"TAKE THOU A BOOK INTO THINE HANDS AS SIMON THE JUST TOOK THE CHILDJESUS INTO HIS ARMS TO CARRY HIM AND KISS HIM. AND WHEN THOU HASTFINISHED READING, CLOSE THE BOOK AND GIVE THANKS FOR EVERY WORD OUT OFTHE MOUTH OF GOD; BECAUSE IN THE LORD'S FIELD THOU HAST FOUND A HIDDENTREASURE."
THOMAS A KEMPIS: Doctrinale Juvenum
Richard de Bury (1281-1345), so called from being born near Bury St.Edmunds, was the son of Sir Richard Aungerville. He studied at Oxford;and was subsequently chosen to be tutor to Prince Edward of Windsor,afterwards Edward III. His loyalty to the cause of Queen Isabella andthe Prince involved him in danger. On the accession of his pupil hewas made successively Cofferer, Treasurer of the Wardrobe, Archdeaconof Northampton, Prebendary of Lincoln, Sarum, and Lichfield, Keeper ofthe Privy Purse, Ambassador on two occasions to Pope John XXII, whoappointed him a chaplain of the papal chapel, Dean of Wells, andultimately, at the end of the year 1333, Bishop of Durham; the King andQueen, the King of Scots, and all the magnates north of the Trent,together with a multitude of nobles and many others, were present athis enthronization. It is noteworthy that during his stay at Avignon,probably in 1330, he made the acquaintance of Petrarch, who has left usa brief account of their intercourse. In 1332 Richard visitedCambridge, as one of the King's commissioners, to inquire into thestate of the King's Scholars there, and perhaps then became a member ofthe Gild of St. Mary—one of the two gilds which founded Corpus ChristiCollege.
In 1334 he became High Chancellor of England, and Treasurer in 1336,resigning the former office in 1335, so that he might help the King indealing with affairs abroad and in Scotland, and took a mostdistinguished part in diplomatic negociations between England andFrance. In 1339 he was again in his bishopric. Thereafter his nameoccurs often among those appointed to treat of peace with Philip ofFrance, and with Bruce of Scotland. It appears that he was not inParliament in 1344. Wasted by long sickness—longa infirmitatedecoctus—on the 14th of April, 1345, Richard de Bury died at Auckland,and was buried in Durham Cathedral.
Dominus Ricardus de Bury migravit ad Dominum.
According to the concluding note, the Philobiblon was completed on thebishop's fifty-eighth birthday, the 24th of January, 1345, so that eventhough weakened by illness, Richard must have been actively engaged inhis literary efforts to the very end of his generous and noble life.His enthusiastic devoted biographer Chambre[1] gives a vivid account ofthe bishop's bookloving propensitie