OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Grisaunt, William

​GRISAUNT, WILLIAM, also called William English (fl. 1350), physician, as a young man taught philosophy at Oxford, and in 1299 was either fellow or student of Merton College. He incurred the suspicion of having practised magic, and when of mature age left England and studied medicine at Montpelier. He afterwards settled at Marseilles, where he acquired great fame as a physician; he is said in his practice to have paid special attention to the nature and cause of the disease and to the constitution of the patient. Grisaunt is commonly stated to have been the father of Grimoald or Grimoard (1309-1370), abbot of St. Victor at Marseilles, who became pope as Urban V in 1362. In a contemporary chronicle (Chr. Angliæ ab anno 1328 usque ad annum 1388, p. 52, Rolls Ser.) Urban, who is there called Gillerinus, is said to have been the son of an Englishman. But his latest biographer (Magnan, Histoire d'Urbain V see also Bower, Lives of the Popes, vii. 3, and Fleury, Hist. Eccl. xx. 201) makes him son of William Grimoard, lord of Grisac in Gevaudin, who died in 1366, aged 99, and there are extant grants of John II and Charles V of France to this William Grimoard in which he is styled father of the pope (see Albanes, La Famille de Grimoard, p. 53). Anglic Grimoard, Urban's brother, whom Godwin called Grimoaldus de Grisant, was made by him bishop of Avignon and cardinal bishop of Albano (Bower, vii. 3, and Chron. Angliæ, p. 53). According to Godwin, Anglic Grimoard is the cardinal John Anglicus, who was admitted dean of York 11 Nov. 1366, and was deprived by the pope 1 May 1381 (Le Neve, Fasti, iii. 123).
Bale and Pits, following Boston of Bury, ascribe the following works to Grisaunt:
* ‘Speculum Astrologiæ.’
* ‘De Qualitatibus Astrorum.’
* ‘De Magnitudine Solis.’
* ‘De Quadratura Circuli.’
* ‘De Motu Capitis.’ Of all these they give the first words, but they are not now known to exist.
They also add:
* ‘De Significatione Astrorum.’
* ‘De Causa Ignorantiæ.’
* ‘De Judicio Patientis.’
* ‘De Urina non Visa,’ inc. ‘Ne ignorantiæ vel potius invidiæ;’ a treatise with this title is extant in manuscript at Hertford College, Oxford (Coxe, Cat. Cod. MSS. Coll. Oxon. Aul. B. Mariæ Magdalenæ, ii. 3, f. 39).
The treatise in Cotton. MS. Vitellius C. iii. to which Tanner refers is in a hand of the early twelfth century, and therefore cannot be Grisaunt's.
[Bale, v. 96; Pits, p. 475; Tanner's Bibl. Brit. p. 262, under 'English;' Fabricius, Bibl. Med. Æt. iii. 148, ed. 1754; Aikin's Memoirs of Medicine, p. 113; Godwin, De Præsulibus, 791-2, ed. Richardson; Memorials of Merton College, p. 218, Oxf. Hist. Soc.]
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Grimston, Samuel

​ GRIMSTON, Sir SAMUEL (1643–1700), politician, the second and only one of the six sons of Sir Harbottle Grimston [q. v.] who survived him, was born 7 Jan. 1643. His mother was Sir Harbottle's first wife, Mary, daughter of Sir George Croke [q. v.] He was elected member of parliament for St. Albans at a by-election in May 1668. He was not returned to the parliament of 1678, but was re-elected in 1679 and 1680. During the reign of James II he remained in private life, being, it is said, much disliked by the king, who expressly excepted him from pardon in the manifesto he issued when he contemplated landing in England (1692). Grimston succeeded to his father's baronetcy in 1683, and was returned a member of the convention of 22 Jan. 1689. From that time till May 1699 he sat continuously for his old borough. He married first Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Heneage Finch, earl of Nottingham, by whom he was father of a daughter, Elizabeth (d. 1694), who became first wife of William Savile, second marquis of Halifax. Grimston's second wife was Lady Anne, sixth daughter of John Tufton, earl of Thanet. By her he had a son and daughter, but both died young, and on his death, which occurred in October 1700, the Grimston baronetcy became extinct. Grimston left the family estates, which he had increased by the purchase of the manor of Windridge from Henry Osbaston, to his great-nephew, William Luckyn [see Grimston, William Luckyn], second son of Sir William Luckyn of Messing Hall, Essex, who was son of Sir Capel Luckyn, by Mary, the eldest sister of Sir Samuel Grimston.
A. V.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Morgan, Richard

