‘Minorum ordinem proclamat impium,’ etc.[1599].
Among the assailants of the mendicants he mentions by name Ughtred of Durham, who flourished in the reign of Richard II. His poem has been edited by Hearne (Oxon. 1729), from a fifteenth century MS. then in the possession of Roger Gale, Esq.
MS. Paris:—Bibl. Nationale, MS. 1201 (sec. XV) contains: Ricardi Trevithelani Supplicationes ad beatam Mariam Virginem.
William Auger or Anger, according to Leland[1600], studied in the Franciscan convent at Oxford, and was afterwards made Warden of the Grey Friars at Bridgwater, where he died and was buried, A. D. 1404[1601].
John Edes, Edaeus, or of Hereford, is said to have been a Minorite of Oxford, and to have written commentaries on many of Aristotle’s works, as well as on the Sentences and Apocalypse[1602]. He afterwards retired to Hereford, where he was elected warden, and where he died in 1406[1603].
Quedam constituta (?)[1604] Johannis Ede de ordine minorum. Inc. ‘Triplex fuit beneficium abrahe, viz. preeleccio, conversacio, propagacio ... Questio utrum personarum accepcio sit peccatum.’
MS. Oxford:—Bodley 815 (= 2684 in Bernard) f. 1-8, a fragment (sec. xv). The MS. (fol. 1) contains the note: ‘Habetur liber complete inter fratres minores Hefordie’ (sic)[1605].
William Butler or Botellere was regent master of the Minorites at Oxford in 1401, when he lectured against the translation of the Bible into English[1606]. He occurs as the thirtieth Provincial Minister and successor to John Zouche[1607]. He was probably the person elected by the Chapter at Oxford on the 3rd of May, 1406, on the deposition of Zouche[1608]. Though the latter was afterwards restored, he does not seem to have been generally recognised in England, and was in 1408 made Bishop of Llandaff[1609]. Butler’s tenure of office seems to have been reckoned from 1408. A new ordinance was made at this time that no Provincial of the Minorites should remain in office more than six years[1610]. William Butler resigned in 1413 or 1414, but was reinstated by Pope John XXIII[1611]. Whether he actually entered on his duties again does not appear. The date of his death is unknown. Bale and Pits state that he was buried at Reading[1612]. The Catalogue of Illustrious Franciscans, as quoted by Leland, calls him ‘Flos universitatis temporibus suis.’
Besides the treatise against the English translation of the Bible (Merton Coll. MS. 67) he is said to have written De indulgentiis papalibus. Inc. ‘Articulus pro finali cessatione lecture sentenciarum’[1613].
Vincent Boys, D.D. of Oxford, was elected thirty-first Provincial on the voluntary retirement of W. Butler in 1413. Butler was reinstated by the Pope and the election of Boys quashed; but no stigma was to attach to the latter[1614]. Tanner mentions a David Boys, Carmelite, c. 1450[1615].