The Grey Friars in Oxford

by A. G. Little

Unlike the Abbots and Priors of the religiosi possessionati, the heads of the Mendicant Houses required no royal assent to their appointment. Their names consequently do not occur in the royal records, and to this fact is due the incompleteness of the following list of the custodians and wardens of the Grey Friars at Oxford. It is a noteworthy if not surprising fact, that not a single original work by any of these men can now be found.

William of Esseby (perhaps Ashby in Norfolk)[818], the first warden, was one of the four clerks who came to England with Agnellus in 1224; he was then a young man and a novice, having recently joined the Order in France[819], and only assumed the habit of a professus when he became warden at Oxford[820]. He was among the first three Minorites authorized to preach in England[821].

When the English Province was divided into custodies (c. 1226?), he was made custodian of Oxford[822]. Afterwards he was sent to found the convent at Cambridge, and Eccleston draws a strange picture of him solemnly chanting the service, with one other friar and a crippled novice, in the wooden shed which served for a chapel[823]. Later William is heard of at Northampton[824]. About 1238, he was sent by Friar Wygmund, the German visitator of England, to visit Ireland; his mission here proved as abortive as that of the German in England; on his return he went to Cologne to join Wygmund[825]. He had ceased to be warden or custodian of Oxford before 1237[826]. He was alive when William of Nottingham became Provincial Minister, and died ‘after many years’ at London[827].

Eccleston gives him a high character. He was specially distinguished for his obedience.

‘When Friar Gregory, the Provincial Minister of France, asked him whether he would like to go to his native land, he said, he did not know what he would like, because his will was not his own, but the Minister’s; so, whatever the Minister would, he would[828].’

By his tact he did much towards winning for his Order the affection of the world, and he was instrumental in leading many fit persons of various ranks and ages ‘to the way of salvation[829].’

Cambridge Univ. Library, MS. Ii I. 24, p. 332. seq. (sec. xiv) contains a sermon by the ‘Prior de Essebi de artificioso modo predicandi,’ and other sermons perhaps by the same author. Tanner and others suggest that this Essebi may be the Franciscan: but ‘Prior’ was a title unknown in the Franciscan Order. The author was probably a Prior of Canons Ashby.

Eustace de Merc was a member of the Oxford convent in the lifetime of Agnellus, and had license to hear confessions; he was warden at the time of the visitatorial chapter held by Friar Wygred or Wygmund in 1237-8. On this occasion many accusations were brought against him, in consequence of which he was for a day and a half excluded from the chapter; the charges are not specified and do not seem to have been proved. After fulfilling the duties of warden for a long time, he became custodian of York. The date of his death is unknown.

While he always showed to others ‘the sweetness of an angelic affection,’ he subjected himself until the end of his life to the severest discipline; even in his earlier years, his fasts and vigils and self-inflicted stripes endangered his health, and called forth the remonstrances of his superiors[830].

Peter of Tewkesbury. It is uncertain whether ‘Friar Peter, custodian of Oxford’ is to be identified with Peter of Tewkesbury; but a comparison of the dates, so far as they can be ascertained, brings out nothing inconsistent with this supposition, and we shall put the facts about both of them together. Peter of Tewkesbury was warden of London about 1234; about this time he went to Rome with Agnellus and some Friars Preachers on behalf of the English prelates[831]. Agnellus confessed to him on his death-bed and constituted him his vicar[832]. When Albert of Pisa was Provincial, Friar Peter was custodian of Oxford; he held the office for twelve years (1236-48?)[833]. During the generalship of Haymo, ‘Friar Peter, custodian of Oxford’ was one of the three friars chosen for the English province to note doubtful points in the Rule[834]. In 1245 he again appears as custodian; Adam mentions having written a detailed account to him about the proceedings at or before the Council of Lyons[835]. Peter of Tewkesbury was at the general chapter of the friars at Genoa in 1244, and remained afterwards to obtain and take back two Papal bulls about the Friars Preachers and Minors, evidently the revocation of the bull providing that no Minorite should receive the obligati of the Preachers into his Order[836]. When John of Stamford fell ill on his return from Lyons, Peter of Tewkesbury was sent to Mantes to come back with Adam Marsh, at Grostete’s request[837]. In 1250 he was minister of Cologne[838]. It was probably in the next year that he was elected fifth Provincial of England after the death of William of Nottingham[839]: he was succeeded by John of Stamford about 1256 or 1257[840]. He was an intimate friend of Robert Grostete, ‘from whom he often heard many secrets of wisdom.’[841] Eccleston says of him: