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

​JOHN (fl. 1460), called of Bury, or John Bury, theologian, born at Bury St. Edmunds, became an Austin friar at Clare. He studied at Cambridge, where he graduated D.D. On 5 Aug. 1459 he was appointed provincial of his order at Erfurt, and this appointment was confirmed on 10 Feb. 1460. He was re-elected to the post in 1462, and for the third time on 12 Jan. 1476. Bodley MS. 797 was presented by him to the monastery of Sheen. In this volume and in his writings he calls himself John Bury. Bury distinguished himself by his opposition to Reginald Pecock, bishop of Chichester, to whose 'Represser of Overmuch Learning' he wrote a reply, which he styled 'Gladius Salomonis,' because it makes not reason but scripture to be the mother of living morality. The treatise was to have consisted of two parts, but only the first was completed. It was undertaken at the request of Thomas Bourchier, archbishop of Canterbury, and is dedicated to him. The only extant part of the 'Gladius Salomonis' is an acute and ingenious reply to the thirteen conclusions of the first part of the 'Represser.' A summary is given by Lewis in his 'Life of Pecock' (pp. 191-6), and copious extracts are printed in the Rolls Series edition of Pecock's 'Represser' (pp. 567-613). The whole work is contained in Bodley MS. 108. Dr. Babington was of opinion that the treatise was written at the end of 1457, but since John describes himself in his preface as 'provincial friar of his order,' the true date must be somewhat later. Bury is also said to have written 'Commentarii in Lucam,' but this work has been also assigned to another John of St. Edmunds (fl. 1350) (Davy, Athenæ Suffolcenses, i. 59, in Addit. MS. 19165). He is further credited with 'Lecturæ Scripturarum' and 'Sermones.'
[Leland, Comment. de Scriptt. p. 448; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib. p. 431; Gandolfus, August. Scriptt. pp. 207-8; Lewis's Life of Pecock, pp. 190-7; Babington's preface to Repressor, pp. xl-xlii.]
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/John of Eltham

​JOHN of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall (1316–1336), second son of Edward II by Isabella of France (1292-1358) [q. v.], was born at Eltham on 15 Aug. 1316. On 19 March 1319 he received a grant of the forfeited lands of all Scots south of the Trent (Fœdera, ii. 389). Numerous other grants made to him at various times are detailed by Dugdale. In October 1326, when the Londoners rose in revolt against Edward II, they removed the royal officers at the Tower, and appointed others in the name of John of Eltham, whom they styled warden of the city and Tower of London. In October 1328 John was created Earl of Cornwall, and in May 1329 was regent for his brother Edward III during his absence in France to do homage for Aquitaine (ib. ii. 763). In 1330 John paid a visit to Aquitaine (ib. ii. 784,793). In April 1331 he was again regent while the king was in France (ib. ii. 814), and for a third time next year, when Edward III was in Scotland. The young earl commanded the first division of the English army at the battle of Halidon Hill on 19 July 1333, and in January 1335 defeated the Scots when they made a raid into Redesdale. On 2 Feb. 1335 he was made warden of the marches of Northumberland, and a commissioner to receive the submission of the Scots. In April 1336 he had a grant of the coinage of tin in Cornwall, in return for his expenses in Scotland (ib. ii. 937). On 20 June of that year he was one of the commissioners to hold a parliament at Northampton (ib. ii. 940). John accompanied Edward III to Scotland in the same year, and was left in command there. He died at Perth in October 1336, and was buried with great ceremony at Westminster on 15 Jan. 1337. His tomb, with an effigy of alabaster, stands in St. Edmund's Chapel, on the south side of the choir. John was never married, though many projects for an alliance were mooted between 1329 and 1335 (ib. ii. 736, 854, 885, 890, 893, 929).
[Murimuth's Chronicle; Chron. Edw. I and II; Flores Historiarum (all these are in the Rolls Ser.); Rymer's Fœdera, Record edit.; Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 109; Doyle's Official Baronage, i. 439.]
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/John of Glastonbury

