, surnamed the Resolute Doctor, and one of the most learned men of his
, surnamed
the Resolute Doctor, and one of
the most learned men of his time, was born about the end
of the 13th century, at Baconthorp, an obscure village in
Norfolk, from which he took his name. In his youth, he
was a monk in the convent of Blackney, a small town in
Norfolk, about five miles from Walsingham. After some
years dedicated to learning and piety, he removed to Oxford, and from thence to Paris, where he was honoured with
the degrees in divinity and laws, and acquired a great reputation for learning, being esteemed the head of the followers of the philosopher Averroes. Upon his return into
England, he was unanimously chosen the twelfth provincial of the English Carmelites, in a general assembly of
that order held at London, in the year 1329. Four years
after he was invited by letters to Rome where, in several
disputations on the subject of marriage, he gave no little
offence, by carrying the papal authority too high in the
case of divorces; but he thought fit afterwards to retract
his opinion, and was held in great esteem at Rome, and
other parts of Italy. His biographers report that he was
of small stature, but of a great and lofty genius, and besides the encomiums bestowed upon him by his own countrymen, he has had the praises, not less high, of Baptista
Mantuanus, and Paulus Panza. Bale seems to think that
he anticipated the better opinions of more enlightened
times. Of his works, which are numerous, the following
have been published “Commentaria, seu Questiones
per quatuor libros sententiarum,
” which has undergone
six editions; “Compendium iegis Chris ti,- et Quodlibeta,
”
Venice,