Robert of Cricklade

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Robert of Cricklade
Bornc. 1100
Diedbetween 1174 and 1179
Resting placeprobably
Augustinian canon, prior
, writer
NationalityEnglish
PeriodAngevin
GenreReligious writings

Robert of Cricklade (c. 1100–1174 × 1179) was a medieval English writer and prior of St Frideswide's Priory in Oxford.[1] He was a native of Cricklade and taught before becoming a cleric. He wrote several theological works as well as a lost biography of Thomas Becket, the murdered Archbishop of Canterbury.

Life

Robert was from

chancellor of Oxford, this office did not yet exist during Robert's lifetime. There were students at Oxford in his lifetime, though his precise role in local teaching is unclear.[5]

Writings

Robert was the author of many works, most of which survive in one or more manuscripts, but some of which are lost. A commentary on the Psalms is also attributed to him, preserved in a single manuscript,[6] but this is more likely the work of Robert of Bridlington.[7]

De connubio Iacob

On the Marriage of Jacob was written while Robert was at Cirencester. It is an allegorical treatment of the Jacob story from the Bible, written after 1137 and before Robert's move to Oxford in 1138/9.[8] He mentions Bernard of Clairvaux and William of Malmesbury as major influences on his writing.[9] It survives in five manuscripts:

Defloratio historie naturalis Plinii

The Anthology of Pliny's Natural History is an epitome of Pliny the Elder's Natural History dedicated to King Henry II of England.[10] It is of some importance in the transmission of Pliny's ideas to medieval Europe, although it is less important as a witness to Pliny's text than once thought.[11][12]

The book appears to have originally been composed in the 1130s, perhaps as a text for his students, and only later dedicated it to King Henry.[13] It has been printed in a critical edition.[14]

The work survives in five manuscripts:

Speculum fidei

The Mirror of Faith was a theological work that mainly collected texts from the Old and New Testament discussing basic theological concepts, dedicated to Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester.[15] It was written between 1164 and 1168, but the surviving manuscript opens with an addition noting a decretal of Pope Alexander III from 1170.[16][17] It is best known for Robert's refutation of the views of Peter Lombard's theology.[18] It survives in one manuscript:

Omelie super Ezechielem

The Homilies on Ezechiel are a series of 42

Gregory the Great
. The work survives in two manuscripts:

  • Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 30 (from Bury St Edmunds Abbey)
  • Hereford Cathedral, O.iii.10 (from Cirencester Abbey)

Vita et miracula sancte Thome Cantuariensis

Robert wrote his Life and Miracles of St Thomas of Canterbury around 1173 to 1174.[20] Though lost, it is one of the main sources for an Icelandic saga on Becket entitled Thómas saga erkibyskups, which survives in a copy dating from the first half of the 14th century.[21] This saga preserves several otherwise unknown details about Becket's life and remains one of the main sources for Becket studies.[22] Robert's life also was a source for the work of Benet of St Albans, another biographer of Becket.[23] A modern historian partially reconstructed Robert's biography from these sources.[24] A major source for Robert's work on Becket was the writings of John of Salisbury. A modern biographer of Becket, Frank Barlow, speculates that Robert's biography was lost because it favored the king's side of the story, rather than Becket's.[25]

Letter to Benedict of Peterborough

Benedict of Peterborough quotes in his Miracula S. Thome Cantuariensis a letter to him from Robert, giving an account of his healing from a serious illness, for which he credits the intercession of Thomas Becket. Another canon in Oxford, also named Robert, was similarly healed. The account is printed as part of the Rolls Series.[26]

Life of St Magnus

The earliest account of the death of Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney, whose Latin original is lost but partially survives in an Icelandic translation was written by a 'Meistari Roðbert'. It has been suggested 'with some confidence' that this may be the work of Robert of Cricklade.[27]

Vita sancte Frideswide

A Life of St Frideswide, on Frithuswith, the patron of Robert's priory in Oxford, has been shown to have been written by Robert, and has been critically edited.[28] It is a revision of another earlier work. It survives in three manuscripts:

  • Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud Misc. 114, fols 132r–140r
  • Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, 129, fols 167r–177v
  • Gotha, Forschungsbibliothek, MM. I.81, fols. 225v–230r

Death and legacy

Robert died after 1174, and was probably buried in his priory.

Hebrew texts of the works of Josephus,[2] according to Gerald of Wales, who claims in De principis instructione that Robert knew the Hebrew language.[30]

References

  1. ISSN 0076-5872
    .
  2. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/23730. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  3. S2CID 163587951
    .
  4. ISBN 978-0-521-80452-3
    .
  5. ^ Excerpts from Robert's works on learning and a brief commentary is found in Holland, T.E. (1890). "The university of Oxford in the twelfth century". In Montagu Burrows (ed.). Collectanea, second series. Oxford Historical Society. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 137–192.
  6. ^ Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud misc. 454.
  7. ISBN 978-2-503-50575-6
    .
  8. ISBN 978-1-78327-016-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link
    )
  9. ^ Dunning, Andrew (11 July 2016). "Robert of Cricklade: Why I Write". Medieval Manuscripts Blog. British Library. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  10. ^ Rück, Karl (1902). "Das Exzerpt der Naturalis Historia des Plinius von Robert von Cricklade". Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-philologischen und der historischen Classe der k. B. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München: 195–285.
  11. ISBN 978-0-19-814456-4
    .
  12. JSTOR 650667
    .
  13. ISBN 978-2-503-53781-8
    .
  14. ISBN 978-3-906770-29-1
    .
  15. S2CID 152502912
    .
  16. ^ Dunning, Andrew (29 December 2017). "Robert of Cricklade". Arlima: Archives de littérature du Moyen Âge. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  17. JSTOR 310450
    .
  18. ISBN 978-2-503-52795-6
    .
  19. ISBN 978-0-631-14400-7
    .
  20. ISBN 978-90-04-13807-0
    .
  21. ^ Magnússon, Eiríkr (1883). Thómas saga erkibyskups: a life of Archbishop Thomas Becket, in Icelandic, with English translation, notes and glossary. London: Longmans.
  22. ISBN 978-0-7190-5454-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link
    )
  23. doi:10.3406/roma.1916.4853
    .
  24. ISSN 0003-2468
    .
  25. ISBN 978-0-520-05920-7
    .
  26. ^ Materials for the history of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Rolls Series. Vol. 67/2. James Craigie Robertson (ed.). London: Longman. 1876. pp. 96–101.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  27. ISBN 978-90-04-15580-0
    .
  28. ^ Blair, John (1987). "Saint Frideswide Reconsidered" (PDF). Oxoniensia. 52: 71–127.
  29. ^ Philip of Oxford, Miracula sancte Frideswide 1 and 4, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Digby 177, fols 1v–2v. Partially quoted by Blair (1987), p. 118.
  30. ISBN 978-1-5017-0831-2
    .

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