​JOHN (fl. 1400), called of Glastonbury, historian, a Benedictine monk of Glastonbury, wrote a history of his abbey. In his preface he states that he had added many things which William of Malmesbury had omitted, and had rearranged the early history in better order. John abbreviated Adam de Domerham's history of the abbey for the years 1126 to 1291 [see Adam of Domerham], ​and carried his work to about 1400. John also speaks of having made use of the writings of Giraldus Cambrensis and Radulphus Cestrensis (i.e. Higden) in his compilation. A portion of John's history, extending to the year 1334, is contained in Cotton. MS. Tiberius A. v., the writing of which must be attributed to the early part of the fifteenth century. In Ashmole MS. 790, in the Bodleian Library, the history is continued to 1493, and there is further an index by Thomas Wason, who was a monk of Glastonbury about that time (Hearne, pref. p. xxiii). The continuation may therefore be due to Wason. The whole was edited by Thomas Hearne, together with other material relating to Glastonbury, in two vols., Oxford, 1726. Hearne employed for his edition a manuscript belonging to Lord Charles Bruce.
[Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib. p. 434; Hearne's pref.; Wharton's Anglia Sacra, i. xxxviii.]
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/John of Hexham

​JOHN (fl. 1180), called of Hexham, historian, was a canon of Hexham, and became prior of his house, probably in succession to Richard of Hexham [q. v.] Prior Richard seems to have died about 1160, and certainly before 1167. The prior of Hexham in 1209 was called William. John's rule must have fallen between these dates. There are two charters which show that John was prior before 1178 (Priory of Hexham, ii. 86-7), and his name appears in another, the date of which can be fixed between 1189 and 1194. Probably, therefore, John was prior for about thirty years, but he is not mentioned in any chronicle of the time.
John is the author of a continuation of the 'Chronicle' of Symeon of Durham. His work extends over a period of twenty-five years from 1130 to 1154. From 1135 to 1139 he was able to make use of Prior Richard's history; but John's narrative of these years is much the shorter. He, however, makes some additions, which point to the possession of independent information.
John was also acquainted with the works of William of Malmesbury and Florence of Worcester, as well as with the 'Gesta Stephani,' and with the lives of Archbishop Thurstan by Hugh the Chanter and Geoffrey Turcople. His narrative deals mainly with the ecclesiastical history of northern England, and it is in this relation that it is most valuable. He appears to have had a personal knowledge of some of the later events which he describes. The only manuscript of his work is one marked F. v. 139 at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. It is, unfortunately, a somewhat careless transcript of the original, dating from the early part of the thirteenth century. The 'Chronicle' is printed in Twysden's 'Scriptores Decem,' pp. 258-82, in Raine's 'Priory of Hexham,' i. 107-72 (Surtees Soc. xliv. 1864), and in the Rolls Series edition of Symeon of Durham, ii. 284-332. There is a translation in Stevenson's 'Collection of Church Historians of England,' vol. iv. Bale also ascribes to John: 1. 'De Signis et Cometis.' This is merely the passage in the 'Chronicle' about the comet of 1133, which Mr. Raine considers to be an interpolation by another hand (Priory of Hexham, i. 110–12). 2. 'Descriptio Scotici Belli, 'beginning' Eodem anno quo mortuus est.' 3. 'Conciones.' Of the two latter nothing seems known.
[Bale, iii. 230-1; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib. p. 400, s.v. 'Hexham;' Hardy's Cat. Brit. Hist, ii. 258; Raine's Preface to Priory of Hexham, i. clii-clviii.]
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edgcumbe, Richard (1764-1839)

