Belgrave, Richard

, a writer of the fourteenth century, of the ancient family of the Belgraves in Leicestershire, was born at the town of Belgrave, about a mile from Leicester, and educated in the university of Cambridge, where he applied himself with great diligence and success to his studies, and afterwards took the degree of D.D. He entered himself into the order of Carmelite friars, and distinguished himself by his great skill in the Aristotelian | philosophy and school-divinity, hut he was more remarkable for the strength and subtilty of his lectures, than the elegance of his style, the study of polite literature being generally neglected in that age. Pits gives him the character of a man of eminent integrity and piety. He flourished in 1320, under the reign of king Edward II. and wrote, among other works, “Theological Determinations, in one book;” the subject of which was, Utrum Essentia Divina possit videri? Whether the Divine Essence could be seen? and “Ordinary Questions, in one book.” This single question, concerning the Divine Essence, is enough to shew the inutility of the inquiries and studies which engaged the attention of men in that age. ¹