​MORGAN, Sir RICHARD (d. 1556), judge, was admitted at Lincoln's Inn 31 July 1523, called to the bar in 1529, was twice reader, in 1542 and 1546, became a serjeant-at-law in the latter year, and was elected recorder of Gloucester; he was also member of parliament for Gloucester in 1545-7 and 1553. A Roman catholic in religion, he was committed to the Fleet prison on 24 March 1551 (Burnet, Hist. of the Reformation, Oxford edit. 1865, v. 33) for hearing mass in the Princess Mary's chapel, but was discharged by the privy council with a caution on 4 May (Acts of the Privy Council, new ser. iii. 270). Immediately after King Edward's death he joined the Princess Mary and her adherents at Kenningham Castle, Norfolk, 1553. Though he does not seem to have been a well-known lawyer, he was at once promoted in his profession. He was a commissioner to hear Bishop Tunstall's appeal against his conviction in June, was created chief justice of the common pleas in September, and was knighted on 2 Oct. He was in the commission for the trial of Lady Jane Grey on 13 Nov. and passed sentence upon her, but two years later, says Foxe (Martyrs, iii. 30), he 'fell mad, and in his raving cried out continually to have the Lady Jane taken away from him.' Accordingly, he quitted the bench in October 1555, and died in the early summer of the next year, being buried on 2 June at St. Magnus Church, near London Bridge.
[Foss's Lives of the Judges; Lincoln's Inn books ; Dugdale's Origines, pp. 1 1 8, 1 52 ; Strype's Eccl. Mem. i. 78, 493, ii. 181 ; Rymer, xv 334 Holmshed, ed. 1808, iv. 23, 45 ; Machyn's Diary' pp. 106, 335; Fourth Report, Public Record Commission, App. ii. 238.]
J. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Morgan, Sylvanus

​MORGAN, SYLVANUS (1620–1693), arms-painter and author, born in London in 1620, was brought up to and practised the profession of an arms-painter. In 1642 he wrote 'A Treatise of Honor and Honorable Men,' which remained in manuscript (see Brydges's Censura Literaria, viii. 236). In 1648 he printed a poem entitled 'London, King Charles his Augusta, or City Royal of the Founders;' and in 1652 'Horologiographia Optica, Dialling universal and particular.' In 1661 he published a work on heraldry, entitled 'The Sphere of Gentry, deduced from the Principles of Nature: an Historical and Genealogical Work of Arms and Blazon, in Four Books.' Morgan says that this book had taken him years to compile and had been originally intended for dedication to Charles I, and that he had neglected his trade as arms-painter, suffered much illness, and had had his house burnt down. It contains a title-page with a portrait of Morgan, etched by R. Gaywood. The work was pedantic, and was discredited by Sir William Dugdale [q. v.] and other heralds; and it was alleged that it was really the work of Edward Waterhouse [q. v.], the author of 'A Discourse and Defence of Arms and Armory,' 1660. As the book contains much information concerning the Waterhouse family, it may be assumed that Waterhouse assisted Morgan in its compilation. In 1666 Morgan published a supplement, entitled 'Armilogia, sive Ars Chromocritica: the Language of Arms by the Colours and Metals.' Morgan lived near the Royal Exchange in London, and died on 27 March 1693. He was buried in the church of St. Bartholomew, behind the Exchange. He left a large collection of manuscripts, which came by marriage to Josiah Jones, heraldic painter and painter to Drury Lane Theatre, by whom they were sold by auction in 1759.
[Moule's Bibliotheca Heraldica Magnæ Britanniæ; Gent. Mag. 1796, pt. i. p. 366; Nichols's Anecdotes of Literature, ix. 801; Lowndes's Bibl. Man.; Wood's Fasti Oxon, ed. Bliss, ii. 164.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Offa (fl.709)