​EDGCUMBE, RICHARD, second Earl of Mount-Edgcumbe (1764–1839), only child of George, the first earl [q. v.], was born on 13 Sept. 1764. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, of which university he was created a D.C.L. in 1793. As Viscount Valletort he represented the borough of Fowey in the tory interest from 1786 to 1795, when, on the death of his father, he was elevated to the peerage. At the same time he was appointed to succeed his father as lord-lieutenant and custos rotulorum of the county of Cornwall. In March 1808 he was appointed captain of the band of gentlemen pensioners, and was sworn of the privy council. He held the captaincy until 1812.
Mount-Edgcumbe was a man of artistic tastes. Cyrus Redding, in his ‘Fifty Years' Recollections,’ harshly and unjustly describes him at p. 175 of vol. i. as ‘a mere fribble, exhibiting little above the calibre of an opera connoisseur, with something of the mimic.’ He seems, indeed, to have been in great request as an amateur actor (Leslie and Taylor, Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds, ii. 76, 77, 508, and the Journal and Correspondence of Miss Berry, ii. 110, 114, who preserves a clever prologue written by him for the theatricals at Strawberry Hill in 1800). He also wrote, at first for private circulation, some amusing and discriminating ‘Musical Reminiscences of an Old Amateur; chiefly respecting the Italian Opera in England for fifty years, from 1793 to 1823.’ The second edition, published anonymously, appeared in 1827; the third, to which he appended his name, in 1828; and the fourth, ‘continued to the present times, and including the Festival at Westminster Abbey,’ in 1834. The merits of the little book are recognised in the ‘Athenæum’ of 22 Nov. 1834. Mount-Edgcumbe records the interesting fact that he composed an opera on the ‘Zenobia’ of Metastasio, which was performed on the occasion of Banti's benefit in 1800 (pp. 82–3 of the fourth edition), but the score has not been preserved.
Mount-Edgcumbe died, 26 Sept. 1839, at Richmond, and was buried in Petersham churchyard (Brayley, History of Surrey, iii. 132). He married on 21 Feb. 1789 Lady Sophia Hobart, third daughter of John, second earl of Buckinghamshire, who died on 17 Aug. 1806, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Ernest Augustus, third earl of Mount Edgcumbe, born in 1797, died in 1861, the author of some interesting ‘Extracts from Journals kept during the Revolutions at Rome and Palermo’ (1849, 2nd edit. 1850).
Reynolds painted Mount-Edgcumbe's portrait in 1774; the original is now in the Mount-Edgcumbe collection, and was engraved by Dickinson.
L. C. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edgeworth, Michael Pakenham

​EDGEWORTH, MICHAEL PAKENHAM (1812–1881), botanist, youngest son of Richard Lovell Edgeworth [q. v.], by his fourth wife, Frances Anne Beaufort, was born 24 May 1812. In September 1823 he entered the Charterhouse, whence he removed to Edinburgh in 1827. Here he began the study of oriental languages, and acquired his grounding in botany under Professor Robert Graham. After a distinguished career at Haileybury, he went to India in 1831 in the civil service. He was appointed to Ambala, and afterwards to Saharunpore, where his administration gained both the approbation of his superiors and the grateful appreciation of the natives. In 1842 he came home on leave, married Christina, daughter of Dr. Macpherson, King's College, Aberdeen, in 1846, and returned the same year to India. On his way out he took advantage of the steamer coaling at Aden to look about for plants. He published the results in the ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ under the title of ​ ‘Two Hours' Herborization at Aden.’ Of the forty species he collected in that short period in so frequented a locality, no less than eleven were new to science.
He was stationed at Banda until 1850, when he was chosen one of the five commissioners for the settlement of the Punjab, first at Mooltan, and afterwards at Jullundur; but his Indian career was finally cut short by sunstroke. His chief publications were on the botany of India in the ‘Transactions’ and ‘Journal’ of the Linnean Society; on the Indian Caryophyllaceæ in the ‘Flora of British India;’ a ‘Grammar of Kashmiri,’ and a volume on ‘Pollen’ in 1878. His local lists have been warmly praised in Hooker and Thomson's introductory essay to their ‘Flora Indica.’ He died suddenly in the island of Eigg 30 July 1881.
B. D. J.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edguard, David

The ODNB gives his surname as Edwardes.
​EDGUARD, DAVID (fl. 1532), anatomist, is stated to have been educated first at Oxford and afterwards at Cambridge. He was accustomed to affix the letters M.D. after his name, but there is no record of his having taken that degree. He published two small works: 1. ‘De Indiciis et Præcognitionibus,’ Lond. 1532, 8vo, dedicated to Henry, duke of Richmond, by ‘medicus suus.’ 2. ‘Introductio ad Anatomicen’ (same place and date), dedicated to Henry, earl of Surrey. In the preface to this latter pamphlet Edguard promised a complete manual of anatomy, illustrated by the opinions of all the most learned men, but apparently he did not live to carry out his intention. Both works are dated from Cambridge 12 Jan. 1532.
A. V.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edgcumbe, Richard (1680-1758)

