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(Doi 10.1017/S0017816000024378) J. C. Russell - Phases of Grosseteste's Intellectual Life PDF
(Doi 10.1017/S0017816000024378) J. C. Russell - Phases of Grosseteste's Intellectual Life PDF
(Doi 10.1017/S0017816000024378) J. C. Russell - Phases of Grosseteste's Intellectual Life PDF
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PHASES OF GROSSETESTE'S
INTELLECTUAL LIFE
JOSIAH C. RUSSELL
UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE, N. M.
94
(1926), 1-74.
6
Opera Ined. (Ed. Brewer), Opus Tertium, 91.
"This Callus' assumption. "The Oxford Career," pp. 48-9, 72.
95
96
principle has been tried, particularly for two treatises which the
bishop is suspected of writing at the Council of Lyons.10 The
manuscripts are distributed as follows.
No.
No.
6
12
England
XIII Cent. Later
on
i
Continent
XIII Cent. Later
6
35
i
3(?)
r
GROSSETESTE'S INTELLECTUAL LIFE
97
98
99
15
Callus, "The Oxford Career," p. 52. 'Primo fui clericus, deinde magister in
theologia et presbiter, et tandem episcopus.'
The theory that Grosseteste was doctor before 1221 rests upon two hypotheses
(1) that Grosseteste was chancellor of Oxford before 1221, and (2) that one had
to be a doctor of theology before he was chancellor of Oxford. Both of these
will be discussed later.
"His life of Grosseteste is edited in the Anglia Sacra, II, 325-41.
"Rotuli Hugonis de Welles (Lincoln Record Society, 1914), III, 48.
100
101
102
103
chosen chancellor about 1228-31, as suggested above, the expression would have been of value to show that it was in 1209 rather
than in 1228-31 that Hugh refused the title to Robert.
The evidence would then tend to show that Grosseteste was at
Oxford during the decade 1199-1209, but there is no trace of
him in England between 1209 and 1225. This is surely significant in view of the excellence of the documentary sources of the
period. His absence from Oxford helps explain the lack of
scholars who had him for a master. The earliest of the Oxford
men who show his influence seems to be Adam of Buckfield who
studied there only in the 1230s.28 Grosseteste also has to be
eliminated as one of the founders and pillars of the university
as it was reconstituted in 1214. Indeed it seems more likely that
the leaders were men like Edmund of Abingdon, Robert of
Bingham and Robert Bacon.29 They were men of a distinctly
religious turn of mind, if not really great scholars; excellent
enough so that we do not have to credit the mendicant orders
with the revival of the university or even of its school of theology.
If Grosseteste did not influence Oxford after 1209 for several
decades, he was certainly in the heart of its scientific interests
before that date.30 This was the time apparently of the entrance
of Aristotelian learning with its Arabic commentaries: the combination of the great pagan's works with their infidel commentaries was something to create doubt in the minds of the faithful.
Bardney relates a story that Grosseteste made a brazen head
which was able to tell the truth. This myth apparently developed
28
Cf. my Dictionary of Writers of Thirteenth Century England (London,
936), pp. 2-3 for his life. On recent study of his works see S. H. Thomson,
"The Works of Master Adam of Bocfeld," Medievalia et Humanistica II (1943),
55-87; D. A. Callus, "Introduction of Aristotelian Learning to Oxford," Proceedings of the British Academy (1943), p. 256.
29
For these men see my Dictionary, pp. 257, 131-2, and 1301 respectively.
On Robert Bacon see a recent and excellent article by B. Smalley, "Robert Bacon
and the early Dominican School at Oxford," Trans, of the Royal Hist. Soc, 4th
series, XXX (1948), 1-19. The possibility of the influence of Richard Poore in
English intellectual circles should also be kept in mind. Before he was bishop of
three English sees and a great courtier he had been a professor of theology at Paris.
80
Callus (Introduction of Aristotelian Learning, pp. 229-81 especially the last
few pages) would associate the entrance of Aristotelian learning with Edmund
of Abingdon about 1216-9. I should associate it with Alexander Nequam somewhat earlier and possibly with those two mysterious translators, Roger of
Hereford and Alfred of Sareshal.
I
104
105
for his early life.35 There may have been other professors of the
new and suspect knowledge: our information about this phase
of intellectual life is very limited. It is probable that the influx
of these enthusiasts for the learning of Aristotle may have led
the older professors to stir the local council to action which would
silence dangerous ideas or perhaps just remove competition.
Bardney gives the impression that after a time and as a result
of the decree against the new learning Grosseteste regretted his
former interest and turned to theology.36 The regret may be
doubted. In 1215-6 he was busily engaged in copying precisely
this type of information from an unidentified manuscript.37 As
we have seen the writings of Grosseteste throughout the period
reflect his interest in science, much of which was based upon
Aristotle. It is probable that the decree of 1210 curbed his
teaching,38 but his interest in theology may well have developed
concurrently in the presence of the great Parisian masters. Indeed one writing has been preserved which would seem to be an
expanded set of lecture notes of Philip the Chancellor of the years
1208-10.39 Th subject is the soul (De Anima), not surprising in
view of treatises upon the same subject by Oxford masters,
Alexander Nequam and John Blund of a slightly earlier time.40
It is possible that Grosseteste was teaching in the faculty of arts
at the same time that he was studying theology: this would explain why the lecture notes on Philip are so early in his career at
Paris.
