Richard Aungerville (or
Aungervyle) (January 24 1281 – April 14 1345), commonly known as
Richard de Bury, was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
writerA writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.-Profession:...
, bibliophile,
BenedictineBenedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
monkA monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, whilst always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
and
bishopA bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
. He was a patron of learning, and one of the first English collectors of books. He is chiefly remembered for his
Philobiblon, written to inculcate in the clergy the pursuit of learning and the love of books.
Life
He was born in 1281 near Bury St Edmunds,
SuffolkSuffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, the son of Sir Richard Aungervyle, who was descended from one of
William the ConquerorWilliam I , better known as William the Conqueror, was Duke of Normandy from AD 1035 and King of England from late 1066 to his death. William is sometimes also referred to as "William II" in relation to his position as the second Duke of Normandy of that name...
's men. Aungervyle settled in
LeicestershireLeicestershire or , abbreviation Leics.is a landlocked county in central England. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
, and the family came into possession of the manor of Willoughby. He was educated by John de Willoughby, and after leaving the
grammar schoolA grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally schools teaching classical languages but more recently academically-oriented types of secondary school.The original purpose of...
was sent to the
University of OxfordThe University of Oxford , located in the UK city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back...
, where he studied
philosophyPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing these questions by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on reasoned...
and
theologyThe term "theology" literally means the study of God, deriving from the Greek word theos, meaning 'God', and the suffix -ology from the Greek word logos meaning "discourse", "theory", or "reasoning"...
. He became a
BenedictineBenedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
monk at
Durham CathedralThe Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly referred to as Durham Cathedral, in the city of Durham, England, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Durham. The Bishopric dates from 995, with the present cathedral being founded in AD 1093...
. He was made tutor to the future King
Edward IIIEdward III was one of the most successful English monarchs of the Middle Ages. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into the most efficient military power in Europe...
whilst
Prince of WalesPrince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the Heir Apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland...
(whom he would later serve as high
chancellorChancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
and
treasurerA treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization.-Government:The Treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The Treasurer is generally the head of the Treasury, although, in some countries A treasurer is the...
of
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) and, according to
Thomas Frognall DibdinThomas Frognall Dibdin , English bibliographer, born at Calcutta, was the son of Thomas Dibdin, the sailor brother of Charles Dibdin....
, inspired the prince with his own love of books.
Somehow he became involved in the intrigues preceding the deposition of King
Edward IIEdward II, called Edward of Carnarvon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. He was the seventh Plantagenet king, in a line that began with the reign of Henry II...
, and supplied
Queen IsabellaIsabella of France , sometimes described as the She-wolf of France, was the Queen consort of Edward II of England and mother of Edward III...
and her lover, Roger Mortimer, in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
with money in 1325 from the revenues of Brienne, of which province he was treasurer. For some time he had to hide in Paris from the officers sent by Edward II to apprehend him. On the accession of Edward III his services were rewarded by rapid promotion. He was cofferer to the king, treasurer of the wardrobe and afterwards
Lord Privy SealThe Lord Privy Seal or Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal is the fifth of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and above the Lord Great Chamberlain. The office is one of the traditional sinecure offices of state...
in 1329. The king repeatedly recommended him to the
popeThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
, and twice sent him, in 1330 and 1333, as ambassador to the papal court in exile at
AvignonAvignon is a commune in the Vaucluse department in south-eastern France with an estimated mid-2004 population of 89,300 in the city itself and a population of 290,466 in the metropolitan area at the 1999 census.The city is well known for its Palais des Papes , where several popes...
. On the first of these visits he met a fellow bibliophile,
PetrarchFrancesco Petrarca , known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar, poet and one of the earliest Renaissance humanists. Petrarch is often called the "Father of Humanism"...
, who records his impression of Aungerville as "not ignorant of literature and from his youth up curious beyond belief of hidden things." Petrarch asked him for information about Thule, but Aungerville, who promised to reply when he was back at home among his books, never responded to repeated enquiries.
Pope John XXIIPope John XXII , born Jacques Duèze , was pope from 1316 to 1334. He was the second Pope of the Avignon Papacy , elected by a conclave in Lyon assembled by Philip V of France...
, made him his principal
chaplainA chaplain is typically a priest, pastor, ordained deacon, rabbi, imam or other member of the clergy serving a group of people who are not organised as a mission or church, or who are unable to attend church for various reasons; such as health, confinement, or military or civil duties; lay...
, and presented him with a rochet in earnest of the next vacant bishopric in England.
During his absence from England he was made dean of rolls in 1333. In September of the same year, he was made
Bishop of DurhamThe Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the diocese of Durham in the province of York. The Diocese is one of the oldest in the country and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords...
by the king, overruling the choice of the monks, who had elected and actually installed their sub-prior, Robert de Graynes. In February 1334 Aungerville was made Lord Treasurer, an appointment he exchanged later in the year for that of
Lord ChancellorThe Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
. He resigned the following year, and, after making arrangements for the protection of his northern diocese from an expected attack by the
ScotsScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, he proceeded in July 1336 to France to attempt a settlement of the claims in dispute between Edward and the French king. In the next year he served on three commissions for the defence of the northern counties. In June 1338 he was once again sent abroad on a peace mission, but within a month was waylaid by the approaching campaign.
Aungerville travelled to Coblenz and met
Louis IV, Holy Roman EmperorLouis IV , called the Bavarian, of the house of Wittelsbach, was the King of Germany from 1314, the King of Italy from 1327 and the Holy Roman Emperor from 1328....
