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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2012}}
'''Adam Marsh''' ('''Adam de Marisco'''; {{Circa|1200}}{{snd}}18 November 1259) was an English [[Franciscan]], scholar and [[theology|theologian]]. Marsh became, after [[Robert Grosseteste]], "...the most eminent master of England."<ref name=Knowles/>

==Biography==
He was born about 1200 in the diocese of [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]], and educated at [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] ([[Greyfriars, Oxford|Greyfriars]]) under the famous Robert Grosseteste. Before 1226 Marsh received the [[benefice]] of [[Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey|Wearmouth]] from his uncle, [[Richard Marsh, Bishop of Durham]]; but around 1230 he entered the Franciscan order.<ref name=Knowles>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9BjEJcCKyFAC&dq=Adam+Marsh+ofm&pg=PA205 Knowles, David. ''The Religious Orders in England'', Chapter XVIII, "The Early English Franciscan Scholastics", Cambridge University Press, 1979]{{ISBN|9780521295666}}</ref> at the friary in Worcester.

About 1238 he became lector at the Franciscan house at Oxford, and within a few years was regarded by the English province of that order as an intellectual and spiritual leader. [[Roger Bacon]], his pupil, speaks highly of his attainments in [[theology]] and [[mathematics]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Marsh, Adam|volume=17|last= Davis |first= Henry William Carless |author-link= Henry William Carless Davis |page=768|short=1}}</ref> According to [[Salimbene di Adam|Salimbene]], in the 1240s, Marsh attended the lectures of Humilis of Milan on the Book of Isaiah and the Gospel of Mark. A lector named Stephen, in turn, used Marsh's Oxford ''lectione'' on Genesis, in his assignments.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=X7liDwAAQBAJ&dq=Adam+Marsh+ofm&pg=PA273 Senocak, Neslihan. ''The Poor and the Perfect: the rise of learning in the Franciscan order, 1209-1310'', Cornell University Press, 2012, p. 57]{{ISBN|9780801464249}}</ref> Marsh was a close acquaintance and correspondent of French theologian [[Thomas Gallus]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4fJ5n8fBVygC&dq=Adam+Marsh+ofm&pg=PA125 Thomas (Gallus), ''Mystical Theology: The Glosses by Thomas Gallus and the Commentary of Robert Grosseteste on De Mystica Theologia'', (James McEvoy, trans.), Peeters Publishers, 2003, p. 125]{{ISBN| 9789042913103}}</ref>

His fame, however, rests upon the influence which he exercised over the statesmen of his day. As Bishop of Lincoln, Grosseteste relied on his friend's opinion regarding ecclesiastical appointments in the diocese, since "Marsh knew everybody".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ii3Rs56pE2wC&dq=Adam+Marsh+ofm&pg=PA156 McEvoy, James. ''Robert Grosseteste'', Oxford University Press, USA, 2000, p. 156]{{ISBN|9780195354171}}</ref> Consulted as a spiritual director by [[Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester|Simon de Montfort]], the countess of [[Leicester]] and the queen, as an expert lawyer and theologian by the [[primate (bishop)|primate]], [[Boniface of Savoy (archbishop)|Boniface of Savoy]], he did much to guide the policy both of the opposition and of the court party in all matters affecting the interests of the Church. He shrank from office, and never became [[provincial superior|provincial]] minister of the English Franciscans, though constantly charged with responsible commissions. [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] and Archbishop Boniface unsuccessfully endeavoured to secure for him the [[episcopal see|see]] of [[Ely, Cambridgeshire|Ely]] in 1256.<ref>{{Cite CE1913|wstitle=Adam de Marisco}}</ref> In 1257 Marsh's health was failing,<ref name="EB1911"/> and he died 18 November 1259.

To judge from his correspondence he took no interest in secular politics. He sympathized with Montfort as with a friend of the Church and an unjustly treated man; but on the eve of the [[baron]]ial revolution he was on friendly terms with the king. Faithful to the traditions of his order, he made it his ambition to be a mediator. He rebuked both parties in the state for their shortcomings, but he did not break with either.<ref name="EB1911"/>

== Works ==
None of Adam's theological works survive. His only extant writings are a collection of over 200 of his letters compiled by fellow Franciscans after his death. This collection shows the wide range of his correspondents, including Robert Grosseteste (whose own collection also includes several letters to Adam<ref>{{Cite book|last=Grosseteste|first=Robert|title=Letters of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2010|location=Toronto|translator-last=Mantello|translator-first=Frank A. C.|translator-last2=Goering|translator-first2=Joseph}}</ref>), [[William of Nottingham I|William of Nottingham]] (minister provincial of England), Simon de Montfort and his wife [[Eleanor of England, Countess of Leicester|Eleanor]], [[Bonaventure]], and [[Henry III of England|Henry III]]'s wife [[Eleanor of Provence|Queen Eleanor]]. His letters, written in highly stylized Latin according to the rules of the ''[[ars dictaminis]],'' often served to advance his theological vision, particularly with regard to the pastoral work of the Church and his urgent sense of its need for correction and reform. His letters also frequently respond to requests for spiritual counsel, offering both exhortation and admonition.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Adam Marsh|title=The Letters of Adam Marsh|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2006–2010|editor-last=Lawrence|editor-first=C. H.}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
* Adam Marsh (2006–2010). ''The Letters of Adam Marsh.'' Lawrence, C. H. (ed.). 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*{{cite DNB|wstitle=Adam de Marisco |first=Mandell|last=Creighton|volume=1}}
*Lawrence, C. H. (2018). "Adam Marsh at Oxford". In Robson, Michael and Zutshi, P. N. R. (eds.), ''The Franciscan Order in the Medieval English Province and Beyond.'' Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. pp.&nbsp;159–80.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Marsh, Adam}}
[[Category:1200 births]]
[[Category:1259 deaths]]
[[Category:English Franciscans]]
[[Category:Alumni of Greyfriars, Oxford]]
[[Category:English theologians]]
[[Category:13th-century English mathematicians]]