​OFFA (fl. 709), king of the East-Saxons, was son of Sighere, king of the East-Saxons, whose overlord was Wulfhere, king of the Mercians. Sighere was succeeded on his throne by his brother Sebbi, who, dying in 694, was himself succeeded by his sons Sigheard and Swefred. It is possible that Offa shared the rule withboth his uncle and cousin; but it was not until the death of the latter that he became sole king of the East-Saxons (Bede, iii 30, iv. ll; Flor. Wig. Genealogies, i. 203). Being a young man of most lovable appearance, he was joyfully received as king by the whole people. He is said to have been in love with Kineswyth, daughter of Penda, king of the Mercians though, as Penda died in 655 must have been too old for so young a lover. She incited him to give up kingdom and land and wife—probably some other lady—for the Gospel's sake. In 709 he made a pilgrimage to Rome in the company of Coenred of Mercia and Ecgwine, bishop of Worcester. At Rome received by Pope Constantine, and, in common with Coenred, is represented as attesting a spurious letter of the pope to Archbishop Brihtwald [q. v.] He seems to be wrongly described in one charter as king of the Mercians, and in another as king of the East-Angles. He took the tonsure and died at Rome.
[Bede's Eccl. Hist. iii. 30, iv. 11, v. 19 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Flor. Wig. Genealogies, i. 250, 263 (Engl. Hist. Soc.): Will. of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum. i. 99 (Rolls Ser.) and Gesta Pontiff. pp. 296, 317 (Rolls Ser.); Kemble's Codex Dipl. i. Nos. 55, 61, 64; Haddan and Stubbs's Eccl. Documents, iii. 279–83; Dict. Chr. Biogr. iii. 68, art. ‘Offa’ (3), by Bishop Stubbs.]
W. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Oftfor

​OFTFOR (d. 692), bishop of Worcester, also known as Oftoforis, Ostfor, Ostoforus, Osteor, Ostfortus, was a pupil of the abbess Hilda [q. v.]; he studied the scriptures in both her monasteries, Hartlepool and Whitby (Bædæ Hist. Eccl. iv. 23), and at Whitby he discharged the office of the priesthood (Flor. Wig. s.a. 691). He studied also under Theodore of Canterbury, and journeyed to Rome; on his return he preached to the Huiccii in Worcestershire, and led an exemplary life. He was chosen bishop by unanimous consent, and was consecrated by Wilfrid at the command of King, Æthelred of Mercia in 692 (Stubbs, Registr. Sacr. Angl.; not 691, as in Flor. Wig.) His signature is appended to a genuine charter of 692, by which Æthelred granted him the village of Hanbury in Worcestershire (Kemble, Codex Dipl. No. 32). Another charter, in which he signs himself Oftoforis, must belong to the same year (ib. No. 36), for he died in 692. Bale says be wrote homilies (Script. Illustr. No. 85), but the statement is not trustworthy.
[Bædæ Hitt. Eccl. iv. 23; Flor. Wig. anno, pp. 691, 692.]
M. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Offley, Thomas

