Henry Richards Luard

“ In 1244, in consequence of troubles at Oxford between the scholars and the Jews, Grosseteste obtained for the scholars the privilege that in future all quarrels as to loans, or taxes, or hiring, or buying provisions should be decided before the chancellor of the university. The same year he made a great stand against the king as to his treatment of William de Raleigh, bishop of Winchester, even threatening to lay the royal chapel at Westminster under an interdict, and with the help of the pope and the archbishop prevailed on the king to give way. ”

“ He started with only fifty of his own men for Humayoon's tomb, where the king had gone after leaving his palace. The surrender followed, and Hodson brought the king back into Delhi, handing him over to the commander-in-chief, in spite of the thousands following, any one of whom could have shot him down in a moment. This, the leading the king a captive into his own palace, was perhaps the heaviest blow the rebellion had received. ”

“ But it is as a scholar, and especially as a Greek scholar, second to scarcely any one of his time, that Gaisford will be remembered. In editing many of the chief Greek classical authors and several of the Greek ecclesiastical writers, his best years, indeed his whole life, were spent. When what he actually produced is compared with the work of others, whether English or foreign scholars, it seems almost marvellous that one man, even in the course of a long life and with ample leisure, could have done so much. ”

“ On the death of Hugh de Wells, bishop of Lincoln, in February 1235, the chapter elected Grosseteste as his successor. There was a difficulty as to the place of his consecration. The monks of Canterbury claimed as their right that he should be consecrated at Canterbury; the archbishop (St. Edmund) wished it elsewhere, and though Grosseteste was willing to give way, the archbishop was firm, and persuaded the monks to consent to his wishes, on the understanding it should not be used as a precedent. ”

“ We find him comforting a nobleman about his spiritual state, advising the king about the value of the royal anointing, and the archbishop as to his conduct at a critical time, warning and consoling Simon de Montfort, whose sons he had educated, giving directions as to the proper treatment of the Jews, intimate with the queen, and using his influence to restrain the king from oppressive acts. ”

“ On the duke and duchess leaving Paris he remained there, was present at the accession of Louis XVI, and afterwards spent some time at Chanteloup with the Duke and Duchess de Choiseul. In 1776 he returned to England, and was with the Duchess of Northumberland at her death, after which he went a third time to Italy with Mr. Mackenzie. On his return he had intended to remain quiet at Elsdon, but was persuaded to accompany Lord Mountstuart on his being appointed envoy at Turin, though the Duke of Northumberland had endeavoured to induce Dutens to live entirely with him. ”

“ In England he found all things in confusion, the chancellor the actual ruler of the country, unpopular with all, as he had managed to offend all; John aiming at supreme power, and others, such as Geoffrey of York and the justiciars, taking an independent line of their own. Besides the general pacification of the country, he was also to effect an election to the see of Canterbury, which had been vacant since Baldwin's death at Acre. ”

“ As bishop of Winchester we find him one of the king's deputies at the council in London in August 1335, one of a commission in 1336 to treat with the King of France for a joint expedition to the Holy Land, to arrange an interview between the two kings for the consideration of certain processes pending in the French courts, and to treat with David Bruce. In May 1337 the king wrote to the pope not to allow the bishop to appeal to the Roman court for the decision of his cause against William Inge, archdeacon of Canterbury. ”

“ His crusade came to an end here, for the troubles in England through the disloyalty of John and the unpopularity of Bishop Longchamp, the chancellor, came to a head, and Richard sent the archbishop of Rouen back to England to arbitrate, giving him full, though secret, powers. ”

“ He cited the beneficed monks of his diocese to appear before him to hear this, his object being to take the benefices into his own hands, so that he might institute vicars in them. Those who had exemptions, the templars, hospitallers, and others, appealed to the pope, and Grosseteste at once started for Lyons, where the pope still was. If we may trust Matthew Parish’s account, the pope had been influenced by the gold of the religious orders, and the bishop could get no redress, and left the pope's presence after an exclamation against the influence of money at the Roman court. ”