​EDGCUMBE, RICHARD, first Baron Edgcumbe (1680–1758), only surviving son of Sir Richard Edgcumbe of Mount-Edgcumbe, M.P. for Cornwall, was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (M.A. 1698), and in 1697 wrote some elegant Latin verses on the occasion of the return of William III to England (printed in the collection entitled ‘Gratulatio Academiæ Cantabrigiensis de Reditu Serenissimi Regis Gulielmi III post Pacem et Libertatem Europæ feliciter Restitutam, Anno MDCXCVII’). In 1701 he was returned for Cornwall; in Dec. 1701 for St. Germans; and in 1702 for Plympton, for which borough he sat until 1734, when he was returned for both that constituency and Lostwithiel. He chose the latter, but was re-elected for Plympton in 1741 and held the seat until his elevation to the peerage next year. On 22 June 1716 Edgcumbe was made a lord of the treasury, and again on 11 June 1720. On 3 April 1724, with Hugh Boscawen, viscount Falmouth, he accepted the offices of vice-treasurer, receiver-general, treasurer of war and paymaster-general of his majesty's revenues in Ireland. Edgcumbe was one of Walpole's most trusted subordinates. He managed the Cornish boroughs for him; and in 1725 Lord Carteret made, through Edgcumbe, overtures to the premier which were accepted (Coxe, Walpole, ii. 488–90). On the fall of Walpole he was raised to the peerage to prevent his being examined by the secret committee concerning the management of the Cornish boroughs (Horace Walpole's Letters, ed. Cunningham, i. 156), the actual date of his creation being 20 April 1742. Edgcumbe was appointed chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster in December 1743, and in the following January lord-lieutenant and custos rotulorum of the county of Cornwall, and sworn of the privy council. On the outbreak of the rebellion of 1745 he was one of the twelve noblemen who were commissioned to raise a regiment of foot at the public expense. He was made major-general in Feb. 1755. On 24 Jan. 1758, having resigned the office of chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, he was appointed warden of the king's forests beyond Trent. He died on 22 Nov. 1758, and was succeeded by Richard, his eldest son by his wife, Matilda, daughter of Sir Harry Furness. Though he was corrupt with the political corruption of the age, Edgcumbe seems to have been in other respects a worthy person, and Horace Walpole laments him as ‘one of the honestest and steadiest men in the world’ (ib. iii. 193). He is said to have been popular with George II because he was shorter than that diminutive monarch (Lord Hervey, Memoirs, ed. Croker, i. 93n.)
L. C. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edgeworth, Roger

​EDGEWORTH, ROGER, D.D. (d. 1560), catholic divine, was born at Holt Castle, the seat of Sir William Stanley, brother to the Earl of Derby, situate on the banks of the Dee, in the county of Denbigh, but within the diocese of Chester. He became a student in the university of Oxford about 1503, proceeded B.A. in 1507, and was elected a fellow of Oriel College 8 Nov. 1508 on the foundation of Bishop Smyth, being the first holder of that fellowship. He was not actually admitted to the fellowship till 11 June 1510, and he resigned it on 15 March 1518 (Churton, Lives of Smyth and Sutton, pp. 233–5). He commenced M.A. 9 Feb. 1511–12, was admitted B.D. 13 Oct. 1519, and created D.D. 2 July 1526 (Boase, Register of the Univ. of Oxford, i. 56). After taking holy orders he was a noted preacher in the university and elsewhere. He became prebendary of the second stall in the cathedral church of Bristol, being nominated to that dignity by the charter of erection in 1542. On 3 Oct. 1543 he was admitted to the vicarage of St. Cuthbert at Wells. He was a canon of the cathedrals of Salisbury and Wells, and was admitted chancellor of the diocese of Wells 30 April 1554, on the deprivation of John Taylor, alias Cardmaker [q. v.] He likewise obtained the prebend of Slape, or Slope, in the church of Salisbury, and held it till his death. ‘When K. Hen. 8 had extirpated the pope's power, he seemed to be very moderate, and also in the reign of K. Ed. 6, but when qu. Mary succeeded he shew'd himself a most zealous person for the Roman catholic religion, and a great enemy to Luther and reformers’ (Wood, Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, i. 316). He died in the beginning of 1560, and was buried before the choir door in Wells Cathedral. His will was proved on 1 June 1560. He was a benefactor to Oriel College.
He was the author of: 1. ‘Resolutions concerning the Sacraments.’ In Burnet's ‘Hist. of the Reformation.’ 2. ‘Resolutions of some Questions relating to Bishops and Priests, and of other matters tending to the Reformation of the Church made by Henry VIII,’ ibid. 3. ‘Sermons, very Fruitfull, Godly, and Learned, … With a repertorie or table, directinge to many notable matters expressed in the same Sermons. In ædibus Roberti Caley,’ London, 4to, 1557, containing 307 folios in black letter. At the beginning of the eighteenth sermon he states that he had abstained from preaching for five or six years, viz. during the reign of Edward VI; consequently the former sermons were delivered in Henry VIII's time, and the rest after Queen Mary's accession. Dibdin, in his ‘Library Companion’ (i. 81–5), after giving copious extracts from this very scarce volume, remarks that ‘upon the whole Edgeworth is less nervous and familiar than Latimer, less eloquent than Fox, and less learned and logical than Drant. He is, however, a writer of a fine fancy, and an easy and flowing style.’
[Tanner's Bibl. Brit.; Ames's Typogr. Antiq. (Herbert); Kennett MS. 46, f. 327; Le Neve's
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ferris, Richard

