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Episcopal (related) quote of the last Millennium

One of the main targets of (Bishop of Lincoln) Robert Grosseteste‘s (c. 1175 – 9 October 1253) criticism was the Papacy, which he believed was levying over-harsh taxation in England and appointing inappropriate men to benefices in the Church.

Another quote:

“Those rascal Romans….. he hated like the poison of a serpent. He was wont to say that if he should commit the charge of souls to them, he should be acting like Satan. Wherefore he often threw down with contempt the letters sealed with the papal bulls and openly refused to listen to such commands.”

Thus say English Heritage of Bishop Grossteste (Big Head) of Lincoln, in a display in the former Bishop’s Palace in Lincoln. The Bishop was never canonised, perhaps because he was too holy. He was no fan of Rome, as English Heritage note, in their exhibition in his former palace.

A Protestant before the term was coined, and surely a model for our current political class in the light of current ‘difficulties’ from over the water.

8 comments to Episcopal (related) quote of the last Millennium

  • Ian

    Wonderfully apposite.

  • terence patrick hewett

    The world at the time was called “Christendom” and comprised the Eastern Church and the Western Church. Chaucer himself was pretty forthright on Church corruption but no-one could describe him as a “Protestant.”

    Bad interpretation of history I am afraid.

  • Bad interpretation of history I am afraid. (terence patrick hewett, November 26, 2018 at 10:10 pm)

    That seems to me too harsh. Praemunire and Brexit are indeed not the same, but the idea of resisting foreign supra-national interference, from a power structure that proclaims idealistic goals in public but whose rulers’ actual actions differ, has its relevance – and therefore offers scope for humorous historical quotation.

  • Mr Ed

    Throwing down a bull from the Pope and openly refusing to obey his commands is the act of a Protestant in my book, if that isn’t a protest from a Bishop, what is it?

  • Lindsay Peet

    Terribly sorry, but ‘rascally Romans’ just conjures up Elmer Fudd.

  • Mr Ed

    Lindsay P,

    Now you mention it, I see what you mean, but there is also Pilate from a well-known historical film documenting heroic Jewish resistance fighters in Palestine.

  • Paul Marks

    The former Bishop of Lincoln was clearly a fine man – and, I am told. a great scholar.