Thomas Brinton

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Thomas Brinton OSB († May 4, 1389 in Trottescliffe ) was an English clergyman. From 1373 he was Bishop of Rochester .

Origin and advancement as a clergyman

Thomas Brinton named himself Brinton , Norfolk , after his birthplace . His origin is unknown, but he probably came from a humble background. He entered Norwich Cathedral Priory as a monk before studying at Cambridge , believed to be from 1352 to 1353 . He then finished his education in Oxford , where he earned the title of Doctor of Canon Law from 1363 to 1364 at Gloucester College . Before 1362 he had been part of the papal household in Avignon . On January 31, 1364 he was appointed representative of the Benedictine Order in England at the Curia . On November 25, 1366, he was referred to as the papal penitentiary and nuncio . Presumably he was in England around this time, but he quickly returned to Avignon before accompanying Pope Urban V on his temporary return to Rome from 1367 to 1370. Four of his sermons have survived from this period. In Rome he was involved in founding the English Guest House .

Bishop of Rochester

On January 31, 1373, Brinton was appointed by Pope Gregory XI. appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Rochester and consecrated on February 6, 1373 in Avignon. The small diocese of Rochester did not require too much administrative work from the bishops, so it was awarded several times to deserving preachers who could quickly reach London and the royal court from there. In England, Brinton was a bishop in the House of Lords and quickly took on government responsibilities. Between 1376 and 1380 he accepted petitions to parliament seven times . In the Good Parliament of 1376 he was one of the four bishops to advise the members of the House of Commons . In 1377 he was elected as one of the prelates and magnates who were to form a committee with the Commons. From 1379 to 1381 he was a member of committees that were supposed to review the royal income. In 1380 he served as an envoy who was supposed to negotiate with French envoys in Calais . Apparently because of his sermons he was held in high esteem by the population, because in 1381 the rebels asked him during the Peasants' Revolt to hand over their complaints to the king. In May 1382 he participated in the so-called Earthquake Council in London Dominican establishment part during which the doctrine of Wycliffe , apparently was discarded with Brintons consent. In several of his sermons at the time, he turned against Wyclif's teachings and referred to him and his followers as false prophets. At the end of 1382 he is still named as a member of a committee for the maintenance of the peace in Kent , but after that he was apparently seriously ill and largely withdrew. From 1382 he was represented in church services in Rochester Cathedral by the prior of the cathedral priory . He died on the episcopal estate at Trottescliffe .

Brinton had sponsored the collegiate church founded by John de Cobham, 3rd Baron Cobham in Cobham , Kent. On his death he left a small fortune, from which he made donations to the Norwich Cathedral Priory and the Church of Brinton, as well as several relatives. He also gave donations to the members of his modest household. According to his will, he wished to be buried in the Lady Chapel of Rochester Cathedral, but in the cathedral only a brass plaque in the north aisle commemorates him.

In his will, Brinton made a gift to the St Andrew Parish Church in his native Brinton

The Brinton Sermons

Brinton was considered an outstanding preacher. A total of 105 of his sermons have been preserved. He probably originally kept this in English or French, but later had it written down in Latin and then bequeathed it to Rochester Cathedral. A number of his sermons had political implications. In these, Brinton denounced both the secular and the spiritual leadership if they did not fulfill their responsibilities out of pride or greed and drove their subjects into despair and crime. He gave the government no right to interfere in church matters and reprimanded John of Gaunt when he levied a tax on the clergy. Brinton reprimanded the corruption that took place in the final stages of Edward III's reign . was commonplace at the royal court, and he particularly openly denounced the royal mistress Alice Perrers . Brinton was not a revolutionary, because his sermons prove his conservative image of society. He defended the division of society into rich and poor. The Peasants' Revolt was a horror to him, so he condemned it. Brinton apparently wanted the Black Prince back because he believed that justice and social harmony would have prevailed in his day. He considered the military failures of England in the Hundred Years War after the death of the Black Prince in 1376 to be the result of the moral decay, because of which God would have turned away from England. Many of his sermons, however, relate to purely religious topics or church problems. For example, he wanted parish priests to be well trained so that they could preach well. Ultimately, his sermons show the image of a conscientious bishop in a time of social and political upheaval.

Works

  • The sermons of Thomas Brinton, Bishop of Rochester (1373-1389) , ed. by MA Devlin. Royal Historical Society, London 1954

literature

  • MA Devlin: Bishop Thomas Brinton and his sermons , in: Speculum 14 (1939), pp. 324-344
  • M. Harvey: Preaching in the curia: some sermons by Thomas Brinton . In: Archivum Historiae Pontificiae , 33 (1995), pp. 299-301

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. GRR Treasure, Ian Dawson: Who's who in British history: beginnings to 1901, Vol I,. Fitzroy Dearborn, London, 1998. ISBN 1-884964-90-7 , p 141
predecessor Office successor
Thomas Trilleck Bishop of Rochester
1373-1389
William Bottlesham