Robert Grosseteste: The Growth of an English Mind in Medieval Europe

by Richard William Southern

Robert Grosseteste was one of the most independent and vigorous Englishmen of the Middle Ages--a medieval Dr. Johnson in his powers of mind and personality. Of humble birth, he lived for many years in obscurity and emerged only late in life as a national figure, deeply conservative and
profoundly critical of the contemporary world. As a scientist, theologian, and pastoral leader, he was rooted in an English tradition going back beyond the Norman Conquest. This comprehensive study of one of England's great intellects by the late Sir Richard W. Southern of Oxford University is an
important contribution to the history of ideas.

350 pages, Hardcover

First published November 10, 1988

About the author

Sir Richard William Southern was a noted English medieval historian, based at the University of Oxford. He was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle, and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated with a first-class honours degree in history. At Oxford, Southern's mentors were Sir Maurice Powicke and Vivian Hunter Galbraith. He was a fellow of Balliol from 1937 to 1961 (where he lectured alongside Christopher Hill), Chichele Professor of Modern History at Oxford from 1961 to 1969, and president of St John's College, Oxford, from 1969 to 1981. He was president of the Royal Historical Society from 1969 to 1973, and was knighted in 1974.

Reviews

[Charlie Wesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book traces the thought of Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175 - 1253), one of the pre-eminent intellectual figures of thirteenth century England, from his early works of natural philosophy (science) through to his later theological work. His legacy upon later generations is touched upon at the end, focusing on his championing by such contrasting followers as Roger Bacon and John Wyclif (and the later Lollards), who took some of his idea to places he would not have intended. Southern delves into the problems of identification of his early works and of knowing much of anything about his early life from the very fragmentary evidence available (until he begins teaching at Oxford in the 1220s). It gets especially interesting when Southern discusses the differences of his thought to that of mainstream scholasticism, and how course his education may have taken to became such an individual figure. As this book focuses on his intellectual development, there isn't so much detail of the activities his years as Bishop of Lincoln (1235 - 1253), and it isn't a biography as such. This is an excellent book that thoroughly explores the mind, as far as we can know it, of a fascinating figure.