The study of theology was usually an eight year course or
longer. Since we have allowed Grosseteste about five years for
study at Oxford, he should have had the earlier part at Paris,
lasting four or five years. Recently a case has been made for
35
106
107
108
51
109
Even more the lines about the duties of a clerk indicate England: B2
Provident and prudent in all things be a discreet clerk: you write
writs, charters, receipts and lists of expenses: you record reliefs, debts,
gersumas,fines,scutages and taxes; you likewise count out good money.
Do not reduce expenses which produce honor.
This statement of the duties as a clerk, so detailed and clear,
may have been rooted in his own experience as a clerk of
the bishop of Lincoln. In addition to these duties the clerk
is expected to serve in the chapel and even to preach to the
household.
The treatise is designed to be a study of etiquette of the curia;
from its first line apparently the royal court. Yet the scene is
of the court of a noble or even a wealthy knight rather than that
of a king. A royal clerk could hardly be expected to tend to all
of the duties outlined above for him: preaching, holding religious
services, and keeping accounts. One of the more earthy parts of
the poem is of the etiquette of the latrine.83 Its facilities were
apparently limited to only a few top ranking persons: the others
were expected to hit for the woods and the fields, something much
more appropriate for a country manor than for London or Winchester. It is thus very doubtful if Grosseteste was writing at the
English court: indeed there was no good time for him to have
done so since it was written during the reign of the great absentee,
Richard the Lion Hearted. The treatise does give a good picture
of the attitudes and actions expected of the members of such a
court, of precedence, of proper deportment, and of genteel habits.
It should be worth publication as a picture of the manners of the
time.
A bit of personal feeling may appear in two lines in which
Grosseteste adjures the poor boy who has become rich to re83
Lines 192-208.
110
111
from a philological standpoint. Indeed from a theological standpoint he was probably a conservative; emphasizing the discipline
of Biblical morals rather than the subtlety of scholastic disputation. Dazzled to some extent by association with people of greater
social distinction and conforming to their code of civility he
nevertheless retained his intellectual integrity. A clerk should
preach about the shortcomings of the court, he said, but he should
do it courteously. At the end of his life he was still the courteous
clerk.59
Grosseteste then was a long way from the heights of intellectual
and spiritual achievement manifested in his later life. The phases
are fairly clear but the road by which he went is not well marked.
The evidence of the influence of William de Monte leads one to
hope that the influence of other intellectual leaders can be isolated
also, although the great originality of the man may make this
difficult to accomplish very successfully. The first stage was
evidently the acquisition of a zeal for science; did it come from
Cambridge or Hereford or Oxford and from Daniel of Merlai or
Roger of Hereford or Alexander Nequam? The second stage was
apparently the development of an intense religious enthusiasm.
Did it derive from Grosseteste's theological training or from the
example of the new mendicant orders? These are some of the
questions, among many others, which should be answered before
the career of this great scholar stands out against the background
of the era of scholasticism.
69
112
APPENDIX
TABLE I
Continent
England
XIII Cent . Later XIII Cent . Later
13
18
44
4
3
3
3
3
3
11
II
35
bus
12 Aristotelis De Virtute
13 Commentatores Greci in Ethica
Nicomachea Aristotelis
20 Commentarii in Opera PseudoDionysii
21 Notule in Opera Pseudo-Dionysii
22 Notula super Epistolam Johannis
Damasceni de Trisagion
' 8
43
49
SO
76
78
81
82
85
86
87
94
95
98
100
102
103
104
i5
106
no
112
120
113
1
1
3
1
1
2
3
7
1
24
17
1
1
1
2
15
114
74
75
77
83
91
96
34
35
63
67
68
88
89
Continent
England
XIII Cent. Later XIII Cent. Later
4
7
1
2
2
15
3
21
earlier at Paris
1
3
2
1
2
2
1
115
TABLE III
36
37
38
40
42
44
45
46
47
48
5i
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
65
69
7i
114
Title
England
XIII Cent. Later
Continent
XIII Cent. Later
13
1
5
1
10
3
1
4
4
8
6
4
4
3
8
6
10
7
5
4
4
6
2
2
1
4
8
3
6
3
8
14
116
33
39
4i
52
64
66
70
73
97
IOI
109
i n
"3
116
117
119
Commentanus in Sophisticos
Elenchos Aristotelis
Commentarius in VIII Libros
Physicorum Aristotelis
Questiones in De Celo et Mundo
Aristotelis
De Anima
De Colore
Compotus I
De Impressionibus Aeris
De Potencia et Actu
De Quadratura Circuli
De Statu Causarum
De Universitatis Machina
De Obsequiis Bene Dicendis
De Penitencia David
Liber Curialis
Stans Puer ad Mensam
Chasteau d'Amour
Le Mariage des Neuf Filles du
Diable
Oracio ad Sanctam Margaretam
Gallica
Peines de Purgatoire
England
Continent
XIII Cent. Later XIII Cent. Later
1
1
1
1
1
2
11
3
3
S
2
1
1
1
1
S
6
1
2