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AUTHORS OF THE MIDDLE AGES · 2
English Writers of the Late Middle Ages
John Trevisa
David C. Fowler
i
~ ~~o~~~~n~~~up
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 1993 by Variorum and Ashgate Publishing
Published 2019 by Routledge
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Copyright© 1993 David C. Fowler.
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AUTHORS OF THE MIDDLE AGES · 2
English Writers of the Late Middle Ages: General Editor, M.C. Seymour
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Fowler, David C.
John Trevisa. - (Authors of the Middle
Ages;Vol.2,English Writers of the Late
Middle Ages)
I. Title II. Series
828.109
Typeset by Manton Typesetters,
7 Eastfield Road, Louth,
Lincolnshire LN 11 7 AJ
ISBN 13: 978-0-86078-370-1 (pbk)
CONTENTS
JOHN TREVISA
Trevisa’s Origins 1
Years at Oxford 3
Trevisa’s Colleges and Associates 4
University Education 7
Queen’s College Long Rolls 12
Expulsions from Queen’s College 14
Biblical Translation 17
Trevisa’s Installation as Vicar of Berkeley 18
Years in Gloucestershire 21
The Parish of Berkeley 21
Disputes at Stone and Westbury 23
Final Years 27
Trevisa’s Works 30
APPENDICES
1. Exeter College Long Rolls 33
2. Queen’s College Long Rolls 34
3. Expulsion from Queen’s College 36
4. St Augustine’s Abbey 37
5. The Dispute at Westbury 38
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Works by John Trevisa 45
Manuscripts 45
Editions 47
Dissertations 48
Documentary Sources, Calendars and Registers 50
Secondary Sources 52
iii
ABBREVIATIONS
BL British Library, London
CCR Calendar of Close Rolls
CPR Calendar of Patent Rolls
EETS Early English Text Society
ELN English Language Notes
M/E Medium /Evum
MLQ Modem Language Quarterly
NM Neuphilologische Mitteilungen
NQ Notes & Queries
OHS Oxfordshire Historical Society
PRIA Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy
PRO Public Record Office, London
VCH Victoria County History
WHS Worcestershire Historical Society
IV
JOHN TREVISA
Trevisa’s Origins
Nothing certain is known of John Trevisa prior to the record of his arrival
at Exeter College, Oxford in Lent, 1362. The name Trevisa ‘lower town’, is
Cornish1, and the connection with Cornwall implied by the name is supported
by the interest in the county expressed by Trevisa in his translation of
Higden’s Polychronicon; following a list of the shires of England, quoted
from the Annales of Alfred of Beverley which omits Cornwall, Trevisa adds:
Hit is wondre why Alfred summeth the schires of Engelond somdel as a man
})at mette; for Alfred telle}) })e som of schires in J>is manere: })ere bee}) in
Engelond sixe and })ritty schires wi])oute Comwayle and wi})oute J>e ylondes.
Why sei}) he nou3t in J>is manere: J)ere bee}) in Engelond six schires wi{)
Cornwayle, and })ritty o{)er schires wi{)oute })e ilondes? Ey})er manere
summynge is as vnredy as o})er. For to make a redy somme it schulde be
i-write in })is manere: In Engelond bee}) seuen and Jmtty schires, and so is
Cornewayle accounted wi}) })e o})ere schires; and \>at is skilful. For
Cornewayle is a schere of Engelond; for as he sei}), Comwaile is in \>is
Bretayne hym self, as it is aleide in four})e chapitre of })is firste book.
Fan hit is in oon of })e chief parties of })is Bretayne, }>at bee}) Engelond,
Wales, and Scotlond. But Cornewayle is nou3t in Wales, for })ere is a grete
see bytwene; no{)er in Scotlonde, for })ere bee}) many hondred myle bytwene.
Pan Cornwayle is in Engelond, and is departed in hundredes, and is i-ruled
by })e lawe of Engelond, and holde}) schire and schire dayes, as o})ere schires
doo}). 3if Alfrede sei}) nay in })at, he wot nou3t what he maffle}).2
Further support for Trevisa’s Cornish origin appears in the fact that prior to
his ordination as priest by bishop Sudbury, letters dimissory were required
from Exeter diocese (Devon and Cornwall).3
Abbreviated references are to the Bibliography, under Editions, Documentary Sources, and
Secondary Sources (given by name and date).
