is appended to a charter given by Archbishop Gray to the prior and convent of Durham, dated 24 Jan. 1224–5 (Archbishop Gray's Register, pp. 153–154, App. xxix. Surtees Soc. 56). In the same year Nicholas became attached to the church of Kelloe in the diocese of Durham, and on 20 Aug. 1225 Archbishop Gray confirmed the collation made by R., bishop of Durham, of a portion of that church to ‘N[icholas], sometime bishop of Man and the Isles’ (ib. p. 5, App. xvi.). Next year he was in attendance upon Archbishop Gray, and witnessed two deeds of the latter, one relating to Hexham Priory, dated 5 Aug. 1226 (Memorials of Hexham Priory, ii. 93–4, Surtees Soc. 46), the other to Stainfield Priory in Lincolnshire, dated 19 Aug. of the same year at Knaresborough (Monast. iv. 309, ed. 1830). He probably died in 1227, and, according to the very doubtful authority of the ‘Chronicle of Man’ (p. 16, ed. Munch), was buried in Benchor or Bangor in Ulster, on the southern shores of Carrickfergus Bay.
[Authorities quoted in the text.]
NICHOLAS de Guildford (fl. 1250), poet. [See Guildford.]
NICHOLAS de Farnham (d. 1257), bishop of Durham, professor of medicine in the universities of Paris and Bologna, and physician to Henry III, was known, at least abroad, by the additional name of De Fuly. Tiraboschi in his ‘History of Italian Literature’ and De Boulay in his ‘History of the Paris University’ give him both names. Pits has been led into the error of writing a separate notice under each name, so as to make two persons of one (see article in his Appendix, No. 58). Fabricius and Ducange, in his ‘Index Auctorum,’ have followed the same error.
Nicholas began his studies at Oxford, and early acquired a reputation for scientific knowledge and the study of natural phenomena. Proceeding to Paris, he is said to have written, about 1201, an account of Simon de Tournay, a professor of theology in that university, an eloquent, acute, and profound logician, who, while lecturing on the mystery of the divine Trinity, experienced an entire loss of memory, and shortly after was reduced to a state of idiocy (cf. Matthew Paris, Chronica Majora, ii. 476, Rolls Ser.) After finishing his course of philosophy Nicholas began that of medicine and botany, or the curative value of plants. He acquired also a thorough knowledge of the works of Hippocrates, Dioscorides, and Galen, on which he subsequently wrote important treatises. Having obtained his degree, he was named ‘Maître-Régent de la Faculté de Médecine en l'Université de Paris.’ His name is found thus inscribed in the oldest records of the university. He is often mentioned in foreign medical works and in the academical addresses of more recent professors of medicine in Paris as one of the earliest lights of the Paris medical school. From Paris he went for a short time as professor of medicine to Bologna, where he maintained his high reputation, and obtained the degree of doctor. In addition to the course of medical study, he directed, in Paris, separate courses of dialectics, physics, and theology; Bernier, in his ‘Histoire Chronologique de la Médecine,’ says of him, ‘il fut aussi grand médecin que grand philosophe.’
Nicholas returned to England in 1229, together with other Englishmen connected with the Paris University; the students had been dispersed on account of serious riots between them and the citizens. Henry III, being desirous of advancing the reputation of the university of Oxford, provided chairs there for several of the newcomers, viz. John surnamed Blondus, Alan of Beccles, and Nicholas de Farnham. In 1232 Nicholas is known to have been teaching logic and natural philosophy at Oxford, but he afterwards resumed the study of philosophy and theology. He also became private physician to the king and queen, who were much attached to him. For his position at court he was indebted to the good offices of Otho, cardinal legate in England, and to Walter Mauclerk [q. v.], bishop of Carlisle. He is said to have lectured also at Cambridge. His name is found as one of the benefactors of that university, and he was present there in 1243 at the interrogation by the legate of a Carthusian friar accused of denying the supremacy of the pope.
Nicholas had held, while abroad, several benefices in England. In 1219 Hugh, bishop of Lincoln, had appointed him to the church of Audenham in Huntingdonshire, and in 1222 the king had given him that of Cleuden in the same diocese. He held also, by royal letters dated 1222 and 1238, benefices at Essenden and Burton. In 1239 he was elected to the see of Coventry, but he declined the charge. In 1241 he was elected to that of Durham, which he also at first declined, alleging that he could not accept it because he would be thought to have declined the former offer of the see of Coventry, on account of its smaller pecuniary value. His objections were overruled by the urgent representations of Robert Grosseteste [q. v.], bishop of Lincoln. He was consecrated to the see (1241) by Walter, archbishop of York, at Gloucester, in the church of St. Oswald, the king and queen and several state dignitaries being present. A few months after his installation he effected a reconciliation between the king and Walter Marshal [see under Marshal, William, first Earl of Pembroke and Strigul]. The king assigned to the bishop by deed, dated 16 Feb. 1242 (preserved in Rymer, Fœdera, i. 140), several lands in Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmoreland, to be conveyed to Alexander II