​OFFLEY, Sir THOMAS (1505?–1582), lord mayor of London, born at Stafford, apparently about 1505, was eldest son of William Offley, a native of Staffordshire, who afterwards migrated to Chester, and became sheriff there in 1517. His mother's maiden name was Cradock. He was sent up to London at the age of twelve, and went to school under William Lily [q. v.], ‘then newly elected schoolmaster of Jesus School in Pauls Church Yard’ (Hunter, Chorus Vatum, v. 542). Under Lily he became proficient in grammar, and, having a good voice, ‘was put to learn pricksong among the choristers of Pauls’ (ib.) He was apprenticed at an early age to a merchant-taylor and merchant of the staple, named John Mechels, described as an intimate friend of Lily. Taking up his freedom, he rose in time to be master (1547) of the Merchant Taylors' Company. In 1549 he was chosen alderman of Portsoken Ward; in 1553 he was sheriff, and in 1556 lord mayor. The year of his mayoralty was memorable for its ‘burning fevers’ (Grafton, Chronicle, 1569, p. 1351), seven aldermen dying within two months. The useful institution of nightbellmen originated with Offley (Stow, Survey, ed. Strype, ii. 133). On 7 Feb. 1556–7 he was knighted by the queen at Greenwich. About the same time he was mayor of the staple, and corresponded in this capacity with Sir W. Cecil (Cal. State Papers, 1547–80, pp. 241, 312, &c.). His residence was at first in Lime Street, but afterwards in the parish of St. Dionis Backchurch. He died on 29 Aug. 1582, and was buried, at his own request, in the church of St. Andrew Undershaft, where his monu​ment still remains. By his will, dated 5 Aug. 1580, he made many charitable bequests. In public life he was so generous that he is called by Fuller 'the Zacchæus of London, not for his low stature, but for his high charity.' But the simplicity of his private tastes was the subject of a popular rhyme (Machyn, Diary, p. 363):
Offley three dishes had of daily rost,
An egge, an apple, and (the third) a toast.
By his wife Joan (d. 1578), daughter of John Nichells or Nichols (perhaps the same person as the John Mechels above mentioned), he had three sons, of whom one only, Henry, survived him. It was to a son of this Henry Offley, Sir John Offley of Madeley, that Izaak Walton dedicated his 'Compleat Angler' in 1653.
[Hunter's Chorus Vatum, as above, quoting a manscript History of the Family if Offley in possession of Mr. Martin of Worsborough; Clode's Early Hist. of the Guild of the Merchant's Company, pt. ii. pp. 172-3, and Addenda, p. v (where, in the epigraph, 'Stafford' is a mistake for 'Stratford'); Index to the Remembrancia, by W. H. and H. C. Overall, p. 37; H. B. Wilson's Parish of St. Lawrence Pountney, p. 230; Visitation of London, 1568, p. 64; Erdeswicke's Survey of Staffordshire, p. 17; Harwood's Survey of Staffordshire, p. 87; information from C. Welch, esq., librarian of the Guildhall.]
J. H. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Offord, Andrew

