BRADLEY, GEORGE GRANVILLE: Dean of Westminster; b. at High Wycombe (30 m. w.n.w.
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BRADSHAW, WILLIAM: Puritan; b. at Market Bosworth (12 m. w. of Leicester), Leicestershire, 1571; d. at Chelsea 1618. He studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and became fellow of Sidney Sussex College in 1599; took orders but never received a living owing to his Puritan principles, and spent much of his time in retirement in Derbyshire, whence he made many journeys in behalf of the cause to which he was devoted. His chief work was English Puritanism: containing the main opinions of the rigid sort of those that are called Puritans in the Realm of England (London, 1605; Latin transl., by William Ames, Frankfort, 1610; an abstract is given in Neal's History of the Puritans, part ii, chap. i). The main point of his system was that he would subject no congregation to any ecclesiastical jurisdiction "save that which is within itself." He would have the members delegate their powers to pastors and elders, retaining that of excommunication. No clergyman should hold civil office. He was strongly opposed to "ceremonies." He was not a separatist and held that the king as "the archbishop and general overseer of all the churches within his dominions" had the right to rule and must not be resisted except passively. He published many other works and tracts, most of them anonymously.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A fair biography and references to the somewhat abundant literature may be found in DNB, vi, 182-185.
BRADWARDINE, THOMAS: Archbishop of
Canterbury; b. probably at Chichester, Sussex,
1290; d. in London Aug. 28, 1349. His name is
variously spelled (Bragwardin, Brandnardin, Bredwardyn, etc.), in public documents he is usually
called Thomas de Bradwardina, and a title often
given him is Doctor Profundus. He studied theology,
philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy at Merton
College, Oxford; lectured there; became chancellor of St. Paul's Church at London; in 1339
accompanied Edward III as his confessor in
campaigns in France; in 1349 was chosen archbishop of Canterbury, was consecrated at Avignon
and died a few weeks afterward. He was highly
esteemed by Wyclif, Jean Gerson, and Flacius. He
was the author of a large work entitled De causa
Dei contra Pelagium [ed. Sir Henry Savile, London
1618], in which he attempted to show that the
theology as well as the Church of his time were
Pelagian. He gave the name Cainites to those who
gave up hope in God and depended upon their own
merits; his personal experience gave him a different
conception: "In the schools of the philosophers
I rarely heard a word concerning grace, . . . but
I continually heard that we are the masters of
our own free actions."
BIBLIOGRAPHY: The scanty notices of his life are collected by Sir Henry Savile in the preface to his edition of the Causa Dei. For his mathematical works consult M. Cantor, Geschichte der Mathematik, ii, 102 sqq., Leipsic, 1892. Consult further G. V. Lechler, De Thomas Bradwardino, Leipsic, 1862; idem, Johann von Wiclif und die Vorgeschichte der Reformation, i, 229 sqq., Leipsic, 1873; Eng. transl., pp. 88-96, London, 1878; K. Werner, Der Augustinismus in der Scholastik des späteren Mittelalters, pp. 337 sqq., Vienna, 1883; R. Seeberg, Dogmengeschichte, ii, 192, Leipsic, 1898; DNB, vi, 188-190.
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