, and in the next year was sent to England to raise money. This seems to have been his last visit to the continent. In 1340 and 1342 he again tried to negotiate peace with the Scots, but afterwards left public politics to care for his diocese and accumulate a library. He sent far and wide in search of manuscripts, rescuing many volumes from the charge of ignorant and neglectful monks. He may sometimes have brought undue pressure to bear on the owners, for it is recorded that an abbot of St Albans bribed him with four valuable books, and that Aungerville, who procured certain coveted privileges for the monastery, bought from him thirty-two other books for fifty pieces of silver, far less than their normal price. The record of his
passion for booksBibliophilia is the love of books. Accordingly a bibliophile loves books, but especially "for qualities of format." A bookworm loves books for their content, or otherwise loves reading in general. Bibliophilia is generally considered to be an incorrect, but some would say merely recent, usage...
, his
Philobiblon (Greek for 'book-lover', was completed on his fifty-eighth birthday, 24 January 1345.
He gives an account of the wearied efforts made by himself and his agents to collect books. He records his intention of founding a hall at Oxford, and in connection with it a library in which his books were to form the nucleus. He even details the dates to be observed for the lending and care of the books, and had already taken the preliminary steps for the foundation. The bishop died, however, in great poverty on April 14, 1345 at
Bishop AucklandBishop Auckland is a market town and civil parish in County Durham in North East England. It is located about northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham at the confluence of the River Wear with its tributary the River Gaunless...
, and it seems likely that his collection was dispersed immediately after his death. Of it, the traditional account is that the books were sent to the Durham Benedictines at his foundation of Durham College, Oxford, and that on the dissolution of the foundation by
Henry VIIIHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
they were divided between Duke Humphrey of Gloucester's library,
Balliol College, OxfordBalliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England.Traditionally, the undergraduates are amongst the most politically active in the university, and the college's alumni include three former prime ministers. H. H...
, and George Owen. Only two of the volumes are known to be in existence; one is a copy of
John of SalisburyJohn of Salisbury , also known as Johannes Parvus, was an English author, educationalist, diplomat and bishop of Chartres, and was born at Salisbury.- Biography :...
's works in the
British MuseumThe British Museum is a museum of human history and culture situated in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from...
, and the other some theological treatises by Anselm and others in the
BodleianThe Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
.
The chief authority for the bishop's life is William de Chambre, printed in Wharton's
Anglia Sacra, 1691, and in
Historiae conelmensis scriptores tres, Surtees Soc., 1839, who describes him as an amiable and excellent man, charitable in his diocese, and the liberal patron of many learned men, among these being
Thomas BradwardineThomas Bradwardine , often called "the Profound Doctor", was an English scholar and courtier and, very briefly, Archbishop of Canterbury.-Life:...
, afterwards
Archbishop of CanterburyAlso see Leaders of ChristianityThe Archbishop of Canterbury is the chief bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, the see that churches must be in communion with in order to be...
,
Richard FitzralphRichard FitzRalph was an Archbishop of Armagh during the 14th century. He was born into a well-off burgess family of Anglo-Norman/Hiberno-Norman descent in Dundalk, Ireland. He is noted as an ex-fellow and teacher of Balliol College, at the University of Oxford in 1325...
, afterwards Archbishop of Armagh, the enemy of the mendicant orders,
Walter BurleyWalter Burley was a medieval English logician. He was a Master of Arts at Oxford in 1301, and a fellow of Merton College, Oxford until 1305. He studied theology in Paris from before 1310, and by c.1320 he was a doctor of theology at Paris. He was a fellow of the Sorbonne by 1324...
, who translated
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
, John Mauduit the
astronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars, and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
, Robert Holkot and Richard de Kilvington.
John BaleJohn Bale was an English churchman, historian and controversialist, and Bishop of Ossory. He wrote the oldest known historical verse drama in English , and developed and published a very extensive list of the works of British authors down to his own time, just as the monastic libraries were being...
and Pits I mention other works of his,
Epistolae Familiares and
Orationes ad Principes. The opening words of the
Philobiblon and the
Epistolae as given by Bale represent those of the
Philobiblon and its prologue, of that he apparently made two books out of one treatise. It is possible that the
Orationes may represent a letter book of Richard de Bury's, entitled
Liber Epistolaris quondam dominiis cardi de Bury, Episcopi Dunelmensis, now in the possession of Lord Harlech.
This manuscript, the contents of which are fully catalogued in the
Fourth Report (1874) of the Historical Manuscripts Commission (Appendix, pp. 379-397), contains numerous letters from various popes, from the king, a correspondence dealing with the affairs of the university of Oxford, another with the province of
GasconyGascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...
, beside some harangues and letters evidently meant as models to be used on various occasions. It has often been asserted that the
Philobiblon itself was not written by Richard de Bury at all, but by Robert Holkot. This assertion is supported by the fact that in seven of the extant manuscripts of
Philobiblon it is ascribed to Holkote in an introductory page, in these or slightly varying terms:
Incipit prologus in re philobiblon ricardi dunelmensis episcopi que libri composuit ag. The Paris manuscript has simply
Philobiblon olchoti anglici, and does not contain the usual concluding note of the date when the book was completed by Richard. As a great part of the charm of book lies in the unconscious record of the collector's own character, the establishment of Holkot's authorship would materially alter its value. A notice of Richard de Bury by his contemporary
Adam MurimuthAdam Murimuth was an English ecclesiastic and chronicler.-Life:He was born in 1274 or 1275 and studied civil law at the University of Oxford. Between 1312 and 1318 he practised in the papal curia at Avignon...
(
Continuatio Chronicarum,
Rolls seriesThe Rolls Series, official title The Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages, is a major collection of British and Irish historical materials and primary sources, published in the second half of the nineteenth century. Some 255 volumes, representing 99 separate...
, 1889, p. 171) gives a less favourable account of him than does William de Chambre, asserting that he was only moderately learned, but desired to be regarded as a great scholar.
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