Robert Grosseteste
Robert Grosseteste[n 1] (/ˈɡroʊstɛst/ GROHS-test; Latin: Robertus Grosseteste; c. 1168-70 – 8 or 9 October 1253),[11] also known as Robert Greathead or Robert of Lincoln, was an English statesman, scholastic philosopher, theologian, scientist and Bishop of Lincoln. He was born of humble parents in Suffolk (according to the early 14th-century chronicler Nicholas Trevet), but the associations with the village of Stradbroke is a post-medieval tradition.[12] Upon his death, he was revered as a saint in England, but attempts to procure a formal canonisation failed. A. C. Crombie called him "the real founder of the tradition of scientific thought in medieval Oxford, and in some ways, of the modern English intellectual tradition". As a theologian, however, he contributed to increasing hostility to Jews and Judaism, and spread the accusation that Jews had purposefully suppressed prophetic knowledge of the coming of Christ, through his translation of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs.
Robert Grosseteste
1235
1253
8 or 9 October 1253 (aged about 85)
Buckden, Huntingdonshire
Philosophy career
Theory of scientific demonstration
9 October
Anglican Communion
Veneration[edit]
Upon his death, he was almost universally revered as a saint in England, with miracles reported at his shrine and pilgrims to it granted an indulgence by the bishop of Lincoln.[37] However, attempts by successive Bishops of Lincoln, the University of Oxford, and Edward I to secure a formal papal canonisation failed.[37] The attempts to have him canonised were unsuccessful because of his opposition to Pope Innocent IV. The reason for this also seems to be because it was rumoured that Grosseteste's ghost was responsible for the death of the Pope.[36]
In most of the modern Anglican Communion, Robert Grosseteste is considered beatified and commemorated on 9 October.[38] Grosseteste is honoured in the Church of England and in the Episcopal Church on 9 October.[39][40]
Reputation and legacy[edit]
Grosseteste was already an elderly man, with an established reputation, when he became a bishop. As an ecclesiastical statesman, he showed the same fiery zeal and versatility of which he had given proof in his academic career; but the general tendency of modern writers has been to exaggerate his political and ecclesiastical services, and to neglect his performance as a scientist, an astrologer, and scholar. The opinion of his own age, as expressed by Matthew Paris and Roger Bacon, was very different. His contemporaries, while admitting the excellence of his intentions as a statesman, lay stress upon his defects of temper and discretion. Grosseteste was known to be somewhat critical towards everyone, and was known to often express his opinions regardless of status. Some of these conflicts involve the King, Abbot of Westminster and Pope Innocent. His morals were high and he recognised that even those of the church could be corrupt and worked to fight against that corruption.[36] But they see in him the pioneer of a literary and scientific movement; not merely a great ecclesiastic who patronised learning in his leisure hours, but the first mathematician and physicist of his age. He anticipated, in these fields of thought, some of the striking ideas to which Roger Bacon subsequently gave a wider currency.[19]
Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln is named after Robert Grosseteste. The university provides Initial Teacher Training and academic degrees at all levels. In 2003, it hosted an international conference on Grosseteste in honour of the 750th anniversary of his death.
Grosseteste has been recognised in many ways for his knowledge and contributions to the sciences. He was entered under the section "Scholars and Divines" in John Evelyn's Numismata: A discourse of Medals, entered under the name "Grosthed" listed among others that Evelyn describes as "famous and illustrious".[36][41] In 2014, The Robert Grosseteste Society has called for a statue to be erected so that he may be recognised for his achievements.[42]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the : Archer, Thomas Andrew (1885). "Basing, John". In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 3. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