“ David's again nominated him with three others, Giraldus the first and foremost, for their bishop. The archbishop (Hubert) refused to listen to the election; he was determined no Welshman should have the bishopric. Six, or at least four, of the canons were ordered to cross the sea and present themselves before Richard in Normandy; they followed him from place to place; before they reached him he was dead. They met John, were well received by him, and were given letters to the justiciary, bidding him not to molest them in their election. They returned and saw Giraldus at Lincoln ”

“ Though a man of varied acquirements, Dobree's life was spent on classical, chiefly Greek, literature; vast stores were laid up for future years; besides a large body of notes on the Greek dramatists and Athenæus, he left very extensive collections on the historians and orators, and probably had meditated an edition of Demosthenes. To Greek inscriptions he gave a great deal of attention. When the annotated portion of Porson's library was bought by Trinity College, he was selected, with two of his brother-fellows, Monk and Blomfield, to edit the manuscripts. ”

“ Grosseteste went to London prepared to excommunicate John Mansel and all disturbers of the peace of the church. Mansel gave way, and the king followed his example, in fear lest Grosseteste should leave the country and place the see under an interdict. In 1243 the bishop became embroiled with the chapter of Canterbury, the see being vacant, as Boniface was not yet consecrated, and the chapter claiming metro-political power during the vacancy. A clerk who had a dispute with the abbot of Bardney laid a complaint before the archdeacon of Lincoln. ”

“ But what he issued to the world was only a part of Hearne's literary work. He was in constant correspondence with very many of the antiquaries and literary men of his day, and their replies fill the greater part of ‘Rawl. Lett.’ vols. i–xxxvii., preserved in the Bodleian Library. Beginning from 1705 to within a few days of his death, he also kept an elaborate diary, giving lengthy extracts from the books he read or which came under his notice, remarks on his friends and enemies, upon public matters, university gossip and history, and indeed anything that interested him at the moment. ”

“ In 1184, at the request of Henry II and through the intervention of Pope Lucius III, he was elected archbishop of Rouen (Jaffé, p. 847) , though the canons had at first elected Robert de Novo Burgo; he was enthroned on 24 Feb. 1185, little more than a year, as remarked by Diceto, since his enthronement at Lincoln. The pall was sent to him at once, by the hand of the sub-deacon Humbald. Newburgh says (iii. 8) that he hesitated for some time whether to prefer the more eminent to the richer see, but that at length ambition triumphed over the love of wealth. ”

“ Bishop Orlton was sent to demand the great seal from the king, who was then at Monmouth (Fœdera, ii. 646) , and brought it to the queen at Martley. After the parliament met he was sent with the Bishop of Winchester to summon the king to the parliament, and on his refusal brought the answer before the clergy and people on 12 Jan. 1327. The next day, acting as prolocutor for the parliament, he stated that if the queen were to join the king, she would be murdered by him, and then put the question whether they would have Edward or his son as king. ”

“ GROSSETESTE, ROBERT (d. 1253) , bishop of Lincoln from 1235 to 1253, was born probably in 1175 in Suffolk (Trivet, p. 242) . From what Trivet mentions in this place, and the report of his own words given in the Lanercost chronicle (p. 44, 'humili de patre et matre sum natus') , he was of humble origin; indeed he was reproached with this by the canons of Lincoln in the heat of their quarrel with him. ”

“ On being thus put in charge of the enormous diocese, which then contained the archdeaconries of Lincoln, Leicester, Stowe, Buckingham, Huntingdon, Northampton, Oxford, and Bedford, he at once set himself to reform all the abuses which his predecessors had left, directing his clergy to put down anything that tended to evil, such as games and parish processions leading to strife, drinking bouts, desecration of churchyards by their being used for games, private marriages, carelessness of mothers towards their children, the feast of fools, &c. ”

