Grosseteste's Pastoral Afterlife

Chapter 7 Grosseteste’s Pastoral Afterlife

At that time [1267] the disinherited hiding out on the Isle of Ely were called upon by the papal legate’s messengers to return to the faith and unity of Holy Mother Church, to the obedience of Rome and to the peace of the King, according to the established form. So that, according to the form of the Church, they could be absolved from the sentence of gen- eral excommunication against them, they were told that they should stop all robberies and depredations and make restitution to the clergy and the Church. To which the disinherited first replied that they held the faith they had been taught by the holy bishops, that is St Robert, St Edmund and St Richard, and other Catholic men, and that they believed and upheld the articles found in the Creed, as well as the gospels and the sacraments of the Church, as the Universal Church believed and upheld them. They were prepared to live and die for this faith. Secondly they said that they owed obedience to the Holy Church as the head of all Christian- ity, but not to the desires and will of those who governed the same.1

So the chronicler William Rishanger reports the words of the defeated remnant of Simon de Montfort’s supporters, whose rebellion had been overcome at Eve- sham in 1265. The St Robert mentioned here is Grosseteste. Unlike the other bishops the disinherited appealed to he was never canonised, but like St Ed- mund [of Abingdon, archbishop of Canterbury] and St Richard [Wich, bishop of Chichester] he was known for encouraging the teaching of that faith which the men at Ely described – the sacraments, and knowledge of the Gospels and the Creed. How, though, did Grosseteste, after his death, come to be called upon by rebels in support of their opposition to Crown and Church? This study has examined one English bishop’s own approach to pastoral care through the administration of his diocese. Now we must also ask, what influence, if any, did Grosseteste’s approach to pastoral care, have beyond the see of Lincoln? Grosseteste was a well-connected and well-regarded man, respected both for his thoughts and writings, and for the practical exercise of his offices. Many of his associates went on to become bishops: including William Raleigh, bishop of Winchester and of Norwich; Henry of Sandwich, bishop of London,

1 Willelmi Rishanger, Chronica et Annales, a.d. 1259–1307, ed. H.T. Riley (Rolls Series, London, 1865), 53–4.

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Ralph of Maidstone, bishop of Hereford; Roger of Weasenham, bishop of Cov- entry and Lichfield; Richard Wich, bishop of Chichester; Walter de Cantilupe, bishop of Worcester; and Richard Gravesend, who was himself bishop of Lin- coln later in the century. Through his friendships and connections, particularly with the Franciscans, he knew other men who entered the episcopate too. His network also stretched to include men who had begun their careers within Lincoln diocese, and those who were the protégés of his personal associates. Traces of Grosseteste’s influence on the pastoral care and episcopal practice of some of these men can sometimes be identified. Just as important, however, is the influence that his pastoral theory had upon both ecclesiastical and secular politics during his episcopate and after his death.

1 Grosseteste’s Network amongst the Episcopate

The episcopal networks of mid-thirteenth century England were largely based on service and education. They were built around membership of households, both religious and secular; political affiliations; university attendance; and the broader hinterland of relationships and acquaintances which these immediate networks expanded to include. Grosseteste himself had once benefited from being part of a patronage network within the diocese of Hereford, where a written recommendation from Gerald of Wales had led to his employment by William de Vere, bishop of Hereford 1186 to 1198.2 After leaving the bishop’s service, Grosseteste kept contacts in the diocese, and he may well have been responsible for recommending Ralph of Maidstone, chancellor of Oxford un- til 1213, as the next bishop in Hereford, where his own service in that previ- ous bishop’s household, meant that his word held some weight.3 How far did his connections stretch amongst the members of the episcopate who were his contemporaries and his successors, and how far did his ideas about pastoral care extend within these circles? Although some future members of the episcopate had held benefices and ecclesiastical positions in the see of Lincoln before becoming bishops, this did not necessarily make them a part of Grosseteste’s network. These roles were often ways of providing income for royal servants who may never have entered

2 Giraldi Cambrensis Opera, i. 249 and see translation in Southern, Robert Grosseteste, 65. 3 Grosseteste did sometimes refuse to support proposed bishops. See his letter to Ralph Nev- ille declining to support his election as bishop of Winchester and saying he would leave the outcome to God. (Letters of Robert Grosseteste, no. 62, pp. 213–6; Epistolae Grosseteste, 188–90) and his rejection of Robert Passelewe as bishop of Chichester after examining him in 1244 (Chronica Majora, iv. 287, 401; English Episcopal Acta 22, xxxv–xxxvi).