1 For the IE. roots, see H. Lewis & H. Pedersen, A Concise Comparative Celtic Gram-
mar (Göttingen 1937), 46, 123; O.J. Padel, Cornish Place-Name Elements, English Place-Name
Society vols. 56/57 (1985), 237-8; J. Pokomy, Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch
(Bern 1959), 790, 1090.
2 Ed. Babington and Lumby, II. 91.
3 Reg. Simonis de Sudbiria, Appendix II, 76-87.
1
2 JOHN TREVISA
Identifying Trevisa’s home in Cornwall is beset with difficulties, but there
is some indirect evidence. Four localities bear some form of the name
Trevisa: Trevessa in Towednack, Trevessa in St Erth, Trevease in Constantine,
and Trevessa in St Enoder. A case can be made for identifying Trevessa in
St Enoder as the probable birthplace and early home of John Trevisa. In the
register of John de Grandisson, bishop of Exeter (1327-69), is an entry dated
27 October 1328 in which the bishop appoints John de Trevysa, among oth-
ers, to a sequestration of the revenues of the late rector of the church of
Roche.4 This is too early to be a reference to Trevisa himself, but it may
refer to an ancestor. Furthermore Roche is less than ten miles from Trevessa
in St Enoder. This possible connection of John with Trevessa in St Enoder
is strengthened by an entry in the County Court Roll for Cornwall (Hun-
dred of Powder) for 7 Edward III (1333):
Iohannes de Trevisa per attomatum queritur de Guidone de sancto Albino et
Willelmo Aly apparentibus per attomatum in placito capcionis averiorum. Et
unde queritur quod iniuste ceperunt vi boves ipsius Iohannis in villa de
Medeshole in loco qui vocatur Goenmargh et ea imparcaverunt apud Argalles
et cetera ad dampnum suum C s. Et Guido advocat capcionem pro se et
Willelmo pro ea quod invenit ea in villa de Argalles dampna facientes et non
in villa et loco predictis et petit quod inquiratur.5
This places John de Trevysa at Mitchell (Medeshole), less than a mile from
the farmstead of Trevessa, in the year 1333, five years after the sequestra-
tion ordered by bishop Grandisson.
The next Trevisa of whom there is record is Ralph (Radulphus). For a
period of twenty years (1351-71) he was a member of parliament from
Lostwithiel, Liskeard, Bodmin, Helston, Truro, and Launceston.6 It is im-
possible to deduce Ralph Trevisa’s home from this, but a fourteenth-century
list of rentals for the manor of Tygembreth (Degembris) in Cornwall belong-
ing to the Berkeley family suggests that this Ralph, like John before him,
was associated with St Enoder. Included in this list of thirty entries is one
which specifies:
Trevysa et Penscawen: Heredes Radulphi Trevysa tenent ibidem i acram terre
4 Reg. Grandisson, I. 421. A further order in connection with this sequestration was is-
sued on 12 November 1328 (Reg. 424), and again John de Trevysa is mentioned.
5 PRO SC2 161 74 m. 2, dated 5 July 1333. See Hall 1978, 169-96; the extracts printed
cover the period 9 July through 10 September 1333, so do not include the case involving
John de Trevysa.
6 G.C. Boase 1890, col. 1090; also Lawrance, 36, 125, 141, 154, 168, 182, 195. Specific
dates are: Lostwithiel, 13 January 1351/2; Liskeard, 5 February 1357/8; Lostwithiel, 15 May
1360; Bodmin, 24 January 1360/1; Lostwithiel, 13 October 1362; Helston, 1 May 1368; Truro,
3 June 1369; Launceston, 24 February 1370/1 and 8 June 1371.
TREVISA’S ORIGINS 3
comubie et ii acras terre in Penscawen et reddunt per annum vi. s. iii. d. Et
communis sectam curie et molenditium.7
This rental belongs to the period of Ralph Trevisa’s parliamentary service,
strengthening the inference that the names refer to one person. The rental
also shows that the Trevysa referred to is Trevessa in St Enoder, since all
but two of the twenty identifiable place names in the rental are clustered in
a small area near Mitchell, and Penscawen adjoins Trevessa itself.