​OFFORD, ANDREW (d. 1368), clerk or master in chancery, was a brother of John de Offord [q. v.] He probably owed his post to his brother's influence, though he does not occur in this position till after John Offord's death. The first mention of Andrew Offord is on 24 May 1343, when he was one of the commissioners appointed to treat with the French Ambassadors before the pope (Murimuth, p. 137; Fœdera, ii. 1224); he is there described as doctor of civil law. The original commission was not despatched, but Andrew Offord was sent to the pope in September, and early in November returned with important news of the negotiations. After making his report, he was once more sent to Avignon on 3 Dec. to obtain letters of conduct for Edward III's commissioners (Murimuth, pp. 147-9, 162-3). He was still at Avignon in August 1344 (Fœdera, iii. 19), but returned to England not long after. On 30 March 1346 he received the prebends of Netherbury and Berminster, Salisbury, from the king, and when Edward went abroad in July was one of the council for Lionel, who was regent in his father's absence (ib. iii. 60). In August, however, he was sent on a mission to treat for a marriage between the king's daughter Joanna and Alfonso of Castile (ib. iii. 68); in November he was further directed to negotiate a marriage between the Prince of Wales and one of the daughters of the king of Portugal (Newcourt, i. 79). On 27 Aug. 1347 he received, with some other preferments, the prebend of South Newbold, York, and on 24 Jan. 1348 was made subdean of York; he was afterwards papally provided to the archdeaconry of Middlesex in 1349, was appointed provost of Wells on 26 Feb. 1360, and prebendary of Masham, York, on 24 May 1350; he likewise held a prebend at Beverley.
Offord was one of the persons appointed to accompany Joanna on her journey to Castile in January 1348. He was present at his brother's death on 20 May 1349, and next day delivered up the seal to the king at Woodstock. In August 1349 he was employed to treat for a truce with France, and in the autumn of 1350 and spring of 1351 was engaged in the negotiations with Louis of Flanders and the French king. On 10 Dec. 1352 he was sent to treat with William of Bavaria (Fœdera, iii. 147, 150, 153, 185, 188, 205, 207, 216, 250). In August 1353 he was for a short time in charge of the great seal, and in the parliaments of 1354 and 1355 was a trier of petitions (Rolls of Parliament, ii. 254, 264). On 8 July 1355 he was sent to treat with Peter, archbishop of Rouen, and Peter, duke of Bourbon (Fœdera, iii. 305). Andrew Offord appears to have died about the end of 1358.
[Fœdera (Record ed.); Murimuth (Rolls Ser.); Le Neve's Fasti Eccl. Angl. ii. 327, iii. 128, 201; Jones's Fasti Eccles. Salisb. p. 406; Newcourt's Repertorium, i. 79, 145; Foss's Judges of England, iii. 472-3.]
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Frazer, Andrew

​FRAZER, ANDREW (d. 1792), lieutenant-colonel of engineers, son of George Frazer, a deputy surveyor of excise in Scotland, was probably employed on the works at Fort George after the Scottish rebellion of 1745–6. He was appointed practitioner engineer, with rank of ensign in the train, on 17 March 1759, and sub-engineer, with rank of lieutenant, in 1761. In 1763 he was ordered to Dunkirk, and served as assistant to Colonel Desmaretz, the British commissary appointed to watch the demolition of the works of that port in accordance with treaty obligations (Cal. Home Office Papers, 1760–6). On 18 Oct. 1767 he succeeded Desmaretz in that office (ib. 1766–9), and retained it until the rupture with France in 1778. In the British Museum MSS are two reports from Frazer: ‘A Description of Dunkirk,’ 1769 (Addit. MS. 16593), and ‘Report and Plans of Dunkirk,’ 1772 (ib. 17779, f. 82). A letter from Frazer to Lord Stormont, British ambassador at Paris in 1777 (ib. 24164, f. 172), indicates that he discharged consular functions at Dunkirk. He became engineer in ordinary and captain in 1772, brevet-major in 1782, and regimental lieutenant-colonel in 1788. He designed St. Andrew's parochial church, Edinburgh, built in 1785. Frazer, who had not long retired from the service, died on his way to Geneva in the summer of 1792. He married in 1773 Charlotte, daughter of Stillingfleet Durnford, of the engineer department, and granddaughter of Colonel Desmaretz (Scots Mag. xxxv. 500); by her he was father of Sir Augustus Simon Frazer [q. v.] A portrait of Major Andrew Fraser (sic) is catalogued in Evans's ‘Engraved Portraits’ (London, 1836–53), vol. ii., in which the date of death is wrongly given as 1795.
[Army Lists; Cal. State Papers (Home Office), 1760–6 et seq.; Brit. Mus. Addit. MSS. ut supra; Scots Mag. liv. 413. Some letters from Frazer at Dunkirk are indexed in Hist. MSS. Comm. 8th Rep. (i), 9th Rep. (iii.)]
H. M. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Frazer, William

Addendum to text: "A hitherto unnamed portrait in the Royal United Service Institution has been recently identified as a portrait".
​FRAZER, WILLIAM (d. 1297), bishop of St. Andrews. [See Fraser.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fraser, William (1654-1715)

