editions of L. Baur, Die Philosophischen
Werke des Robert Grosseteste, Bischofs von Lincoln (Münster, 1912), although
some are in need of editorial revision. R.C. Dales edited Grosseteste’s Commentarius
in VIII libros physicarum Aristotelis (Boulder, 1963), and P. Rossi
rendered an edition of his Commentarius in libros analyticorum posterium
Aristotelis (Florence, 1980).
The most
recent biography is R.W. Southern, Robert Grosseteste: The
Growth of an English Mind in Medieval Europe (Oxford, 1986), but F.
Stevenson, Robert Grosseteste
Bishop of Lincoln (London, 1899) is still of some use. The collection of essays
in Robert Grosseteste,
Scholar and Bishop, ed. D. Callus (Oxford, 1955) remains essential reading. See
also the recent studies in Robert Grosseteste: New
Perspectives in his Thought and Scholarship, ed. J. McEvoy
(Turnhout, 1995). Also relevant is J. McEvoy, The Philosophy of
Robert Grosseteste (Oxford, 1982) and S. Marrone, William of Auvergne and
Robert Grosseteste (Princeton, 1983).
Comments
Post a Comment