​FERRIS, RICHARD (fl. 1590), adventurer, was one of the five ordinary messengers attached to Queen Elizabeth's household. A subpœna was issued for him to give evidence in a suit in the court of the Archbishop of Canterbury on 7 Nov. 1580 (Archæologia, 1729, p. 234). In July 1606 he was still filling the office of royal messenger (Devon, Issues of the Exchequer, Jac. I, p. 44). Although ‘never trayned upon the water,’ he resolved in 1590 to accomplish the daring feat of rowing in an open boat from London to Bristol. He embarked in a ‘new built’ wherry on Midsummer day at Tower Wharf, with two friends, Andrew Hill and William Thomas. At Greenwich they landed, and were entertained at court. Afterwards their journey began in earnest, and although they usually anchored in safe harbours at night, and were well received by the townspeople of the southern seaports, they ran some risks, and did not reach Bristol till 3 Aug. The mayor and aldermen gave them a triumphal welcome. They returned to London on 8 Aug., and wherever they showed themselves were enthusiastically received. The exploit excited the admiration of all classes from the court downwards. On 7 Aug. 1590—only four days after the voyage was finished—‘a ballad of Richard Fferrys cominge to Bristowe’ was ‘licensed to Edward White on 10 Aug.’ Another ballad of ‘the ioyfull entertainement of the wherry and iij wherrymen, viz., Richard Fferrys, Andrewe Hilles, and William Thomas by the maiour, aldermen, and citizens of Bristoll, 4to Augusti, 1590,’ was licensed to Henry Carre (Arber, Registers, ii. 557–8). In the same year John Wolfe printed for Edward White ‘The most dangerous and memorable Adventure of Richard Ferris.’ On the title-page appear the words, ‘Published for the sayd Richard Ferris,’ and a dedication to Sir Thomas Heneage, the queen's treasurer, follows. At the close of the tract is ‘a new sonnet’ celebrating Ferris's arrival at Bristol, by James Sargent. A copy of this rare work is in the Bodleian Library. None is in the British Museum. It was reprinted in J. P. Collier's ‘ Illustrations of Early English Literature,’ vol. ii. No. 5 (1864), and in Professor Arber's ‘English Garner,’ vol. vi. Warton asserted that Ferrers was the author's correct name.
S. L. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ferrers, Richard

​FERRERS, RICHARD (fl. 1590). [See Ferris.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ferrers, Lord of Groby

​FERRERS, Lord of Groby. [See Grey, Sir John, d. 1461.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ferrers, Robert de

​FERRERS, ROBERT de (d. 1139), warrior, was the son and heir of Henry de Ferrers [q. v.], the founder of the family. He succeeded his father under Henry I, and is first mentioned in the record of a suit between the abbot of Burton and himself (Burton Cartulary, pp. 19, 49, &c.). In 1130 he is found leasing the lead mines at Wirksworth (Rot. Pip. 31 Hen. I). He was one of the witnesses to Stephen's charter in 1136 (Select Charters, p. 115), and two years later was a leader of the English at the battle of the Standard (Ric. Hexham, p. 162). In this same year (1138) he was created an earl by Stephen (ib. p. 165; Ord. Vit. xiii. 37), on whose behalf he addressed himself to his son-in-law, Walkelin Maminot, and induced him to return to his allegiance (ib.) The earl died in 1139 (Ric. Hexham, p. 178).
J. H. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ferris

​FERRIS. [See also Ferrers.]