​FRASER, WILLIAM, eleventh Lord Saltoun (1654–1715), second son of Alexander Fraser, master of Saltoun, and Lady Ann Ker, was born on 21 Nov. 1654. He was educated at King's College, Aberdeen. His elder brother, Alexander, having died in 1672, he, on the death of his father in 1682, became Master of Saltoun, and in August 1693 he succeeded as Lord Saltoun on the death of his grandfather, Alexander, tenth lord. In the earlier period of his life the family fortunes were at a very low ebb, nearly all the estates being mortgaged heavily. To save them so far as possible, he was infeft in them in 1676 on a disposition by his father and grandfather, and having acquired a considerable dowry with his wife, Margaret Sharp, daughter of James Sharp, archbishop of St. Andrews, whom he married on 11 Oct. 1683, he succeeded, by judicious sales and otherwise, in redeeming the estates out of the hands of the creditors. He wrote a narrative of this part of the family history, so far as concerned the efforts of his father and himself, which is preserved at Philorth. Previous to his marriage he was in command of a regiment of infantry, under a commission from James, duke of York. In 1697 the marriage of his eldest son to Emilia Fraser, eldest daughter and heiress of Hugh, lord Lovat, was arranged, by which means the barony of Lovat would have been annexed to that of Saltoun. But Fraser of Beaufort and his son Simon (afterwards twelfth Lord Lovat) [q. v.], being next heirs of entail to Lovat, determined to frustrate the match, and took arms to enforce their plans. Lord Saltoun was forbidden to visit Beauly, where lay Castle Downie, the residence of Lovat, but disregarding their threats he did so, and was seized, imprisoned, and threatened with the gallows, which was erected in front of his prison, unless he bound himself to terminate the marriage negotiations. He was taken back to Castle Downie as a prisoner, and there is sufficient warrant for believing that Simon Fraser would have executed his threat. The marriage was broken off. As a lord of parliament Saltoun took his seat and the oath on 9 May 1695, and used his influence and vote in furtherance of the Darien scheme, and in opposition to the treaty of union with England. He died on 18 March 1715, his wife, by whom he left three sons and four daughters, surviving till 1734. The eldest son, Alexander (1684–1748), succeeded as twelfth lord, and his great-grandson, Alexander George Fraser [q. v.], sixteenth lord Saltoun, was the famous general.
H. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fraser, William (1784?-1835)

​FRASER, WILLIAM (1784?–1835), Indian civilian, youngest son of Edward Satchell Fraser of Reelick, Inverness-shire, arrived in India to take up a nomination to the Bengal civil service in 1799. After acting in subordinate capacities, he was appointed secretary to Sir David Ochterlony, then resident at Delhi, in 1805, and in 1811 he accompanied Mountstuart Elphinstone's expedition to Cabul as secretary. In 1813 he was promoted to be assistant to Mr. Seton, the resident at Delhi, and in 1815 was political agent to General Martindale's army, and subsequently travelled with his brother, James Baillie Fraser [q. v.], in the Himalayas. In 1819 he was sent to settle the hill state of Garhwal, which had just been freed from the Goorkhas. In 1826 he was appointed second member of the board of revenue of the north-western provinces, and in 1830 he was promoted resident and agent to the governor-general at Delhi, in succession to Sir T. F. Colebrooke. He held this appointment until the evening of 22 March 1835, when he happened to be riding along the junction of the roads leading from the Cashmere and Lahore gates of Delhi, attended only by a single sowar, and was suddenly shot dead by a Muhammadan, named Kureem Khan. The actual perpetrator of the deed was tried and hanged, and earnest efforts were made to find out who had suggested the murder. Suspicion fell upon a wealthy Muhammadan nobleman, Shams-ud-din, nawab of Firozpur, against whom Fraser had issued a decree, and after a long trial he too was found guilty and hanged. His trial greatly excited the Muhammadans of Delhi.
H. M. S.