“ FONTIBUS (Fountains) , JOHN de (d. 1225) , ninth abbat of Fountains, sixth bishop of Ely, was elected abbat of Fountains in 1211, and blessed on 13 Dec. at Melrose Abbey by Ralph, bishop of Down. All that is known of his rule at Fountains is that he prosecuted the work of his predecessor vigorously, continuing the erection of the choir and lady chapel. He made himself useful to King John, from whom there are several letters extant to him, one showing that the king had entrusted many of his valuables to the care of the abbey. ”

“ Gervase of Canterbury puts it down as Archbishop Hubert's greatest merit that he had retained seven bishops in subjection to Canterbury and put down the rebel cleverness (‘rebellem astutiam’) of Giraldus (Actus Archiepiscoporum, Rolls Ser. ii. 412) .
On the death of St. Hugh of Lincoln, some of the canons of Lincoln thought of electing Giraldus to that see, if they had free election (De jure Menevensis ecclesiæ, p. 340) ; he mentions also that there was talk in the Roman curia of his being made a cardinal. The closing years of his life seem to have been spent in peace and retirement. ”

“ On the resignation of Geoffrey Plantagenet he was elected to the see of Lincoln, and though at first objected to by Henry II because elected without his will and consent, ultimately met with no opposition, and after being ordained priest on 11 June 1183, by John bishop of Evreux, was consecrated bishop of Lincoln on 3 July 1183 at Angers by Archbishop Richard in the church of S. Laud, in the king's presence, and was enthroned on 11 Dec. ”

“ In 1239 began the quarrel between the bishop and the Lincoln chapter which occupied so many years of his life. Grosseteste asserted his right to visit the chapter as well as the rest of the diocese; the dean and canons asserted their independence. Otho thought he had only to appear on the scene to settle the whole matter; an appeal was made to Canterbury, but it soon became evident that the pope was the only authority that would be accepted as final. ”

“ As a young man he chiefly devoted himself to classical literature, and published editions of Pliny's ‘Letters and Panegyrick,’ Eutropius, Justin, and Livy, and made large collections for an edition of Cicero, which were utilised in the Oxford edition of 1783 (10 vols. 4to) . But as he grew older his attention was chiefly confined to English history and antiquities, and after publishing the ‘Itinerary’ and ‘Collectanea’ of John Leland he began his well-known series of editions of the English chroniclers ”

“ In the course of the next few years appeared his editions of Stobæus, of Herodotus (which has formed the basis of all subsequent editions) , of Sophocles, and above all of the Lexicon of Suidas (in which for the first time the manuscript in Corpus Christi College, Oxford, was collated) , and lastly of the ‘Etymologicon Magnum.’ His first work on the ecclesiastical writers was an edition of the ‘Græcarum affectionum curatio’ of Theodoret, which appeared in 1839.
As a scholar he must be described as thoroughly judicious rather than brilliant. ”

“ ADAM of Evesham (d. 1191) , was a monk of Notre Dame de la Charité-sur-Loire, Nièvre, afterwards joined to Cluny, and became prior of Bermondsey in 1157, and for that monastery he obtained important privileges in 1160 from Henry II. In 1161 he was made abbot of Evesham, where he completed the cloister, finished St. Egwine's shrine, glazed many of the windows, and made an aqueduct. He obtained the right to use episcopal ornaments in 1163, Evesham being the first abbey which obtained the use of the mitre for its abbot. ”

“ He proceeded at once to Wales, and was appointed commissary to the bishop of St. David's, who had ceased to reside in his diocese; but finding that the bishop suspended and excommunicated the canons and archdeacons, while he left plunderers of monasteries and robbers of churchyards unpunished, Giraldus gave up the charge and obtained from the archbishop the reversal of the sentence on the canons. In 1184 he was made one of Henry II's chaplains, and was sent by the king to accompany his son John in his expedition to Ireland. ”