The rental list for Tygembreth supports the identification of Trevisa’s
birthplace with Trevessa in St Enoder, while the further possibility suggests
itself that the various documents considered put us in touch with three
generations of the family: John (1328-34), Ralph (1351-71), and John
Trevisa himself (1362-1402). The Berkeleys owned land stretching mainly
from Oxfordshire to Penzance, and Thomas HI (1326-61) took enough in-
terest in his lands to visit them in person. Hence it is possible that his
ownership of Trevessa was the circumstance that brought young John Trevisa
to the attention of the Berkeley family.8
Various dates have been proposed for John Trevisa’s birth. The early dates
often cited by antiquaries (1322 or before, about 1322, 1326) are guesses
based on Caxton’s erroneous dating of the completion of Trevisa’s translation
of the Polychronicon to 1357 instead of 1387.9 The only date given for
Trevisa’s birth that does not depend on this error is 1342, and even this lacks
documentary support.10 Yet it may well be close to the truth. This would
make him twenty years old upon his entry into Exeter College, Oxford, in
1362.
Years at Oxford
When Trevisa arrived in Oxford in 1362, there were six secular colleges
(University, Balliol, Merton, Exeter, Oriel and Queen’s), the four convents
of the fraternal orders (Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites and Augus-
tinians), three Benedictine colleges (Gloucester, Durham and Canterbury) and
the home of the Cistercians in Rewley Abbey. There were, in addition, scores
of students in rooms with no particular college affiliation, almost exclusively
members of the secular clergy, many of them on leave from their parishes.
7 ‘Various Manors’, Berkeley Muniments, Box 14.12; see Fowler 1971, 246 and 252-4
for the entire list for ‘Tygembreth Manorium’.
8 Lord Ernie, English Farming Past and Present (London 1912), 3Iff.; Smyth 1882-85;
W.J. Smith 1951-52.
9 See Fowler 1962, 295-7.
10 J.A. Fabricius, Bibliotheca latina mediae et inflrmae aetatis (Hamburg 1734-36), IV.
450; Rogers 1870, 148.
4 JOHN TREVISA
Trevisa’s Colleges and Associates: Exeter College was founded in 1314 by
bishop Walter de Stapledon for scholars from Devon and Cornwall.11 If he
was indeed Cornish, Trevisa’s entry there would accordingly have followed
custom. Nothing is known of his life at the college other than the informa-
tion reflected in the entries in various compoti of the college for the years
1362-69.12 These indicate that he was a fellow up till April 1369 when he
entered Queen’s College (then known as Quenehalle), where he remained as
a fellow from May 1369 until his expulsion in 1378.
Trevisa’s first year at Exeter College coincided with the death of William
de Polmorva, the most distinguished alumnus of the college from Cornwall.
Polmorva had entered the college in 1333, served as rector in 1336-37, and
became a fellow of University College briefly in 1340. In 1341 he was
nominated by the founder, Eglesfield, to be one of the first fellows of
Queen’s, and he was later elected chancellor of the University for 1350-52.
He was confessor to Queen Philippa in 1361, and died the following year.
Whether or not Trevisa ever met him in person, he must have known him
by reputation. Of the fellows who were there when he arrived, Robert Rygge
and Thomas Swyndon {alias Styve) claim our attention, Rygge because of
his later election as chancellor of the University (1380-88), and Swyndon
as one of the commissioners appointed in 1378 to investigate the contro-
versy at Queen’s in which Trevisa was involved. Both of these men left
Exeter College in 1365 and became fellows of Merton.
