Groot, De. SeeGROTius; Hofstede.
Gropper, Joh ann, a German Romanist divine, was born at Socst in 1501, became successivelj' canon of Cologne, provost of Bonn, and archdeacon and provost of St. Gereon of Cologne. He convoked a provincial synod in 1536 with the intention of effecting some re- forms, and was afterwards sent by Charles V to the religious assembly of 1541 at Regensburg; he is even said to have framed the Interim which was there de- cided on. In 1548 he went to Soest, to reform the churches of that place agreeably to the Interim. In 1551, on the occasion of the reopening of the Council of Trent, the pope called him to Rome for the purpose of consulting with him. Here he died, March 12, 1558. Gropper belonged to the class of milder Romanists who, at the time of the Reformation, sought to reunite the Protestants to the Church of Rome by means of con- ciliatory measures. His principal works are, Antidi- dagma (against the archbishop Hermann, Cologne, 1544) -.—Institutio catholica (1550) : — Von loahrer u. blei- hender Gegenwart d. Leibcs u. Blutes Christi (1556) : — Capita insiitutionis ad pietatem (1557), etc. — Herzog, Real-Encykl. s. v. ; Dieringer, Kathol. Zeitschrift (vol. ii, 1844).
Grosseteste, Groce-teste, Grostest, Grost- head, Groshead (Capito, " Qui cognominatus est a pluribus Grosshm-caput," Tiiiet.), Robert, bishop of Lincoln, a celebrated ecclesiastic, theologian, states- man, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, poet, moralist, and teacher, in the first half of the thir- teenth century. The various forms of the name indi- cate that it was a descriptive epithet, agnomen, or by- name, rather than a family designation, which was still no common appendage. The nickname has been ren- dered historical by the career of its bearer, who con- tended with pope and king, was the early counsellor of Simon De Montfort, the teacher, patron, and friend of Roger Bacon and Adam De Marisco, the colleague of the scarcely less eminent Robert Bacon and Richard Fitzakre. He has often been regarded as the first translator of the Scriptures into English, and as the precursor of the Protestant Reformation, and his con- tinued reputation is mainly due to his strenuous and bold resistance to the corruptions of the Church at home, and to the vices of the papal court. The thir- teenth century is one of the most active, bustling, eventful, and important in the whole series of the ages.
GROSSETESTE
1014
GROSSETESTE
Tt is crowded with great personages. It is full of mighty events attendant on
The spirit of tlie years to come, Yearning to mix himself witli life.
Not the least notable of these mutations occurred in England in the reign of He*ry III, and laid, in the midst of anarchy and strife, tlie foundations of tlie English Church, the English jurisprudence, the Eng- lish liberties, the English language, literature, philoso- phy, and science. In all of tliese movements Robert Grosseteste was concerned, and on all these forms of national development he left tlie impress of his genius and character.
Liff. — liobert Grosseteste was born, about 1175, at Stradbrooke, in the county of Suffollt, England. His origin was extremely humble, and little is known of his early career except that he studied at Oxford, and that law, physic, and divinity all received his atten- tion. He is supposed to have extended his education at Paris, and to have held a chair in its university. He owed his first ecclesiastical appointment apparently to the bishop of Hereford, to whom he had been com- mended by a letter of Giraldus Cambrensis. His su- perior died in 1199, but his character and talents se- cured promotion. Between 121-1 and 1232 he held suc- cessively the archdeaconries of Wilts, Northampton, and Leicester, and various other livings, including the prebend of Clifton at Lincoln. In 1224, at the request of Agnellus, provincial of the Franciscans, he became reader in the recently founded Franciscan school at Oxford, and inaugurated the brilliant career of that university (Eccleston, De Adcentu Fratrum Minorum, c. v.). This function he discharged till his elevation to the episcopate. It was probably during these j'ears that he was rector scholarum, or chancellor of the uni- versity, and was associated with Eobert Bacon, the head of the Dominican school there. In Januarj^, 12.32, he contemplated a visit to Rome, but was retained hy his bishop. Towards the end of this j'ear he had a violent attack of fever, and resigned all his prefer- ments in the Church except his prebendal stall at Lin- coln. His own feelings on this occasion are perpetu- ated in his letters to his sister and to his friend {Ejip. viii, ix). During this year he had undertaken the de- fence of the Jews against the outrageous persecutions and criminations to which the}' had been exposed since the Jewish massacre at the accession of Richard I. He further manifested his solicitude for them by laboring for their conversion. His zeal is illustrated b}' his V Letter and his treatise Be Cessatione Legalium. His acquisition of Hebrew may have been the cause or the consequence of this intervention. In 1235 he was elected to the bishopric of Lincoln. His promotion is commemorated bj' our earliest English poet, Robert of Gloucester;
Maister Koberd Groce teste tliulke zer was al so
IsucreJ bissop of Lincolne at Seinte Edraunde at Rediuge.
His duties were onerous; the diocese was the largest and the most populous in the realm {Ep. xli). His new cares did not diminish at any time his active in- terest in the University of Oxford, which owned his jurisdiction.