The Grey Friars in OxfordLittle, A. G. (Andrew George)
History
The Grey Friars in Oxford
Little, A. G. (Andrew George)
Franciscans -- Great Britain
‘It happened,’ says Eccleston[1299], ‘that he found two shoes, and
when he went to Matins, he put them on. He stood therefore at Matins,
feeling unusually self-satisfied. But afterwards when he was in bed,
he dreamt that he had to go through a dangerous pass between Oxford
and Gloucester called “_boysaliz_” (?), which was infested by robbers;
and when he was descending into a deep valley, they rushed at him from
both sides, shouting, “Kill him!” In great terror he said that he was
a Friar Minor. “You lie,” they cried, “for you do not go barefoot;”
and when he put out his foot confidently, he found that he was wearing
those same shoes: and starting in confusion from sleep, he threw the
shoes into the middle of the courtyard.’
Walter was ‘_socius_’ or secretary to Agnellus and was at Oxford at the
time of the latter’s death (1235)[1300]. Later he was in Germany with
Peter of Tewkesbury, minister of Cologne, and returned to England in 1249
with Friar Paulinus, perhaps a German, in obedience to Peter[1301]. He
enjoyed a considerable reputation as a theologian and was lecturer at a
Franciscan Convent. Adam Marsh once sent for him to come and see him at
Oxford.
‘I conferred with him as you desired,’ he writes to the
Provincial[1302], ‘about investigating the meaning of Holy Scripture
in the original books of the saints, and he professed himself very
ready to do this or anything else which you thought fit to enjoin on
him.’
This was not the only subject discussed at the interview. The English
Minister suspected Walter of a desire to go abroad and of having obtained
from the General the promise of a lectureship in some foreign convent or
University. The Provincial had indeed just received an order from the
General to send some English friars to teach at Paris, and perhaps
Madele’s name was mentioned. Madele however denied the imputation, and
Adam recommended the Provincial to keep him in England, sending other
friars to Paris, and to remedy his grievances. Though he had long taught
theology with success, no competent provision had been made for him; he
had not only to exhaust his mind by studies but also to wear out his body
by writing daily with his own hand, as he lacked the ‘great volumes and
the assistance of companions,’ which had been provided for his
predecessors in the office. Eccleston refers to him as dead when he wrote
his chronicle[1303]. None of Madele’s writings[1304] have been preserved.
=G. of St. Edmund=: Adam Marsh wrote to the Provincial (W. of Nottingham)
on behalf of Martin the warden and the other friars at Oxford, requesting
him to order without delay
‘that Friar G. de Sancto Eadmundo be restored to the convent of friars
at Oxford[1305].’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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