Four other contemporaries of Trevisa at Exeter College moved, like him,
to Queen’s College. William Middleworth left in 1365 to go to Canterbury
College, where Wyclif also was, but when it became clear that that was
unsuccessful he moved on, to become a fellow at Queen’s in 1369, the same
year as Trevisa. Three years later came another influx from Exeter College:
Robert Blakedon, William Frank, and, shortly thereafter, Robert Lydeford.
This migration may perhaps be attributed to the recruiting efforts of the
provost, Henry Whitfield, who had three times been appointed as visitor at
Exeter College.
Wyclif, so far as is known, had no connection with Exeter College, but
after leaving Canterbury College rented rooms in Queen’s for 1374 and 1381,
and perhaps in between. His influence on all the members of the college
cannot be directly determined: Middleworth may be counted a follower, as
Nicholas Hereford, also a fellow, but to suggest that Trevisa may have been
11 C.W. Boase 1894, iii. Biographies of those mentioned in this section are given in Emden
1957-59.
12 The compoti are in the archives of Exeter College Oxford; the relevant extracts are
printed below as Appendix I. Boase 1894, 4-12 places Trevisa at Exeter College from Lent
1362 to the winter of 1365, a mistake repeated in Fowler 1962, 301.
YEARS AT OXFORD 5
influenced does not mean to say that he was also a follower. As an exam-
ple of differences, it would be interesting to compare further their views on
the righteous heathen, touched on by Trevisa in notes to his Polychronicon
translation, and by Wyclif in De EcclesiaP That Wyclif had friends and col-
leagues who differed firmly with him on matters of doctrine is well attested
in his De Ecclesia and elsewhere.14 Trevisa may have been amongst these;
to force him into the category of enemy or supporter is to subject him to a
post-reformation distortion.
It is, however, possible to argue that Trevisa was influenced by Wyclif.
Bale long ago pointed out Trevisa’s severity with monks and friars (as
witnessed in the Polychronicon), and of course the fact that Trevisa trans-
lated FitzRalph’s sermon against the friars reveals a common ground of
agreement with Wyclif s later attitude. Wyclif s ‘favorite historian’ was
Higden15; Trevisa translated Higden’s Polychronicon. Nicholas of Lyra be-
came a favorite Lollard commentary, no doubt because of Wyclif’s attach-
ment to Lyra16; Trevisa is acquainted with and uses Lyra. All this could
merely be the result of coincidence of interests and attitude and the popu-
larity of those works; but even after the condemnation of Wyclif’s heresies
in 1382, Trevisa does not hesitate to comment on ‘possessioners’ in a way
that would have been quite acceptable to Wyclif:
And now for moste partie monkes beet) worste of alle, for t>ey bej> to
riche, and J>at make}) hem to take more hede aboute seculer besynesse f>an
gostely devocioun; J)erfore, as it is i-seide bifore in 4° libro in he 26 capitulo,
by Ierom, sehhe holy cherche encresede in posessiouns hit ha{) decresed in
vertues. Ferefore seculer lordes schulde take awey the superfluyte of here
possessiouns, and 3eue it to hem J)at nedej), or elles whan t>ey knowen J>at,
hey beej) cause and mayntenours of here euel dedes, sehhe hey helpeh nou3t
to amende hit while it is in hir power, what euere couetous preostes seyn.
For it were almesse to take awey he superfluite of here possessiouns now,
han it was at \>e firste fundacioun to 3eve hem what hem nedede.17
Finally, did Trevisa encounter Wyclif’s adversary, William Courtenay, at
Exeter College? There is no reason to suppose that the latter, whose response
to Wycliffism shook Oxford to its foundations, was ever a fellow of the col-
lege. But he was born in the city of Exeter c. 1342, an exact contemporary
13 Polychronicon, ed. Babington and Lumby, V. 7 and VI. 461; see discussion in Workman
1926, II. 11. Compare also the treatment in Piers Plowman, esp. B XI. 135-69, XII. 275-93.
14 Workman 1926, II. 6, 10, 15; also Minnis 1975. See further History of the University
of Oxford, II. 175-261, esp. 226-7.
15 Workman, II. 76.
16 Kenny 1985, 58.
17 Polychronicon, ed. Babington and Lumby, VI. 465-67.
