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Robert Grosseteste

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Robert Grosseteste

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Also known as Robert Greathead, Bishop Grosthead, Robert de Lincoln, Robert Grossestus, Robert Grotest, Robert Grostte, Robert Grostete, Robert Grostest

English bishop and philosopher

OverviewAI-generated

Robert Grosseteste was a male figure associated with classical and romantic genres, with an area of Germany listed in some records. His birth year is recorded as 1175, 1168, or 1170, and he died on either October 9 or October 10, 1253. He is the author of seventy-five works, including *Decem librorum Moralium Aristotelis*, *The misrule of Henry iij*, *Testamēta duodecim patriarcharū filiorum Jacob*, *The testament of the twelve patriarchs, the sons of Jacob*, and *the Boke of husbandry*.

A quote attributed to him states, "Every operation in nature is in the shortest, best ordered, briefest, and best possible way." His writings have been referenced by 735 other encyclopedia articles.

Synthesized by Vinony from 17 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Wikiquote, MusicBrainz, Open Library, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
1175?
Died
1253
Works
75

Top works

  • Decem librorum Moralium Aristotelis
  • The misrule of Henry iij
  • Testamēta duodecim patriarcharū filiorum Jacob
  • The testament of the twelve patriarchs, the sons of Jacob
  • Boke of husbandry

via Open Library + Wikidata

Quotes

  • Just as the light of the sun irradiates the organ of vision and things visible, enabling the former to see and the latter to be seen, so too the irradiation of a spiritual light brings the mind into relation with that which is intelligible.
  • The consideration of lines, angles and figures is of the greatest utility since it is impossible for natural philosophy to be known without them... All causes of natural effects have to be given through lines, angles and figures, for otherwise it is impossible for the reason why (propter quid) to be known in them.
  • Power from natural agents may go by a short line, and then in its activity greater... But if by a straight line then its action is stronger and better, as Aristotle says in Book V of the Physics, because nature operates in the shortest way possible. But the straight line is the shortest of all, as he says in the same place.
  • This part of optics, when well understood, shows us how we may make things a very long distance off appear as if placed very close, and large near things appear very small, and how we may make small things placed at a distance appear any size we want, so that it may be possible for us to read the smallest letters at incredible distances, or to count sand, or seed, or any sort of minute objects.
  • Every operation in nature is in the shortest, best ordered, briefest, and best possible way.
  • The diligent investigator of natural phenomena can give the causes of all natural effects... by the rules and roots and foundations given from the power of geometry.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Key facts

Predecessor
Hugh of Wells
Successor
Henry of Lexington
Born
c. 1168–70 , Stow, Suffolk
Died
8 or 9 October 1253 (aged about 85), Buckden , Huntingdonshire
Feast day
9 October
Venerated in
Anglican Communion
Era
Medieval philosophy
Region
Western philosophy
School
Scholasticism
Main interests
Theology , natural philosophy
Notable ideas
Theory of scientific demonstration

via Wikipedia infobox

~31 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Robert Grosseteste (/ˈɡroʊstɛst/ GROHS-test; Latin: Robertus Grosseteste; c. 1168–70 – 8 or 9 October 1253), also known as Robert Greathead or Robert of Lincoln, was an English statesman, scholastic philosopher, theologian, scientist and Bishop of Lincoln. He was born of humble parents in Suffolk (according to the early 14th-century chronicler Nicholas Trivet), but the association with the village of Stradbroke is a post-medieval tradition. Upon his death, he was revered as a saint in England, but attempts to procure a formal canonisation failed. A. C. Crombie called him "the real founder of the tradition of scientific thought in medieval Oxford, and in some ways, of the modern English intellectual tradition". As a theologian, however, he contributed to increasing hostility to Jews and Judaism, and spread the accusation that Jews had purposefully suppressed prophetic knowledge of the coming of Christ, through his translation of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs.

Scholarly career

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Robert Grosseteste” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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